Feb 2015 -

One of the biggest tasks was rebuilding the front end suspension. I'm still kicking myself for not trying to tackle the LCA bushings while getting this done. Though now I'm considering just getting a set from the pick-n-pull, rebuilding them and swapping those in.

Anyway, it was Christmas all over again when I got all this:

Sonoran Steel Rebuildable 1.2 Lift along with Light Racing UCA




Also in the mix was OTRE's and LBJ's. I included new LBJ bolts for good measure:



I won't be needing these anymore:



I borrowed my brothers driveway for a three day weekend in exchange for putting new front brakes on his Ford Ranger. I was amazed to find out the you only torque the front wheel hub nut to something like 5 ft/lbs. That seemed weird, but we double checked it online.

Anyway, after spending the morning doing that I started to tear into the front end.

Staging the parts:



Bye bye UBJ:



Bye bye stock UCA:



This is what I found to be the key to removing the UBJ from the knuckle:





Out with the old parts:



All the new parts installed:



New LBJ and OTRE:



At some point, after wrapping everything up on the front end, I found this in the back of my truck. Oh, well, more dumpster fodder:



This was how she sat after just the front was setup:



After a good long weekend of work, I got the front end done and then the following weekend got my buddy's help to do the rear. He had a sawzall, which made quick work of the rear shocks which were not cooperating at the top mount (as is typical).

These springs are much taller:



Everything removed:



And here is how she sits with the rear and front together (needs to have the front leveled):



Hauls the trailer a lot better too, but might get bags when I get a rear swing-out tire bumper down the road:



The last thing that I needed to consider was extending the length of the rear end sway-bar links. I deleted the front sway-bar, but wasn't very comfortable with the body roll without at least one of them connected. The body roll get's pretty funny feeling while going around turns at any sort of speed faster than "ole' granny". You can read the progression of how I put them together, but I ended up building some custom links from parts gathered at various online hardware shops. I think they turned out pretty good: