I'm now back to doing some more upgrades after chasing and fixing a noisy accessory belt. I initially assumed it was the A/C compressor going out and rebuilt/resealed a used one in anticipation of having to replace the original one. Ended up figuring that out this was not the case after finding the idler pulley for the A/C compressor belt lying on the top of the skid plates. It's nice to have discovered this easy fix and having a front windshield defroster again now that there's ice on windshields in the morning here in the PNW. Still planning on discharging the A/C so I can fix this disaster with a replacement I bought:



On to the upgrades; I added new Sonoran Steel HD rear lower control arms. Let me say, these things are beefy compared to the OEM arms. I thought about just putting in some new bushings in the OEM arms, but I think these are an upgrade well worth the price:





At the same time, I installed some new Strongflex upper control arm bushings that I purchased at the same time from Steve. I used the @mtbtim method for pressing out/in the old bushings and highly recommend subscribing to his Youtube channel (#shameless plug):







As an aside, I'm still trying to get the *bleep*'n front diff drain plug out. After trying to get a 10mm hex welded in with a HF 125AMP welder, I've still not been able to get it out. Next thing to try is to a drill a hole and extract them with an Irwin extractor kit. I really wish I had air tools so I could hit it with an air chisel or hammer. What a nightmare this is: