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Red Beans 2/Maint + Upgrades

134K views 509 replies 65 participants last post by  lorenzo816 
#1 ·
I've been putting off some work on the Trooper so It was time to get started. Instead of several different threads or making the original Tow Boat thread 20 miles long I decided to start a new build thread. 1st a couple of posed shots on a camping float trip a couple of weeks ago. Just so we remember why we do this stuff.




I started on the rear axle because I just picked up a much needed rear sway bar. I have had a set of used Calmini HD sway bars since I got my truck. The front one is on the truck and the rear one won't work well with the OME springs I have. So I picked up an ADDCO rear sway bar for the 1st gen.
Addco on top. Calmini on bottom.


Calmini clamps to the leaf springs and the clamps won't line up and the U bolts are now much too short. This is Calmini bar laying on the spring where it would clamp.


The Addco bar end link goes to a plate that mounts on the bottom of the spring plate. And the fact that my OME springs are thicker. The end link is off by about an inch. Now add 2" of lift and that becomes 3" off on one end or the other of the sway bar. Frame mount or end link.


I'll either have to make the end links longer or space down the frame brackets. I actually have a kit that does that in my other truck which made me think that dropping the bracket was the way to go. The end links are pretty long already.
The sway bar kit comes with these cool U bolts that go in the frame.




I found some 3" channel at the junk yard down the road. It still has wood attached to it.


The size was right and It cleaned up fine. So here are my drop brackets.


I ended up turning them open side out because they just worked out better that way.



Much better angle on the sway bar arm here.


Than here.


End link bolted up.


That takes care of the sway bar. Had to take it back apart for paint and it's on the 2nd coat now. I haven't checked the exhaust now that this is together. Maybe it will go right over the sway bar since I dropped it.

Remember 2+ years ago?



Well 2 salty winters later here in the Mid Atlantic.


I knew my E-brake cables had frozen up. it seems so had the E brake part of the caliper.


The calipers also were not floating at all. The drivers side was stuck pretty well on the pin. It took some serious prying to get this caliper this far. Hasn't been that long since I last lubed them! 22k from a set of rebuilt calipers.


The rotors had worn as well.


So after a trip to the machine shop my Powerstop rotors are now nice and smooth again.


Still waiting on some brake parts. and then they will go back together along with new E brake cables. I'm going to change the rear diff oil, lube the driveshaft, and work my way to the transmission and transfer changing oils and then the front axle. Much more after that as I get to things.
 
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Discussion starter · #6 ·
AZneonguy said:
nice work Squatch.... 8) 8)

Wow 2 years and that must rust .... I am rust ignorant having been in Az all my life except a stint in Belgium in the Air Force....

Feel free to slam me or make mocking gestures for my ignorance at asking but here it goes .....

So that rust is caused form the salt they use on the roads correct?

Do most places use salt for winter roads or are there better ways just salt is cheaper?

I would almost be sick if I did all that great work to my Isuzu to have it rust like that in 2 years.....I think I would only drive it in summer and have a sacrificial vehicle to offer the Gods of winter each year...

Once again Squatch nice job.....
8) 8)
Most of that is caused by salt they put down to clear the roads. Not too bad really. Mainly the rust is on the springs. It hard to keep paint on springs but I'm not impressed with the coating on the OME springs. The rest is on parts like the caliper that get real hot and paint won't stick to those anyway. So they just got a quick spray job. The spray paint I put on the shocks has held up well, Frame is fine. There is rust on the back axle but that didn't really get anything more than a spray can job anyway. I already had it painted before I started the frame job. So it was just a dress up before I got carried away with everything else. Remember this isn't a new truck. Just a spruced up old one. When you start with rusty bolts and stuff it's going to come back sooner or later.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Just thought I'd copy and paste the To DO list from the things to do before Uwharrie thread. That list is pretty much driving this thread so far.

Replace control arm bushings.----------DONE!

Install NEW HD torsion bars.------------DONE!

Big front brakes and repack front hubs.--------------DONE!

Check/service rear brakes and probably change to semi metallic pads.-------Done! New calipers, pads, hardware, E brake cables, Rotors turned.

