OP
OP
AppocAlexx
Darth Appocalexx
uhmmm that sounds familiar, WOW?
Front End Rebuild w/ Leveling Struts
- Thread starter AppocAlexx
- Start date
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OP
OP
AppocAlexx
Darth Appocalexx
I forgot all about this thread but thought I would update and let you all know of the adventures of this job.
Started out good got everything apart and started on ball joints. After shaving off the lip and beating the ball join out and using the ball joint press I was able to replace both lower ball joints. Being the first time doing these it took me a good 2.5 hours on the driver side to complete the whole rebuild and about an 1.5 hours on the pass side. (balls joint, UCAs, struts, sway bar end links)
Next time I think an air chisel might make things go a bit faster, but shaving the lip off the factory ball joint it the only way to get them off. The pass side looks a lot prettier than this side but for the first time doing these type I think it turned out pretty good. The new ball joint covers most of the ugliness, but hey its truck not a pretty pony.
This was the first attempt at setting the height for the adjustable struts, don't mind the rubber bushing I replaced it the next day. I initially went with the 3rd notch on the strut and was way to high. My UCAs were touching the bump stops. So I had to park for the night and remove the struts again and placed the ring on the 2nd notch which is the finished product of this whole ordeal.
This is with the struts on the 3rd notch with a 2 inch spacer on top of the struts. Doing the math 2" spacer plus the supposed 1.75" (3rd notch) I was hoping that after I drove around for a bit it would settle to a 3.5" lift up front, not the case. With the UCAs touching the bump stop while sitting I did not feel comfortable driving it like that. So right after this test drive I parked for the night and tore apart again the next day, to set to a lower notch.
Here are the angles I had with the initial set up 3rd notch and 2 inch spacer. I wish I got a pic of the UCAs hitting the bump stop but did not even think about it till I had it torn apart again and wheels off the truck.
Finally the end product. It sits just a tad bit higher up front than the rear and will correct this in the near future but as you can see its cold and I don't do good in the cold. Eventually I will get around to raising the rear, replacing rear shocks add extenders and call it good till I full suspension lift.
Side story, I had the driver side CV shaft going out so wanting to save a lil money and replace only that one I did while I had this apart. Come to find out it was the wrong one. Parts store said her tech must have pulled the wrong box bc when she looked up the part again to return the one I had just bought 3 days ago she still had 2 of the part #s I needed in stock. I was pretty pissed but I had to tear part again anyways bc I found that the pass side was even worse than the driver side and needed to be replaced as well which I had planned to do on the next few days of this journey. The pass side was really bad if I have a pic I will upload later but the knuckle was completely broken on the inner part of the CV shaft, pretty cool but I was lucky it did not bust on me while driving for the next 3 days before the shop opened up again. I could smell the metal on metal and was sure it was going to catch fire, that was also mixed with a continuous popping noise coming from both CV shafts.
In all worked out good and even after an overall 6 day ordeal im happy with it, for now. Next up will be to raise the rear and get some new treads once winter is over. Most likely going with 275.60.20s maybe bigger if I can get some for the right price.
Started out good got everything apart and started on ball joints. After shaving off the lip and beating the ball join out and using the ball joint press I was able to replace both lower ball joints. Being the first time doing these it took me a good 2.5 hours on the driver side to complete the whole rebuild and about an 1.5 hours on the pass side. (balls joint, UCAs, struts, sway bar end links)
Next time I think an air chisel might make things go a bit faster, but shaving the lip off the factory ball joint it the only way to get them off. The pass side looks a lot prettier than this side but for the first time doing these type I think it turned out pretty good. The new ball joint covers most of the ugliness, but hey its truck not a pretty pony.
This was the first attempt at setting the height for the adjustable struts, don't mind the rubber bushing I replaced it the next day. I initially went with the 3rd notch on the strut and was way to high. My UCAs were touching the bump stops. So I had to park for the night and remove the struts again and placed the ring on the 2nd notch which is the finished product of this whole ordeal.
This is with the struts on the 3rd notch with a 2 inch spacer on top of the struts. Doing the math 2" spacer plus the supposed 1.75" (3rd notch) I was hoping that after I drove around for a bit it would settle to a 3.5" lift up front, not the case. With the UCAs touching the bump stop while sitting I did not feel comfortable driving it like that. So right after this test drive I parked for the night and tore apart again the next day, to set to a lower notch.
Here are the angles I had with the initial set up 3rd notch and 2 inch spacer. I wish I got a pic of the UCAs hitting the bump stop but did not even think about it till I had it torn apart again and wheels off the truck.
Finally the end product. It sits just a tad bit higher up front than the rear and will correct this in the near future but as you can see its cold and I don't do good in the cold. Eventually I will get around to raising the rear, replacing rear shocks add extenders and call it good till I full suspension lift.
Side story, I had the driver side CV shaft going out so wanting to save a lil money and replace only that one I did while I had this apart. Come to find out it was the wrong one. Parts store said her tech must have pulled the wrong box bc when she looked up the part again to return the one I had just bought 3 days ago she still had 2 of the part #s I needed in stock. I was pretty pissed but I had to tear part again anyways bc I found that the pass side was even worse than the driver side and needed to be replaced as well which I had planned to do on the next few days of this journey. The pass side was really bad if I have a pic I will upload later but the knuckle was completely broken on the inner part of the CV shaft, pretty cool but I was lucky it did not bust on me while driving for the next 3 days before the shop opened up again. I could smell the metal on metal and was sure it was going to catch fire, that was also mixed with a continuous popping noise coming from both CV shafts.
In all worked out good and even after an overall 6 day ordeal im happy with it, for now. Next up will be to raise the rear and get some new treads once winter is over. Most likely going with 275.60.20s maybe bigger if I can get some for the right price.
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