GHOST SHIP: Custom Chingaderas

Whatever the fee is, I’ll pay it

 

And no 'after' pics either, we need the raw-at-the-scene pics

 

EGGZACKLY!!!

 

Sorry to see that Sergio. Hope you heal quickly!

 

Damn bro, heal up and speedy recovery! Sana Sana colita de rana.

 

You guys should check out the Gore thread. Good stuff in there but it gets a bit chatty. I won’t post a pic here in case anyone isn’t into that sort of thing, but the rest of you weirdos can find me here:


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-nsfw-gore-ignore-the-kitty-thumbnail.396595/

 

Yo Ghost, just curious..have you ever fabricated a shield for the catalytic converters?

 

I’ve added wings to a few skid plates to protect the cats, but never bothered with a stand-alone cat protector. They’re so common and competitively priced now that it’s really not worth my time to look into it beyond that. If you have skids and want to add the wings, I can do that though.

 

Soooo unbelievably clean sir!! Nice job Sergio! Man I wish you lived closer.

 

Thanks Jared! I was just out your way a few weeks ago. Kind of a last minute thing or I would’ve reached out. Probably be out there again some time later this year though.

 

Most certainly reach out sir......I will do my best to move mountains....

 

Todays project: telling front suspension to quiet down. We’re replacing spherical bearings/uni-balls in king coilovers (lower mount) and Camburg UCAs on @medicfung ’s third gen. Frequent flyer here at the shop so he put up with my limited mobility as my thumb is still healing.

You should know by now I’m always looking for ways to save money so I steered him away from buying replacement uniball kit directly from camburg and just buying the exact same FK bearings from Wheelers instead for $100 less. The Camburg kit comes with new circlips and other odds and ends that you don’t really need unless they’re severely buggered up (not a huge problem in SoCal). The wheelers kit is just the FK uniballs so you have to make sure to reuse your hardware.
The lower spherical bearings we used are an all stainless kit from 303 Shock Service. The OEM King parts are steel and prone to rust as you can see from the pics below. They are also the source of a horrendous front end squeak that was the catalyst for this project.



You can see here that the bearing cup is badly corroded and wallered out at the bottom. There was only about 40% left of what was once the Teflon liner on both sides- a piece of it is seen above that looks like a burnt toe nail. The keen observer will noticed that the one-piece inner sleeve of the bearing is missing- yeah, you’re not supposed to be able to remove that with simple hand tools. The cup was so badly worn that the sleeve came out as we were pressing out the assembly.



The king lower wasn’t too bad. Cleaned it up with some 2000 grit sandpaper and wd40. Used a bit of anti-seize to press in the new bearing.




No “after” because the new parts aren’t easy to see anyway, but the drive home should be super quiet now.

 

She’s quiet now, thanks to you Sergio!!! Thanks homie, it feels as solid as a new front end! Buttery smooth shock travel and articulation

 

great to feel a truck with newly maintained suspension, downside....you start noticing all the things the noise kept you from noticing.

 

I always ask myself after, why did I wait so long to do it? Haha, now I know. It’s added to my scheduled maintenance based on mileage, and now sound. Once i hear it I know to get it taken care of.

 

I wonder if that's what's making so much noise on my truck...shocks are due for a servicing

 

It’d be a good thing to look at next time you’re under the truck. If they’re as badly worn as the ones we replaced, you should be able to see it while the shock is still mounted. Once you pull the shock the amount of play in the lower spherical bearing should be immediately noticeable and severe.

FWIW, I’ve only really seen it this bad with King shocks. There have been other issues with other brands (icon) where the inner sleeve can wear through but that usually happens for a different reason (worn or loose hardware) but I haven’t seen the same amount of corrosion in fox or icon.

Someone from the east coast might have a different experience but that’s just what I’ve seen out here in southern California’s beautiful San Fernando Valley.

 

crap, now I need to change my shocks......should've stayed stayed outta here.....Surgiiieeeooo is a trouble maker!