frogers Build - 2006 LX470 (1 Viewer)

[frogers935]

Nova Scotia Trip Summary:

Realized I never followed up with a trip summary. Keeping it basic with mostly truck related pictures if anyone is planning a similar trip and wants some specific details PM me.

Total Distance Traveled: ~ 2930miles / 4715 km
Total Driving Time: ~ 52 hours
Trip Duration: 19 days
Days Camping : 10 days
# of kid meltdowns: 4
# of wife meltdowns: 0 (win)
# of emergency potty stops: ~ 10-15

Route taken (Miles per day):
DC -> North Conway, NH (583 miles)
North Conway -> Acadia [Seawell Campground, Southwest Harbor] (224 miles)
Acadia -> Ellsworth -> Acadia [ Blackwoods Campground: Bar Harbor, ME] (50 miles)
Acadia -> Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada (285 miles)
Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada -> Saint Esprit, Nova Scotia (417km, 259miles)
Saint Esprit, Nova Scotia -> North Sydney, Nova Scotia (108km, 67 miles)
North Sydney, Nova Scotia -> Ingonish Beach, Nova Scotia (114km, 70.8miles)
Ingonish Beach, Nova Scotia -> Cheticamp, Nova Scotia (116km, 72miles)
Cheticamp, Nova Scotia -> Fundy National Park (548km, 340miles)
Fundy National Park -> Portsmouth, NH (416 miles)
Portsmouth, NH -> Hershey, PA -> Home (452 + 111 miles)

I tried to keep the per day trips as short as possible for the kids. I also traveled mostly during the day to avoid camp setup at night.

First campsite in Acadia (Seawall) - someone left something for me and made my day:

Bar Harbour

I much preferred the campsites in Seawall on the western side then Blackwoods near bar harbor.

 

[frogers935]

After Acadia we spent a couple days in Moncton, New Brunswick. Cool little city but nothing too interesting we spent a couple days in a hotel to let the kids (& wife) recover from camping.

On to Cape Breton Island. Rented a very cool cabin on the east coast.

View from cabin:

Insider info from cabin owners about a secret beach. Had the whole beach to ourselves and a got to do a little bit of offroad.

Also went to Point Michaud Beach which was very nice:

 

[frogers935]

Headed north and stayed in North Sydney for a day. Besides a great dinner at Black Spoon Bistro nothing spectacular in the city.

Headed to Cabot trail and Ingonish Beach:

We ended up camping at Ingonish beach for a few days. Besides the camp sites being extremely small it was a great location. The beach was a 500m walk in the woods. Had some rain so had to fully deploy the annex and awning.

Warming up after a chilly rain:

Very cool beach in a cove

 

[frogers935]

Continuing on the Cabot trail around the island. The road really opened up with some spectacular views.

 

[frogers935]

Campsites were booked so I rented a house for a couple days in Cheticamp. A trip directly across the harbour lend to Cheticamp Island. This was the best and really only offroad drive.

 

[frogers935]

Headed back through Fundy National park and had the best camping of the trip. Glad we decided to stop here it was a great park and we got to see the tides from a few different locations - very cool.

Waterfall on a hike.

Tide is in:

Tide is out:

 

[frogers935]

I will admit this may have been my favorite stop on the whole trip...Maine Beer Company

 

[frogers935]

Rewards from the trip:

Kids even left me some presents:

 

[frogers935]

Rear Brake Rebuild

I have been having some issues with my passenger side brake caliper. One of slides kept seizing and I had a tear in the boot for the piston. Additionally I had issues with my parking brake. Finally got around to fixing everything.


Parts Used/Replaced:
Rotors - Brembo
Pads - Terrain Tamer
Shoes - OEM
Parking Spring Kit - Centric
Rebuild Kit - OEM
Pistons - Centric
Brake Lines - OEM (replaced b/c I had ss lines which I felt were made too short)


Calipers off and apart

Not good news on the piston with the torn boot:

I ended up using Centric pistons instead of OEM, I needed them quick and couldn't get the OEM in time. Fit was perfect, we will see how they do.

