Actually this post is about me FINALLY finishing the lift on my truck that’s been going on for about a year and some. The suspension isn’t 100% finished, but the ride height will finally be the way I want it. Two inches taller in the back, three inches taller in the front. I already lifted the back up and then had to get a drop hitch (which I leave in the truck all the time in case someone rear ends me again). The only things left to replace are the shocks (not critical) and the torsion bars (less critical). They do have 150k on them but they still have some life in them and I’m not too worried. And the shocks I can change without having to align the front end. Any way…
The hammer on the left is a rubber mallet. Everyone needs one! Especially those in the slapstick comedy industry. The hammer on the right is a three-pound dead-blow hammer. This hammer is great for hitting things really, really hard. The head is full of lead shot so when the head strikes an object all the shot shifts forward and almost all of the force is delivered to the object! It also minimizes recoil. But yes. Very useful and awesome. I used it to dislodge this piece:
…the upper control arm. This (and the lower control arm) are attached to the spindle (wheel) and do so much moving around and such that they actually get mechanically welded together, and the only way to separate the weld is to literally HIT IT AS HARD AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE WITH THE LARGEST AVAILABLE HAMMER. I have written articles about this in the past as it is probably the best solution (sometimes):
http://thetigernews.com/news.php?aid=6215&sid=2
Hammers aside, the point of replacing the control arm was 1) the old upper control arm ball joint was starting to wear out and needed to be replaced any way and 2) the new arm is lighter, allows for easier replacement of the ball joint, has greaseable fittings everywhere, is more durable, and allows for the proper ball joint angles to be achieved when the truck is lifted by cranking the torsion bars. (It is also necessary to reindex the torsion bars to get the full 3”. I currently reindexed mine one spline but the passenger side spring is weak so I may go back and set it over two splines.)
And the new arm looks like:
So! After getting the torsion bars back on and the arms in and the wheels on, this is the finished product! Compare to previous blog posts! YAYYY!
Speaking of the paint that’s falling off of my truck, if anyone out there is an artist and wants to paint a mural on my truck where the paint’s falling off (or anywhere else really), give me a ring. I’ll pay for the supplies (including food and beers etc).