Superflexy install, diff drop and preservation

[Marlin]

Well, I finished my finals yesterday and I am not starting calcII till January. That gives me time to work on the VX again (beyond my normal dedication anyway).
I am going to install the Superflexy kit, drop the front diff and in the spirit of Buffy's amazing work, do some more POR15 preservation on the front axle, control arms and frame rails. I will try and do a picture write up for the kit install. It may be a bit more difficult since I am doing the diff drop at the same time. Well, its supposed to be 75 degrees today and 80 on Tuesday. Might as well get to work, hopefully be done by next weekend.

[Marlin]

Today's goal is met. I got both CVs out, those mecatech boots are garbage. The one that wasn't torn, is already showing signs of cracking. Complete waste of a 125 bucks. I am sticking to generic boots from now on. Much cheaper. Hopefully with the diff drop, I won't have to worry about it anymore.

The CVs look good, I kept greasing them weekly while the boots were torn. I tried to stay out of the mud too..that is harder for me than you would think.
Although I have been running around on 30" ATs, which look ridiculous with the amount of lift I have...but it is peppy and steers a lot better. Didn't notice any kind of braking difference?

I will take the axles into local hobby shop and use their parts cleaner to clean em up all shiny again. I will paint the center parts of the shaft red...to match the axle tube and diff. I plan on POR15 the axle tube and diff, then caliper red the whole thing. I find that caliper paint is pretty good stuff. It handles high temps and grease very well and it dries very quick.

I may grind the diff brackets down and paint those today as well...but probably not, the xbox 360 is calling my name very seductively. Kinect is the best invention ever.
I figure I can be done by Friday, just in time to take the wife shopping and start putting up xmas lights.

[Marlin]

II went ahead and yanked out the fender splash shields as well. Now I know how to adjust the door hinges...those parts are readily accessible if you remove the splash shields. Now I can fix my wife's door on the RS

[Bob Barker]

Without the wheel wells in there, are you not worried about junk getting flung into the engine bay?

[Marlin]

Without the wheel wells in there, are you not worried about junk getting flung into the engine bay?

Nope, its not open to the engine bay, its open to the inside of the fender.

[Ascinder]

I've been trash talking the Mechatechs for quite awhile now. I don't know why some people think they're so great. I guess it must be the emperors new clothes theory. If they cost the most, they must be the best right? FWIW when I still had my IFS installed I bought about 10 or more different sets of aftermarket boots to do my own evaluation of their performance. Some were almost identical to mechatechs but made of different compounds. One set was even gray. I got all the different types from Rockauto.com. I figured it would be better to spend the same amount as a set of mechatechs and get 10 different sets even if they did all tear eventually. I never got the chance to try them out and ended up giving them all to Clint(Crncnn) when I pulled my IFS.

[Marlin]

I've been trash talking the Mechatechs for quite awhile now. I don't know why some people think they're so great. I guess it must be the emperors new clothes theory. If they cost the most, they must be the best right? FWIW when I still had my IFS installed I bought about 10 or more different sets of aftermarket boots to do my own evaluation of their performance. Some were almost identical to mechatechs but made of different compounds. One set was even gray. I got all the different types from Rockauto.com. I figured it would be better to spend the same amount as a set of mechatechs and get 10 different sets even if they did all tear eventually. I never got the chance to try them out and ended up giving them all to Clint(Crncnn) when I pulled my IFS.

I think you hit it right on the money, I bought those because they were the most expensive. I could go through several sets of generics for the price of one set of mecatechs. I wonder if Clint would want to get rid of a set...for the sake of experimentation.

[pbkid]

chris-

why did you get rid of your 'splash guards'??

you know your gonna dent the S#@T outta your fenders if your tires pick up any rocks at all... (which im sure they do, since they are AT's)... just FYI

[Marlin]

chris-

why did you get rid of your 'splash guards'??

you know your gonna dent the S#@T outta your fenders if your tires pick up any rocks at all... (which im sure they do, since they are AT's)... just FYI

With 34" MT tires, once the flexy kit is installed, the tire will tuck up in there so much that it will catch the splash guard, which if you are moving at any speed, may rip it out of there, bending the fender all to ****.
I had mentioned this on the SFIFS thread, Bigmeat confirmed my suspicion that his had to be removed as well.
I don't often drive in gravel, and I am going to bed liner the inside of the fender, which is surprisingly rust free. That will help prevent dents.
She isn't a DD anymore, I drive the F250 and the wife drives the RS. Minimal road time=less chance for damage.

[Marlin]

Got the crossmember out, gournd down the diff drops and painted em, red is drying right now. I drained the front diff, and since I am a dummy, I forgot to disconnect the prop shaft prior to removing the wheels and CVs. PITA to break those bolts loose with a strap wrench.
Tomorrow I will pull down the axle, get the CVs ready for install on Thanksgiving or friday. Should be all buttoned up by sunday...I hope.

[Marlin]

Diff drops are dry, spent the last few hours cleaning up 4 CV joints. They were all immaculate once I got all the grease out. Only one mecatech boot made it through the inspection, but it is looking bad around the inner tie. It was still sealed tight though, so no problems dunking it in the parts washer. I am in the process of priming and painting now...anything to avoid dropping the axle. Tomorrow, I will have no choice but to bring it down. Hope my finger doesn't end up like Justin's....

[Marlin]

Some pics of what I have done so far:

[tom4bren]

Chris,

You will probably need to trim a little of the leading edge on the passenger side of the modified differential bracket. Where the edge curves inward, there was some interference with a bolt on the differential when I tried to install mine. It just depends on how much drop you added to the brackets and it doesn't interfere by much (about 1/4 inch). It's much easier to grind that down before installation than during especially if you want to hit that raw metal with some paint.

Tom

IIRC, this is where I had to trim the curve on mine.

[JHarris1385]

Yup I have tho cut off quite a bit of mine and big weld spots.

[Marlin]

Chris,

You will probably need to trim a little of the leading edge on the passenger side of the modified differential bracket. Where the edge curves inward, there was some interference with a bolt on the differential when I tried to install mine. It just depends on how much drop you added to the brackets and it doesn't interfere by much (about 1/4 inch). It's much easier to grind that down before installation than during especially if you want to hit that raw metal with some paint.

Tom

IIRC, this is where I had to trim the curve on mine.

Thanks, I will fit it up on the ground and see how it fits on there. Joe D did the cut and weld, I did the grinding and finishing. Hopefully it fits just fine. If not, no biggie. I will rebuild the CVs tomorrow in preps for install. Still can't believe its in the mid 70s...