Build A pig for Father's Day

[WarDamnEagle]

Worst case scenario you need to source another steering knuckle.

That is not the plan my friend.

I believe a minimum thread engagement of 1.0 to 1.5 times the base diameter of the screw or bolt for steel to get proper torque..

I’m sure there is a 27 year old 240 page college text book that says something similar but with more words or you can use this basic “rule of thumb” that has served me well for many years.

Yes 12mm long helicoil is perfect for your 12mm diameter bolt.

Thanks. After a bit more reading it appears that it's not uncommon to shorten a helicoil before installation so I might source 18mm length helicoils and shorted them to around 16mm. Good to know that the 12mm length will work though. Will probably get both and then decide.

 

[bobm]

I believe a minimum thread engagement of 1.0 to 1.5 times the base diameter of the screw or bolt for steel to get proper torque..

I’m sure there is a 27 year old 240 page college text book that says something similar but with more words or you can use this basic “rule of thumb” that has served me well for many years.

Yes 12mm long helicoil is perfect for your 12mm diameter bolt.

I believe the spec is 3/4" to 1/.]5" of thread engagement ask you know who . Grind it after install. You fingers will hurt if ya do it B4

 

[J Mack]

As our friend said if your going to try to modify the helicoil do it after you install...

 

[WarDamnEagle]

After making such a bonehead mistake with the wrong tap I couldn't get over the apathy to actually use the helicoil kit that I ordered until yesterday afternoon. I probably would have gotten around to it sooner but we were traveling the last two weeks. Having just finished repairing both sets of threads on the passenger side, I have to say that it wasn't nearly as difficult or time consuming as I had imagined. I tore the passenger side apart to get the steering knuckle on the drill press, drilled out the hole, tapped it and installed the helicoils in about an hour. It certainly helps if you have recently rebuilt the front end and aren't needing to change any parts, or grease for that matter. Probably took another hour or a bit less to reassemble everything this morning. Certainly glad to have that mistake behind me.

I was only going to repair one of the two threaded holes but after closer inspection (and seeing the results of the first helicoil install), I went ahead and did both of them. As you will see from the photos, the other one was an accident waiting to happen even though I was able to torque it to 60 ft-lbs on the first install attempt.

Guess it's on to brake lines now.

First helicoil installed:

Second threaded hole that I decided to repair after closer inspection:

Calipers installed:

 

[RUSH55]

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Given their kinda sorta OEM look, I have been looking at the KYB Excel-G shocks. I have found a couple of different rear shocks that will work but I haven't found anything in the Excel-G that I think will work for the front shocks. FWIW the FJ60 has the same mounting configuration and close to the same dimensions (depending on lift, etc.) as the FJ55. Many of the "Find my shock by year, make, and model don't work for the FJ55 because it only lists the FJ40 for those years. When you look up a 1985 FJ60 on the KYB website it doesn't even give you an Excel-G option for the front. It only gives you their Gas-Adjust shock as an option. Since that is a monotube shock and touted as an upgrade to the Excel-G, it might be the path of least resistance to go with those and just paint them black (they come in a light gray). There is a Gas-Adjust shock that I think will work for the rear as well so it would be as simple as painting them all black.

So @J Mack and anyone else for that matter, school me on sizing shocks. My method thus far is to measure the full droop dimension which is 22 1/4" on both sides of the front. So my first assumption is, in a perfect world, that I would want a shock with a fully extended dimension of at least 22 1/4".

I then measure the distance from the bump stop to the axle which is 8". So my next assumption is, again in a perfect world, that I would want a shock with at least 8" of travel, but also a shock with a fully collapsed dimension of 14 1/4" or less. Now I haven't attempted to pull the front axle up on one side with a ratchet strap to see if it's even possible for the springs to allow 8" of axle travel and I assume it probably isn't. So maybe that's when bump stop extensions are used, assuming you are someone that likes to jump railroad tracks like the Dukes of Hazzard. Or maybe if you're someone like me you just assume 6" of travel is good enough, the bump stops will never come into play, but maybe most importantly, the shock won't ever bottom out in any situation?

Lastly, I have been looking up any shock that might work dimensionally and looking at its OEM application. So far the two best rear shocks I have found in the Excel-G are OEM replacement rear shocks for the T100 or both the T100 and the FJ60. I assume those would work just fine. The only Excel-G shocks I have found dimensionally for the front are OEM for the rear of the RAV4 and somehow that just doesn't sound like it would provide enough dampening for an FJ55 (but maybe?).

I will pause here for any thoughts without getting into specific shock part numbers, etc. And because we all like photos......

 

[J Mack]

What lift kit do you have?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

What lift kit do you have?

