Rick13

Well, I might not be any help right now, but I may know a lot more in a couple days. I plan to test fit my 285/75/16 GY Duratracs (8.9" treadwidth/11.4" section width) this weekend. My only concern is that my 3.75" BS (16x8 ProComp Crawlers) won't be enough to clear the strut/spring perch with the new height/width tire. I've pre-measured the unmounted width of the new tire compared to the 265/70/16 BFG AT (8.7" tread width/10.6" section width) and I'm NOT convinced I won't have a rubbing issue. Based on my tire/clearance measurements, it's gonna be gosh-darn close. I just want to see for my own two eyes with the tire on the rim and the rim on the rig before I throw on wheel spacers. BTW - I do have 1" bolt on wheel adapters for the front only - I just wasn't sure I'd want them in the back for tucking reasons. If I go in this weekend for the fitment, I'll post up the answer with some photos.

Ditto. No sway bar for about 9 months, over 45 trails, and it's my daily driver - I couldn't even tell it was gone except for the new flexy out back on trails.

Well, I definitely don't have "2 inches" of rake. I put a level on my sliders this morning and it's extremely close to level. That's all I wanted from my $18 spacers I put on the back...these were only meant to buy me time to save for custom springs/longer shocks. I'll definitely take the way it sits right now - especially gaining some extra room for the 33's out back. My garage slopes slightly towards the driveway which automatically places the front of my rig higher than the rear, so considering where the bubble sits, I think I did pretty well:

Installed the rear coil top spacers this morning. PHD looks like it is pulling the rear axle to the driver side (as expected). Took the wife out for a spin around the block and she likes how close to completely level it sits now. I'll concentrate on getting the new tires on (285/75/16 GY DuraTracs) and then I'll be saving for the custom rear springs/longer shocks!!! I'll post up after the new tires go on.

Thanks! Yeah, I think the R50 is one of the coolest looking rigs when it has a SFD and big tires. I got a killer deal a couple months ago on 4 285/75/16 GY DuraTracs. Unmounted they measure right at 32.8". My current BFG AT's sit right at 30.6". I'll be getting more than 1" of overall lift/clearance just from the install. I also have a friend who's going to sell me his same sized GY MTR (old pattern) for my full size spare. Seriously can't wait. I kind of think all the SFD'd R50's should plan some kind of get together annually - something that changes location (West Coast, Mountain, East Coast, Canada...). It could rotate annually so those that aren't within driving distance one year might be able to attend the next year's. It could be a camping/wheeling "SFD R50 Jamboree" (or hopefully named something less lame).

Well, you inspired me to get to work on lifting the back of my rig... Last night I used a coil compressor kit and cranked the back end up. Without further compressing the rear springs I was able to insert a 1" gasket spacer under each coil: Before: After: I'll work on it more this weekend to install the upper 1" spacer. Once done I'll get my 33's on (that have been sitting in my garage for the past couple months...glaring at me!!!). And for those that are wondering, the bottom spacers seems to sit well below the coil seat and my shocks are a bit short - in other words, at full droop the springs were quite secure. We'll see how I feel after I attack the top spacers and I'll post more.

In dash. My 6 disc had died (like many others) and I replaced it with a single disc head unit. I modified the OEM dual radio bracket, because I was going for looks on this install: The cb has worked great for the past year of use - Cobra WXSTII 18 ($54 plus $38 in cable/mount/antenna).

That's a sweet lookin' ride man!

Only loosened the nuts to let it them drop about 1/8 of an inch, then creeped them back up.

Jacked up the front and started pulling/prying everything to see if anything was loose. Sway bar/bushings/links looked to be in good shape. Ball joints looked good. Then I started looking at the struts. I noticed that the struts didn't appear to be uniformly seated to the strut spacer. I actually decided to loosen them from the spacers and let them drop a just a little. Then I painstakingly tightend each nut one-turn at a time. I cranked them all down and repeated on the other side. Probably sounds crazy, but the spacer and the strut look more uniformly seated than before. I drove all over my neighborhood that's filled with recessed manhole covers. I aimed both driver/passenger tires at all that I could (about 15 in total) and found that my "rattle" had completely gone away and the steering wheel felt more secure when going over them. I have a weird feeling that the strut may not have been seated correctly and now I'm wondering if some nuts had worked loose over time because of this. Sorry it doesn't help your squeak.

Hey, my rig has been making a new noise since installing the SFD. It sounds like a "rattle" from the front end when I go over bumps. No squeaks, but wanted to compare/commiserate with ya... I'm gonna jack it up this weekend and look at the ball joints and sway bar. I've looked at the struts also and I think I may have a strut bearing going on my driver's side (it "pops" when I crank the wheel in a parking lot). Again, just thought I'd pipe up since we are in similar shape right now...

Yeah, I almost laughed out loud when the tech showed me the print out and said the "caster is still out".

Alignment done. All but caster is within manuf specs. David and I got the camber on both sides to within 0.3 degrees - we eye'd it pretty well. I'm moving on to the rear spacers in the next couple weeks and will post up progress when complete. Once those are on I'm putting the front wheel spacers on and mounting the 33's. It should be fine until I save for the rear (springs/shocks/brake line/PHD bracket). Can't wait to see your final outcome Andrew... BTW my front fender is sitting at 40" and rear is right at 35.5".

