Before going on a trip from California through NV, AZ, UT, ID, WY, MT, SD, IA, NE, KS and finally MO I took care of a couple things. I grinded off some rust on the rear hatch and applied some Rustoleum 'rust reformer' to it. It has a real nice rubber feel that is supposedly paintable, and it does feel and look like it will take paint very nicely. I have not applied my color matched paint yet, but below is a picture of what it looks like after 4 days of going through a car wash, on road and off road driving time (instructions recommends at least 24 hours), blizzard like conditions in northern Utah and southern Idaho (Teton Pass) and very heavy rains throughout. It has held up very nicely.
I also changed out my front brakes to match the rears that I did a few weeks back. These trucks really go through the pads, but it stops very strong, straight and smooth now. I tend to use Akebono wherever possible because they are quiet, long lasting and dust free. However this time, because I have had great results with them on big & heavy vehicles in the past i went with Duralast Gold components. The pads have a lifetime warranty that I have never had to use, but it is a nice bonus. These pads are also very quiet and provide a nice OEM feel.
Did the front sway bar disconnect too using some 3/8 inch pins from Homer Dee Poe. Took less than 10 minutes for both sides.
Left LA Wednesday morning and spent the night in south Salt Lake City. Then stopped in Green River Wyoming to visit with
Reevesci. We stuck on my beautiful new sliders which he had already primered at my request so I could paint them later in my trip. Then we went for a short trip in his 98 LC100 equipped with a lot of nice equipment, including the Tough Dog suspension. This is my first time riding in a lifted LC100. So I cannot comment on feel in direct comparison to any other lifted set up on these Cruisers. However I have ridden in many lifted trucks. Most of the time the ride gets worse unless you spend a ton of cash and get things like extended (long travel) control arms, King remote reservoir shocks and other high end high cost components. And even then it is very difficult to match things up and get a nice ride on
and off road while not sacrificing body roll control and general safe handling characteristics. So I think it best for me to compare it to my mostly stock set up. I have replaced my fsb bushings & brackets, links & link bushings. I have also replaced the rear links and bushings. Rancho RS9000xl with 9 position adjustability were added at all four corners, which I like a lot. I feel I should also mention that I am currently running Bfgoodrich KO2 305/70/16 E load tires which I run at 34 psi cold. My LC100 rides perfectly level (ZERO rake) when mostly unloaded, then when I add some weight I compensate a little withe the Ranchos, which I run 5 fr/5 rr when unloaded and 6fr/6 rr loaded. My Cruiser rides very, very nice. The Tough Dog suspension rode equally as nice as my suspension up front, while handling smaller impacts like washboard and similar ripples a bit better than my set up. I would rather not report
much on how the rear tough dog suspension rode however because it was set up with the 'heavy' springs and was not loaded properly for that set up. It road nice in the back, but like all suspensions, it would have likely ridden better when tasked with the proper load for the spring rating. Not to mention, like when driving around in an unladen f-550 chassis cab truck, feedback and feel will be very poor. If I was to get a lift now, I would most definitely give the Tough Dog suspension a good hard look, I would probably just go with the 'medium' load rear springs as I do like a firmer ride and the added load carrying potential of a medium load spring for my modestly equipped Cruiser. Plus I love the anti fade properties of these foam cell type shocks. I have also become attached to shocks with external adjustability, from the Ranchos on my LC100 to the Ohlins on my GSX-R 1000 and the Koni yellows on my 335i, the ability to adjust my suspension in this way has become something that I
can no longer live without. So am am very happy to report that these Tough Dog shocks, which
are super beefy looking and feeling, are also 9 position externally adjustable.
Yesterday me, my brother and his son went out in the mountains near
Wolf Creek, Montana and drove through some rather hard snow tha was also 3-4 feet deep. I think I lodged some of this snow
over the TJM skid plates and disconnected my air line to my TJM front locker...




. So today my project has already begun to remove the TJM skidplates and OEM front skid plate to make the necessary repairs. Just waiting for the temps to creep up closer to 50 degrees before I crawl around on the icy ground.
tana