tomorrow bright and early i'll get started with a buddy. I think by mid afternoonish the thing will be installed. hopefully i'll have enough time to get to the alignment shop..... pics will be posted throughout the day tomorrow...

 

YAY!




I for one am excited for you, lol


yeah at least the kit's a direct bolt on; it's a pretty straight forward install


can't wait for them therr pics!

 

easy bud, don't be a hater. If you saw and held the UCA in your hands you would see how beefy it is. In my opinion the stock arms look a lot stronger than tubular arms that other long travel manufacturers make. Have you seen the kit in person? Do you have background in engineering to make such a claim?? Just give me a chance to try it out.

 

the OEM UCA's are heavier and beefier when held in your hands then what you may think, I'll give them that... I've got a set in my garage...

of course, mine just might be filled with a few lbs of mud

 

screw mud, make em floatable with some wood-fill
muahahahahaha

 

maybe styrofoam

 

Helium

 

I work at sealy making latex foam mattresses this gives me an idea. hehe.

 

oh god, lol.
i gave people bad ideas o.o

 

i dont see how me voicing an opinion and a concern for someone else's safety is wrong and considered being "hater". to answer your question no im not an engineer, but how about nate from balzeland, is he? seems like that would be the better person to ask. does he have the proper training and skill for suspension fabrication or would asking that be being a hater again? either way man, its your money and your life.

 

Asking about my background is not being a hater. I have a Bachelor of Science from the University of Nebraska in Architecture class of 1993. My course load included science and mathmatics courses as well as design. Geometry, calculus, trigonometry, physics, structures I, II, III, & IV. I have formal training as a machinist from the NTMA National Tooling and Machining Association- 1996. In high school I took all the metal shop and welding classes offered. I have been working as a detailer, designer, project coordinator, and project manager for about 15 years. My passion and hobby is offroad fabrication and design. I may not be an automotive designer, a professional fabricator, a certified welder, or a structural engineer but I have involved them in the process as consultants.

 

Looks like Nate has a "one up" on you.... if you have nothing supportive to say on this thread, then don't say anything at all..

 

Indeed.


I believe we all ready have a thread on the Blazeland kits. This is a build thread NOT a "this designs sucks thread." Stay out of aalba's thread and go whine in the previously established one.


I'm just saying...NOW GET THIS DAMN KIT INSTALLED AND JUMP IT!!!!!!

 

So, bright and early Finally i got started. the first thing to do was jack up the front end as high as i could. I had some jackstands that i made at a metal shop i used to work at that are extra high and used those to support the front end. The first thing I did obviously was take the wheels off. Next I removed the shocks..in this pic you can see the difference in the shock lengths.

 

next, off comes the sway bar. I wish I had some pneumatic tools. I feel a knuckler coming on.... you can see the swaybar in this pic. it is now scrap metal..

 

Yeeeehhhaaaawwww!!! Progress!!!!!

Mine is on jackstands too!!! <sigh> again...

 

Next came the T- bars. I started to back out the TB adjusting bolt on the passenger side first. I used a box end wrench to hold the nut on top and positioned such so it was against the frame to hold it. It was really hard to back out. I tried to spray some liquid wrench on the remaining threads on top of the adjusting nut and noticed that there was a lock nut against the actual adjusting nut.... no wonder it was so tight. DUH.... After the tensioning assembly was removed, the rear of the TB was free. To get the front of the T bar out of the UCA i found the pull and wiggle method to work( I had to make that funny face and stick my tounge out while lying on my back to do this) haha. The other side was easier now knowing there is a locknut. I removed those and set those aside. More scrap metal... time for a couple beers.

 

Brake line removal is pretty easy. I happened to have a 10mm line wrench. To get the clips out is a little tricky. I used a set of needle nose vice grips and a flat blade screwdriver with the widest blade i could find. Be sure to have something big enough to catch all the brake fluid that drips out. Quite a bit comes out both sides total and a beer can cut in half didn't do the trick...oops.

 

Tie rod ends and sleeves were next. I had to go to autozone to purchase borrow a tie rod end removal tool. The adusting sleeves came off next. After that I removed the 4 bolts on the lower ball joint flange holding it to the spindle. Then off came the 6 nuts holding the inner cv axle to the output of the front diff. I pat myself on the back and drank a beer after every major step by the way...haha. Next came the hubs. I removed the 6 bolts and six nuts holding the 2 piece hub. There are some cone inserts on beneath the inner nuts that can be tricky to get out. I used a rubber mallet to whack the hub on the edges enough to loosen the inserts and then used needle nose vice grips and a small flat blade screw driver to pop them out. I removed the hub assembly and put them aside. Next there was a bolt beneath the hubs that had to be removed as well as the snap ring behind it holding the axle in place. I did not have snap ring pliers( i used 2 small screwdrivers) so it took some tedious playing with it to get it to come out. this is kind of messy and i had to wash my hands before cracking the next beer...haha.. Next came loosening the alignment cam nuts holding the lca's in place. I just loosened them, then I used a chisel and hammer to knock the lower ball joint flange free from the spindle.( there is a groove on the edge of the flange just for this purpose). The LCA will swing down now and the cam bolts can be removed along with the LCA. Now the spindle will swing out and the axle should come off the inner studs on the diff and finally slid out of the spindle.. by the way i used a small stool to support the spindle and uca assembly to do this. Moving on now I removed the 4 12mm nuts holding the upper ball joint to the
UCA. Finally I removed the 3 19mm bolts holding the UCA cross shaft to the frame and removed the UCA. here are some pics of the LCA's, UCA's and axles compared to the Blazeland ones

 

Here is the pic of everything disassembled. I am going to take a break and go get some more beer...