My 1997 SR5 5spd daily driver

Flipty
Suggestion...
Get on top of that rust while you have the parts out. No better time to wire brush and hit those mounts with POR15 or Rust Reformer, prior o mounting the new parts.
Keep up the good work, and welcome.
 
Flipty
Suggestion...
Get on top of that rust while you have the parts out. No better time to wire brush and hit those mounts with POR15 or Rust Reformer, prior o mounting the new parts.
Keep up the good work, and welcome.

I'm about to do some shoring up of the frame with a friend that welds, and while we are doing that I intend to do as much rust prevention as I can. I'll take out the arms and links I put in, so I can do it then. I'd love to slap some paint on the frame.
 
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Did the snapped drivers side front sway bar link. Man that smoothed things out big time in the ride and especially turns department.

I'll do the passenger side either later today or during the week. Got a lot of yard work to do.

It's almost weird when a part comes out like it was supposed to, and then goes in like it is supposed to. That's how this job went. 2 beers and one album. (easiest way to tell the duration of a job from start to finish)

PBR (of course) and High Spirits.
 
On a total whim I ordered KYB rear shocks that will arrive tomorrow.

I'm gonna wait and install them at the same time as the upper control arms on the axle when I do the frame rot welding repair.

She's already running unbelievably smooth and true at all speeds and conditions now, especially compared to how I got her, where the PO asked me to trailer it home instead of drive (and he was probably right)
 
Today's (this weekend's most likely) work is:

Taking out the rear shocks and putting my new KYB's in, doing the upper rear control arms, and the sway bar bushings.

So far I'm nauseous, but making progress. I get nauseous when I lay on my back for too long without some sort of a pillow, and I discovered a decent foam makeshift pillow in the garage too late in the game.

I've got drivers' side mostly done (shock is in, control arm almost in) but man those bushing clip bolts snapped off like they were made of balsa wood so I'm either going to have to drill them out or something else to get the stab bar back connected to the axle. I guess I'm gonna go buy a clip kit that hopefully doesn't come with bushings.

I'll keep ya posted, and pics when I get there.
 
Done with the drivers side except for the stupid snapped stab bar clip bolts.

Has anyone ever successfully drilled those out? They seem like the holes themselves are tapped.
 
After some forum searching it looks like I'm going to go to a shop and have them do the weld trick to extract them. I don't trust my drilling skills enough to get these out without damaging the "nutserts" which is my new least-favorite word. I should have just left the sway bushing be, I'd be done... but NOOOOOOOOO......
 
Alright, yesterday I had a mobile welder come over to get my rig back on the road. He found good metal and re-attached the rear lower control arm to the frame. I know some people poo-poo'd this idea, but I needed this thing back on the road ASAP. This did the trick, she's riding straight as an arrow and feeling great at all speeds.

Now without concentrating so much on survival while driving, I can concentrate on how much groaning the front wheel bearings do at certain speeds. Chances are I'll be doing those within the next month.
 
Lots of updates for the week.

Just got done putting in the passenger side rear shock. Purty red KYB's on both sides now and wow what a difference it makes. Acceleration feels a lot less bouncy and smushy. City street bumps and potholes seem like they're less jarring. It had Sensen's all around, still has them in the front but I've got a sense-n those are gonna get replaced soon too.

Also had a mobile welder fix and shore up my frame in the areas that needed it to be driveable. I know some people were poo-pooing that I didn't do it their way, but they're not me and they didn't get heat stroke from biking to work unexpectedly (50 mile commute) with less water and food than I would have liked.

Ended up only costing me $160 for the fix and she rides like a dream right now so I'm pretty happy with that, all things considered.

I did not do the upper control arm on the passenger side. It was too much of a pain in the ass to get the rear bolt out. If I had a 24 inch 1/2" drive extension I could have hit it with the impact but a big chain of extenders just makes all the impact... well... impactless. So I'll maybe give it another go later on in the summer or fall.

