| [GMCnet] Manny's 1 ton kit arrived [message #135262] |
Tue, 19 July 2011 20:48  |
glwgmc
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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Yesterday a big truck pulled up in front of our building and unloaded a beautifully constructed crate. Inside were all the components for the 1 ton front end swap. Everything was properly supported and secured. If only everything that gets shipped was so well packaged. Manny is the real deal. The old adage. "if you want something done give it to a busy man" has a new corollary, "if you want something done absolutely right, have Manny do it!"
I did one side this afternoon. About 3 to 4 hours. Now that I know what I am doing I would expect the other side to go a bit more quickly. Everything that was supposed to be hard proved not to be. The lower ball joint popped loose easily and the brake line fitting unscrewed just like it should. A couple of days of Kroil probably did not hurt. My torsion bar unloading tool has not yet arrived so I lowered the lower control arm all the way with a floor jack and that took enough of the pressure of to allow the adjustment bolt and nut to be removed without incident. I marked the orientation of the torsion bar to socket at both ends with paint and also marked the ride height setting the same way. Once the pivot bolts were removed from the lower control arm I could lever it out and wiggle it off of the torsion bar. The new one went back on the same way. A bit fussy to get the holes all aligned properly but it worked just fine. Once the bolts were back in place and tighten
ed, I had Sharon use a lever bar to force the A arm down even further which fully pulled the pork chop up into the frame and allowed me to insert the adjuster nut and bolt. Since nearly all the tension was removed, I could pull the adjuster bolt back to my original paint line where it started. A couple of floor jacks will safely lift the A arm and allow the shock to be reattached in the morning. I wanted a bit of time to paint the upper A arm with the same silver Hammerite paint used on the lower A arms, install the new ball joint after grinding and punching out the rivets, and installing the new bushings. That first side should be all back together early tomorrow. I will do the other side tomorrow as well.
Just about the time I am through the torsion bar unloading tool will arrive. I will use it to readjust the ride height if necessary. Then it will be for sale as I won't need it again. So far a relatively easy project and one that should take front end maintenance out of our future.
Jerry
Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed and hand crafted in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building in historic Kerby, OR
Visitors always welcome!
glwork@mac.com
http://jerrywork.com
541-592-5360
Founder of the Southern Oregon Guild
www.southernoregonguild.org
Member of the Siskiyou Guild
www.siskiyouguild.org
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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
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