Hey everyone
In this time of Sheltering In Place, I thought I would post something from last year. I posted this to Instagram, but I neglected to show it off to my FSJ family and for that, I apologize.
Here we have a staring point...
I always like to park next to cars like this... it's the redneck in me. I live in a county that doesn't do emissions testing (yet) and some folks gawk when I tell them my mileage. But I temper that with "It's 35 yrs old. How many cars have you driven in the last 35 years? Where are they now? I will stake that carbon footprint against yours any day..."
Let's gather supplies...
The delivery guy talked with me for about an hour, telling me stories of his grandad and his Wagoneer. It's always the same thing... people see the Waggy and they strike up friendly reminiscences.
Can't forget this...
That is going to come in handy later on. If I also put out a Thrown Wrench/Tool jar, it would have been over flowing... but I digress.
Let's get to work...
Jacked her up, took tires off and stared pulling pieces off.
Some things came off easier than others...
Sometimes, it just pays to use force
Got em!
Now, why won't you line up...?
Screw this change stuff... I am moving right to paper money!
Ok, now for the front... um, does the back seem a bit high?
One left!!!
Now, it is at this point of our story that I have to tell you of my massive screw up. See, we got it all put back together but 1.) the ride was HORRIBLE and 2.) the back was sticking way the hell up there. When I say horrible, I mean bucking like a bronco on every bump. The rear end would almost hop when I took any bumps at speed. And the tail end up looking like a 6 inch lift with a 4 inch at the front. I read on a few forums that the springs can be a bit stiff and might take a hundred or two miles to loosen up and get comfortable.
After about 3 months, I decided to jack her back up and take a good look around and see what I might have... oh, for #!@% sake... I put the rear bolts for the rear leaf spring facing IN and the bolts were just long enough to catch on the bracket and not allowing it to fully flex. Both of them. GAAA... it's the smallest things that I always screw to pooch on. This is probably why I had such a hard time getting the leaf springs to sit properly when putting them to the axle. I had read about the use of a 4x4 and ratchet straps to flatten the arch out and I gotta say it took A LOT of muscle to do that with these bad boys. Anyway, after feeling like an idiot and a fool, I lay there thinking about trying to swap the bolts for the right direction, but then a buddy came over and said, "just cut em off, I got my torch in my truck". 10 minutes was all it took. When we lowered her back down and took it for a ride, it was SO dang smooth. I am so thankful that I let BJS talk me into the better shocks. Now it rides so smooth on the trail and road that even my wife enjoys going for rides again... and I really enjoy the lift for getting me just a bit more height.
I went fishing last fall out in the desert to a smallish campground by me. It was a good day.