Also in the mail today I got new LBJ's and UBJ's as well as seals for both sides of the front wheel bearings. I can really tell the fronts are going south fast so I'm gonna do all 4 BJ's and both bearings at once since I'm going to have to take the knuckles out to have a shop do the press work I might as well do everything. The more I know about this particular vehicle the more I'm starting to hate the kid that owned it before me. You should have seen the amount of sand and mud in the rear shock mount bell. It was like an emptying hourglass when I get the old shock out. There's dried mud jammed into every crevice available on the underside, including places that you would have to be in knee-deep mud to get dirty. I get it, the kid had fun, but now everything I replace means a dirt-shower and having to make sure I'm wearing goggles for even the most innocuous thing under there. Not a bad idea in general but I fog up even anti-fog goggles with ease, especially when it's 90+ degrees out.

ANYHOO.... she's running great, driving great, and the front end (minus tie rod ends) is going to get totally redone in the next week or two. I'm paranoid about the LBJ's just because of the horror stories all over this forum and youtube. Looking forward to how solid she feels in comparison when I put the new ones on, and also the new WB's.
 
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I should add: At least a couple of the how-to's on youtube regarding replacing the rear shocks were a little misleading, and lead to probably more frustration/pain/annoyance than needed. Using a deep 14mm socket on a low-profile (Husky brand) 3/8 ratchet made it relatively easy to take off and put on the top nuts. What was much more difficult and muscle-soreness-inducing was compressing the shock enough to get it on the axle mount. Ended up having to use a small jack and lots of cajoling to get it on there close enough to tap it on with a shot hammer on both sides. Also super lame when you get it on, and realize you didn't put the inside washer on.... thankfully caught that before I put everything back together.
 
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Updated photo of the rig in the parking lot at work. Slightly elevated stance with the new shocks in back.


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Nice thread! I'm in Wisco so I'll probably be going through some of these issues in my upcoming build... It's going to help a lot seeing what you're going through... I haven't seen many Northern Mid westerners in this forum.. or they're quiet idk but nice build so far
 
Let me know if you have any questions that can be answered locally. I'm no expert but i tend to get shit done regardless.


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I think I'm coming to the realization that most if not all of the remaining bounciness/sway on my rig is the tires. They're Coopers that are pretty big, and if you give the tire or the body a good shove you can really see the tires flex back and forth what I could consider to be an unacceptable amount of times for my amount of off-roading (none). I'm thinking about selling these (they're still in great shape) and getting something more low profile and road-focused. Anyone have preferences on all-season street tires?
 
Just got 4 new Michelin Defender LTX's. 245/75/R16.

They look about the same as my old Coopers, but MAN what a difference in feel.

The Coopers I had on were 7+ years old, and the bounce/sway is GONE with new tires. Road noise is near 0. Can't wait to do the wheel bearings and enjoy the silence.

...$800 later.... but still. Man it feels good.:attention::israel::D
 
Grrr... (but grr is to be expected)

Welp, in my never-ending quest to get this thing rolling like a champ I take two steps forward and one step back, every single time. You could say it's almost like taking one step forward.

Rotors and pads today because the rotors were definitely warped, and why do rotors without the pads, right?

Drivers side first and BARELY avoided getting completely destroyed by a huge morning severe storm. Took her out with one side done, all seemed well.

Did the other side (just got done) and I could not for the life of me get both pads in the passenger side caliper no matter how much c-clamp I threw at it, and there is a torn boot, to boot, one of of the 4 cylinders...and I ended up having to put one of the old (not really ALL that worn down but quite obviously not brand new like the ceramics I got) pads back in, instead of a new one.

That's not the bad thing though (at least not the main bad thing) -- now the drivers side caliper is sticking. I knew not to drive too far or fast with new parts and whatnot so I felt a slight pull to the left and pulled over to the slight smell of brakes. Warm wheel, and light smoke. Yup, stuck caliper.

Soooo... with that, I'm just going to bite the bullet and replace both calipers. I really don't like how gross they both were with rust and scaling, and it'll give me a chance to drill out BOTH of the broken bolts that were holding the line brackets on. Also the passg side soft line didn't look too great. Anyone ever done a line before? I never have and would love some advice or a how-to.

Never a dull moment in the life of a man with no car payments.
 
Soooo... with that, I'm just going to bite the bullet and replace both calipers. I really don't like how gross they both were with rust and scaling, and it'll give me a chance to drill out BOTH of the broken bolts that were holding the line brackets on. Also the passg side soft line didn't look too great. Anyone ever done a line before? I never have and would love some advice or a how-to.

Never a dull moment in the life of a man with no car payments.

If they're as rusted as you say they are you might as well order the hard line for each caliper as well.
 

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