I think you'll love the looks of it in the morning when you can see it. You
should have gotten some liquid wrench or something to loosen those nuts up
some. I know the feeling though. We lowered my first dak by hand (no air
tools) and what a pain in the ass. My favorite thing about putting the
blocks in is being able to look out the back window and everything looking
so level. Before I was high ridin' back there. I really hated that. Those
pins can also be a pain in the ass man. I didn't relize mine were out of
wack until I got the other side done and was getting ready to roll. That
sucked tooo.
Later
Scott Miller
Shelby #322
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Clark <mike@snakebite.com>
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Date: Saturday, February 14, 1998 3:14 AM
Subject: DML: 2" rear drop finished
>Just finished installing the 2" drop blocks. Don't have any pics yet.
>My camcorder is broke and needs to go to the shop. I'll have to snap
>some 35's after I wash it. Man the old Ubolts were a pain to get off.
>Had to fight those nuts off every milimeter of the way. I guess all the
>rust and mud and stuff roughed up the threads to where they wouldn't
>spin free. Took forever getting those off, I'd do about 3 turns and lay
>there and rest, 3 more, rest...... and if you've ever done this you know
>how shallow the thread pitch is so it takes about a million turns to get
>the nuts off. But I finally got them off. When I put the blocks in
>they
>didn't want to line up. apparently after everything was taken loose the
>axle shifted just a tad towards the back of the truck, or maybe the
>spring flexed forward. At any rate I couldn't even fit things back to
>the stock configuration, so I layed there and thought for about 30 mins.
>......... Prybar.... No..... start it up and put it in gear..... HELL
>NO...... jack up the front part of the diff..... tried it but dind't
>work..... Ah ha!, a come-along. Dug out the ole come-along and parked
>the tractor with a box blade up by the front wheel, wraped the cable
>around the axle ancored it to the box blade and cranked it back in
>line. Kinda nearvous pulling on the axle with a come-along, but it
>didn't take hardly any pressure, just no other way to pull it back, and
>it was only a 1/2" or so out. Finally got the little pegs and holes to
>line up, put on the new U bolts and tightended 'em down. Did the same
>on the other side. Torqued them to the suggested 80ft/lbs and job
>complete. Took about 4 hours which included running to town to buy some
>jack stands (can you guys believe I installed my headers with no jack
>stands???? You might guess I'm pretty thin.) I also borrowed an air
>powered impact wrench which did nothing but waste time, turned one nut a
>half turn with that. When I got finished it was dark outside so I can't
>get a good look at how it turned out yet, but it looks to be almost
>perfectly
>level. You can definately tell the rear is lower when driving
>it. Rides the same, can't tell any differance. Except on the corners,
>it feels a little more solid which I guess makes sense since I lowered
>the center of gravity. I hope to have some pics up on my site in a few
>days.
>
>Anyway since these did not line up perfectly until I pulled the axle
>back to where it should have been, I'm wondering if there is anything in
>the rear end that could be thrown out of alignment by these? I can't
>hear any strange noises (kinda hard anyway with the flowmaster), and
>when I apply power it tracks straight. Is there any thing I need to
>check or keep an eye on, like the drive shaft or u joints? Just
>wondering. So far everything seems normal.
>
>It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, but it was close.
>Anyway, I bet Trotman could even do it ;~) (Sorry Rob, but you are such
>a good sport about it, and I just couldn't resist....) Hang in there,
>we'll stop kiddin' ya before long.
>--
>----
> Michael Clark mike@snakebite.com
> '93 MarkIII 4X2 V-8 SWB RC auto, DDBC
> K&N FIPK, Flowmaster cat-back dual, MP SBEC
> Doug Thorley Headers, Moroso Blue Max wires, 2" rear drop
> 180 degree thermostat, WaterWetter, Brass cap & rotor
> one and only 1/4 mile time of 15.08 @ 90.82
> My Dakota page=> http://userv.wt.net/~mclark/dakota.html
> Dakota Webring=> http://userv.wt.net/~mclark/webring/ring.html
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