Lots of good maintenance happened recently. Took forever, but it was worth it!
First thing was the motor mounts. I finally realized it wasn't just the frame side mount that was broken, but the mount itself also.
As you can see, it was missing the main bolt that connected the mount to the engine.
I opted to go with OEM mounts, as the old ones were proven to last quite a while and had taken plenty of abuse. 35s and being undergeared really doesn't help.
Taking the old mounts out was surprisingly easy, but did take some time. I had the engine lifted by the oil pan- not my favorite method, but it worked.
For the frame side of the mount being broken, I quickly made some new brackets to weld on that were about twice as thick as the factory ones. I had to grind off as much of the old mount as I could, which was near impossible given the space constraints.
Once the new mounts were ready to go in, I bolted them up to the engine first, then dropped it in place and lined up the motor-to-frame bolt holes. Welding the new mounts on was the biggest problem of this project. There wasn't a great angle to get the mig gun in, but I did the best I could and laid some ugly beads. After that, the rest of the mount bolted up easily!
I replaced my brake pads, which were much more worn that I thought.
I also replaced the rubber intake tubes. The old ones were cracked and had some minor holes, which couldn't have been too good in dusty conditions.
The passenger wheel bearing also got replaced, as a few days prior it had started making noise and developed play. It happened very quickly, which surprised me. I had replaced the driver side a few years ago when something similar happened. I opted not to do the press work myself, but found a local machine shop that did it for $40.
I also welded in some new skid plate mounting nuts (which is why the LCAs are off) and greased my UCAs. I was prepared to also replace my SPC ball joints, but after getting it all apart, it turns out the part that presses into the spindle had developed some play. I ended up welding it on, knowing that I won't be taking these SPC arms off.
Finally, I replaced both calipers (lifetime warranty) and added stainless steel lines.
After all of this, it overall drives smoother, quieter, and nicer. It was a total of about 9 hours of work for everything. I'm happy with the results even though it was a good chunk of change!
Linear Mode
