Rear Suspension Rebuild

[Kooshtaka]

Originally Posted by Pops

The cam bolts are a nightmare. I began using a sawzall on one and I don't know if you guys have ever tried cutting a Grade 8 steel bolt but after 45 mins of cutting on one I called it a night then came down sick with a flu cold the next day and have been wrapped up running a fever since. I'll post an update when I can get it done.

That's rough... Sorry to hear that pops. Get better quick... Merry Christmas!

Tried grinding it off? Might be easier....


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[GRILL]

Get well soon Bob. Try with blow torch


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[Pops]

What a day... I'm still burning with fever but there's ice and snow on the ground, going to work tomorrow is mandatory, and apparantly I broke the latch cable on the mini cooper driver door when I got into it this morning while it was covered in ice. I thought they made cars for cold in Germany, guess not.

So I decided to get the Armada driveable but waa only able to patch it enough to take to a shop tomorrow after work to let them do it, doing this with a sweaty fever and stupid cough is just wrong. Stores are all closed so picking up a torch was out of question. So the friggin ball joint is seized as well. I got the bolt out but broke it while putting it back in so the ball joint is only held together by corrosion now. As I was tightening the cam bolt the bolt head snapped off and went flying. I decided to crank more to see if I could get it to break loose but that's a no go. So I left as is, put the wheel back on and I'm going to drive it as is to a shop this week. Don't even ask about the Mini's door looks like I'm driving wife's car to work tomorrow and Bo Duking the Mini until I get the Armada driveable to start tearing into the Mini's door.

Merry Christmas y'all!!!

[Kooshtaka]

Originally Posted by Pops

What a day... I'm still burning with fever but there's ice and snow on the ground, going to work tomorrow is mandatory, and apparantly I broke the latch cable on the mini cooper driver door when I got into it this morning while it was covered in ice. I thought they made cars for cold in Germany, guess not.

So I decided to get the Armada driveable but waa only able to patch it enough to take to a shop tomorrow after work to let them do it, doing this with a sweaty fever and stupid cough is just wrong. Stores are all closed so picking up a torch was out of question. So the friggin ball joint is seized as well. I got the bolt out but broke it while putting it back in so the ball joint is only held together by corrosion now. As I was tightening the cam bolt the bolt head snapped off and went flying. I decided to crank more to see if I could get it to break loose but that's a no go. So I left as is, put the wheel back on and I'm going to drive it as is to a shop this week. Don't even ask about the Mini's door looks like I'm driving wife's car to work tomorrow and Bo Duking the Mini until I get the Armada driveable to start tearing into the Mini's door.

Merry Christmas y'all!!!

Dang pops.... That's a patch of rough luck. Sorry to heat about it. Hope your new years goes better.

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[Pops]

Yea, and to top it off, I showed up for work this morning and I'm the Lone Ranger today with a stack of work waiting. Yee Haw! -lol....

I went ahead and ordered a new LCA because I'm thinking this one has too much corrsion going on inside the bushing collar and ball joint. Not that it couldn't be unseized, I'm just concerned about the remaining corrosion after unseizing it. They said it'll be late next week before the new LCA comes in because it's not in close stock. I'm going to schedule a service appointment for late next week in case I can't get the balljoint broken free before then. If I can get the balljoint to pop free this will be easy cheesy because I'll just cutoff the other side of the cam bolt to drop out the LCA.

[E&J push'n wind]

Hey Bob,

Me chiming in here.., boy, when it rains it poors doesn't it! It makes me just a little glad to live in the climate out here in So Cal. Corosion is almost non existant on our vehicles, no salted roads for the snow. Hope you're feeling at least a little better, stinks you had to go to work sick.

Anyhow, try a die grinder with a part off wheel on that. It'll make small work of it, like a hot knife through soft butter. If you can get a saws all on it, then that little grinder should fit fine.

[Pops]

Just an update... I drove it about 25 miles across town today to the dealership so they can use a cutting torch on it. The ride is fantastic. My cam bolt is half missing so the rear TOE is completely out of whack and it still rode smooth as warm butter.

The part I haven't mentioned yet is I used silicone to glue the Air-Lift airbag nozzle protectors onto the bags then installed them upside down with the hose on top. I ran the hose up through the hole and through the framing then clamped it to the OEM shock Hose, it was a perfect fit no extra hardware was needed. I also removed the Rear Sway Bar so it now has no sway bars on at all. Then I adjusted the rear height sensor to the lowest possible setting so the bags aren't used unless it's under very heavy squat and at that point the coil springs would be in full use as well so the theory is that the bags shouldn't get too much weight on them.. I'm not yet sure if I like this setup or not but there will be no going back and I hope it holds up better than the OEM shocks did. The ride was very smooth though, I think that alone should make this all worth while.

[ntrddragn]

Sound promising. Thanks for the update.

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[Kooshtaka]

Let us know how everything feels once its all put back together and settled.

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[Beau]

DAMN! Now I need to order a set of Radflo's