seeraedave

No press, after cutting my ripped boot off I slid the housing down on the shaft. Then I was able to use a nice chunk of brass that I have in my box and a rather beefy ball peen hammer to drive it off. It took maybe 10 or so hearty smacks. The worst part of the job was, other than doing it of coarse, was when I was cleaning up my tools and found the darn snap ring from the cv on my work bench. I actually considered not tearing the axle back out to put it on. It ended up only taking me 20 minutes or so to remove and re-install the second time.

Looks to me like you could have it backwards, there's a pretty big chamfer showing on the id of the spider, and that is right where your snap ring would be resting. I just had mine apart over the weekend and I seem to recall a sharper corner on the id, flip yours around and see what you get. It would have been in your best interest to prick punch the spider and shaft for proper reassembly orientation.

It's the first time that I've had these particular tires, and I've only had this truck 9 months, so I'm keeping an eye on tread wear patterns. But, at 40f/37r psi I have a good looking contact patch. I rotate my tires every 5K miles at oil change time, and I do it myself, so I monitor wear pretty actively.

I put on the Old Man Emu lift. It's advertised at 1/2" of lift, I ended up with just under 2" compared to my worn 140K mile stock suspension, the tires are 2" bigger diameter than the stock tires, so I gained almost 3" at the fenders. In person it looks very "balanced", somewhat sleeper.

The back of the truck isn't as heavy as the front, you don't need as much psi to get a similar tread contact patch. If I were hauling a trailer or other load I would bring the rear pressure up. I run a 5 psi front to rear difference on my Mustang. I've aired this way for years, and of course I keep a close eye on tread wear patterns to make sure that I'm aired correctly, tires aren't cheap.

I didn't want to mess with trimming and what not, so went with 245/75-16's. No rubbing issues whatsoever. Debated the E load rating, went with it because of all the sharp and nasty rocks out here in AZ, they ride just fine on the road with 40 psi front and 37 rear. Aired down to 18 psi off road, they are amazing!! And to think that I actually considered Geolanders.

Just signed up for photobucket, bear with me if I screw this up. And while we're at it, one of fleury's skid plates at work

Wheel spacers came from Summit Racing, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TRD-7107/, they have a $9.95 handling and delivery charge, but I got my studs and lug nuts there also so it wasn't too bad. Hubs came from Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Rugged-Ridge-15001-61-Spline-Locking/dp/B001FANSJO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339459611&sr=8-1. The wheel spacers are actually meant for 5/8" lugs, but a 1/2" lock washer pressed nicely into the holes and located it really good on the flange. I have to do an oil change and tire rotation in a couple of days, I'll get some pics then, I was also replacing a cv joint and packing my bearings yesterday and I didn't want to handle my camera when I was all yuck. As far as the wheel spacing, there is about an 1/8' of interference if you try to put your wheels on without it. So, with the 1/4" spacer you have an 1/8" clearance easy. The problem with the stock lugs, in my opinion, they are not long enough right from the factory. You do not want to use this spacer without addressing the stud length, and I searched far and wide for M12 x 1.25 that were a 1/4" longer. The Dorman M12 x 1.5 that I used were the only thing that I could find that also met the head and knurl requirements. Changing them was a breeze with a bench vise and a little creative use of a couple sockets.

Just in case anyone has been baffled by this, I just finished the mod. The hole in the center of the stock 03 & 04 6 spoke wheels is too small for Warn hubs, but Rugged Ridge 15001.61 will fit, you just need to use a 1/4" spacer behind the wheels or the lip where the Nissan center cap goes will hit the lip of the hub. I needed to change some studs anyway, (Discount Tire stripped 5 of the 24 when they installed my Duratracs), so I removed all of the front studs and put in Dorman #610-340. They are M12x1.5, instead of x1.25, so I needed new lug nuts too, but they're 3/8" longer than stock so even after the spacers I get a couple extra turns of engagement. Nice solid and secure upgrade. I'll see if I can get a picture or two up, soon. While you're in there. grease your wheel bearings.

Dynomax, your camber may not be as bad as you are thinking, optical illusion. I just did the OME med/med lift on my '04, 245/75-16 Duratracs, and my camber "looked" positive. Upon checking, it was still at -3/8 degree, both sides, well within spec. Also, caster was still good, and only had to toe out 1/16" total.

What's your opinion of "proper"? I'm thinking that I'd rather have steel than aluminum.

Anybody familiar with Rugged Ridge locking hubs?

Fleurys crosslink is similar, but IMO is more solidly manufactured. The install is a breeze, and the crosslink provides mounting points for his skid plate set, which also happens to be quite solidly manufactured.