Look What Arrived Today

[52merc]

I've got both half-shafts out now. The PS knuckle looks exactly like the DS with the same amount of grease. It looks like the outer boot is leaking on the PS half-shaft. The picture below has the DS on the left, PS on the right. I really need to clean it up and have a better look. Not being an expert with CV joints, how do you tell if the leak has caused some premature wear which would necessitate a new half-shaft versus get a grease and boot replacement. These are the OE 1R33-4K138-AA shafts and I'm not planning to go with big power at any time soon so I don't really need the '03 half-shafts.

 

[52merc]

I cleaned up both halfshafts and thoroughly inspected them. I carefully looked over the boot where the gunk was and decided it had to be leaking past the band clamp. After carefully removing the band clamp and pulling back the boot there was a fair amount of grease in the boot flange so I feel confident that the problem was the clamp. I replaced the band and I guess will find out later.

After a little checking I decided the grease around the wheel bearing was indeed from the wheel bearing. After pressing the hubs out of both knuckles, I discovered a fair amount of grease on the other side of both bearings. It was obvious that all the seals had failed on both bearings. I caught this in time as the bearings still had grease in them but they were going to fail at some time in the future.

I also discovered that all my cross axis boots have failed. Like the wheel bearings, there was still a lot of grease in them and they all test good so I've ordered 8 new FT6106 boots from FTBR.

Two new Timken SET49 wheel bearings are on the way as well.

 

[01yellercobra]

Generally if the CV joints weren't clicking or making noise and there's no play you're good with new grease and a boot. Get the heat gun ready for those axis joint boots. They need to be heated up before being installed.

 

[TimKonaGT500]

When I removed the axle shafts on my 01, there was the same grease in the bearings, I replaced them as well.

I did the cross axis joints from FTBR and used their tool to install them per the method in their video. Didn't need any heat on them.

 

[01yellercobra]

When I removed the axle shafts on my 01, there was the same grease in the bearings, I replaced them as well.

I did the cross axis joints from FTBR and used their tool to install them per the method in their video. Didn't need any heat on them.View attachment 1505558

I only did the boots as my joints were still good. The boots needed to be heated up top fit over the joints. At least the set I got did. And that was coming from Bruce.

 

[TimKonaGT500]

I only did the boots as my joints were still good. The boots needed to be heated up top fit over the joints. At least the set I got did. And that was coming from Bruce.

Ahhhh gotcha! I got the knuckles powder coated (along with everything else) so they joints had to come out anyway. That would save some $$ if they are still good.

 

[52merc]

I just got lucky that the joints were still good. Two joints looked like this:

Before I never thought about checking these, but I will be from now on. You can easily inspect these with the wheels and in this picture you can clearly see the cracked boot.

 

[52merc]

An update on progress. I've pulled the IRS, removed all the bushings, and modified the control arm buckets. All on this was accomplished without too much of a hassle. I rigged up my own puller kit as I was too cheap to spend the $100 for the FTBR kit. If I lived in the USA I would definitely get the kit and then return it for the refund. I probably spent an extra 2 days getting the miscellaneous parts I needed and making them work. I do have a nice hydraulic press which has come in handy.

Here is the IRS after it was pulled.

Subframe

I heated the subframe bushings with a propane torch rather than with oxy-acetylene. I just didn't want to get the subframe eyes too hot. This worked pretty well but you have to spend a little more time heating the bushings. When they were hot enough they pulled right out using my home-made puller and my cordless drill just like the video. I cleaned the subframe eyes using a wire wheel and emery flapper wheel. I made all the control arm bucket modifications per the videos. I had very little weld splatter to clean. I made my own spreader to use on the buckets (and later the torque boxes). I cleaned the entire subframe and painted it with POR15. Installing the new subframe bushings was per video. I had a scary moment thinking I had installed the inner sleeves in the wrong spots as the fronts are larger ID than the rears, but that turned out not to be a problem.

LCAs

I pulled the OE bushings using my home-made puller set-up. I had to cut off most of the bushing flange in order to get a spacer to grab the end of the LCA so I could press it out. I drilled the LCAs for the grease fittings, installed the bushings, and mounted the LCAs in the subframe. The DS LCA went in real easy and was shimmed per videos. The PS LCA required some extra work as the bolts holes through the buckets didn't quite line up, but with a little work I got it installed. Both sides move up and down smoothly, albeit the PS is a bit stiffer but I'm not going to worry about it.

Differential Mounts

I had the diff assembly in and out of the subframe several times. I forgot to check the rear mount clearance to the rear cover and discovered I had to remove some of the Delrin bushing per the videos. This was done with just a file. The picture below shows the clearance after install.

