Newps - 2001 LC 100 build thread…..

[Newps]

There is definitely some grease escaping but it was IMOP not very much. I cleaned up the area to determine if the boot was ripped and to get a staring point of reference. This way I will know if any of my efforts to fix this are successful.

 

[Newps]

One thing I noticed while I was cleaning up the area was my sway bar bushings were look pretty bad. They are beginning to dry out and crack. They are not in dyer shape yet but I'm guessing that once the lift is cranked in they will be under even more strain and will begin to deteriorate. Time to swap'em out.

 

[Newps]

After confirming that the boot was not ripped I went in search of the (picture elusive) hose clamps that have the rolled edges. I checked Eagle Hardware, Home Depot and O’Reilly’s Auto Parts, no dice. I will now check my local motorcycle shop and see if they have these in stock. I have also read on here that McMastercarr.com carries these. If anyone has a picture of exactly what they look like please post it up. Until I can find a set of these elusive hose clamps I will just run regular ones. The first photo is of the axleshaft all cleaned up pre hose clamp.

Since the stock boot clamps were still doing a decent job I just placed the hose clamp over them and tightened them up. I know this was successful because as soon as I began to tighten the hose clamp a small amount of grease was squeezed out past the end of the boot. It was not a lot but it showed me that I now had a tight seal. I checked for clearance between the hose clamp and the CV boot. Although nothing was touching it is pretty close. It looks possible that the hose clamp body could rub on the CV boot. Not sure if this is something that could cause the CV boot to fail. Never the less I will check back in a short time and see if anything is rubbing.

 

[Newps]

Next on my list of things to do on Sunday was to install the BIO diff drop. Overall this was a pretty basic install. I thought I was going to have a little bit of difficultly getting the stock cross member out and the new BIO one in. I was pleasantly surprised when the stock one practically fell out once the bolts were removed. The BIO lower support bar slid right in with no effort as well. Once that was done it was simply a matter of swapping one bolt from the back to the front and added one longer bolt that was supplied with the kit.

 

[Newps]

A few months ago I installed a set of the Weather Tech digital floor mats and liners. I’ve always had the Husky Floor liners in all of my cars. I would have order them for this truck too but they only come in gray and tan with Husky. It’s been my experience that anything other then black looks like crap once it gets used. I am happy to report that the Weather Tech liners have more then exceeded my expectations. When the Weather Tech liners arrived I was a little concerned that they would move around. They did not have all the little spikes on the bottom like the Husky liners do. After several months of use they have not moved around at all. In fact because they do not have the little spikes they are much easy to remove and install. I live near the ocean, I surf a lot and take the kids to beach about once a week. Needless to say I am constantly dumping the sand out of these. So the fact they a very easy to get in and out makes a big difference to me.

 

[pfran42]

After confirming that the boot was not ripped I went in search of the (picture elusive) hose clamps that have the rolled edges. I checked Eagle Hardware, Home Depot and O’Reilly’s Auto Parts, no dice. I will now check my local motorcycle shop and see if they have these in stock. I have also read on here that McMastercarr.com carries these. If anyone has a picture of exactly what they look like please post it up. Until I can find a set of these elusive hose clamps I will just run regular ones. The first photo is of the axleshaft all cleaned up pre hose clamp.

Since the stock boot clamps were still doing a decent job I just placed the hose clamp over them and tightened them up. I know this was successful because as soon as I began to tighten the hose clamp a small amount of grease was squeezed out past the end of the boot. It was not a lot but it showed me that I now had a tight seal. I checked for clearance between the hose clamp and the CV boot. Although nothing was touching it is pretty close. It looks possible that the hose clamp body could rub on the CV boot. Not sure if this is something that could cause the CV boot to fail. Never the less I will check back in a short time and see if anything is rubbing.

I have been looking all over for those hose clamps. A guy at Autozone told me that Northern Tool has them so check there if you happen to have one nearby. If I find them, I'll send you a set.

On my drivers side I have a little more leakage than you but my axle was rebooted a few months ago with OEM retaining bands so I don't want to do the whole axle reboot kit thing again.

Do you know what kind of grease is spec'd for the boots? I was thinking I could just load some up in a grease gun with a needle adapter on it, slap a hose clamp over the OEM band and be done with it for a while.

Lastly, I got your emails re: the tirel rub and how to center non hub-centric spacers. That Christo guy is a genius! Going to try 1 inch spacers and report back. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Newps]

Found them on McMaster-Carr's website.

Smooth band with rolled edges for soft hoses. They come 3/8s wide which should fit the stock boots. I now just need to determine the exact length needed. If anyone has any impute that would be appreciated. If not I will take off the hose clamp I have on there now and measure it. Due to the excess I have hanging off it now I will try to find one that's a little smaller.

 

[pfran42]

Can you drill down to the exact product link? There a million ways to go from where that link starts you off. I'll get those measurements for you 1st thing in the AM.

Nevermind, here it is: McMaster-Carr. When you get to this page select the following in order to get to the Smooth Band with Rolled Edges:

 

[Newps]

Their website is retarded, ever time I post a link to the product the link goes to some other product.

Search hose clamps on their site.

Then click on worm drive clamps.

Then click on for soft hose and tube.

Then click on 3/8s width near the bottom of page.

 

[spressomon]

Most of the OEM shafts use Oetiker boot band clamps. They make adjustable for retrofit too (don't have to disassemble the joint). I didn't see the adjustable type on MMC's site...maybe worth a call.

Adjustable Clamps Adjustable Clamps with Radial Guiding Ear Clamps Product Group 163 OETIKER International

I use the Snap-On clamp pliers...all the other's are too flimsy to get a good tight clamp on the boot. YA3080, Pliers, Boot Clamp (for ear-type clamps)

I have found, generally, the Oetiker style clamps once pinched down need to be re-pinched once and then they seem to be good to go for the long haul.

 

[Newps]

Most of the OEM shafts use Oetiker boot band clamps. They make adjustable for retrofit too (don't have to disassemble the joint). I didn't see the adjustable type on MMC's site...maybe worth a call.

Adjustable Clamps Adjustable Clamps with Radial Guiding Ear Clamps Product Group 163 OETIKER International

I use the Snap-On clamp pliers...all the other's are too flimsy to get a good tight clamp on the boot. YA3080, Pliers, Boot Clamp (for ear-type clamps)

I have found, generally, the Oetiker style clamps once pinched down need to be re-pinched once and then they seem to be good to go for the long haul.

Thanks for the info Sressomon, those look like they will do the job as well. Looks like those are a one time use item, correct?

 

[Newps]

This weekend I installed the Timbren bumpstops, OME torsion bars and Bilstein shocks on the front end.

The Timbren bumpstops were a pain in the ass to install because all I had was an Allen wrench to do it with. This is the wrong tool for the job. I was only able to get about a quarter turn because it would hit the sway bars. Do yourself a favor and go get and 5/8’s Allen socket for a ¼ inch ratchet. Although the first couple of turns on mine were smooth it quickly got very difficult to turn. I also triple checked to make sure I was not cross threading them. They are just a pain to turn, in hindsight I should have hit them with some liquid wrench. I originally installed them with three fender washers to space them down.

I read on mud that someone else did this because they did not want the other stock bumpstop to engage to quickly. Since I was also working on the torsion bars I could test fit the bumpstops and check the spacing. At least on my vehicle there was no need for the fender washers. With the rig sitting on the Timbren bumpstops I still had ¾ of an inch or more of up travel or compression of the Timbren bumpstops before the stock bumpstops would engage. For my setup I wanted the other stock bumpstop to engage at the last bit of travel. I did this for two reasons, (1) I want to get all of the up travel I can out of the front suspension and (2) I do not want all of the work load to be absorbed by just one part of the lower A arm. This rear bumpstop area is the same area that others in OZ weld on strengthening plates from repeatedly bottoming their bumpstops. I know we have not seen this area fail in the US but it makes sense to be proactive.

Update: I need the fender washers, front wheels are rubbing at full stuff at speed.

 

[Newps]

Next up was the front shocks. Driver side was pretty simple and straight forward. Top nut was tight but nothing to dramatic.

The passenger side was another story. This side was stupid tight. The strap wrench I was using could not hold the shock body tight enough. I was also using a 2 ½ foot cheater bar on the top nut. After several attempts, one of which included me smashing my thumb against the frame when the strap wrench slipped on the shock body. I gave up and grabbed a pipe wrench. This worked great and held the shock with no slipping. It still took He-man strength to break the frickin nut lose but it complied.

