Since our tools are 250 miles away right now (don't ask), we're gonna call in a favor and bum a little rack time off our buddy Frank Gilliland at South Bay Truck & 4x4. He has a good selection of tools, and since we're on a tight time frame, having a rack and power tools will make this job go twice as fast. Besides, we want to get some good pictures without having to lie on our backs.
Day 5
Suspension We started with the rear, first removing the sway bar and old U-bolts, then supporting the axle. We threw the sway bar away, took off our original leaves, and pulled the original brake line. We replaced the rear leaves with the new Rockkrawler leaf springs and reused the old U-bolts. A braided stainless steel brake line was put in place of the old rubber line and it was time to move to the front.
In the front, we supported the axle, loosened all the control-arm bolts, and pulled off the sway-bar links. We also clamped off and cut the brake lines since we were putting on new ones anyway. Unless you're Superman, or Super Dave [Kennedy], you're gonna have to completely unattach the axle from the control arms to get the new coils in place. So after pulling the coils and replacing them with Rockkrawler units, we raised the axle back up to the point we could get the new Rockkrawler control arms bolted back onto the axle.
With the new control arms on and coils in, we moved on to replacing the brake lines, adding the sway-bar disconnects, and putting on the front and rear shocks. Everything seemed to be together. We'll check it for loose bolts on the road somewhere around Vegas.
Driveline Like we stated earlier, we'd like to get some gears and a locker, but it just isn't in the budget. What we did need though is a slip-yoke eliminator kit like the one from Currie Enterprises. It's not totally necessary for our trip, but we want to be able to pull out the rear driveshaft without the transfer-case yoke falling out if we broke a U-joint. This also means we need a new rear driveshaft made.
We just pulled the rear tailhousing off of the transfer case and checked the guts for signs of wear. You can see in the photo above the normal output shaft next to the smaller shaft with a threaded end for the flange. Everything looks good so we installed the new output shaft and coupler, and will tighten this pile together to get a measurement for the new driveshaft. Luckily Frank just told us he has a friend down the street at Drive Line Service who can get us a driveshaft in half a day. We want to get a CV joint on the driveshaft, but that will run us an extra $100 that we don't have, so we'll make due with a normal 'shaft.
Tires & Fender Trimming The driveshaft was just delivered in record time. We bolted it in, lowered the vehicle, and mounted the Pro Comp tires and wheels. They look great, but the 33s are definitely going to rub if we don't cut the fenders. So we'll start cutting. It's getting a bit ugly, but function over form, right?
Maintenance It's getting late now, and you can tell that Day 5 was a big day for us. We got the lift on, did a little fender trimming, installed the fixed flange and new driveshaft, and got the tires on. But since we're already here at South Bay Truck & 4x4, we thought we should have the vehicle checked over and do a little general maintenance. So we got the oil changed (black as night), ran down to Pep Boys for a rearview mirror, and had the rotors turned because of a little warpage from the previous owner.