07 level II YELLOW submarine

[MaicoDoug]

DONE!

The FOX 2.0 with Eibach 800lbs/inch springs did the trick.

Here we are with new lower A arms. The upper shock tower has the gussets welded in. I went with my own material for those gussets. I could get away with longer gussets on both sides. It was tight. I did have to grind to fit a tad bit as the test fit showed the coil spring to lower gusset was too close & may hit on full compression which I could not attempt. Also needed to relocate the brake holding bracket 1 inch forward. One important step to be sure to do is some initial test fitting with the shock fully assembled which was the first step. You can see the upper mount tilted to capture the upper Heim joint without excessive misalignment. These were primed and painted.

Kartek in Corona, CA https://www.kartek.com/parts/kartek-off-road-bench-vice-soft-jaws-for-king-fox-or-sway-a-way-58-34-or-78-shock-shafts.html
has the soft jaws required for installing the extended eyelets and both are required, not to mention a very heavy duty vise.

 

[MaicoDoug]

More rustoleum hammered silver after primer on the cleaned up spindles
.

 

[MaicoDoug]

Here it is. I think it gained an inch of so, maybe 2. It's leveled and drives with a fingernail. All the balljoints were not totaled, but certainly needed replacing. The inner & outer steering rods were fine. Most likely already been replaced ~ 40-50kmi ago. (145kmi currently).

.

Got some new headlice buckets also....

I know that the front bumper is up as far as it will go. Time to do some re-alignment of the body panels.

 

[MaicoDoug]

In retrospect I believe that the whole rebuilding the front end was well worth it after a Father's Day drive down to the big metropolis of Houston. The transmission did well in cruse control shifting between 4th & 5th doing 75-80mph in the hills. (yes we have hills here in Texas). The project was very simple not having to press any ball joints. The side benefit was having the new complete A arms for little additional $$. I'm glad I had my 30" x 1/2" breaker bar. I used a half can of Mobil 1 grease. The new wheel bearing assemblies were around $100 each and the Detroit Axle kit was $280 shipped.

The alignment shop only had to set the toe in. The camber was already set by the fixed washers on top of the upper A arm hinge points, which one needs to be careful to not disturb their position and make note of when the upper A arm bolts are removed.

I would do it all again. The gain is well worth it knowing and driving this old blonde like she was a new youngster once again. Time to take a deep breath and get this front end together. Perhaps some bent up Baja prerunner front bumper & skidplate next? Any thoughts?

I just hope & pray that she won't decide to spring an oil leak like she did 2 days ago. Never fails. Do one thing and another things springs up. It was a backed out oil pan bolt. Thought it was a rear main seal. Leaking from the area of the flexplate. Dodged that one. Then I saw the loose pan bolt 3 bolts up from the rear. Weird. It was a drip every 30 seconds.

To conclude I have to send out a BIG thank you to everyone here at the RANGER STATION. Directly or indirectly you ALL have given me a smile & inspiration. From my love for my ole solid lifter red hod rod '83 2.8L to my 2nd Yellow Sub Ranger, this is a good thing. Thanks to everyone. - Doug

 

[Fire]

Great write up Doug!
One question, I couldn't seem to find where you listed the source for the brackets for the coil spring conversion. did I miss it somewhere?

 

[MaicoDoug]

Hello Fire-

The gentleman who or I should say, used to, now has retired from making these currently. Sorry.

 

[c_note]

How’s the truck ride with the coilovers? Any feedback is appreciated as I might do it also.

 

[MaicoDoug]

Still a touch stiff, mainly because the preload is set too high as I was attempting to gain an additional 2 inches and level the front with the rear. Next (between projects) will be to delete that 3/8" extra heavy duty leaf that came on the rear. That will lower the rear an inch of so, major soften the rear ride. Then I will dial out the front coilovers for less preload. One thing that I must say, is that rebuilding the front end, especially the ball joints needed replacement, this combined with all the other parts I threw into the front end (+ alignment) actually worked to tame the "cement truck". On big slow rollers, the current setup takes the big stuff really well. I could never hit these before. Just the little bumps are too bothersome, so the preload is too much. But that has helped break in the Eibach 800 lb/in spring.

The adaptor brackets are easy to fab. I went with a prefab option, however the gent has ceased making them currently. I do believe that the heim pickups are available to somewhere. Then a new lower A arm could be beefed up on the bench to carry the lower shock mount. I used the direct replacement design that uses the T-bar, not the coil spring. There is a 3/8ths through hole that is used to align the lower plate that connects to the lower shock mounting. Then then are 2 additional holes, one dropped and one on the plate top edge. See the pictures posted.- Doug

 

[c_note]

Still a touch stiff, mainly because the preload is set too high as I was attempting to gain an additional 2 inches and level the front with the rear. Next (between projects) will be to delete that 3/8" extra heavy duty leaf that came on the rear. That will lower the rear an inch of so, major soften the rear ride. Then I will dial out the front coilovers for less preload. One thing that I must say, is that rebuilding the front end, especially the ball joints needed replacement, this combined with all the other parts I threw into the front end (+ alignment) actually worked to tame the "cement truck". On big slow rollers, the current setup takes the big stuff really well. I could never hit these before. Just the little bumps are too bothersome, so the preload is too much. But that has helped break in the Eibach 800 lb/in spring.

The adaptor brackets are easy to fab. I went with a prefab option, however the gent has ceased making them currently. I do believe that the heim pickups are available to somewhere. Then a new lower A arm could be beefed up on the bench to carry the lower shock mount. I used the direct replacement design that uses the T-bar, not the coil spring. There is a 3/8ths through hole that is used to align the lower plate that connects to the lower shock mounting. Then then are 2 additional holes, one dropped and one on the plate top edge. See the pictures posted.- Doug

How are the shock towers holding up? Are the reinforcement brackets keeping the towers from bending back or is anything bending/flexing?

 

[MaicoDoug]

Excellent question, the shock towers are holding up as modified. The included gussets were not used as some 1/8th plate I had was employed (MIG'ed) to beef up the stock tower. The gussets that I welded in are 2 inches longer than what the designer had included. The lower gusset section will interfere with the brake line support, which I did relocate a inch to the rear. The only issues that I'm having are the body mounts are "clunking". So when I get time, the 100 hour inspection should let me know how it's actually doing.

The 50 hour inspection was flawless.

Next, as I mentioned, backing off the pre-load on the front coilovers & remove that rear BIG leaf. I will post when that happens.
-Doug

 

[MaicoDoug]

After 160,000 miles, the blower motor quit coming back alive when I hit it with the handle end of my "soft" blow hammer. Of course this is very upsetting especially during a rainstorm here in south Texas. You see, the rain was coming down and hitting the roof and hood so hard that I couldn't hear the dang thing start back up again (as if it was re-born) say hallelujah!

Actually if this even happens to 'yall, simply ignore the youtube vids, and smash the top of the blower wheel to get 'er out & smash the top to get 'er back in. With yer thumb Metro Jethro. Put the hammer back in your toolbox. This will require yew to turn yer cellfoan OFF. Don't remove everything on the right fender. (But fill the work order like you did)~
Just an FYI.
Get 'er Done
-Doug

 

[ggomez2]

Hello, I need to do full front suspension on my 08 FX but intend to keep everything stock. I was hoping you could provide some advice and insight:
I play to replace upper and lower arms (with ball joints)
wheel bearings

I have alldiydata subscription but my fear is that once I start I won't be able to pull the torsion bars out, as my truck has been an Ontario Canada truck up until summer of 2020. Did you have any issues disassembling your front end?

 

[MaicoDoug]

ggomez2,

I'm sure in this case there are more ways to skin a cat.

