Finally got around to wrenching on the truck this weekend.
Put on the kit I got from MetalTech.
Icon's 6" Stage 2 kit. Has the remote Res, not piggybacks. 2.5" body.
We started with the rears, had to mess with a mangled Rear Sway bar bracket in order to get full droop and they are tucked up nice and tight along the outside of the frame rail in front of the Lower rear Control arm's front mount. I also got some Rear lower shock bolt guards from a mud member, and put those on too. Changed the lower shock bolts to a 10.9 grade M12 x 1.25 fine pitch by 35mm long while I was in there. I smacked the crap out of the originals and busted one while towing the trailer to SNT one year, had a bunch of washers on it as a trail fix (err, side of the 101 fix as it were). These new guards are stout.
The fronts went on real fast. the Bracket for the res uses one of the 12mm nuts on the top of the spring bucket. I dropped the sway bar to get to full droop for the install. These are quite a bit longer than the OME's.
I was replacing the old man emu Nitrocharger sports that I got with the Slee 6" kit a few years ago.
Those were real soft, I could just grip them and compress or extend at will during uninstall.
A few trips thru the Rubicon, towing a beast of a pop up and some fun late night compressions at the Pismo dunes took their toll.
Impressions:
HOLY COW! , these are awesome. Truck is planted, way less body roll, and no "interactive" understeer/ oversteer anymore. Since I put on the James Baroud XXL and flat Baja Rack I was getting seasick just crossing railroad tracks. I'm pretty sure my truck grew an inch. Rides pretty close to level, even with a full tank of gas and a bunch of spares and kitchen box, spare tire hanging off the back and 3 cans of water in the basket.
They are adjustable, I set the rears at 8 and the fronts at 7. (no they don't go to 11) I figure I'll drive it a bit and see what changes and adjust once I have it fully loaded for the 4th of July trip.
I also go the Blue Fan clutch mod done and installed. I purchased an Aisin from Amazon and then I clocked it a bit, nothing too scientific, just moved it a skosh counterclockwise and added a bit of 20K Silicone fluid till it was up to the plates in the 4 openings, then installed it. 40 minute job, tops. Man, what a difference! lots of air moving now. I can feel it thru the GTP Hood vents I installed last month. It's not locked on, or set to 95 degrees, I'm hoping closer to 125, from the pictures I saw of everyone's settings, mine is right in the ballpark. but, yeah, it came a bit low on the fluid fill from the factory.
pics coming:
Put on the kit I got from MetalTech.
Icon's 6" Stage 2 kit. Has the remote Res, not piggybacks. 2.5" body.
We started with the rears, had to mess with a mangled Rear Sway bar bracket in order to get full droop and they are tucked up nice and tight along the outside of the frame rail in front of the Lower rear Control arm's front mount. I also got some Rear lower shock bolt guards from a mud member, and put those on too. Changed the lower shock bolts to a 10.9 grade M12 x 1.25 fine pitch by 35mm long while I was in there. I smacked the crap out of the originals and busted one while towing the trailer to SNT one year, had a bunch of washers on it as a trail fix (err, side of the 101 fix as it were). These new guards are stout.
The fronts went on real fast. the Bracket for the res uses one of the 12mm nuts on the top of the spring bucket. I dropped the sway bar to get to full droop for the install. These are quite a bit longer than the OME's.
I was replacing the old man emu Nitrocharger sports that I got with the Slee 6" kit a few years ago.
Those were real soft, I could just grip them and compress or extend at will during uninstall.
A few trips thru the Rubicon, towing a beast of a pop up and some fun late night compressions at the Pismo dunes took their toll.
Impressions:
HOLY COW! , these are awesome. Truck is planted, way less body roll, and no "interactive" understeer/ oversteer anymore. Since I put on the James Baroud XXL and flat Baja Rack I was getting seasick just crossing railroad tracks. I'm pretty sure my truck grew an inch. Rides pretty close to level, even with a full tank of gas and a bunch of spares and kitchen box, spare tire hanging off the back and 3 cans of water in the basket.
They are adjustable, I set the rears at 8 and the fronts at 7. (no they don't go to 11) I figure I'll drive it a bit and see what changes and adjust once I have it fully loaded for the 4th of July trip.
I also go the Blue Fan clutch mod done and installed. I purchased an Aisin from Amazon and then I clocked it a bit, nothing too scientific, just moved it a skosh counterclockwise and added a bit of 20K Silicone fluid till it was up to the plates in the 4 openings, then installed it. 40 minute job, tops. Man, what a difference! lots of air moving now. I can feel it thru the GTP Hood vents I installed last month. It's not locked on, or set to 95 degrees, I'm hoping closer to 125, from the pictures I saw of everyone's settings, mine is right in the ballpark. but, yeah, it came a bit low on the fluid fill from the factory.
pics coming:
