Ode to FGT; a refresh story

Haha pretty sweet you have it automatically come on. Does the Red and Blue mess with your eyes too? Green is the only one that seems clear to me.
I have a mechanical KB with backlighting, and it's the same with that, only green seems clear.

 

Green is my favorite so far. Easy on the eyes and good definition of objects. Doesn't mess with night vision either. This setup is dimmable too.

 

Topo graph with the 10 on it

 

I'm definitely doing this if I ever swap my softopper for a shell. Came out awesome dude.

 

Ok that's just dope AF. I'm officially jealous.

 

I've been mulling over how to mount mine similarly (I have the same LED runs). I'm carpeted, and I see some folks suggesting velcro online. But that raised support section thru the middle of the roof has substrate of some sort sandiwched in between and I was toying with the idea of using ¼" fasteners to pop into the vertical edge of that. The same section is used to mount the overhead lockbox on some shells, and fishing rod holders, and plenty of other stuff.

I also think an under-rail install could produce solid results, but nowhere near as good as yours turned out..

 

Ordered a new 3rd brake light for the cap, original is baked and cracked and barely light up anymore. Removal has begun, awaiting the delivery of the replacement.

 

Clean enough for re-install. Hurry up UPS….

 

Add to the parts pile. Other side of the truck parts that someone apparently didn’t order the first time. Good help is hard to find.

 

Third brake light came in. Install was easy.



I added some additional 3M tape to the back surface. It came with tape on the bottom surface. Had to open the wire hole up a little due to the new light having a small hump around the wire exit.

 

It looks fantastic! Sure beats wearing a headlamp or holding a flashlight between your teeth! I know it was a game changer after i installed the daisy chain LED lights all throughout my Econoline motovan. I went YEARS and YEARS without proper lighting under my canopies and vans, so when i bought my econoline (about 10 years ago) one of the first things i did was install LEDS.

 

The very second i saw the red lights, i immediately thought of the choppa ride in the movie Predator.

 

Is that an override kill switch for the lights? In case you want the topper open for an extended time, but the lights not burning?
Looks great man. The older I get the more I appreciate good lighting

 

It’s the on off switch that came with the lights, so yes, it allows you to turn them off when the cap is open.

 

Stole some leafs from my factory pack before dumping the rest at the metal recycle place. Gotta feeling I might need these in the future. Was able to save the pads for them. The center pin on the HD pack has some room left for one more leaf me thinks.

 

I've seen people make pretty sweet rocking chairs out of them.

 

The refresh continues with a front end rebuild. All the moving bits are being swapped for OEM. Already swapped the worn out sway bar end links for the Suspension Maxx extended ones. Have about 2.25” of lift in the front from the 5100 Billies.



After tearing it all down, diagnosis: all the shitty non-OEM parts have failed in spectacular fashion in less than 60k miles. Some of them have been done failed for many miles.

 

Rear leafs (Husky HD 5 leaf from rockauto) have only settled about 1/4” after some towing.

 

CVs were shot, well at least the boots were. These must be built like AKs, cause despite the wide open boots for a long time, they still worked great. Advanced auto axles with lifetime warranty, so swapping them Out tonight.

 

Carquest premium from AA? Any chance you can snap a pic side by side with the OEM axles for science?

 

Don’t have any OEM axles to compare it too. I unwisely discarded them years ago when they failed.

 

I didnt realize those are already AA axles

 

Good grief what a pain today. Bearings pressed. Not a fun job.

 

Replaced:
Upper ball joints - OEM
Lower ball joints - OEM
Tie rod ends - OEM
Tie rod end boots - Detroit axle
Front wheel bearings - Koyo (OEM)
CV axles - Advanced Auto

Drives like new. So smooth and quiet. No more Wah-Wahs. Steers straight and true and with much less effort. I thought my steering rack was failing prior to this. Not so much now. Need to add some front diff fluid back and adjust my rear brakes again.

 

A close second to the bearings was the steering rack bushings. F those things.

 

John is still driving around without one of his steering rack bolts in place because of that. It's been 3 years now.

What was so difficult about the wheel bearing?

 

The pressing was challenging due to the surface that you are using to hold the spindle (the bolts that hold the brake shield on) is smaller diameter than the hub surface with the lugs. So you have to sneak something in between the hub and the spindle and somehow support it on all sides. Then, you 100% need a 20 ton Press. It took all it had. You also have to raise it up high enough to clear the hub + about 3” that gets pressed out.

 

Bled the brakes with new Dot 3 synthetic fluid. Old stuff was predictably green and nasty looking. Adjusted the rear drums, all out of LSPV adjustment short of making a new bracket. Also refilled the spilt front diff juice. Royal Purple 75/90.

Oh yeah, spun the breather and greased the driveline too

 

Any bets on how long it takes before the reservoir is light green again? I'm usualy at about 3-6 weeks.

 

Doesn’t seem to take long