Cincinnati Area Thread (Tri-State, Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana)

If anyone is off work Monday and bored, I’ll be in the garage working on the truck most of the day. I don’t necessarily need a second set of hands but wouldn’t turn them down. Or if you just want to drink beer and tell me how I’m doing everything wrong, that works too.

 

If no one wants to help you, they can come help me tear my barn down so my new 30x40 can go up

 

What you doing? I just did front wheel bearings... Again....this morning.

Barn? Is there extra barn wood? You have my attention. Lol.

 

I am about a hour away. I do carpentry and remodeling. Let me know if you need help.

 

Ill be working on the rear suspension first. Going to remove the overload leaf from both sides and then install new shocks. If I get that done, I’ll be doing some more frame painting (next up is the section between the front and rear wheels and my one piece rear driveshaft).

If I manage to get all of that done, I’d like to get the front of the truck on jack stands as well so I can have all four wheels off. I want to list my 1.25” BORA spacers for sale and take the wheels/tires to Discount Tire to have the F5s mounted. Goodbye stock wheels and spacers!

I’ve also got new coil overs for the front and a new power steering rack that needs to go in, but I don’t think I’ll get that far tomorrow. The main goal is to finish the rear suspension and have everything painted up to the front wheels before I start working on the front.

 

Started mine today and realized I don't have the press fixture I had last time I did them 2 houses ago

Jealous of the bolt in assembly rn.

 

Well, I’m off to a slow start... one of the rear 5100s has a rounded off head so I can’t hold the shock while loosening the nut. Anyone want to bring a pair of vice grips over? I can’t find mine and will have to go to Lowe’s or Home Depot otherwise.

 

And now they’ve both rounded off... I got the lower shock bolts out of both of them but have no idea how I’m gonna get these top nuts off without damaging the shocks.

EDIT: I’m going to Lowe’s to get vice grips and metal cutting blades for the sawzall...

 

Well, that didn’t take long. Vice grips didn’t work but sawzall FTW. Guess these things are garbage now...

Also found a random washer looking piece stuck to the bottom of the upper driver’s side mount that wasn’t there on the passenger side. I had to pry on it for a while before it bent in half and finally gave up. It’s that piece in the middle.

 

Of course this couldn’t be easy... now I can’t get any of the 8 nuts loose from the U bolts. I’ve used my cordless impact, my air impact and I even torched two of them and nope, they won’t break loose. Sometimes I really hate living in the Midwest...

Guess it’s back to Lowe’s to buy a half inch breaker bar and hope the PB blaster I sprayed on them does something.

 

just keep telling yourself that all this headache and frustration will be worth it when you’re all done.

and by more beer. And ice for the beer.

 

Sounds like it was a day of headaches for @09TRDSport4x4 .

That washer thing is supposed to be there (on both sides). I believe it aligns the smaller diameter in the center of the larger diameter hole on the shock perch.

If those were front 5100s I'd be all over the bottom bushing like a vulture on a fresh kill.

 

Yep, beer is a definite must when working on rusted and seized suspension. And hey, at least I managed to accomplish one thing...

It was a frustrating day, that’s for sure. I ultimately gave up on the U bolts and decided I’d just order new ones. Guess I’ll get some more use out of those metal cutting sawzall blades.

And hmm, now I’m concerned that my truck is missing part of the rear upper shock mounts... I’ll have to do some research before I install the new rear shocks.

Oh and the front 5100s are coming out too. But I wasn’t planning on removing the 885s from them and figured I’d sell them for whatever I can. I’ll have a garage sale of parts to list for sale eventually...

 

$200 for the whole truck as it is. This way, you wont have to deal with any of the headaches going forward. Win/win.

 

201$

 

Grinder with a cutoff wheel is a magical thing of beauty.

Lop off the top of the shock stud that you are replacing with fancy new shocks, why bother with it at all.
Cut those stuck u-bolts in half and replace them. I get mine from a local big truck spring shop for about $60 set.

The job would also go much faster without all the painting n cares. Jus saying

 

A grinder is about 152 times faster than a sawzall. Plus you'll burn through 1 maybe 2 of the crazy expensive carbide tipped sawzall blades on the hardened U bolts (if they're anything like the LCA cam bolts). So, opt for the grinder when possible, but be careful.

If you haven't already, maybe consider going with a U-bolt flip if you're buying new u bolts. Wheeler's sells a flip kit for $90 (with no bump stops), and their replacement u bolts are only $26 if you need to replace them down the road (here's the u bolts: )

The washer part comes with the rear shocks normally. I also found a Toyota part number: 90948A2006

If you're close to Edgewood Ky and want to come over here I have a garage full of about every tool you could need, plus I've done about everything you're in the process of working on.

 

I have the angle grinder ready with a new cutoff wheel. And yep, I should have just been prepared to hack everything to pieces before I started yesterday, would have saved me a lot of hassle. I guess I just didn’t expect it to be so seized after only 4 years, but oh well, you live and you learn...

And yeah, I can get new U Bolts for about $55 shipped so not a big deal. I won’t have time to work on the truck again until this weekend so I can wait on shipping. And at this point, it’s probably best to replace them anyway.

Also, I’m not really in a huge hurry to get any of this stuff done, so no rush. I was just a bit frustrated yesterday when it seemed like nothing could go right on my one day off work. And I totally agree with you about making this take longer than it should but my OCD tends to just take over... besides, like Ed said, when I’m finally done and the truck is back on the road, it’ll be worth all the effort and frustration. I hope.

 

Until November-March 2021