Builds '78 Refreshtoration, what next?

[Chestcutter]

Those Billsteins made a huge difference to the ride on mine!

Going to tackle the TREs et al this winter, though at the moment my rig is a daily driver since a deer took out my alternate. Followed your advice @Goldbug and got the underside Fluid-filmed professionally right before Thanksgiving. Other than the massive cloud of smoke from the exhaust shields on the way home and the fact the garage smells like a Scottish barn, all good, and hopefully will fend off the rust for the moment.

 

[Goldbug]

Those Billsteins made a huge difference to the ride on mine!

Going to tackle the TREs et al this winter, though at the moment my rig is a daily driver since a deer took out my alternate. Followed your advice @Goldbug and got the underside Fluid-filmed professionally right before Thanksgiving. Other than the massive cloud of smoke from the exhaust shields on the way home and the fact the garage smells like a Scottish barn, all good, and hopefully will fend off the rust for the moment.

That reminds me I need to take mine in. May do a finally run of the season tomorrow, but in the fence after the beating it took last time.

Finished the bilsteins last night though!

Let me know how you fare on the TREs

 

[Catching Neutral]

@Chestcutter and @Goldbug ….if you haven’t done so already, replace your body mounts. Relatively inexpensive job. You will be impressed with how it improves your ride.

 

[Goldbug]

@Chestcutter and @Goldbug ….if you haven’t done so already, replace your body mounts. Relatively inexpensive job. You will be impressed with how it improves your ride.

Haven’t yet, on my list though. TREs are next I think. Bilsteins help but still got a ways to go, so maybe body mounts will be next on the ride improvement list. Just too many wants, not enough time!

@Purpleaction , where did you get your body mounts?

 

[imyahucklbrry]

Read through your build (mostly looked at pictures truth be told) Really accomplished a lot in a year……… a monumentally crappy year at that!

Bravo

 

[Goldbug]

Read through your build (mostly looked at pictures truth be told) Really accomplished a lot in a year……… a monumentally crappy year at that!

Bravo

Hah! Thanks, that’s nice to hear. I spend my time thinking about all that I have yet to do. Not what I’ve done, like most of us I suspect.

Will have to work on my reflecting…

 

[Chestcutter]

@Chestcutter and @Goldbug ….if you haven’t done so already, replace your body mounts. Relatively inexpensive job. You will be impressed with how it improves your ride.

On my agenda as well. Fixing the lift and front shims improved the squirrely steering enough that now I notice the slop. A couple of my TREs are hard frozen to the tie rod. Thinking to replace all and the links with gear from cruiserteq once I can get it off the road for a bit.

 

[Catching Neutral]

@Goldbug
got them www.energysuspension.com. I think some of the LC vendors sell also.
I will say for about $125 You get a lot of bang for your buck. Ride quality, specifically reverberations after hitting a bump was greatly improved. Took me about 6 hours

 

[Goldbug]

@Goldbug
got them www.energysuspension.com. I think some of the LC vendors sell also.
I will say for about $125 You get a lot of bang for your buck. Ride quality, specifically reverberations after hitting a bump was greatly improved. Took me about 6 hours

Thanks @Purpleaction, I just ordered from amazon for $112. Hate it when they have better prices than everyone else....

Body Mount Kit

 

[Goldbug]

Swapped out the body mounts. Used the energy suspension kit and found it pretty good overall, with good, helpful directions. Only big drawback is that it isn’t metric.

One item I diviated on was the running boards. It calls for replacing the nuts in the running boards which are welded in to the C channel. Can’t imagine how it’s possible to remove them without damaging the running boards? So I used the new bushings but old bolts. One of the old bolts snapped off, so I got to tap out the old bolt, convert it to standard/imperial and then put it back. Of course broke tap handle while at it too.

Haven’t been able to see if it impacts the ride yet since we got some snow and accompanying salt on the roads. Love the White Christmas though.

Also took the opportunity to do a very little body work and bang the running boards back out a bit. I trashed them at the fall gathering in Oct with yankee toys and @chill will. Came out pretty well!


Hope everyone in cruiserland had an awesome day.

 

[Catching Neutral]

I got a stainless running board bolt kit from overland metric which did the trick
Cant wait to hear about your first drive….your going to love it.

 

[Goldbug]

Body mounts are done and you're right @Catching Neutral , they do make a difference.

My main goal this offseason is to improve ride, steering, and braking. So the shocks and body mounts were phase 1 of that. Next was going to be an alignment and new TREs. I took it to a local chain place to have them do "just a basic alignment, and give me the printout". My instructions included "this is my pride and joy, whatever you do, don't mess anything up." Well, two hours after dropping it off I get a voicemail saying they need to talk to me. They busted the drag link end right off. Cruiser now is undriveable. Awesome.

I showed up at the shop, saw what they did, and got them to agree to pay for new TREs, which I was planning to do anyway. AAA towed it home and I got it in the garage just before the next days snow storm. Had to do a little improvising to steer it off the truck and into garage, but it held up:

 

[Chestcutter]

Wow. Unvelievable. Sorry to hear. I bet you can do a better job of alignment with the new TREs using the FSM. Mine are pretty rusted. Was hoping to replace rods and TREs at once, still out of stock at Cruiser Outfitters

 

[Catching Neutral]

Cool that they ponied up for TREs

 

[Goldbug]

@Chestcutter, I was hoping you would have done your TREs by now so you could give me pointers! I've been hoping Cruiser Outfitters would get them back in stock for some time now, but ended up finding them at Man A Fre. They said I bought the last set though. I believe there are one or two other online places that may have some. Possibly cruiserparts.net. I ended up ordering some new U joints from Kurt though.

I actually went out to the garage last night despite the 8 degree temp, to clean it up. I discovered the two packages arrived, so it didn't get cleaned! Started disassembly. Looks like the PO elongated some things and moved the mount for the steering damper over, I assume when they did the PS conversion or put in the F1.5

One of the ends came out fairly easily with a hammer and brass drift. Others don’t want to budge

 

[TheHardWay]

I need a big screen in my workshop.

 

[Goldbug]

I need a big screen in my workshop.

Yeah, I just added the final piece to the puzzle: the dorm sized beer fridge. Now I can live out there!

 

[fyton2v]

An HD TV in the workshop is essential equipment.

 

[Catching Neutral]

@Goldbug …..I got a full size dented model from Lowe’s for under $300.
gotta step up my game and get a TV

 

[Chestcutter]

You've got a surf board. One up on us northern guys.