Ripcord's 2002 Sport Ed. Version 2.0

[4-Ripcord]

I guess I'm gonna eat my words and end up switching all my pictures to flickr now that photobucket did what it did...

I'm curious how the SPC arms work out for you. I'd like to switch to them, but I worry about the longevity. I put a lot of miles on my truck and hate replacing parts more often that I have to.

Longevity was a major reason I switched to SPC. I am tired of uniball arms that need constant attention and yearly rebuilds.

 

[theesotericone]

I'm curious how the SPC arms work out for you. I'd like to switch to them, but I worry about the longevity. I put a lot of miles on my truck and hate replacing parts more often that I have to.

Mine have been on for 10,000 miles and counting. At least 1000 of that is dirt/rock. Just moved the caster plate adjustment last week and there still bomber solid. The UBJ had zero play. I'm just relating my experience but I think there a safe bet for what your looking for.

 

[Unner]

Longevity was a major reason I switched to SPC. I am tired of uniball arms that need constant attention and yearly rebuilds.

Yeah uniballs are out of the question for me with 20k+ miles a year. I also don't want to deal with the squeaking. I don't really have a whole lot of lift up front so I'm debating rebuilding the stock ares with new UBJs and bushings or getting some SPC ones.

Mine have been on for 10,000 miles and counting. At least 1000 of that is dirt/rock. Just moved the caster plate adjustment last week and there still bomber solid. The UBJ had zero play. I'm just relating my experience but I think there a safe bet for what your looking for.

That's good to know!

 

[AssBurns]

Am I the only one that is really anxious to see how your Kings compare to your old Icons and how you have went about mounting your new rears. Did you ever get the new rears installed? When do we get a full review and trip report?

Your killing us over here!!...

 

[4-Ripcord]

Am I the only one that is really anxious to see how your Kings compare to your old Icons and how you have went about mounting your new rears. Did you ever get the new rears installed? When do we get a full review and trip report?

Your killing us over here!!...

I know, sorry! It is hard finding time at work to finish the rear shocks (the only place I can work on them really). hopefully this week.

And I am holding off on the roof rack and trip report until I get the final fairing design on the roof rack in.

 

[violation]

And I am holding off on the roof rack and trip report until I get the final fairing design on the roof rack in.

i too am waiting on this!!

 

[4-Ripcord]

Fixed CBI Swingout pin

This outta hold you all over for a couple of days at least..


The one thing that always bugged me about the CBI bumper, was the swingout pin. Not necessarily the pin itself, but the ramp it was supposed to ride up on. After just a few months of owning the bumper, the pin had created a small divot in this ramp. When opening the swingout from then on, the pin would just stop when it hit the divot and would have to be manually lifted to continue opening the swingout. It drove me crazy!

I saw that on newer CBI dual swingout 5th gen bumpers, they have fixed this design with just a flat shelf instead of the ramp. Even though they still make the single swingouts with the stupid ramp.



Here is the ramp style that drove me crazy:

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I cut out the new shelf on the company CNC plasma cutter
( hint hint: there will be more to come using this fancy beast)


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And here it is all welded on and painted! The swingout works so much better now without the stupid ramp.
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[nihkon]

I dig it dude!

I've had the same annoyance with mine from within the 1st week of owning it.
Maybe I'll have to talk you into cutting an extra one of those flat ramps! haha

 

[smallfry]

That's a good fix.

I always hated that little ramp on their bumpers.

 

[Gasper Jaspers]

Fantastic build. Looking forward to copying some of your mods! :naughty:

 

[Yoter]

You know the old saying about opinions. Here's a few shots of mine. The arms are set to E for 1 degree positive caster. That pushed my tires far enough forward to gain all the clearance I needed for 295/70r17(33.3"). I'm pretty sure you'll clear 35's if you've beat the crap or grinded the pinch welds. So in this *******s opinion thumbs up.. lol

Did the SPC arms put that gouge in your shock tower?
Seeing the cracks on Assburns towers, I would be concerned about that damage, maybe weld it up?

 

[theesotericone]

Did the SPC arms put that gouge in your shock tower?
Seeing the cracks on Assburns towers, I would be concerned about that damage, maybe weld it up?

Yep. Both sides have gouge from contact between the UCA and tower. I'm not worried about it at all. I could easily fix it with a grinder in 5 minutes but I got bigger fish to fry.

 

[AssBurns]

Did the SPC arms put that gouge in your shock tower?

Seeing the cracks on Assburns towers, I would be concerned about that damage, maybe weld it up?

The cracks I had on my shock towers were well before going to SPC’s. But my SPC’s made a gouge in the towers as well. If your alignment is correct, I don’t think they hit the towers. Could be wrong though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dtreeps]

Thanks for the inspiration! I am hoping to follow some of your lead but keep it a bit more road oriented.

