Picking up where we left off. The parts arrived, just when we needed them, on Friday, thanks again to Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters for his knowledge and great customer service. Our customer, was in a time crunch and giving up her truck during the week wasn’t feasible, so this was a weekend job. We had to make a correction on the tires, once there were on the truck and driven, the traction wasn’t acceptable, so they were removed and sold quickly for no loss to the customer and Rich at Discount Tire in St. Paul took care of us with tires in stock and beat all prices, even on the internet. If you need tires, tell Rich or Chris that Expedition Ops Outfitters sent you.
285/75R16's mounted and Old Man Emu Heavy's installed
Once the tires were mounted, we began to discover what work was ahead of us. Pennsylvania rust! Once we wrestled with the frozen bolts long enough, we decided to work on the front end and see if we could get replacement hardware in the morning and get the saw to persuade the rear leaf spring out. It was time to prep for the morning, Coilovers! The front suspension came out in a heartbeat, thankfully. Off to bed for an early morning. Coilovers to Auto Mex down the road from the shop, they have a great spring compressor, nothing sketchy. Toyota for parts, hardware store for more cutting blades, and back to Auto Mex. Back to the shop, Expedition Ops team member Tim wanted to get his hands dirty and play in the shop. In no time the front end was back together, new coilovers installed, good thing I had a second set of hands for this. Returning to the frozen rear suspension, the angle grinder made simple work of that. After cutting off all the u-bolts and leaf spring hangars, the new suspension went in at a relaxed pace as we pulled parts for rust removal and paint. The lift was done and torqued to spec by 6pm. The height increase was perfect, just what we were hoping for.
Rear height from the ground, Old Man Emu heavy suspension
Front height from the ground, Old Man Emu heavy suspension
Sunday morning, the rest of the painting and the ARB were ready to be finished. This took all day to address all the rust we wanted to manage, from the tailgate, to the bed rails. Blacking out the grill and wheels, used a good part of the day. I am a big fan of ARB, I personally run one of their bumpers on my Lexus LX450 and have used it to it intended purpose a couple time. This bumper on the other hand left a few things to be desired. I’m not afraid to drill holes to mount something, but ARB calls for drilling holes through their laser cut/formed parts, trimming was required to get the bumper to its mounting holes, and a tap removed enough powdercoat to make the weld nuts usable. The bumper is a great piece, different tolerances than what I’m used to from ARB. This certainly won’t keep me from buying and recommending their product. The suspension on the other hand, went together flawlessly, that is critical.
Once the ARB bullbar was installed and all the painted parts were mounted back up, the truck looks killer and will get our customer out there, in stealthy style.
What a difference a week makes? If you need help getting your vehicle from point A to B, give us a call, we’d love to talk trucks with you.
Jeremy
