What have you done to your 100 Series this week? (13 Viewers)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Finally got my Nitro UCAs this week, so I threw one of them on tonight. Installing the other one in the morning, then taking her in for an alignment on Tuesday. :steer:

UCA.jpg
 
I finally said enough and repainted my factory roofrack today. Taped and papered the roof and sides, rubbed down with prep-sol and sanded lightly to promote adhesion and chipped all the flaking crap off the crossbars. Sprayed about four light coats on each side and each crossbar.

Not the best pic but this is after I pulled most of the paper and tape off. No more grey and peely rack and crossbars! Next time I'm probably just gonna pull it and do it right but this is 100% better than what it had been before.

20170603_134147.jpg


Used this paint from my bodyshop, and it leaves a nice semi-matte eggshell finish. I'll be doing my wiper arms next time with it.

20170603_141338.jpg
 
Far out, looks a bit scary parking on that overhang...
Truly great quality family time, lots of fun for everybody, in two words: Great Dad

Appreciate the kind words. Thank you.
 
I have been a little busy this weekend. Several little projects that have been pending that I got knocked out.

  • Trail Tailor Rear LCA Skids:. Nice upgrade to protect the low hanging LCA mount. I grazed a rock with an unprotected mount a few months ago and this was enough encouragement for me to get the TT Skids. The supplied bolts do a nice job of forming the top of the skid around the LCA mount. Supplied hardware was perfect, and I think the added touch of supplying a drill bit for the job is first class support.
  • Trail Tailor Adj. LCA: I replaced my Metal Tech LCA's with Jasons TT LCA. The MT LCA did not have enough range of adjustability for my liking, so these are custom length to provide the least amount of thread showing on the Johnny Joint- for the least amount of stress on the JJ.
  • Slee Diff Drop: If any of you have read my previous posts and position on not running the diff drop, I have changed my mind- more on why in a minute. So I recently bought a full set of Slee skid plates, only to learn while reading the mounting instructions, that their front and intermediate skid plates are designed to work with their diff drop. I missed seeing that on their website. I probably could have chased alternate hardware to make it work with out, but WTH- I opted to buy and install the diff drop. Note: Slee recommends re-using removed hardware ( including the worn out diff support arm & bushing): maybe on a new truck but in reality you should replace old with new hardware, and if you have a high mileage rig, its a good time to replace the diff support arm. Its expensive but worthwhile. I ordered new hardware and parts in advance because I was sure it would be crusty and compromised and I was right. Anytime I put on new upgrades that use existing mounting points, new hardware gets installed as well.
Diff Drop Results: Prior to installing the diff drop I had the belief it wasnt necessary. It may not be for some, but in my situation (2.5" lift) I noticed a major positive result right away on my post install test drive. My Driveline vibe was gone. I had been chasing a slight driveline vibe at 65mph + for many months- to the point of replacing U-joints on both front & rear driveshafts, having the driveshafts high speed balanced on more than one occasion, playing with phasing, and some other witchcraft to try and correct what I was feeling. I can happily report that the driveline vibe is 95% gone, and its pretty darn smooth up to 80+mph. I attribute this to two things: 1.) Front prop shaft angle was nearly straight (0.1 degrees slope) after my 2.5" lift. I believe that there wasn't enough slope to properly load the U joint spiders for smooth operation. After installing the diff drop, I gained about 2 degrees of prop shaft slope. 2.) Reduced angle on my CV axles. I think the combination of better prop shaft angle, and better CV operating angles solved the resonate driveline vibe I was getting. Also replacing the worn diff support arm helped with minimizing diff movement shifting from park into F-N-R ( feels more solid). The fact that the diff is now lower by 20mm isn't a big issue relative to loosing ground clearance; the lower control arms and reinforcements still hang lower than the diff, and the Slee skid plate well protects the diff so I can slide over stuff.
  • Slee Front Skid: I chose the Aluminum front and intermediate skids to save my self about 60 lbs over steel. I don't spend time in rocks too much, and if these get bashed and warped, they can be hammered out. The Slee belly plate only comes in steel due to replacing the transfer case support cross member, and its the spot where the 100 usually gets hung up. The front skid went on with relative ease. It will be another weekend before I can get to installing the belly plate, cause that 100lb beast will take some wrestling to get into place. I may enlist a second set of hands for that.
Some pics:


IMG_2052.JPG


IMG_2053.JPG


IMG_2055.JPG


IMG_2058.JPG


IMG_2064.JPG
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom