Fixin' up my trusty DD (late model, not ratty, hopefully a little sleepy)

[clamor]

Mixed Bag

Wednesday evening was a roller-coaster ride.
It started with a close call, I got a verbal warning for 39 in a 30 & not having my address up-to-date. I really need to rub that in w/my sister, she hardly passes a police officer w/o getting a ticket.

I made it to the shop that I had swap out my lca bushings before they closed, which was good. My bushing kit didn't have enough bushing sleeves in it, which wasn't. Things only got worse when I tried to put the bolts through. They didn't fit the new sleeves, so I had to go back to the shop to get the rest of the stock ones.

It was surprisingly easy to swap the sleeves out using my neighbor's vice...mine's too small.

Here's where it took a turn for the worse. I spent over 2 hours trying to get the passenger arm on. I think the bushings & sleeves are slightly different in size & the shop got the bushings backwards & I got the sleeves backwards.

I went to the driver's side & buttoned up the whole thing in 30 minutes.

I was pretty defeated & decided to get it towed to a shop for completion.

Here's the driver's front at full droop...looks a little too low to me. :-(
And the image of defeat, the remainder of my new parts loaded up to get towed to a shop.

 

[clamor]

nope, nope, nope, nope, yup

Through the grace of an IT job & remote access I didn't have to take a vacation day on Thursday.

I called AAA for a tow & the crudest company I've ever had the displeasure of working with (the contracting tow co, not AAA) took a look an my suspensionless front end & bailed.

A few calls, references, cross-references & confused secretaries later I found the only tow company in Wichita with a sling truck...and it was broken.

Pretty much out of options I called O'Reilly & ordered a whole new lca...since a bushing kit would be a crap shoot (based upon recent experience) and I'd have to pay more labor to get the bushings swapped again. They were able to bet one delivered from OK the next morning.

-Chaz

 

[clamor]

Result!

I was able to fork from home on Friday as well. That allowed me to pick up my LCA & start installing it on my lunch break. That's how things should go, I would have finished assembling the whole right front suspension (including driving to the parts store to pick up the part)in that hour if I hadn't missed a bolt on my shock & had to redo that.

The pic tells so many stories.
The truck is on all fours & turned around (post test drive!).
All the parts I replaced are there.
And, you can see the new ride height.

There was only one funny noise on the test drive, I think it was a spring settling into a pocket.
When went back over everything I only found one bolt that was lose at all.

I decided to save the sway bars for a later project, having issues when working on my DD wore me out.

I've got a week of commuting in on my new suspension & I'm really pleased. I have FAR MORE suspension than either tire or engine!
-Chaz

 

[Bamamav]

I like the stance, lower than stock, but not so low that you can't still use it as a truck.

 

[clamor]

'Final' height

I like the stance, lower than stock, but not so low that you can't still use it as a truck.

Thanks Bamamv,
I agree for the most part. I think I want to put a little rake back into it. I might add the overloads from the stock pack into the Hotchkis springs. That'll give me 1/4" or so. Maybe some 1/2"-1" blocks. We'll see.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I have something goofed up on my subscription & didn't see the update to the thread when you responded. Plus I was away from the board out of frustration for a while. I've been keeping my eye peeled for a project vehicle, I want a driving project that can fit the whole fam. I found a 1966 Ford Ranch wagon with a 289 & 3 on the tree (I don't do auto) for $2500. Only minor work needed, clean exterior & wear/dirt on the interior. Couldn't get wife-buy-in before it sold. I went on the hunt to find another one & similar cars are going for 5-10K. To rub more salt in the wound, it was only 40 miles from my house.

So, here's the view from the rear. The bed still looks crooked in this picture. As more time (and hard cornering) goes by, I think it's leveling out more.

I've also attached pics of the tape at all the same points as earlier in the thread, need to take a closer look at them to see what the delta is.
Pic numbers & spot on the truck
2-3 left rear
4-5 right rear
6-7 left front
8-9 right front

And, a full body shot. The twist to the bed makes that driver's rear look a little lower & more tucked than I like.
-Chaz

 

[clamor]

Survey Says!

Left Rear Before:
26 3/4" at the bumper
35 1/2" at the wheel well

Left Rear After:
22 1/4" at the bumper
32 1/4" at the wheel well

Delta: -4.5" & -3.25"


Right Rear Before:
27 1/4" at the bumper
36" at the wheel well

Right Rear After:
23 3/4" at the bumper
32 3/4" at the wheel well

Delta: -3.5" & -3.25"


Left Front Before:
25 1/2" at the bumper
35 1/4" at the wheel well

Left Rear After:
25 1/2" at the bumper
33 1/2" at the wheel well

Delta: 0 & +.25"


Right Front Before:
25 3/4" at the bumper
34" at the wheel well

Right Front After:
25" at the bumper
32 1/2" at the wheel well

Delta: -.75" & -.5"

So, it looks like I really do need a little bit of a lift in the rear, since I'm not level...I'm starting to drag tail.

I'd also wager that I have some frame issues, even though my measuring technique was somewhat less than scientific, those numbers are all over the place.

Here's the final parts pile.

I got the front swaybar installed without even jacking up the truck, which is funny, because the installation instructions said I'd have to remove a wheel & thread the bar out.

The rear bar is still giving me issues, there's a spacer for the axle breather that I need to install and the breather is partially rusted in place. What makes it tough is that the hardlines for the brakes go through the breather, so I have to be gentle. I've been PB Blastering it every couple days for the last week or 2.

I also took a couple pictures of the spring twist from that driver's side rear spring. Turns out it was just the overload leaf that was turned in the pack, I jumped on it & it went flat like the other side.

That's up-to-date for now. I took it in to get aligned this morning, it'll be interesting to see how far out it was. I did determine that I was having a little pull to the left. The sales guy was pretty openly disgusted at "customer installed new springs." I guess I don't have enough patches on my shirt to turn a wrench.

-Chaz

 

[Bamamav]

Is there a possibility that your bed could have lost the pad between it and the frame? Have you measured the frame height on both sides? It seems to me that since you lowered it, it essentially stayed the same side to side. That makes me wonder if the bed isn't sitting higher on one side. Or is the bumper itself sitting higher on that side? Just something else to look at.........

 

[MercuryMac]

Yep, Bama's got some good points there. You might get lucky and an old hockey puck, strategically placed, will save the day.
You are going to paint it black, right?

 

[clamor]

Is there a possibility that your bed could have lost the pad between it and the frame? Have you measured the frame height on both sides? It seems to me that since you lowered it, it essentially stayed the same side to side. That makes me wonder if the bed isn't sitting higher on one side. Or is the bumper itself sitting higher on that side? Just something else to look at.........

Yah Bama,
I was rear-ended about 8 years ago & had some damage to the bed fixed. I thought it was just the tailgate, but there could have been more. Or, if the shop needed to take the bed off for some reason it may not have gone back together with all the requisite locating devices. Next time I get under it I'll see what I can see.

I think the bumper mounts into the frame, so it may be a case of being misaligned if there are mounting slots instead of holes.

I'll just start from the bottom up and take some better measurements, axle, frame, bumper (on level ground this time), etc.

Yep, Bama's got some good points there. You might get lucky and an old hockey puck, strategically placed, will save the day.
You are going to paint it black, right?

Well, hockey pucks aren't as common here in the Mid-Western plains as they are in the frozen North, but I'm sure I can come up with something. I spaced the tour pack on my motorcycle back with some scrap tube, longer bolts & a stack of washers...give Mamma Cakes a little more leg room.


Through purchasing what was available rather than choosing my last 3 vehicles have been white, I don't think I've washed my truck for 5 years or so...lighter paint just wears (dirt) so well. However, we water the lawn with well water, so it's getting a rust-wash on the passenger side, that's just the ticket for this crowd, 'eh?

I did see this stuff on one of those car shows & it looks pretty cool. Rust-Oleum Peel Coat
Maybe I'll paint my bumpers black with it, one of my co-workers thinks I should paint the wheels black.
-Chaz

 

[clamor]

Spring rebuilding fail 1

After soaking the spring pins in my old spring packs for a few days I tried to take them apart over the weekend of the 4th. I kinda wanted to take them apart, rather than cut them apart...just because it feels more like I'm doing things 'right' if everything that comes off could go back on. Whether that's true or not, I don't know.

Regardless, all I did was spin the pins & bend a pair of vice-grips knock-offs. So, out came the angle grinder with a cutting wheel & presto-chango the spring packs were loose leaves.

While taking them apart I got the feeling that the pins I picked up were too big & contrary to what the guy at the spring store told me, they were.

So, I just cut the long leaves to use as lift blocks, spring shims, whatever. Overall I have roughly between .5 & 1.25" of adjustability with these parts.

I'm going to head back to the shop & pick up the smaller pins they sell today, hopefully one of the sets (I almost bought both the first time I was in there anyway) will fit the new pack & I won't have to drill my springs out to make the larger pins fit.

Since I couldn't get the rear lifted, I tore into the driver's door to see if I could fix my non-working speaker. Turns out that when I re-mounted the cross-over that fell off (I have aftermarket components in my doors) a speaker wire got caught when putting the door panel on, so a quick strip & re-connect & I have full tunes again. Now I'm wound up about loud music again...might drop a few bills on the rear speakers & a better sub-woofer setup.

-Chaz

 

[clamor]

Misc Debris

I forgot that aside from fixing my stereo, my wife & I worked together (...gasp...) to prep & paint our fireplace doors. Got rid of that old brass for the cost of some abrasive pads, acetone, tack cloth & engine enamel! I just love that we painted something for the house with engine enamel from O'Reilly Auto Parts. I can scare up some before & after shots if anyone cares.

When I was headed to the spring shop to get another set of pins I took a video of my truck's cornering ability. I thought it was going to just be a first attempt, but my buddy said he liked the video, so I figured you guys might like it.

http://youtu.be/bLVhgizMJ-Q

It's a little shaky & I get off the speedo for a bit at the beginning of the turn. If you can't read the speedo, 50mph is the number at 12 o'clock. Leeme know what you think, I could probably take a better one, it'd just take some practice (or more arms).

I also pulled the trigger on the stereo upgrade parts and I'm considering some intake & exhaust restriction removal. We'll see how that pans out.

-Chaz