patqx4 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Sounds like you've got er covered, for all the grief you've been through at least you will get a good return on the trails, and the road after one of our 4' snowfalls The only other thing that would be great for one of these massive lifts is longer/extendable trailing arms. Fleuries ones looked great I don't understand why no one bought them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 Fleury has longer trailing arms?!? I've been thinking about having my guy fab an extension for them. He said chances are I could find longer ones from another vehicle if I looked hard enough. But if Fleury has some, then heck yes! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patqx4 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 He doesn't make them anymore. No one was buying them. They were made of square aluminium, adjustable length, and with poly bushings greasable via zerk fittings. I've had a thread up for a while in parts wanted looking for used ones, nothing yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 That's too bad. Maybe I'll have to have my own extension bracket built after all. We'll see, it doesn't really seem necessary to extend them but it would look better if the rear wheel was actually cantered in the middle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96Pathfinder4x4 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I had to have the local shop compress mine. Manually it wasn't happening. Those HD springs are TOUGH!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TowndawgR50 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Your compressor broke?! Oh man...when things fail under load it can go bad very quickly. I had a 2ft section of 7/8 allthread pull out of a bulkhead when using a 50ton hydraulic ram. I'm still alive for some reason, unscathed from that incident. I hate using that kind of equipment in an uncontrollable situation. Have a shop do it. They have the cage to protect themselves and your rig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96Pathfinder4x4 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 No, it didn't break. I couldn't get it compressed tightly enough. It popped off one time and scared the crap out of me....luckily no injuries. I wouldn't do stiff springs again. With the TJM bumper and knowing I was going to add a winch, I opted for the HD springs and can't be happier with my choice. I've been considering a SAW, but can't find a thread with this being done on an R50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 Yes, one of my compressors broke. It went flying away from me and I jumped off my chair lol. It was definitely scary. So I bought a new set of compressors that actually lock onto the coil instead of just claw it. Luckily the other side held up and kept the spring from exploding entirely. Also it was on the strut so the coil itself wasn't gonna go flying. I'll take a pic of it tonight 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TowndawgR50 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Holy crap. Very lucky. Even if the spring and strut are still assembled the compressor itself becomes a projectile, as you experienced, with the potential to do some serious damage. Maybe use a tie down to secure everything in place, even with the locking type compressor. Never can be too safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebelord Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 OT here on the spring compresser story. Back in 2002 I was putting in Eibach springs in my 92 Z28. I had just pulled out on of the stock coils compressed. Went to set it down when it let go. In the process it went to the left of me bounced off the wall of the house. Ended up across the street by the neighbors front door. A good 200ft away. It had hit and smash my thumb pretty good. Scared the bejesus out of me. I only use wall mounted for struts now. And if its on the car and center style compressor. I add a rachet strap as some kind of extra measures. Sent from fat fingers on S6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 Yeah I'll have to augment with ratchet traps as well as its one of the scariest things when they let go. Mine wasn't nearly as bad as Rebellord's but a scare nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 If someone has an ingenious solution to getting these top bolts out, that would make my life a million times easier as it would allow me to keep the strut fully assembled. Otherwise I'm gonna have to take it apart and get into the whole spring compressing business again lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawairish Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 You wanting to use different (shorter) hardware? Otherwise, I'd just remove the nuts, flip the spacer, and call it a day at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 hahahaha OMG I can't believe I was hung up on the thought that the whole bolt had to come out. My god, it's so simple it's stupid. Thanks for giving my head a shake lol, it's been a crazy long day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jyeager Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Regarding the idea of longer control arms...here's my thought on that (I'm lifted too...just recently, so am in the same boat). As the axle drops from the body (or the body lifts up from the axle) the tires swing slightly forward and can look out of center. But when the suspension compresses out on the trail, especially so when articulating, it swings back up, centering the wheel again just as it's tucking in to the rear fender. If we lengthen the control arms to center it at static height, then as it tucks upward, it will move too far backward and rub the back side of the wheel well when fully tucked (if it ever gets there???) So I'm wary of the idea of lengthening my control arms. What do you all think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 You make a very good point. I guess the deciding factor is in how you use your vehicle for the majority of the time. Or better even, have a telescopic control arm that can be moved into 2 or 3 positions and locked in place depending on requirements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 Woooohooo!!! Success at last! All done. I even adjusted the camber bolt on the driver side too much that I now have negative camber!! So it's all within proper specs now. What a relief! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawairish Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) hahahaha OMG I can't believe I was hung up on the thought that the whole bolt had to come out. My god, it's so simple it's stupid. Thanks for giving my head a shake lol, it's been a crazy long day. Regarding the idea of longer control arms...here's my thought on that (I'm lifted too...just recently, so am in the same boat). As the axle drops from the body (or the body lifts up from the axle) the tires swing slightly forward and can look out of center. But when the suspension compresses out on the trail, especially so when articulating, it swings back up, centering the wheel again just as it's tucking in to the rear fender. If we lengthen the control arms to center it at static height, then as it tucks upward, it will move too far backward and rub the back side of the wheel well when fully tucked (if it ever gets there???) If you extend your bumpstops, then lengthening the arms to re-center the axle shouldn't be a problem (i.e., it can't "get there"). But you should extend them when you put larger tires or spacers on anyway. My rules of thumb have been to lengthen the bumpstop 1" for every 2" of tire size increase, or 1" for every 1" of spacer lift. This generally ensures there won't be rubbing at the top of the wheel well, which (with longer control arms) would also prevent the tire from swinging too far back (er, up?) to hit the rear of the wheel well. You may also need to be mindful of the extendable length of the driveshaft if going with longer control arms...but nothing a small driveshaft spacer can't resolve if the driveshaft is too short. I used 2" body lift spacers (Performance Accessories BB02), a longer bolt (8mm x 1.25 x 70mm), and a nylock nut (to secure the bolt to OE bumpstop, center the spacer, and so I could just twist them on by hand) when I added spacers: Edited June 12, 2018 by hawairish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 At this point, I'd like to give a big thank you to Hawaiirish, you have been super helpful throughout this process both on and offline. Kudos and thanks man. I really appreciate it. And I also really appreciate everyone's input and help with with this. It started to feel like a community effort. I definitely wasn't alone in this, so here's a cheers to all of you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawairish Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Woooohooo!!! Success at last! All done. I even adjusted the camber bolt on the driver side too much that I now have negative camber!! So it's all within proper specs now. What a relief! Much better! Glad it's all sorted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TowndawgR50 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Looking good!! So it was a left to right issue? Or mounted inversely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 They were on the proper sides, just upside down. Causing the strut to be pushed out instead of in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motofish Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Woohoo! Glad you got it worked out! Now then... Whats next on the mod list? Gotta keep this build thread going right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDN_S4 Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 You know it! Next is the rear to get raised higher. Also on the list are rock sliders, something like these hopefully: I've been thinking about hood louvers too for a while to help the air intake a bit with the high temperatures. I plan on swapping the overhead console to a display one. But the install seems pretty tricky. Not a modification but some rust spots need to be addressed. Along with a fresh undercoat. Then a rear bumper with carrier is likely also going to be in the future. But for now I'll just modify my rear hitch carrier. Might swap my blue interior dash LEDs for amber ones, not sure yet. I think Amber is a bit more grown up lol. These are just the things floating around in my head right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushnut Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 good job brother, glade to see you've sorted things out. I've got one of the OEM overhead consoles (JY find) however no wiring or sensors for it to work. If you find a JY one remember to pull all the wiring that goes with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now