Cynicalriders "J0hnny5 is ALIVE!" 01 build thread.

Nice work, Mike!!! Feels good to have that done, doesn’t it?

And yes, the lower mounts from Ruff Stuff were just narrow enough to not quite get the shocks to fit. I ended up playing musical chairs with the misalignments until one side fit, but ultimately I had to run one of the misalignments along a file until the other side finally fit. I thought maybe the mounts were slightly over-bent, but when I mic’d them with my calipers they were dead nuts 1.50”. That aside, I’m super happy with mine, they’re beefy AF!

 

I’ll say this: it was a long day but it was an absolute pleasure to lend a hand. Mike, this was very well thought out and planned. Even making adjustments on the fly was simple & easy.
I wish every mod day went a such.

 

Yeah man they were tighter at the shock mount area but wider on the axle. I’m glad we were able to make a ghetto spreader to open them up a smidge enough to get it in there.

Haha well thanks Craig! I have only been researching this mod for like 2 years now and tried to cover every available scenario possible. I’m just happy it went as smoothly as it did. Seriously thanks for the help, both you and Ant.

 

Yep, I too rigged a mini press with the bolt and a couple nuts to spread the lower mounts slightly.

Looking great. You going to extend the e-brake arms on the rear drums? I haven't yet, but thinking I will eventually, so the cable doesn't rub on the leaf pack.

 

Probably not only because they always rubbed on the leafs and it's never really been an issue, so I don't see the point in doing it now. I just want to make sure there is enough slack in it so that it's not always partially engaged.

 

I made some for mine. It obviously won't hurt the leaf springs but I was more concerned with the cable wearing though over time.

 

I'd love to just delete the e brake bull shit one day.

Finished editing the photos from the last camping trip while I was on vacation, nothing crazy but I love the one photo Ant got of Mac and I.

IMG_3668 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_3676 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_3681 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_3684 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_3694 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_3699 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_3702 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_3703 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_3707 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

I love how your dog is posing in the window for the pic. Haha.

 

Haha yeah it's one of my new favorites of us.

 

Hahaha I was going to ask if you had a leaking axle seal!


Nice work guys!

 

Yup lol started that this morning before work.

 

what a beast! love seeing the progress, and process of this truck!

 

Didn't realize how many pics you got of the day, that was a marathon of drinking and wrenching. Glad to lend a hand, truck is looking tits man.

 

What kind of saw is that you were cutting the plate with?

 

It's this guy, I've been digging it.

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-mini-metal-saw.html

 

Awesome, going to pick one of these up for sure. All I have to cut with is a loud ass chop saw, sawzall and cutoff wheels on a grinder. This will be so much better/less scary than the damn grinder!

 

Yup! The hardest thing I find about it is not being able to see where I am cutting at all. I can pretty well approximate it with the markers at the front but I hate that I can’t see it as well as a standard circular saw. Cuts great though!

 

Yesterday kicked my fucking ass. I learned a ton about this project and how to press this shit out based on what I have and things I made. The biggest thing I learned is that there is 3 studs pressed into the bearing holder, and the last one is a special shaped stud for the e brake components. It also needs to be pressed in a certain order because you can't remove/install that stud in with the axle on.

This is the special stud:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

This is how I got the first retainer and the tone ring off. I tried cutting it Thursday night and I got nervous about cutting the axle so I got this and ghetto rigged a setup in the press: Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

After that I could use the tool I made to pull off the rest. (I made the tool out of a non ABS axle so I had to take the other shit off first.)


Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr


I decided to replace the backing plate, e brake hardware (most of it anyway) and power washed, and hit with the wire wheel/rust converter for the rest of the shit.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I pressed the bearing back in but it popped out anyway when I tried to press the retainer on. I tried the hammer trick but it sketched me out. So I took my square tube, cut 6 inches and set it in the press.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

This worked great.

From there I used my original measurments as a jump off point.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

After that I marked the retainer with perm marker and spun it to test the seal and adjusted accordingly till the seal rode in the center of the retainer.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Kicked my ass, hope it's good, only 2 days left.

 

Last big push.

Changed out the pads on the drivers side. The entire front end braking system needs a rebuild, but that will happen when I go to tundy brakes hopefully this winter.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Pumped out and replaced the diff fluid cause I still haven't ground the welds to undue the plug yet.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Fabbed more support for the spare that ain't even getting painted.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

The bolt to the side of the bed holds it pretty securely, but the tire likes to try to inch out at the bottom.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Packed the tool box and spare fluids tub.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And replaced the camp light connection with a true 16ga connection since the supposed 16ga I got on zon was getting hot AF.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr