Rear suspension work proceeding slowly as I wait for more tools and parts to show up. Trying out the Eastwood rust encapsulator paint and top coat. Time will tell how well it holds up. I needle scaled and then sanded the areas and clean up with brake cleaner to prep the surface. Some bolts broke during tear down which is always fun.

 

Fixed my aux fan with a new motor, $55 on Amazon and it was an exact replacement. No trimming required and just needs the wire pigtail swapped over from the old motor. The cover was grey when I got it. I painted it black as not to be seen behind the front grill.

 

Project is again progressing. As I was installing the lift on the rear of the truck and needle scaling the frame as I went I found a pretty good hole in the frame behind the drivers side rear spring pocket.







looked into various options from a whole frame swap to just replacing the rear frame half. Many thanks to @boston4 for recommending AW Fabrication in Woburn. Keith is a great guy and his prices are extremely reasonable. Checked over the rear frame and replaced any sections that where bad. It’s not the prettiest work but it sure is solid now.

 

Suspension refresh continues. The last end to complete is the front passenger side. I have purchased all new wheel bearings. Surprisingly all the bearings where original expect for the front passenger. Whoever replaced that thankfully used anti seize on the spine but probably used an axe to lock the axle nut in The first 3-4 threads where all
messed up. It was a chore to get the nut off. I got a m24 x1.5 die off Amazon to see if I could repair it. Worst case I would just need to replace the whole axle and cv. Die worked beautifully and the new nut spins right on.

 

I feel like I won the lottery today. All eight bolts removed from the cross member successfully. Just a little heat and WD40 did the trick. Took all of 30 minutes. The front driveshaft was about an 1” away from it so it needed to go.

 

Lift is done! I have 22 1/2” inches from the center of the wheel to the arch in the front and just about 22” in the rear so just about 3” lift. Will have to see how much it settles once the steel bumpers and winch are installed.

 

Boy, that doesn't happen very often.

 

Changed out the transfer case oil today trying to track down a whine when accelerating and when coasting under 20mph. As suspected the oil was low and was very milky. Only very fine fillings where found on the magnet and refilled with 85-140. Hard to tell but not sure it made any difference in the noise. Could be the transmission potentially. The driveshafts are in good order.
Also worked with the Nanocom I rented from Brandon. Disabled the alarm and tweaked a couple other settings. There SLS was confirmed to be disabled in both the SLABs and BCU. I have been chasing a battery drain that drops the battery below 12v after a few days. I did notice that I can hear a noise from the compressor while under the truck. Hopefully completely disconnecting it will eliminate the draw.

 

Unplugged all the SLS components including the compressor and the height sensors. I could see the readings from the height sensors in the Nanocom so they where still functioning. Battery draw has gone down some now but there is still a parasitic draw someplace.
I decided to fix the loose headlight on the passenger side while I wait for more parts to come in. The finisher was cracked in two. I had to drill out one of the etorx bolts as it was seized in good. One of the Philips screws in the headlight was spinning with the brass insert. I used a high speed drill to spin the screw and insert to melt the plastic so I could get it out. Then removed the screw from the insert on a vise. A little superglue and the insert is good and tight back in the headlight housing.
My problem now is finding replacement hardware to mount the headlight.

 

Refreshed the cooling system with all new hoses, water pump and in-line tstat from extinct. Overall a fairly easy job. Also replaced all the idler pulleys, tensioner and belt. Plugs and wires where just done by the PO. I installed an updated throttle body heater plate I got from the Sports Car Centre in Edmonton. Completed the PVC mod which took all of 15 mins.
I had some trouble bleeding the air out of the cooling system. I might modify the new thermostat housing to add a bleed screw on top.



New heater plate along side the old.

Coolant system tear down

Cutting the old PVC baffle out and widening the tube.