I didn't originally rotate the rack until this last Sunday with Thunderbolt. We both rotated our racks and adjusted the linkage - it looks so much better and doesn't have that "I'm gonna bind" look to it anymore. We also added a second camber bolt to the passenger side (which was way out of whack). This brought that wheel to very close to neutral. This morning I dropped it off at Firestone and talked to the services manager. He said sorry for the trouble and they'd have it aligned today. I'll post up after that's done.

Found a local O'Reilly Auto Parts store that had one 14mm Cam Bolt Kit left in inventory. Drove down after worked and picked it up. I looked it up on-line and the manufacturer indicates it can adjust up to 2 degrees (I figured that would be better than the 1 degree kit that a Napa store had). If I get them installed this weekend I'll get it aligned early next week and post up.

Holy steering wheel!!! Watched the video, sorry for the loss. Did it get spun accidently during install? Mine was off just under 1/4 turn when we put the linkage on but I fixed it shortly after cause it drove me nuts (pun intended) driving down the road like that. Still looking for a local supplier to have the camber bolts, but haven't had much luck with on-line inventory searches. Can't wait to get this dialed in so I can start working on the rest of the changes.

Computer hard drive crashed last Friday, so I have been out of sorts until today. Sorry for the delay. I'm going to order another camber bolt kit and see how close I can get the wheels to "come in" before I get the actual alignment done. I've run out of free time and this is taking longer than I thought... My driver side tire is close to neutral but the passenger side has a bit more to come in. I think it's possible to get the camber very close and then fix the toe and it should ride quite nice. The pic from the front is quite similar to how mine sits right now. Is that without an alignment? Or after the alignment?

Took my rig to Firestone for the 3rd time in 6 days...they had it for 7.5 hours and did NOT do any work on it. The 1st two times they made an excuse for why they couldn't work on it that day. Today the service manager apologized for not getting to it (I had an appointment by the way) said I could try to bring it back FRIDAY and MAYBE they'd work on it. HORSE PUCKY! I talked to a friend/mechanic and he told me to bring it in tomorrow morning and he'd make it work. He said there are other tricks of the trade to work with camber adjustment and he just wants to see it in person. I'll post up tomorrow afternoon how it goes.

Thanks, yeah, I know mine went on with the right orientation...I am just freaked at the amount of camber adjustment that will be needed. I'll post up after my alignment tomorrow...

I agree that I am very worried about just how much the cam bolts can adjust back in. The toe-in shouldn't be an issue since it's just tie rod turning/adjusting. I keep thinking I installed the strut towers on the wrong sides!!!

No, I don't have a good pic of the front...but it looks almost identical to your's (except mine are toe'd in a little). My drivers front wheel is the worst and has terrible feathering on the outside edge. That's why I've been trying to get it aligned - figured if an alignment shop can't get it to work, then I'll have to rethink something in the setup.

Not trying to respond for Andrew, but I think he started piecing his kit together some time ago (before Shift220 started offering his version to others). As an update, I pulled the upper linkage (to the column diverter) and had my wife straighten and then hold the steering wheel very still while I reconnected it. Now I can drive straight and not have my steering wheel at 90 degrees (it's the little things ya know). I'm going to attempt to insert the gasket spacers in the rear coils this evening. Hope that helps the rake/ride a little. I talked to my local Firestone shop last Friday (where I have a lifetime alignment agreement) and at first they weren't sure about honoring the agreement because of the "significant" modifications performed on it. I talked to them again today and it looks like they'll take it tomorrow morning and "see what can be done" with the camber/toe-in that it currently has. Please wish me/them luck tomorrow. Here is a better photo, but please note that the parking lot is not level and actually makes the rake look worse than it truly is. And please no rude comments, it will look better soon...

Just remember that the top portion is pulled from a 91 Honda Accord. Also, the spline shaft from the steering column was cut off the 91 Accord to go btw the R50 and the Accord linkages: David and I were looking at the brackets the other day - I think the rotation is a good idea to help line things up. On my rig I found them on the front of the rack - one on the passenger side and one on the driver's side. They are pretty significant and have some hefty bolts facing the front of the rig. Hope that helps. Glad you got it on!!! Oh yeah, the front looks EXTREMELY familiar - mine looks like the hind end of a Baja Bug. Additional Info (Edit): The brackets and bolts are fairly visible (4 large bolts in pic) Here are the pics of my linkage assembly Top (connected to steering column diverter) Bottom (connected to rack)

Yep, yep. In fact, David and I were talking that we need to entice you to drive up to Colo and we could have a mod weekend and then some wheeling! Get 3 SFD'd R50's together for a trail run...now that would be a sight to see!

It's far from finished...need to realign the steering column/diverter and linkage, definitely needs an alignment (it was out before the SFD any ways), still have to install the rear coil spacers (until I get custom rear springs) and front wheel spacers. And then the 33's go on!!! Mine's the blue beauty, the other is Thunderbolt's rig... Here it is before: And about half-way finished: It'll have a bit of reverse rake until I get the coil spacers in the rear, but it's totally drivable. I'll take better shots when closer to completion and post measurements if anyone cares to see those... BTW - Shift220 builds a great kit.