Spectre
The Deported
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2007
- Messages
- 36,832
- Location
- Dallas, Texas
- Car(s)
- 00 4Runner | 02 919 | 87 XJ6 | 86 CB700SC
It's basically been raining constantly since my last post to this thread, so I hadn't gotten anything done. A recent incident on the highway made it very clear I needed to do something about the bad front strut situation and perhaps install the guard. Der Stig kindly lent me his garage as a place to work out of the rain and I headed over.
Prior to my arrival, Der Stig and Nabster had used the former's garage to attach some accessories to the latter's new Mustang and they were heading out as I was heading in. Unloaded the struts, other parts and the grille guard from the back and set to work.
It took me a while to get the first strut done because I didn't realize I needed to disconnect the antiroll bar and I was missing a sufficient prybar to lever down the suspension arms to get a strut in or out. Once those were taken care of, the work sped up. First one took about 90 minutes, the second one took about 20 with the right tools and the bar disconnected.
What I removed from the truck was some very shot Monroe Reflex Quickstruts that were less than 40,000 miles old but were clearly lunched. The shocks were leaking, the rubber had perished in multiple places, the bushings were shot... The last I already knew about, the other two I had expected. Side note: Local acquaintance of the Dallas FG group insisted up and down that the rubber and other bits would be fine and that I should only buy shocks and springs. Good thing I ignored him because having all new parts that were assembled into complete strut units ahead of time and replaced all the pieces sped this up immensely and meant that I didn't care about the "surprise" screwed up parts.
Quickstruts are QuickGarbage. Cheap and easy to install, look good on paper, fall apart fast.
Anyway, after the last front strut was in place, Der Stig and Nabster helped me put the Manik guard on. Went on easily with minimal fuss and we were easily able to remove the "shadow mask" horizontal bars 'protecting' the headlights - which were recently made illegal here due to idiots actually using them to mount materials to block their headlights. I didn't like the look of that type anyway, so it was no loss to me.
I think it looks better with the grille guard in place; with the help of Nabster and Der Stig we got the bar on pretty quickly and called it a night after that. Next on the agenda is installing the polyurethane antiroll bar bushings I have for it as well as installing my KC HIDs intended for the Bronco.
About the only thing I don't like about the front suspensions work and the new parts is that since the front end is fixed, the rear end's deficiencies are definitely showing themselves and they'll force me to fix them in the next week or so.
In another area, I moved over the entire electronic guidance and warfare suite from the defunct Bronco. I have a Garmin Nuvi GPS, Valentine 1 radar detector and a G1W dashcam. I don't have the hardwire kits for them in yet so there's cords everywhere as opposed to them being hidden as they should be. The V1 is in the dead space above and to the left of the mirror, the G1W is concealed from the driver behind the right side of the mirror and the Garmin is tucked down and to the left as a "minimap" - it has live traffic and can he quite useful.
Prior to my arrival, Der Stig and Nabster had used the former's garage to attach some accessories to the latter's new Mustang and they were heading out as I was heading in. Unloaded the struts, other parts and the grille guard from the back and set to work.
It took me a while to get the first strut done because I didn't realize I needed to disconnect the antiroll bar and I was missing a sufficient prybar to lever down the suspension arms to get a strut in or out. Once those were taken care of, the work sped up. First one took about 90 minutes, the second one took about 20 with the right tools and the bar disconnected.
What I removed from the truck was some very shot Monroe Reflex Quickstruts that were less than 40,000 miles old but were clearly lunched. The shocks were leaking, the rubber had perished in multiple places, the bushings were shot... The last I already knew about, the other two I had expected. Side note: Local acquaintance of the Dallas FG group insisted up and down that the rubber and other bits would be fine and that I should only buy shocks and springs. Good thing I ignored him because having all new parts that were assembled into complete strut units ahead of time and replaced all the pieces sped this up immensely and meant that I didn't care about the "surprise" screwed up parts.
Quickstruts are QuickGarbage. Cheap and easy to install, look good on paper, fall apart fast.
Anyway, after the last front strut was in place, Der Stig and Nabster helped me put the Manik guard on. Went on easily with minimal fuss and we were easily able to remove the "shadow mask" horizontal bars 'protecting' the headlights - which were recently made illegal here due to idiots actually using them to mount materials to block their headlights. I didn't like the look of that type anyway, so it was no loss to me.
I think it looks better with the grille guard in place; with the help of Nabster and Der Stig we got the bar on pretty quickly and called it a night after that. Next on the agenda is installing the polyurethane antiroll bar bushings I have for it as well as installing my KC HIDs intended for the Bronco.
About the only thing I don't like about the front suspensions work and the new parts is that since the front end is fixed, the rear end's deficiencies are definitely showing themselves and they'll force me to fix them in the next week or so.
In another area, I moved over the entire electronic guidance and warfare suite from the defunct Bronco. I have a Garmin Nuvi GPS, Valentine 1 radar detector and a G1W dashcam. I don't have the hardwire kits for them in yet so there's cords everywhere as opposed to them being hidden as they should be. The V1 is in the dead space above and to the left of the mirror, the G1W is concealed from the driver behind the right side of the mirror and the Garmin is tucked down and to the left as a "minimap" - it has live traffic and can he quite useful.
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