Install new rear E-brake cables and adjust. Salt finally got to them.-------Done!

Flush brake lines and bleed.---------DONE!

Grease front sway bar bushings.-----------DONE!

Grease chassis. --------------DONE!

Install new addco rear sway bar. ----------Done!

Front end alignment.-----------DONE!

Touch up chipped bedliner on body and bumpers. Possibly extend bedliner up to the same line Greasemonkey did on his 1st gen.-------------Ain't going to happen this time.

Fix fog lights. I think the relay died.

Touch up rust on wheels.---------AFTER URE.

Repaint rusty wiper arms and install new blades.

Compound paint and wax.----------AFTER URE.

Fix engine oil leak. (oil filter adapter)

Install and degree new Calmini cam in place of Delta 260. Break in and adjust valves. ---------AFTER URE.

New timing belt while I'm in there. It has 20k and it's easier to do while I'm in there. --------------AFTER URE.

New cap, Rotor, plugs.

Replace anti-freeze after I put radiator back in.--------AFTER URE.

Change all fluids engine, transmission, transfer, axles.-----------rear axle done.

Trans/Trans Done 3-11

Clean and re-oil K+N filter.

Replace Header collector gasket.

Exhaust work complete and resonator installed.---------DONE!

I'd also like to get the windows tinted and new seat covers.-----NOT YET

Install a new spare tire cover.--------NOT YET

The Eagle/Lorance GPS/sonar for my boat can use flash memory cards and has a map function. It won't tell you the directions but will display road maps and show you your GPS location on the map. I can way point mark the route as I go. I'd like to get another mount and power cord and dash mount it in my truck. Then I just pull it out and put it in the boat when I get to the ramp. ---------------This ain't going to happen anytime soon either.

Mount up my old CB in the truck--------Mounted NEW CB march 2011- Done!
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
stusvend said:
Oh cool, you got bushwacker flares? Cant wait to see a picture.
Here the preveiw from when I brought them home. I have a used set in good cond.


The drivers rear is on. I need to pick up some rivits on the way home today to keep going. I need to do a little body work on the rear pass door before I can install that one. I slid into a sign on the ice winter before last.

Made a nice find this am. I found a place on the other side of Balt that does SS and mandrel bent exhausts as their main bussiness. I'll probably be taking the truck there to get the exhaust straightened out from the sway bar install. SS exhaust is great but it's a pain to find someone to do the work. You really need a mandrel bender to keep from kinking the tubing. Most exhaust shops don't have one or a TIG welder.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
Spent last evening beating on my pass rear door with a hammer. Here is a pic of the problem taken when it happened. I haven't touched it since.


Just a small dent from sliding into a road sign on ice. It kept me out of the ditch. Anyway I borrowed a couple of dolleys from a neighbor and used some rods, punches and a hammer to beat the shape back into some form similar to the way it should be. Then I sanded and primed the spot. I didn't do any bondo work. The fender flare should cover most. I'll worry about bondo if and when I ever paint the truck. For now I just want the rust stopped before I cover the dent with a fender flair. I'm going to spray paint the primer tonight.

My rear calipers came in last night. I'm now the proud owner of a slightly used set of Isuzu OEM rear calipers. These look great and should be much better than the rebuilt junk that was on there. When the time comes someday I'll rebuild these myself. Right now they look like new. Even the E-brake springs are shiney. Now just waiting on the rear brake pads. I bought 3 sets of Non-Chinese made Semi Metallic rear pads on close out on Epay. If they work the way I want then I'm set for a good while. When they arrive I can get the rear end buttoned up with new caliper, pads, E brake cables. I changed the rear diff oil over the weekend. It looked great. After 20k miles on a "brand new" set of gears and LSD I expected some sparkle in the oil from break in( I did change the oil at 1k) but it was just dark from the LSD wear.

