razor02097

Parts arrival

Springs and steering box brace

razor02097

Had some time to work today. I installed the steering box brace but didn't get pics due to me freezing because I started at the butt crack of dawn... During said install I noticed my friiken U joint on the passenger side axle shaft was toast...

Oh well that was added to my "list of things to do today"

Steering box brace
Spring swap
Spring hold down brackets
New axle shaft U joints

The spring swap was up first. I decided to to the flex and pry method...

Remove wheel
Disconnect sway bar



Unbolt shock



and spring clamp



Jack up opposite side and place ramp under tire
Lower side working on to a lowered jack stand



Jack up side working on frame until LCA is touching LCA mount



Use pry tool to lift spring away from you





Remove spring



New spring Vs. Old spring. Old spring is a ZJ spring from Autozone. New spring is a Rusty's offroad 2" lift spring



New spring on



Here is the Rusty's spring clamp. It is just a powdercoated piece of bent metal with a self tapping screw. Two clamps for about $10 IIRC



The OEM clamp is bolted in the first hole but the Rusty's replacement goes in the second hole. It was ideal for me... somehow the OEM clamp was ripped out...taking all the threads with it....





Whoever guesses what is wrong with this picture gets a virtual cookie...



Closer...



No there is no magic trick here... It's seized... I guess I found the popping sound when I turn the wheel... Here are the remnants of the old U joints... 2 caps broke when trying to remove them...



Here is that axle shaft cleaned, painted and new U joint pressed in...



After everything was put back together I checked the height...



Looks like it is pretty close... The Rusty's springs with stock spacer is a wee bit shorter than the ZJ spring with spacer. In hindsight I would have ordered the 3" spring. But for now I think today's mission is accomplished.

razor02097

Tried to clean the nss toady....wow wtf... It didn't come off easily...in fact I darn near destroyed it! When I finally got it off all the screws were seized of course...so it basically has two screws holding it together right now. The plastic part was cracked I don't think I did that due to the location of the crack.

I ended up cleaning it and putting it back together best I could. I will be on the lookout for a replacement soon.

I mounted my tomtom where the garage opener remote would go. I think it will be ideal since I can store the mount away and not have a ring on my windshield.





I removed the front chin piece that is under the front bumper then trimmed the bumper plastic back. After I masked and painted the bottoms black.

razor02097

New NSS and a 31 tooth speedometer gear has been ordered.

razor02097

10/8/2011: Received and replaced the NSS. I hope I don't have to touch it for another 150k miles

I replaced the speedometer gear also. Here is the chart I used...




According to the chart the 31 tooth gear would work. I looked around and jeeze... places wanted almost $80 for it! I found one on Parts mike for half that price.


First to change out the speedometer gear you will need a 1/2" socket, O ring and the new gear



Here is the housing you will remove. The 1/2" bolt that holds the retainer clip is what you will remove.



Note on the housing there are 4 notches. This enables you to "clock" the housing to install the smaller gear.



Here are the two gears side by side note the physical size difference.



This clip and bolt is what holds the housing in.




For my application I had to clock the housing 180* from it's last position. I checked my speedometer Vs. GPS. The speed is accurate within 3mph. I have to say... what a difference just a speedometer gear makes! The MPG has gone back up due to the odometer being accurate. Also it seems the transmission is shifting at a lower RPM due to the more accurate speedometer... but that could just be me...

razor02097

Just because...

razor02097

Update. After driving a while it appeared the sway bar links were smashing into the wheel well if I would hit a bump at speed... The springs aren't going to work for me. I have opted for the I've lifted the front to 3" now I believe it matches the back much better.

Here are the Rusty's 200's next to the 305's. The 305's coils are much thicker but the overall spring height is the same as the stock spring.



The 305's are the 3" heavy duty springs. I've replaced the stock size rancho shocks in the front with 3" lift shocks and installed new bump stops.

Before



After



The ride isn't bad. It is actually better than the GC springs with the spacers. I can hook the sway bar back up also without having to worry about punching holes in my wheel wells...