Lots of elbow grease to get the calipers cleaned up and repainted, ready to rebuild:

Caliper complete:

 

[frogers935]

Parking Brake:

About a year ago I wanted to replace my parking brake shoes. I bought the shoes and spring kit from rockauto b/c the OEM shoes were $$$ and there was no kit for the spring kit (apparently you can buy the individual parts). The shoes were crap and didn't fit correct, I pulled them and put the OEM back in.

Since I needed to rebuild my calipers I decided to bit the bullet and replace the shoes with OEM. I still went with a Centric spring kit (more on that below).

Reason I needed new shoes:

OEM shoes with centric spring kit. All the springs fit fine:

New rotors on. I went through the FSM procedure to adjust the parking brake and everything seemed fine...

Until the test drive and seated the shoes. One pull of the parking brake and heard grinding. Once up on jack stands I heard a rattle on the drivers side, looking through the adjustment hole I could see my adjusted had come apart. PIA to get the rotor back off but here is what I learned.

Centric adjusted on top (Small)
OEM on bottom

This was my own fault I was in a rush to get it back together and didn't pay attention to the difference. With the OEM back in and adjusted everything is good, now to do the fronts.

Notes/Lessons Learned from the process:

-The shaft that was seizing was the one with the rubber on the end. I had cleaned and re-greased this 2 times before b/c I didn't have time to rebuild, both times it seized again. With the new shaft I was not happy with the way it fit in and ended up aggressively re-cleaning the bracket side with sand paper/scotchbright.

-Thought I could get away without new pistons so having to order a new one slowed me down. In retrospect the additionally $50 would have been worth it seeing how much time I invested in it.

-I had some SS brake lines, I think I have info on this earlier in this thread. They were prototypes to see how they fit in relation to the notch on the caliper. While that part was fine I thought they too short. I was promised a replacement but they never came so I replaced with OEM. * I reused the banjo bolt I had on not thinking it was different from OEM. It was and I broke a bolt, major PIA. Went back to old OEM ones and they are all good.

-I hate the parking brake. I hate the design, I hate taking it off, I hate putting it on, I hate adjusting it.

-I used some CRC brake grease, it was recommended in another thread (sorry forget where I saw it to give credit). We will see how it works but it looked good.

 

[bucfl]

I just did a rebuild on both rears Yesterday. I had a wobble when coming to a stop. My pins were stuck on as well but luckily did not have to use heat. I sprayed PB and used a drill to spin until loose.

I used NAPA Eclipse Semi Loaded calipers. All new parts! Do you know if there is a similar rebuild process for the fronts?

 

[frogers935]

@bucfl

I plan on pulling my fronts in the next couple days but am not planning on a rebuild - they looked fine a few months back. I believe the process would be similar to the rears maybe a bit easier since there is no slide just pistons. If you rebuild the OEM getting multiple pistons out may take some time if any are seized. On other rebuilds I have done once I free a piston (via air compressor through the open brake line) I use a clamp to hold the free ones while I work to get the others out.

If you are replacing the calipers anyways that no reason to waste time with that just pull the pins and pads - the caliper comes right off.

 

[frogers935]

Finally got time to do the fronts - brakes and repack. Same setup as rear with Brembo rotors and TT pads. Here is complete list of tools/parts.

New Parts:
Rotors/Pads
Inner oil seals 90311-70011 QTY 2
flange nut 90170-10039 QTY 12
Plate washer 90201-10075 QTY 12
Cone washer 42323-60030 QTY 12
thrust washer 90214-42030 QTY 2
adjusting nut 43521-60011 QTY 2
lock washers 90215-42025 QTY 2
gasket 43422-60070 QTY 2
90520-31005 2.8mm
90520-31006 2.6mm
90520-31007 2.4mm
90520-31008 2.2mm
90520-31009 2.0mm


Tools/Consumables:
CRC 05361 Silaramic Brake System Grease
Amsoil bearing grease
Slee Needle bearing tool


Note: I replaced all the hardware but feel that most of the stuff can be reused at least a couple times i.e. flange nuts, plate & cone washers, etc. I bought the various snap rings to have on hand and for future use, I assume you could make a measurement and just buy the size you need.