Also got a new cam belt and seal. Now I have what I need to install the Calmini cam!
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
stusvend said:
HOLY SALT CRUST BATMAN! :shock:
And you wonder why I have to fight rust. That was just a little one day snow sleet storm. Last winter the truck was white all winter. I had meant to take pictures. When I jacked my truck up and blocked the frame so the rear axle hung down I found saltsickles on my shocks. 1/4" thick crystals of salt up on the shock body where it is cover by the top part of the shock (3" overlap when sitting on the ground). Washing the truck under carrige in the spring didn't get in there. It looked like something you would see on a cave wall. I was actually growing salt cystal chains in side the shocks like we did in grade school.
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
A little update. I now have all the parts I need to work on the front end. Still wtg brake pads for the rear. So I finished the flares in the rear put it back on the ground and started up front. I still have to install the drivers side front flare and the piece of the rear one on the drivers side door. I would have finished last night but my 26 year old Craftsman 3/8" drill finally bit the dust. The cordless needed charging and I didn't feel like dealing with my 1/2" Milwaukee with an 1/8" bit. It's kinda heavy.

For those that are hyped about the Bushwackers let me explain. They pretty much look like stock flares on a Chevy truck and cover about the same. They only give about 3/4" to maybe 1" extra coverage. The stock RS flares extend more. The molding is OK but not awesome like all Bushwackers I've ever dealt with. Fit is OK not great. For me it was more of a conveinence thing. They were avail nearby for cheap used. The ones I was going to make would look just a well(to me anyway) and cover the wide tires better. I really need to find some pics of the old truck that had these. The piece that attaches to the rear door is a PIA to install. It is 2 pieces that don't really fit that well together.

As always the pic have been taken but are a little behind getting loaded. Don't expect as much pretty paint this time around as it really doesn't hold up that well underneath the truck and many of the replacement parts I'm using still have decent factory paint. That and I'm in a time push to get a lot of work done in the next few weeks.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
All the flares are now mounted. I'm going to have to wait until daytime to get some decent pics.

Did some scoping on the next phase which is to entirely take apart the front suspension and replace the control arm bushings. I used the old ones when I originally did the truck. The lower ones came with the frame which had over 200k on it. They were OK at the time. Cranking up the TBs is hard on control arm bushings though. The upper ones only have around 105k. They came on my truck. I've already got to other UCA's ready to go with new bushings pressed in. I didn't see any real rust on the lower bolts ect. I sure hope that's a good sign. I'm not looking forward to doing this job.

Has anyone found POLY boots for the Indy HD tie rods. My boots are toast in only 20K miles and are on the replacement list.

Just looking under the truck you can tell I run hard in gravel a bit. Some rust on the floorboard behind the front wheels where the tires constantly throw stuff up. I'll take care of that while I'm in there.
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
Just checked the old thread. I 1st drove her on 7-11-08 with 86+k miles on the clock. 2years later a little over 107k. Technically with my "historic" registration I'm not supposed to go over 7,500 a year. Looks like I'm doing 10,000. More the 1st year than this. New toy syndrome.

As far as putting her through the paces I definitely use her but try not to abuse her. I've driven almost 400k miles behind the wheel of a Trooper most of that 1st gen. I'm real familiar and comfortable with what they will and won't do. I'm not afraid to put her to work. I load more weight than most would in and behind this one but it is now set up for that. The 12 bolt will handle whatever you can put in and on the truck as well as the frame can. With the springs I'm running no worries. Not unusual at all to load 20-25 bags of mortar or concrete mix ect in the back. They run 80-90lbs a bag. The pics in my sig are real typical of the way she's normally driven. But mostly I drive pretty gentle. I don't really beat up on her. Not the way 4 wheeling does. Most of the off road duty is working not rock crawling. But most of the time she's driven it's for work or "expeditions". My DD is a 40 mpg Civic. It gets most of the normal duty. I do try to drive the Trooper every week or 2. But it can sit with the boat hitched up for weeks without unhooking. I just get in on the weekends and go. Of course this year the snow duty was pretty intense. Md threw the record books away last winter and wrote a new one. She saw a lot of this kind of load last year and will again soon.


The truck looks pretty stock but there is not much that wasn't touched or tweaked in some way. Some of what I'm working on now is project stuff that I just haven't gotten to yet. They're never done. Much is just maint and some is repairing things that really shouldn't need to be repaired but are great example of how low the quality of replacement parts has fallen. When I had my 1st Trooper and replaced calipers and Rotors I use brand new OEM because that's all that was available. Expensive but good for 150k+. The replacement rebuilt Wagner stuff I used on this truck does not impress me at all. 20k miles= 1 seized front caliper and both rear ones were hung up and the E brake part was rusted solid. I painted them when installed and lubed everything as I always do! The rear pads that came with the loaded calipers are 2/3 gone and roughly worn. I used to get 50-70k out of the OEM stuff.

My rear brake pads came in today and look pretty good. 3 sets of Italian made semi metallic pads on Ebay old stock clearance. $8 a complete rear set. If they work well I'm set for a while. They look real good side by side with the old ones.
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
Shooter had mentioned earlier getting all the pics for my truck in one place. They are here. http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w3/squatchout/ Also are the boat resto project and same for my Cub Cadet. The albums are a little sloppy these days. Just a place to store pic for links. Just click on an album in blue on the left and then click the pics. For every pic I post there are many more in the albums.

All the pics so far for this thread are here. http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w3/squatchout/bait/

Before.


After fixing dent. I didn't try to bondo it or get real perfect. I just tried to level it out, sand and spray some primer and paint on the spot. I'll go farther if/when she gets painted. I might do a Greasemonkey Rustoleium job in the color. Same as shocks but shows up in oics too bright because it's fresh. Rystolieum Maroon.


With flare.






Front pass.






Coverage on my 32x11.50x15's.


Rear Brake pads. Old on left, new on right, 21K miles!




The rear brakes were stuck on the float pins and dragging,

Rear Addco sway bar with homemade channel lift extentions. On the rear springs I hit them with wire brush then oiled them with gear oil. I pried the leaves apart a little with a scredriver and squirted motor oil between them> I then wiped down the rest of the springs with oil on a rag. This should slow down the rusting some. Not done yet in these pics.




 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
Well I thought my E-brake cables were frozen. They weren't it was just the calipers. I had drained motor oil through the old cables before I installed them. They still move fine. I'm going to replace then with the new ones anyway. I have to pick up brake pad hardware on the way home from work and intend to get the rear brakes done this evening.
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
btw1549 said:
Nice job with the sway bar drop brackets. As soon as I get the pictures of my extension brackets I'll have to post them so you can see how I did it. You are right it definitely would not have worked the normal way with the lift. Hopefully I will make it to NC this year so we can meet up.
Hope mine is back together in time. I've still got a lot to do!
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
The frame holes are already there.

I now have new brakes on the rear of Red Beans. The rear end work is pretty much complete. Sway bar installed, brakes and E-brake cables installed. Bushings and shackles lubed, rear end oil changed. Pics to follow. I've now started dismantling the front end. I'm going to have to clean the bench tonight to make room to organize all the front end parts.
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
I believe you have thermo quiet. I think they are ceramic which is the latest and greatest. Mainly because they make less dust than semi metallics. I had those on the rear and they SUCKED! AS A MATTER OF FACT THE ONLY BRAKE PARTS THAT SUCK MORE THAN WAGNER ARE RAYBESTOS. Sorry I had to rant. I have just removed 3 stuck and dragging WAGNER POS CHINESE MADE CRAP CALIPERS from my truck. The 4th one was replaced on the road early last spring because it seized up while driving. 20k miles and 2 years old and they were all toast. F*** OFF and DIE WAGNER!!!!!!!!!!!!
I despise replacing stuff I just replaced because some cheap a**ed company Doesn't see fit to make a decent product. I will never buy Wagner or Raybestos again.

Now that I've got that out of my system this is what Red Beans looks like under the front end on both sides this evening.


Here is the rear brake install.
The old "powerstop" rear drilled rotors. I had them turned and then took a drill bit to clean up the chamfers at each drilled hole.


Beautiful lightly used OEM Isuzu rear calipers.



The pads I'm using on the rear are "Rofren" brand semi metallics I bought off EPAY. Italian made.


I cannot stress this enough. Twice a year lube these 2 points with silicone disc brake caliper grease.
Float pin.


Bolt slider. remove it grease it and reinsert.


Caliper installed. alng with new pads and E-brake cables.




Also well oiled leaf springs.


Today I tore down the front end. I usually don't have problems with the "Superwinch" hubs but had to drill out 3 bolts on the pass side. I used a soft cheap allen wrench and it spun. I thought the hub was loose and smacked it with a mallet and cracked the flange on the housing. GREAT!

Removing tapered bolts.


Drilling out the tapered bolts. Use a drill bit the same size as the threaded part. Wait till they are all loose and don't smack the hub with a mallet.


When done drilling the body should pull off and leave this. I removed them with my fingers.


Next remove the snap ring and the big allen bolts. Note the block of wood against the wheel stud to keep the wheel hub from turning.



Now you can get to the bolts holding the rotor on. Same block of wood. 14mm head bolts.


Here is a special picture. These are the factory autohub service tools that I bought not long after I bought my 1st Trooper.
Tool on left is clutch alighnment tool and of course the fish scale.
Big handle and driver for the rear seal and for the bearing races.
2 pin hub adjusting tool.
Short round tool on right is a shim gauge for auto hub shims. The long handle screws into the axle for pulling and then you slide a snap ring down the handle and use the long tube on top right to push the snap ring into place down that handle.


Junk brake caliper has been removed and now I remove the bearing retainer.


Pull off the hub assembly with the loosely bolted rotor and set on bench.
What's left is a clean spindle.


The rubber boots on the Indy4x tie rods haven't held up to well. They sent me new poly ones I hope they are better. I unbolted and removed both tie rods. They came loose pretty easy. They need to be cleaned and painted again.


Now that the rotors are unbolted time to take the tension off the torsion bars. The rusty piece in the pic is the transfer skid plate. Needless to say the "Duplicolor" bedliner didn't work out too well.


Now the fronts of the TBs.


All my Ball joints are new and good. Unbolting the lower ones from the lower A arm. 4 bolts.


Since I had already done the BJ flip it was just 4 bolts to remove the upper BJ. No need to remove either BJ from the steering knuckle.


Now just pull the steering knuckle on BJs off the axle shaft carefully.


I then removed the big clamp on the inner boot and pulled it back. I used a small screwdriver to remove the wire retainer ring inside the lip of the "SOUP CAN" and removed the axles. This is what I call the soup can.


I then stuffed a rag in it to keep it clean.

Torsion bar in the floor complete with adjuster key and A arm mount. This is the stock TB.


I had to install them in the early spring. I came out from work and found thedrivers side front end of my Trooper on the ground. I looked under and found this.



I came back to work in my Honda with my jack and the stock tbs and changed them in the parking lot. Indy4x and Sway Away both were really concerned and the new replacements were at my house 2 days later. It seems these were part of a bad run where a sub had over heat treated the bars. I believe the remaining bad bars have all been destroyed. I'll be happy to get the new ones on. I've been putting it off because of this other work I was going to do under the front.

Here is another problem from today. I had to cut 2 of my handmade SS brake hard lines. You really have to tighten SS to get the flares to seat. And that to the rust on my SS? flex lines and I couldn't break this joint on either side of the truck. Now I will have to replace the flex lines and re bend (make new) my hard lines.


Tomorrow I'll have to go to Sears by work and get a 27mm combination wrench to remove the rear bolt on the lower control arm. There is not enough room for a socket without dropping the front diff. The good news is I was able to remove one of the front bolts from the lower A arms and it wasn't rusted into the bushing.
 
Discussion starter · #37 ·
Happy, happy, joy, joy! The lower control arms are off the truck. I had to buy a 27mm combination wrench to get the rear bolts. Not room for a socket with the diff in place.


Fortunately this frame came from down south so no major rust probs with the hardware. It's all good and reusable. I still have to remove the bushings but I know a good way to do that. I've got pics from the work so far and will post when I get some more done.

I'll have to replace the SS brake hard lines I bent for the front because I had to cut the nuts off. That had me bummed because with SS it's a big job fitting and bending that stuff. So I bought some Cunifer brake line. 90%copper 10% nickel. Won't rust and bends with your fingers! Oops delivered it today. Looks like sweet stuff.

Hope to make a huge dent in this work this weekend. When I post pics I've got a couple of tricks to share that may help some others with breaking big heavy bolts loose under the truck where you just can't get enough leverage. Same trick I use for the front bolt on the leaf springs. My bushing removal trick works for those leaf spring bushings as well.
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
electricpuppyboy said:
squatch said:
Same trick I use for the front bolt on the leaf springs. My bushing removal trick works for those leaf spring bushings as well.
I'd be very interested in this. I had a 3 foot pipe wrench on those things and still was never able to get them off.
It's not a huge secret but pics show it well. There is just no room to get the leverage you need with the truck on jack stands and when jerking hard on a wrench or breaker bar you're risking getting crushed. You need 2 strong breaker bars. Maybe the 6' piece of pipe to put on one of them but this is for where you don't have much room for that.

You basically just put a socket and breaker bar on the bolt head side where it will brace against the frame or truck. On the nut side you use the other breaker bar and get it on the nut so that going upward with the wrench handle will loosen the nut. Get it as close to the floor as possible. Then put a small floor jack under the handle of the breaker bar. Only once have I needed to put it under a pipe extension. Then slowly jack up the jack. You'll either break the nut loose, break the breaker bar/socket, or lift the truck off the ground by the breaker bar. The rear bolts on the LCA are the same size as those on the leaf springs. I had no real problems breaking them loose this way last night by using the jack under an 18" long conbination wrench. If this doesn't work it's time to take a cut off wheel to those bolts and get new ones. I'm a fairly big man and there is no way that I can generate the same amount of torque on the handle of the wrench that the weight of a 4000lb truck can.

When loosening the rear bolts on the LCA the sockets for the torsion bars must be on the LCA and the bolts tight. This is what holds the splined head of the bolt.

WARNING SAFETY FIRST!!!!!!!!!!! WHILE I FEEL THIS IS SAFER THAN LAYING UNDER THE TRUCK AND JERKING ON A WRENCH HANDLE THERE IS STILL RISK. THERE WILL BE A WHOLE LOT OF TENSION ON THOSE BREAKER BARS. IF SOMETHING BREAKS THINGS CAN GO FLYING. I ALSO ALWAYS ADD AN EXTRA VERY LARGE FLOOR JACK UNDER A PLACE ON THE FRAME THAT WILL SUPPORT THE TRUCK IF IT MOVES OFF THE JACKSTANDS OR BLOCKS.

DO NOT PUT YOUR BODY OR BODY PARTS UNDER THE TRUCK IN HARMS WAY WHILE YOU HAVE TENSION ON THE WRENCH!!!!!!!!

You must use quality tools for this. Cheap Chinese tools will not survive and could send shrapnel across the room if/WHEN something breaks!!

Work slow, be safe, keep checking to make sure the sockets are seated well on the bolt and nut.

Edit to add; Here is a pic. And my disclaimer. If you use any of the methods or tricks that I show here or anywhere else in this forum you do so at your own risk. This information is given out for the use of responsible adults who I feel can make up their own minds as to whether they have enough experience and good sense to be doing this kind of work safely. Working on automobiles ALWAYS comes with a certain amount of risk of injury or death. I'm in no way responsible for what you do as I'm am not there doing the work.

 
Discussion starter · #44 ·
Whew what a day! This might take a couple of posts.

Medic, check the 1st link in my sig it's all there. This frame had no rust really. Inside or out. The only places on the frame with rust now are chipped places from jacks ect. They will be touched up. I just scuffed the frame real well with a scotchbrite pad soaked in mineral spirits. Then wiped it down with mineral spirits before primer and paint.
Just a note: when looking at my current pics and you see speckled looking spots on the frame and in the wheel wells. That is just splash up from rain in my gravel drive. It leaves gray specks on everything.

BTW1549, thanks for the heads up on the cunifer. I normally do that anyway. Same with the rear sway bar. I've upgraded them on both my previous Trooper so I know what to expect. I'm sure t will be a pleasent feeling none the less. Sorry to reply earlier with a rant. That wasn't aimed at you. This is just one of the many problems I've had with that company. Last year my kid called from school his brakes were locked in the garage of his apartment. Brand new Wagner rear drum shoes. 2k on them. 3hr drive from here 1 way. When I got everything apart the lining had come off the shoes and lodged between the ends of the shoes and the drum locking both the rear brakes. The shoes surface was rusted and there was only a drop of glue at each end of the lining to hold them on the shoes. NICE! Another quality Chinese product. I'm just thanking the Lord it didn't happen on the highway.
(Let's see melamine in the pet food. Lead in kids toys and in the ceramic glazing of dishes. Brake linings not glued on. All innocent little slip ups I'm sure)!!!!!

RedOctober, No not ice freeze I've had that happen as well. That means water is getting in the casing and they need oil! When I say freeze probably locked would be a better word. As in cables that have gotten water in them and rusted as the grease disappears with age. In this case on my truck the mechanism for the E-brake on the calipers was rusted into a solid mass. I got my new cables from Jerry Lemond. I get ALL my new OEM parts from Jerry. He is the best! I have occasionally used St Charles in the past as well with good results.

Any cable can be oiled if it is otherwise intact. This method works for speedo cables,brake cables, boat control cables. Old motorcycle trick.
>Peel the rubber boot off the casing at each end. If this is gone the cables are on their way out.
>Take a zip lock sandwich bag and cut the corner off. Just enough to fit the cable into the baggie so the baggie is around the casing. Secure it to the casing with a zip tie sealing it as well as possible.
>Fill the baggie with motor or gear oil till the inner wire is submerged in oil.
>Hang it from a nail on a garage rafter over an oil drain pan. The idea is for the oil to run/drain between the inner wire and the casing for a couple of days till it is draining out the other end of the cable well.
>Occasionally work the loose end in and out a little. It makes a bit of a mess but does a good job of oiling the cable.

Thanks for the kind words guys today they really help.
 
Discussion starter · #45 ·
Most know that I am a big advocate of jumping in there and doing it yourself even if we have to talk you through it. In this case I'm going to change that. If you do not consider your self a very experienced home wrench/fabricator with good tools, a good well equipped shop, preferably with a lift, and have lots of experience coming up with creative problem solving ways to fix things please do not try to replace control arm bushing on anything. There is a reason that shops charge $1000 or more to do this job! I consider myself all the above and this job is kicking my butt/hand LOL. Partially because of a couple of decisions that I MADE at specific stages that locked me into a certain course of action. 1st let me say that unlike most frames mine is not rusty. The hardware is in good shape. So it could be much worse!!!!!!!

I broke several tools today and probably my left thumb/hand in a couple of places AGAIN! If not broken then much soft tissue has been turned to hamburger. This has been done a few times before in the same spot in the same way. I don't really enjoy it much anymore.
BFH!!!!!!!! Linemans hammer also known as a long handled 3lb sledge. It hurts real good when a big mug like me swings it as hard a space allows and it hits flesh several times.


This is a small old high quality craftsman cold chisel that had a run in with that hammer today in the course of duty. It was made for hitting with a hammer. Just one of several tools that were broken.


1st a couple of pics of the patient/trooper parts.










The bushings look like this. front new on right, old inner sleeve in the middle, What's left of the old outer sleeve on the left.


Rear same deal. It's bigger and the outer sleeve is a bit thicker(important detail).


The idea here is to take a drill bit or 2 (or many in my case today) and drill through the rubber bushing in many places tearing it up. Once this is done if necessary use a jig saw and cut all the way around the inner sleeve through the rubber so the sleeve can be removed. This just leaves the outer sleeve in the frame. Then you take a Hacksaw and put the blade through the bushing and reassemble the saw. Now cut the outer sleeve most of the way through so you don't cut or damage the frame part. Then it should be a simple matter of driving a small punch or chisel between the sleeve and frame at the cut folding the sleeve inwards drawing it away from the frame and breaking the tight fit. Often a bigger chisel can be used to open this cut all the way from end to end and the sleeve comes right out. I've done this many times on leaf spring bushing and some frame bushing such as these. See the above pics.

The front bushing on the drivers side went well. Too well. Which coaxed me into short cutting the longer rear bushing on that side. The front ones have a small outside flange. I didn't even need to cut it with a saw just bent it inwards and cut it with a big cold chisel. I then cleaned up the frame mount and greased it and the bushing and slid the new bushing 1/2 way in by hand. A home made jig of 1/2" all thread some big washers and a couple of sockets finished the job.

Sorry dark pic.


Now the rear bushing on the drivers side. Here after known as the unholy mother of hell! When I started drilling the rubber my drill bit slid to the inner sleeve in went in right against it. It's hard to start the bit in this springy rubber. You can't exactly center punch it. Anyway once the drill went through it just zinged all the way around the inner sleeve pulling itself along. It only took a minute and completely cut all the way around that sleeve. I drilled a couple more holes and the sleeve came out fine. Unfortunately most of the rubber was left. That ended up being a big problem. I just kinda gouged out a couple of places and went for the chisel just like on the front one.

There is not much room for a hacksaw there because of the front axle/diff housing. My support blocks were under the transmission cross member which made the sawzall too long.

What the heck the front one was easy wheres my hammer. It started all right but the bigger bushing has a thicker sleeve and it was bonded to the frame after 22 years. By the time I realized the rubber was keeping the sleeve from folding in very well I had a mess of folded metal and no way to get the saw in there even after I moved my frame support blocks. So I just decided to chisel the hell out of it.

'm used to swinging that big hammer and it still didn't take long for my arm to get tired. Which doesn't help accuracy in tight spots laying on your side on the hammer arm. I beat on that thing with a couple of different hammers and several different chisels. Small chisels to lift the sleeve from the wall. Big chisel to cut and spread. I beat on that thing for over an hour. So long my BIL/neighbor who is also a gear head (heeper) came over to see what I was beating on. I even put a big drill bit in the drill and chewed away some rubber.

Anyway I beat that thing with the BFH and missed or glanced into my hand several times. That's why big cold chisels now have hand guards. I was wearing gloves which help a little. I finally got it out as the pic above shows but I paid for it. I'm going to have a bit of cleanup in the frame hole with the die grinder to smooth it back out. Then still have to press in the bushing and I still have the other side to do.

We'll see how the hand works tomorrow. Tonight it's useless. Can't bend the thumb and forefinger or hold anything. I'll add a couple of new air tools to my arsenal before I do any more. An air saw and a air hammer with a chisel set. The rest of these will get cut through on 2 sides before I get out the chisel. Might have to just mow grass instead tomorrow. The tractor has power steering!

I used to brag about the fact that in 300k miles and 11 years I never once cussed my 1st Trooper while working on it. Because I didn't. It was a dream to work on after the Ford Ranger it replaced. Sure can't say that about Red Beans. Not even close. This truck has fought me more than just about anything I've ever owned.
 
Discussion starter · #46 ·
I went out today to pick up a couple of air tools to help me out on the bushing job. Pretty much a waste of time. I went to 3 places. TSC had the best quality of Chinese junk(Ingersol Rand) but didn't have any in stock except a sorta decent drill. HD junk and little stock. I ended up buying a Kobalt air drill and a air hammer. What total dog poop. I don't expect this stuff to be $500 commercial tools. But give me a break! The drill chuck would not hold a drill bit without it spinning and the grip on the handle came apart in the 1st 5 minutes I tried to use it. The air hammer was a joke. I cut most all the way through these SHEET METAL bushing sleeve with a Sawzall and the air chisels that came with the tool just folded up on themselves like hot butter. I went to great lengths to make sure these tools didn't have to work as hard as I did yesterday. They weren't up for the job. I'll take them back to the store tomorrow for my money back. If they had been 1/2 way usable I'd keep them but they are junk. I ended up cutting all the way through the bushing with the sawzall and scarring up the bores in the process on 2 sides.

Anyway the bushings are all out and the bores where they fit have been cleaned up with a die grinder and then polished with fine sandpaper. A couple of the bores got pretty beat up and slotted by the Sawzall. I put the bushings in the freezer until I use them. Hopefully this will make them a little easier to draw into place.

The hand will probably live but is pretty busted up. My thumb and forefinger still look like bratwursts. Doesn't hurt too bad. I think I finally mashed they nerves out of service.
 
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