I did my due diligence and read up on MUD all about how to adjust and install torsion bars. This gave me a basic understanding off all the parts and how they work together. So now armed with this new false sense of security I jumped right in to this job. Loosen adjuster bolt, check. Loosen front A-arm bolts, check. Pull / slide out torsion bar from rear bracket, **** me. Nobody explained in any detail that this is the problem area. You see dirt and water hit this area and it just rusts up. Making a simple sliding of the torsion bar out of the socket / holder a serious pain in the ass. You folks however get to learn from my experience.

Step 1.
Grab a bucket and go to town with liquid wrench / PB blaster on this end of the torsion bar. I mean go to town, all the way around the bar, cover that puppy.
Step 2.
Grab a big hammer and pound on the torsion bar and the area where the torsion bar meets the socket / adjuster arm.
Step 3.
Now climb under your rig. Make sure you have it safely jacked up and have a back up jack in place.

Put your head under the A-arm and your foot / toes on the adjuster arm and pull / slide the torsion bar towards the front of the rig.

This was the only way I could get the leverage I needed to pull / slide the torsion bar out of the adjustment arm.

Installing the new OME torsion bars was the same process only in reverse. The next problem I encountered was how to property index the new bars. Basically you want them to be in about the middle of the adjustment range. “Why the middle?” you ask, because to low and you can’t adjust them high enough to get the lift amount you desire. To high and the adjustment nut and hardware hangs down to low. “Why should you care if they hang down low?” Because they could be smashed or dragged on rocks. These rigs are low slung, if you take them in rocks you will be dragging the underbody all over stuff. The torsion arm adjustment nuts and arms are not something you want all jacked up. For me this took quite a few tries until I understood how to get them exactly where I wanted. I now consider myself an expert on adjusting & installing torsion bars. This is why I do this crap myself, not because it’s fun (it can at times) but because I learn something. Sometimes I learn I don’t like learning.

 

[Newps]

Once I got the adjustments arms all dialed in, it was time to adjust them for ride height. From my research on MUD it became clear that you need to have 2 to 2 1/2 inches of down travel or the ride and wheel travel will suffer. This was accomplished through trial and error. I measured from the bottom of the wheel lip (18 inch wheel) to the top of the wheel well opening. With the suspension fully extended I measured 33 inches. So I want to adjust my bars to read 30 & ½ inches (bottom of wheel to top of wheel well) at ride height. What followed was a series of jack up the truck turning the adjustment nut then lowing it and measuring. My t-bars have already settled a ¼ inch. As of right now it sits at 30 & ½ inches, mission accomplished.

Test drive time, truck rides way better with the new shocks and torsion bars. Front end is not stiff at all, ride quality is smooth and controlled. Before it was a rolling ship and turned like a drunken sailor. Now it's precise and controlled with very little body roll. There is a perfect dip in the road by my house to test out the new front end. Before all I could do was roll it, now I can blaze it at any speed. I doubt I am even hitting the new Timbren bumpstops yet. I will need to test this and report back.

Next up this week will be the rear shocks and springs. I think I’ve read just about everything I can on here so I have a pretty good mental picture of what I need to do. Already purchase a 22 mm spanner wrench from Sears.

 

[Newps]

Update on my hose clamps. I recently purchase some of the hose clamps with smooth inside and the rolled edges. I replaced the standard hose clamps that I had installed over the stock ones with these. I have since found out that you do not want to install hose clamps over the stock ones. If you do they will weep and leak. So I removed the stock ones and installed these new ones. So far everything looks good, no leaking.

 

[Cruzer_89]

Rig looks great, can't wait to be able to do that to my LX one day when i finish my 40...

 

[Newps]

Thank you for the kind words. What this you say “finish the 40?”. To my recollection no project rig has ever been officially finished, .

 

[no-pistons]

So Timbren only gives you 2 bumpstops for the front instead of 4?

 

[Newps]

So Timbren only gives you 2 bumpstops for the front instead of 4?

Correct only two, one per side.

 

[no-pistons]

Correct only two, one per side.

Wow, that makes them seem even more expensive. Do they recommend running 4 up front, or just 2 of them along with 2 factory bumpstops like you have it?I really like the idea of these bumpstops, since I bottomed fairly hard a few times on my last trip to the desert, but I just dont understand how basically 2 pieces of rubber cost over $200. Maybe I'm missing something?