The Cruiser Outfitters OME 70 series springs. Some of the leaves in the rear were removed (two I think). Not sure about the front.

 

[J Mack]

The Cruiser Outfitters OME 70 series springs. Some of the leaves in the rear were removed (two I think). Not sure about the front.

Check OME N88 A11AU983 shock specs

 

[onemanarmy]

Hope you installed your 4* shims!!!!!!

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Check OME N88 A11AU983 shock specs

That appears to be an out of date number but I'm not sure that addresses my issue anyway. Are you suggesting I consider those shocks or just use the specs to find KYB shocks that match?

Again, I want shocks that look OEM (or that can be easily painted to resemble OEM). I removed the OME shocks that were on the pig. The fronts are OME 60009 and the specs look perfect for my situation: extended length of 23", compressed length of 13 3/4", 9"+ of travel. So I would probably just replace those in kind if I was going to stay with OME shocks.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Hope you installed your 4* shims!!!!!!

Well the PO had this lift kit installed but there are no shims. It's been over a year since I was able to drive this pig but I don't recall ever having any issue keeping it between the lines. Now it never tracked like my wife's GT500 or my Navigator for that matter but I never expected it to. Of course it's possible that it could be substantially better with shims and I just don't know what I don't know.

 

[J Mack]

That appears to be an out of date number but I'm not sure that addresses my issue anyway. Are you suggesting I consider those shocks or just use the specs to find KYB shocks that match?

I looked at my kit from cruiser outfitter and that is the shock they recommended for stock mounts and their lift kit.
If you can ID that shock it might give you some clues as what size you should be looking at for your shock.

Of course it's possible that it could be substantially better with shims and I just don't know what I don't know.

You're a smart guy, random advice that some guy read on the internet may not be the best advice for your application.
I don't know if you've already got a cut and turn or what your alignment numbers are currently.
You should definitely get it looked at by an alignment shop or I can walk you through the steps to do it yourself and make an educated choice on the best direction to correct whatever might be wrong.

 

[J Mack]

The fronts are OME 60009 and the specs look perfect for my situation: extended length of 23", compressed length of 13 3/4", 9"+ of travel.

A KYB 343272 sounds close.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

A KYB 343272 sounds close.

Thanks! That one was actually at the top of my list. My only hesitation is it's OEM for a '96 - '05 RAV4 rear. A 2000 RAV4 weighs just over 2700 lbs with a 60/40 front to rear distribution. Seems like it might be a little light on dampening but I'm just speculating.

It does look a little "thin" though when you compare it to 344090 which you are using on Pumpkin Spice.

343272

344090

 

[J Mack]

I believe your pig is going to be a pavement princess.. I don't mean that in a derogatory way just I don't believe it's going to be driven like a trophy truck out in the desert.
Sometime in the '90s it became all the rage to put ridiculously stiff shocks on 4x4s ( rancho, rough country etc) and unless you were running 37x13.5 mud boggers they were way over dampened, I think a bunch of the companies like OME and Dobinson are still suck in the 90's and are producing similar shocks today.
With the tire you are running I would think a medium valved OE style shock would work just fine.
Companies like KYB I don't believe are individually valving shocks for specific vehicles, most likely when looking at their charts they have a soft or medium for the masses and then build a "stiff" for heavy duty applications like trucks with larger tires.

 

[J Mack]

Seems like it might be a little light on dampening but I'm just speculating.

Some cave man shock tech, the reason for a stiff valving in an off road shock would be to still have some dampening as the OE emulsion monotube or twin tube shock heats up and the oil cavitates.

Over a period of time driving 100 kilometers in the outback all that extreme cycling causes emulsion shocks to heat up and that creates foaming and cavitation. This reduces the efficiency of the shock “shock fade” and the reason starting with a stiffer shock would be preferable. You used to see off road racers use two single tube emulsion shocks per wheel back in the day for this same reason.

For us weekend pig enthusiast a single OE style emulsion shock with medium valving will give the best ride or step up to a “Remote Reservoir” shock that will have softer valving yet because it does a better job with heat and doesn’t suffer from cavitation.

 

[onemanarmy]

I must have missed it....why did you remove the old man emu shocks that were the correct valving and travel for your application?

 

[J Mack]

I must have missed it....why did you remove the old man emu shocks that were the correct valving and travel for your application?

I must have missed the Old Man Emu shock page that talked about the correct Front shock for a FJ55 with a lift, Can you post a link to that page for us?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I must have missed it....why did you remove the old man emu shocks that were the correct valving and travel for your application?

They aren’t black, they have bellows, and they don’t look anything like OEM. Also they are beat up and rusty so they were going to get replaced with something regardless.

Edit: I said bellows but I should have said black plastic shroud.