Old setup with DBA rotors which I liked but am on a tighter budget.

Hub and bearings out cleaned with paint thinner and thoroughly rinsed afterwards.

Onto hub:

 

[frogers935]

All cleaned up. Next time I will take the brake shields off,clean and powder coat them but didn't have the time this round.

All greased up:

Slee tool to get the needle bearing:

Complete. I did use the fish scale method to get the nuts set but had to torque the inner nut higher to get within range.

Most important part of doing your own work, Rewards:

 

[frogers935]

First Aid Kit Mounting

Had been trying to come up with a way to mount my first aid kit. I wanted to be able to access from the cab (Not have to open up the tailgate) and obviously needed to be secure. I ended up with the following addition to my drawer system.

Needed to be on drivers side:

Decided on adding a shelf with storage below

Bracket mounted far enough back so my fridge does not interfere. Notice the metal bracket I added this utilizing the grab handle bolt. Initially I did not have this but there was too much flex of back board without it.

Mounted:

I plan on mounting my fire extinguisher with a quick fist behind it. I can take some pictures with the fridge in and loaded up if anyone is interested.

 

[Sargy]

Now with the rear bumper, tire swingout + gear, is the ride quality considerably improved now with the 80 series spring? Apologies if I missed the post about swapping back to ahc and spacers

 

[bucfl]

How hard was it to remove the inside bearing?

 

[frogers935]

Sorry guys thought I responded to this via mobile but guess it didn't post.

@Sargy Yes the ride quality feels stock now. No jarring bumps and good road manners. The AHC pressures are within spec with no need for spacers.

@bucfl Getting the seal off was pain but since its not reused you can yank it out. Just be careful if you pry not to damage bearing.

 

[frogers935]

I am beginning my prep work for my summer trip to CO. I have a laundry list of things to do including suspension refresh, steering rack (replace or repair), storage & camping gear upgrades, and many other things.

To get things started I put in some HID low beams. Thanks to @Luke111 brackets this was an easy job.

I used the TRS mini H1 kit and as stated, Lou's bracket. Instructions provided for both the bracket and the wiring setup via TRS were good. I made a few adjustments as shown below.

LINK to Bracket and install thread


Everything needed with headlight already baked. Be careful when removing not to get the sealant everywhere it is hard to get off (ask me how I know). One note is that I could have mounted the projectors to the brackets and JB welded the bolts prior to starting. It was my mistake not to thoroughly read through the instructions prior to starting so I had to wait for the JB weld to cure.

I forgot to take pictures of the housing in the bracket. I found that using the foam, cut and removed from the box, that the projector came in to hold it upright while you apply the JB weld was helpful. I routed the high beam wires through the supplied gasket instead of drilling a new hole. They were too small so I went back and sealed it with silicone, I did the same with the gasket to the plastic. (Note I used an extra adapter b/c I had HID's in prior to these that had a bigger opening). I also used some silicone to seal up the supplied connector, not sure why the grommets were to small.

 

[frogers935]

Mounted in the truck pay attention to the recommendation to align prior to sealing.

I previously had ballasts mounted behind the turn signal but found the wiring on these was too short to do that so I wire tied it in. Will probably mount it more securely the next time I take my battery out. Others have used Velcro to attach them to the bottom of the headlight

I made a little tool to help with the adjustment after install. Unfortunately I have no idea what it was as I just had it lying around the garage, may have been an old hose fitting - nut on one side, circular opening on other that I bent.

I will have some light output shots coming as well as the LED high beam upgrade I am going to take a shot at doing.