 

[theesotericone]

The cracks I had on my shock towers were well before going to SPC’s. But my SPC’s made a gouge in the towers as well. If your alignment is correct, I don’t think they hit the towers. Could be wrong though.

I don't think it's an alignment thing. I think it has more to do with how you drive. I'm pretty sure we both drive faster then the average joe. Newtons Second Law is f(orce)=m(ass) x a(cceleration) us fast drivers put more force in the system. His Third Law is every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Those gouges are the reaction. Me and you are proving physics works. lol

 

[NateMob]

This outta hold you all over for a couple of days at least..


The one thing that always bugged me about the CBI bumper, was the swingout pin. Not necessarily the pin itself, but the ramp it was supposed to ride up on. After just a few months of owning the bumper, the pin had created a small divot in this ramp. When opening the swingout from then on, the pin would just stop when it hit the divot and would have to be manually lifted to continue opening the swingout. It drove me crazy!

I saw that on newer CBI bumpers, they have fixed this design with just a flat shelf instead of the ramp so this was my plan.

I dig it dude!

I've had the same annoyance with mine from within the 1st week of owning it.
Maybe I'll have to talk you into cutting an extra one of those flat ramps! haha

That's a good fix.

I always hated that little ramp on their bumpers.

For those that dont want to grind off the old ramp and burn in a new one, my fix for this on my 3rd gen was to merely grind the lock pin at an angle so it matched the ramp relatively close. Didn't mess with the paint/powdercoat and was a 5 minute job. Simple enough to look at the pin's position before opening the gate also to make sure it hadn't rotated. Worked like a charm.

Keep it up Jim!

Nathan

 

[aidanyota]

Is it possible to remove the fender flares on an 02 without it looking terrible? Love the build by the way!

 

[Atomic6]

Is it possible to remove the fender flares on an 02 without it looking terrible? Love the build by the way!

You'll have the multiple mounting holes in your fenders/body like the pic below. Since the Sport doesn't have the body cladding, it won't have the holes in the doors though.

 

[4-Ripcord]

Looks like I will finally be able to post some updates soon, I have moved to a new place with a garage so I can finish the rear end.

 

[4-Ripcord]

|July 15, 2017|

The final item before the big trip was the roof rack, the highly anticipated Rocky Mountain Racks full length aluminum rack. I also got a 270° awning.

What/Why:
I needed a rack to mount the awning and antenna mount to. I partnered up with the fine people over at Rocky Mountain Racks to get this excellent full length aluminum rack. The main difference between this style of rack and the traditional Gobi-style is that this rack uses slotted crossbars that allow you to slide carriage bolts in and mount anything you want anywhere you want.

Parts/Cost:
$800 – Rocky Mountain racks full length aluminum rack (https://www.rockymtnracks.com/)
$350 – Overland Pros Wraptor 2000 foxwing awning (Wraptor 2000 - Overland Pros)
$175 – Tred 1100 traction boards

Tools:
-7/16” socket & wrench
-10mm socket & wrench
-Impact driver or Drill with socket adaptor

Time:
Installing the rack takes 1-2 hours.

Procedure:
You will want 2 people for this install, it is a full length rack after all.
[MENTION=129084]Flemster[/MENTION] and [MENTION=144428]RockyMtnPhoto[/MENTION] helped me with this install. The rack will come with instructions; but to summarize, the easiest way to install the rack is to start with the main crossbars and mount feet then get the side pieces on.


For mounting the legs, this rack re-uses the threaded rail sliders from the stock crossbars. Be sure to keep the crossbar even in the middle of the vehicle. The supplied mount leg fasteners are M6 and use a 10mm socket.

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Once your 2 main crossbar are on, get your side pieces on. The crossbars are pre-threaded with 1/4-20 thread and the supplied fasteners will use a 7/16” socket

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Photo by [MENTION=129084]Flemster[/MENTION]


Powertools make the job MUCH faster..

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Everything on these racks mounts with carriage bolts, they just slide right into the side of the slotted aluminum crossbars. The possibilities are endless!

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I mentioned that I also got an awning. The awning mounts using these L-brackets. The carriage bolts make it super easy! I’ll have more pics of the awning later..

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Photo by [MENTION=129084]Flemster[/MENTION]

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I also needed to re-mount my motorized CB antenna mount, here is the mount with the brackets for clamping on round crossbars:

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Mounted:

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I also added a small bracket to hold the antenna when it was down. I used the plasma cutter at work to burn this out real fast.

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Cleaned up and bent:

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Table-top press brake FTW!

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Bracket painted and mounted:

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Here it is in action, holding the antenna when it is in the down position. Without this, the antenna would whip all over the place and make one hell of a racket.

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The following trip report is with an early prototype fairing, the final version is the one pictured above.