On Friday, June 20, 2003, at 02:54 AM, Michael Maskalans wrote:
>
> I'm sure I'll get the remote done, but I don't know whether I'll go
> for finishing the gauges or doing the shocks or both.
ha. haha. that was funny. I actually thought I'd get that done so
soon? how little I knew....
on friday afternoon I got the compressor mounted (I put it on the left
fender next to the battery), and that evening I managed to get the rear
air manifold mounted (inside left frame rail under the gas filler),
lines cut for the rear shocks and lines run to the front of the truck
for the compressor and controls.
saturday I got the shocks mounted all the way around, with my
girlfriend's help, and got the airlines from the rear all tied down. I
put the front manifold on the inside of the left splash guard.
hopefully that wasn't a mistake. the other hopefully non-mistake was
running the line to the RF shock along the brake line, just behind the
radiator. the brake line is still in good shape, so I'm thinking there
can't be too much road grit there. I couldn't decide how I wanted to
run the line to the RR shock, but then I noticed the mount was right
near one of the tubular bed supports. So avoiding as much muffler heat
as possible, I armored the line with some plastic wire wrap leftover
from ripping out my fogs and stuffed the line through there. it
couldn't have worked better.
Trottman, whoever he is, did make a showing that ate most of saturday.
when I pulled off my rear tires, I pulled off the drums to check out my
brakes as I usually do. This time, I found 4 cracked shoes, though. I
got to learn how to do a drum brake job, and let me tell you, that's no
fun when you start out putting things together wrong... The first side
took me probably 4 solid hours, maybe more. damn, it was frustrating.
I also didn't get to replace most of my springs since PepBoys gave me
the wrong install kit. the other side and adjusting took short of an
hour this morning.
I still don't have the lines run through the firewall since I haven't
found an easy open spot to poke another hole through it. I might just
run everything alongside the Big Bundle of Wires that already goes
through...
For what it's worth, with the shocks set at 0, I felt like I was
driving an old Caddy boat, but it was damn nice on the road I take from
my house into town (the top layer of blacktop is trying to fall off).
oh, and the amusing thing - the old fronts didn't feel too odd, but the
RR, which was leaking oil, just kinda falls from one end or the other
to the middle of its travel before it dampens. the LR extends on its
own. I haven't figured that out....
when I get my install pics up, I'll let yall know. Hopefully I have
enough to be decent -- I kinda forgot to keep taking pictures once
those damn drums ate my afternoon.
-- Michael Maskalans '98 Dakota SLT CC 4x4 318 details here: <http://mike.tepidcola.com/dak.html> mobile.612.618.4652 campus.585.274.2246 fax.954.697.0487
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:46:29 EST