help w/OME bushings install in SoCal (1 Viewer)

[clownmidget]

Anyone on the list able to help me find a reasonably close shop that
can install the the OME castor-correction bushings for the front
control arms? This is for a 97 FZJ-80 and I'm located in Riverside,
CA (about 90 miles east of downtown LA). I've tried All-Pro Offroad
in Hemet and they don't do any of their work "in house" whatever
that means, 4West in Colton (not familiar with the work, would have
to see it, then quote me a cost, estimated completion, etc),
California Mini-Truck (they no longer do any service). Man-A-Fre is
about 95 miles for me and I'm not too keen on giving them my
business based on previous experience. TLC is 75 miles and all I can
say about them is that they appear to be 20% more expensive than
everyone else for parts. Any and all help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mike R.
klUOC

 

[moralien]

Try Faultline Fab
www.faultlinefab.com

 

[the shed guy]

Could also try the guys at Donahue racing 2841 E White Star Suite E. Anaheim.
Ph 714 632 3033

Just off the 57 and 91 fwys, not sure how far from you, compared to the others, but these guys put an 80 together which did Baha afew years ago.

That will be the good thing about Christo's new caster fix though, bolt on at home, no pressing etc.

 

[clownmidget]

Thanks, Nick. Just got off the phone with Simon at Faultline and they'll be able to do it no sweat.

Darren, I'm waiting for the "big" lift for Christo's arms Thanks for the info, should be good for future work.

 

[moralien]

[quote author=clownmidget link=board=2;threadid=7550;start=msg63207#msg63207 date=1068846763]
Thanks, Nick. Just got off the phone with Simon at Faultline and they'll be able to do it no sweat.
[/quote]

Good Deal... I hear he is a top notch bloke.

Nick

 

[MTNRAT]

Clown, while you are waiting for the big lift, heres a pic for ya. Lift courtesy of Slee Offroad.
Sean

 

[Riley]

Guys - I'm complating doing this myself. Now that I've almost got the process figured out, I was going to do the marking/measuring on the arms, pull the arms off and then take the arms and bushings to a shop to simply press in the bushings according to my marks on the arms.

Am I crazy and should find a good shop to do the entire job?

OR is it pretty easy to DIY?

R

 

[Rich]

I've installed the springs but not yet the bushings, and I'm probably over analyzing this but...

The OME Caster Kit Fittings Instructions are poorly written and it took me a a bit of thought to decipher what they intended to communicate.

The first step of their instructions say "After raised suspension system has been fitted, and while vehicle is on a flat surface mark the vertical through the centre of the front original bush at 90 degree to the horizontal line on each leading arm"

I think what the above instruction means to say is "while the vehicle is on a flat surface mark a verticle line through the center of the front original bush at 90 degrees to a line that is PARALLEL to the flat surface upon which the vehicle is parked. Or in other words, 90 degrees to a line that passes through the centers of the front and rear axles.

Once I figured out that's what they must have meant, then the rest was straight forward. Mount the front bushing so that the center of the offset hole is on the vertical line and towards the top of the arm and raised indicator mark is also on the vertical line and towards then bottom of the arm..

Then mount the rear bushing so that the center of the offset hole is towards the bottom of the arm and ensure that distance between the center of the holes is excactly the same as stock; do this by rotating the rear bushing as needed. Keeping the same distance between the center of the holes means that the center of the rear bushing hole and the raised indicator line will not be on a line that is 90 degrees to the "horizontal line".

Anyway, I am curious as to why they would have chosen this way to determine the positioning of the bushings. If you wanted to maximize how much the axle rotated (and thereby get the maximum correction of castor) the reference line would be marked through the center of the stock bushings. And then the new bushings would be positioned so that the center holes and indicator lines were each on lines that are 90 degrees to the reference line. And, this is important, the bushing would then need to be rotated slightly so that the centers of the holes move towards each other so that the distance between the center holes is kept the same as with the stock bushings.

 

[Riley]

I agree Rich, I've been reading and re-reading those instructions and not until I read Dan's method (listed on the "Is caster important?, yup" thread) did I understand what the OME guys were suggesting. Even though Dan's method was a little different.

The "90 degrees from the horizontal line" is a real kicker. Heck, why just say 90 degrees to the flat surface (like you pointed out). That's how a sane person would do it (sorry Dan but too many measurements for me).

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's been pondering over this. Another point I got from Christo (or Ben) was to use the other arm as a template to get the spacing between the 2 bushings correct.

I wonder if this mod is very typical on other raised vechicles (like Heeps or pickups) as I'd like to find a 4x4 shop that done a million of them even if they aren't cruisers. There's not enough cruisers around here and no shops are familar with them.


Rich - if you go first please let me know how it goes, I'd like to learn from your experiences.

 

[Photoman]

I may be completely misremembering this (six years ago) but it seems like all I did was make sure I was on a level concrete floor (my garage) and then just use something like a carpenter framing square off the concrete to get the vertical line. If the framing square is too long you can use a smaller square on top of a straight board etc. I do remember calling ARB and asking if the vehicle should be loaded or not and they said it did not matter. FWIW, After I pressed the bushings with this method, I took it to an alignment shop and they said I was within specs for the caster.
Bill

 

[Riley]

Bill - that's exactly the method that I was going to use. Once you got the mark scribed on to the arm did you then take the arms to a shop to do the pressing work? Or do you have a 12 ton press at home?

 

[cruiserdan]

I imagine he's got a press, he's got everything else. It's probably a 20 ton

 

[Photoman]

It's a 50 ton, but I don't want to get into a press pi**ing contest.

Riley,
If you have a LARGE vise and some help to hold the arms you might be able to do it that way if you lube the bushings before trying to press them. You may have to use a large socket or something to finish up. I think when Christo sells the caster bushings he provides a bushing tool with them, but the right size socket should work. Good luck! Remember the lube - it helps.
Bill

 

[Riley]

I found what looks like a pretty good 4x4 suspension shop with multiple presses. The best press is a 50 ton that has very fine control ect.... These guys do the big stupid lifts on domestics as well as Toyota pickups ect... The've never seen a TLC.

They should have no problem with the OME springs ect... but they've never seen a caster correction kit. We spent 45 minutes going over it (too bad they wanted to read the OME instructions because they confuse everybody). They did understand the concept however. With all the crazy lifts they do, I'm not sure they ever deal with caster correction.

Anyway I think between my research on here, another call to Slee to double check my understanding coupled with their lifts and tools, we should be able to do this no problem. We might even build a jig if Simon's interested in doing the OME lift and using these guys. They also don't mind me helping on the caster correction bit.

Question is: since I'm paying by the hour, anybody have a feel for how may hours in a good shop this would take (doing the entire springs, shocks and bushings)?

I know i could do the spings and shocks myself and then just take it there for the bushings (this might be an option).

 

[Beowulf]

Riley,
For a first time novice mechanic, the shocks and springs should take less than 3 hrs for the front and 3 hrs for the rear. Those are maximum times with only minor problems (e.g. no broken shock bolts.) I recommend that you read the prior "how-to" posts, read the install instructions on the Slee site, and do the springs & shocks yourself.

The 4x4 suspension shop will probably do all 4 corners in 1 hr or less (lift and air tools make this an easy job.) Estimate another hour for the bushings.

-B-

 

[Riley]

Wow. If they can do the springs and shocks in an hour ($65 bucks an hour shop rate) and it would take me 6 hours, it seems a no brainer for me to have them do it. I could spend my time doing other stuff like rebuilding my e-lockers, starter, diff breather on the rear, rear wheel bearings, front brakes and double check my front pre-loads ect....

I believe in DIY but in some cases with stuff that's easy for a shop to do, it makes sense for them to do it. I just won't tell I-Doug.

 

[the shed guy]

I have a simple method for removing/replacing the springs which makes life a little easier, I did 4" lift springs and shocks, steering stab, adjusted the brake bias, and did steering alignment [no caster adj yet]on the floor with jack and stands in 1hr with hand tools last week for a friend.

Caster plates, and adj panhards will be during lunch one day this week.

[the good thing with caster plates, like Christo's new ones is they are bolt on, can be done at home, no removing arms, pressing, aligning etc etc]