The front mount took some time to figure out. I'm using the new FTBR FT1291 torque brace. This turns out to be a little different in the height of the mounting flange. This resulted in fewer washers being used than in the video. I also had quite a difference in the "U" bracket heights. The picture below shows the brace after install.

The PS has no washer above and 3 below. The DS has 1 above and 3 below. This combination kept the diff level (left to right). Thanks James at FTBR for looking at this and confirming that this set-up would work. I'm not using the lowering rear mount nor the FRPP cover. I'm not planning any big power additions.

I had to trim the edge of the diff vibration damper to clear the FT1291. The following picture shows the damper installed after clearancing.

That's it for now.

 

[52merc]

Today my new cross axis joint boots showed up from FTBR. I got the new bearings installed and the hubs pressed in to the knyuckles. I'll finish them with the new boots tomorrow. Its 37°C [99°F] in my garage this afternoon so I think I'll wait until tomorrow when its cooler. Way too hot for this Canuck.

This morning I added new oil and friction modifier to the diff (I had drained the old oil out when the diff was laying on the ground). Carefully cleaned and inspected the diff halfshaft seals, installed the halfshafts, and installed the swaybar with new Prothane bushings.

Here is the IRS ready to re-install. The knuckles are just sitting there waiting for their boots. The wheel dollies worked well for moving the IRS around and getting it under the car.

The front subframe mounts went into the torque boxes with ease. I had used some readi-rod and washers to spread the sides out as recommended. The new 9/16" bolts went into the inside holes with ease, but I had to raise the back end of the subframe up until it was close to its buckets before the inside holes lined up and the bolts would go all the way through. Here is a picture of the IRS just before the subframe fronts were bolted up.

I raised the back of the IRS up and put the rear bushing bolts in. They were that easy. The new bushings have changed the position of the rear bushing bolts in the bucket, but both sides are identical, so I'm not concerned. Here is a picture showing the moved bolt position (on the DS).

I'm not going to grind the bolt heads down since I'm running the stock Cobra wheels with no current plans to change them.

Although the IRS is not completely re-installed, I have got some parts that will be left over, as shown below.

I'm 99.9% sure the washers are from the OE front diff mount. I haven't a clue where those other parts came from. Anybody know?

 

[scottydsntknow]

I don't remember ever seeing those... They aren't in my IRS lol. Good to hear yours went in easy. Mine went in the buckets easy once spread as well but getting the bolt through the holes on the pass side was a nightmare for me... Also getting the leverage to get to 146ft lbs with the car on jackstands was a little tricky with the smallish up to 150 ft lbs wrench I had... Rear is cake once the fronts are in. Make sure the halfshaft retaining nuts get to 250 before putting the wheels on...

I run 18x9 on all 4 corners and run a 1" hubcentric spacer with longer studs to get rid of the tucked wheel look and to not have to worry about grinding. I feel REALLY bad for anyone who used the Allen bolts that MM sells and had one strip out...

Sent from my Z978 using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[TimKonaGT500]

Looking good!! Nice work!!

Are those rectangular pieces part of the sway bar mounts? If I remember right, there were two pieces that fit together and bolted down... strikes me as looking familiar to those!

 

[52merc]

Aah yes, I think you're right. The flat pieces could be for the backside of the swaybar bushings. I didn't think of that. I'll have to carefully look at that. If it is, it could be a pain in the butt to re-install as the IRS is back in the car.

I got my cross-axis joint boots the other day. Greased the joints and installed the boots. The first boot took me about 5 min to install. The second boot took me about 1 min to install. The rest took me about 15 sec each not including the time to warm them up. The trick to these is getting them warm enough. I was afraid with the first one of over heating it.

Here is a picture of the rebuilt knuckles:

All the remaining IRS parts installed without any issues. I didn't make any attempt to adjust driveline angle at this time. There is a 3.1° difference from the rear transmission to the pinion flange, but as I was not having any prior vibration issues I thought I'd leave that alone for now. The real fix here would be the FTBR rear lowering mount.

In an effort to try and pre-set the camber I jacked both of the LCAs up from near the cross-axis joints to get the suspension closer to the normal ride height. The DS camber set easily to 0.75° as shown below.

The PS would not adjust low enough and I ended up elongating the slots in the UCA about 1/16". After that I got it set to 0.70°. I took the car for a short drive to help settle the springs. After the drive I checked camber: DS was 1.00° and PS was 0.95°. OE spec is 0.90° max so I'm going to jack it up and readjust. I didn't think was that bad for my first attempt. It would probably drive OK the way it is, but I'm going to see if I can get it a little closer.

 

[52merc]

You were right Tim. The plates are now installed. It was pretty easy even with the IRS installed.