Eccracer104’s build 2.0 - a work in progress

Superstition OHV 1/19/24 - 1/21/24

Really needed this trip! Had such a great time with everyone. Was great to shake the cobwebs off

And photo dump in no particular order -

 

Hey Chan man!

 

Updates!

3/09/24-3/11/24 Superstition

Arrived night of 3/9


Didn't take many pics on Saturday, but here's one with @tundra_20



Aaaaaaaaaand then the trip took a turn.

Driving into the dusty sunset I glanced down to check my maps and ~BAM~ located a big boulder with my passenger side LCA. Quite literally eyes off the road for a matter of seconds, was caboose of 4 trucks, cruising along a mellow trail at 20-30mph.




So... this was less than ideal for sure. Bent the LCA, but what was less obvious at first is the LCA mounts were pushed back. The front LCA mount was pushed all the way into the CV axle.
Fortunately was able to limp it back to camp where I parked the truck and left it to inspect more in the AM.
Called a SOS looking for an LCA in the so-cal thread and with some awesome coordination with @Sunnier and @papasmurf Bruce came out and aided with the trail repair and replace:




Leveraging bottle jacks we pushed the LCA mounts as far forward as we could, popped on a new LCA, and put it all back together enough that I could get it home for further work.

 

Fast forward over the coming weeks (and still not totally complete yet) I've been getting it repaired.

Cam tabs were flattened, so got some TC cam tab gussets.

Cams were bent, and one of the bolts was bent, so ditched the stock stuff for Bison Offroad octagon alignment cams.

Bilstein 5100 was bent, so started searching for a replacement and came across a great deal on some Fox suspension I was able to make work. Sold the extra parts, had the coilovers rebuilt, and then got super lucky finding a set of Fox 2.5 rears to boot.

@tundra_20 hooked me up with a set of Billet Icon UCAs he had bought used but went with a different set for his truck. This was a blessing as I now have reduced align-ability with the octagons on the LCA and can fine tune via the UCA.



When I had a three day weekend available I got back into it. Tore everything down so I could get back to mending the bent LCA mounts. Massaging these things back into place was not simple nor easy. Once in there I can really see how a professional shop has a major advantage over my basic tools in a driveway. In the end though I'm very happy with how straight I was able to get them. Paired with the ability to adjust the UCA I'm confident in where I can get the alignment now.



Those cam tabs are damn awful to remove. I tried with a chisel, the first few you can see how absolutely mangled they were from hammering them off. It was terrible. Went out and got an air hammer which was significantly easier. Still a lot of work, but so much better.

After getting all this done, my drivers side tie rod was seized like a MF, so new inner and outer tie rods for both sides.

Then got her all wrapped up.



I need a new boot for the inner on the drivers side, and I have some more adjusting to do for the alignment. But all in all, she's back in action!

(and it's just now that I am realizing I don't have a full exterior pic of it being "done" lol)

 

Cool story, Bro!

Thank you for the nod; however, I am unworthy of this shout-out. Bruce was available (on his birthday, no less! ), and well-prepared for mechanical savagery, so I was superfluous. That said, I have numerous floor jacks and stands, tools, and was willing to bring LBJ's I've collected and handed off to Bruce. But, we all know, getting help from a qualified surgeon is always better than getting help from the organ delivery service.

I'm glad it worked out.

 

Haha, you boosted morale far more than you know!

Bruce coming out on his birthday = LEGEND
His help was absolutely critical!

 

Glad to hear you got her buttoned back up! The bottle jack with socket extension through the LCA mount into a socket is priceless lol. Love the ingenuity

 

Thank you!

Lol. It did the trick!

 

Every break is just an excuse to modify in disguise!

 

Ain't that the truth! I'm fortunate my better half enjoys wheeling and camping, makes the upgrades easier to approve. That and I'm generally mostly responsible with spending money haha

 

FIFY.

I'm not sure any of us with modded trucks can win an argument that we're "responsible" with money....

 

Agreed! I might have to steal this one of these days, its genius @eccracer104

Might also need your help though because my mounts are fuuuucked and they're pretty thick. I don't know if the jack will be enough to fix my carnage

 

Hahaha! I say that because I was frugal and sourced the coilovers (with rebuild), rear shocks and UCAs for a grand total of $2,095

The bottle jack has enough strength to lift the truck so should be able to bend. The hardest part was getting a strong support behind it to push off of.
Also: are both sides messed up? I was lucky to have one side still straight to use as reference while manipulating the other side.

 

I know someone who would custom build some for you....

 

True, all my bottle jacks are all old so I have less faith in them I guess. Also this truck has a history of not wanting to bend metal back the way I want

So the mounts are straight, but all of the corner have been bent in pretty severely and are grinding my LCA's to death. I'm sure its not good for anything

Build what? LCA mounts?

 

Yes LCA mounts. The Truck Shop...

 

Who's that? That would be A LOT of cutting and welding. Luckily I don't think we're anywhere near that point, just need to bend the hears back, maybe reinforce them a little bit to try and stop that from happening again

 

A shop in San Diego that has a legion of dedicated followers

 

So my steering rack decided enough was enough and puked its fluid and quit. I’m guessing a late result from my encounter with a boulder. Thankfully was able to find one at Toyota Carlsbad, picked it up this AM. Consulted with the guru, Bruce, and picked up the recommended Swepco PS fluid. Tomorrow @tundra_20 is yet again lending me his help to get this swapped out!

Moose helped to keep it safe on the drive home haha.


Hoping the heat won’t wreak havoc tomorrow!

 

Damn that sucks... hope the replacemant goes smoothly

 

Thank you!

Made a little progress so far:
I just knocked the stock bushings out of the new rack. Not bad at all on a table and being new. I’ve read doing this under the truck with worn parts is a nightmare and I can see why. Those things are press fit so they’re awfully snug. But that step is done and prepped for the new poly bushings.

 

Good thing you're not on the trail trying to fix that.

 

For real! Every time I had doubt I was like “I watched this get done in the dark in the dirt, we can do this!”

It was hard! But we got it done. Also while the diff was out we tossed on my Solid motor mounts, so that got done as well. When I get up I’m going to go give it a once over, make sure it’s buttoned up, and then take it for a test drive.

 

Test drive successful

New 44250-0C160 steering rack installed.
CB/ES poly rack bushings installed.
Solid motor mounts installed.

 

You’re made of bigger stuff than I am. Nice work getting it done!

Installed a car seat a few minutes ago and called it a day

No clue how hvac techs and roofers do it..

 

Lol! With you on the roofers and HVAC

Thank you! I'm exhausted.

 

I was told by a few HVAC techs that they pull ducting off the working A/C unit and point it to where they are working. Genius!

 

Congrats! Any pictures?