Order all the parts. Detroit Axle is ~OEMish, Everything else is chinese junk. (like the boat)

1) Jack up the truck's front end off the floor. USE JACK STANDS! Lower truck onto jack stands.
2) Reverse the key adjuster bolts & remove.
3) Remove the T-bars. I removed the rear T-bar mounting assy at the rear, I believe they would normally slide out the rear.
4) Remove wheel & brake caliper assy. Support the caliper to the rear.
5) Impact off the 29mm? CV nut. Remove the carrier bearing.
6) Split the upper & lower A arms by loosening the top & bottom ball joints, using a second smaller jack, then remove the steering knuckle.
7) Remove the upper and lower A arm hinge bolts. Take care full note the upper placement of the "tangs" or washers that denote the camber adjustment. There are 4 choices since they each have a quarter turn / flat side. Having these back in their correct places will make the trip to the alignment shop much more pleasant.
8) Drop the sway bar, give to kids to paint red.
9) Remove & replace (R&R) the inner & outer Tie Rods. The inner rod can come loose after you adjust the outer one, so double check the inner one, or alternatively, rent the right tool. Just double Ck.
10) Reverse the procedure. Taking note of the Zerk fitting direction if you select such features. (The lower ball joint needs to be a 90 degree pointing to 7 or 11 O'clock using the outer axle referenced to 3 O'clock if that makes sense).

Take your time & work clean. My situation was more rust than greasy dirt. With some brush applied primer, the last coat was nice going for the hammered silver look. Don't forget the new set of boots, and for the truck too.

Questions?

 

[ggomez2]

ggomez2,

I'm sure in this case there are more ways to skin a cat.

Order all the parts. Detroit Axle is ~OEMish, Everything else is chinese junk. (like the boat)

1) Jack up the truck's front end off the floor. USE JACK STANDS! Lower truck onto jack stands.
2) Reverse the key adjuster bolts & remove.
3) Remove the T-bars. I removed the rear T-bar mounting assy at the rear, I believe they would normally slide out the rear.
4) Remove wheel & brake caliper assy. Support the caliper to the rear.
5) Impact off the 29mm? CV nut. Remove the carrier bearing.
6) Split the upper & lower A arms by loosening the top & bottom ball joints, using a second smaller jack, then remove the steering knuckle.
7) Remove the upper and lower A arm hinge bolts. Take care full note the upper placement of the "tangs" or washers that denote the camber adjustment. There are 4 choices since they each have a quarter turn / flat side. Having these back in their correct places will make the trip to the alignment shop much more pleasant.
8) Drop the sway bar, give to kids to paint red.
9) Remove & replace (R&R) the inner & outer Tie Rods. The inner rod can come loose after you adjust the outer one, so double check the inner one, or alternatively, rent the right tool. Just double Ck.
10) Reverse the procedure. Taking note of the Zerk fitting direction if you select such features. (The lower ball joint needs to be a 90 degree pointing to 7 or 11 O'clock using the outer axle referenced to 3 O'clock if that makes sense).

Take your time & work clean. My situation was more rust than greasy dirt. With some brush applied primer, the last coat was nice going for the hammered silver look. Don't forget the new set of boots, and for the truck too.

Questions?

This is great! I was going to either go a combo of all Moog (with Zerk fittings) upper and lower arms, or combo of Moog and Mevotech. Have you been happy with your Detroit Axle parts? I never considered them an option.

 

[MaicoDoug]

Good morning ggomez2,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163244983033

https://www.detroitaxle.com/

Going with the ebay route, I was sent sealed & zerk fitted parts. Different for each side. OK with me, just not what I was expecting. Apparently this was a "shelf clearing" attempt to clear out what they had. As far as the parts quality are concerned, I really had no other choice in light of all the other chinese options as they never came as an OEM issued part as the Detroit Axle did. So in view of any, "upgrades" as long as I'm going with "stock" parts & I can't find anything better, I believe I'll be fine.

Hey post some pictures man.
Thx for inquiring!
-Doug