Had a busy first few days back home. Got the XROX front bar fitted up Wednesday night and for such a cheap bar I'm pretty bloody happy with it. Just have to move the washer bottle and spray some black paint around now. I've got a whole bucket full of bits the got stripped off. There were a few annoying little bits like having to remove the headlights to unscrew the little brackets from the bottom of them.
Everything all stripped
Ive got a couple off rated towing eyes to fit up to the provided holes in the front. The bar even has a couple of slotted holes in the front for the factory threaded clips for the number plate. I think I might black out the blue bits showing through still thinking about it though.
Yesterday I got hold of my Rekon gear. I got front struts, rear shocks and sway bar spacers. Next time round I'll go for the diff brackets and UCA's. I rushed straight home and started tearing my front end apart. It's a pain having the bundy taking up the shed cause I have to work on the Lux in the garage I keep having to go back and forth for tools and beer. Anyhow getting the original struts out again was no problem but getting these massive bloody things in wasn't as easy.
At first I split the top balljoint to get the old strut out but couldn't get the new one in this way
after a few cold beers and a bit of dicking around I ended up having a win. I loosely put the top balljoint back together and unbolted the bottom one from the swivel hub. This prevented the CV from limiting how far down I could push the lower arm. Then I marked the little indicator plates and loosened off the lower control arm mounting bolts. Bobs your aunty, Slotted the strut in couple of finger tight nuts on the top, got the bottom bolt through, then slipped the trolley jack (very carefully) under the LCA and jacked it up to compress the strut enough to be able to bolt the bottom balljoint bracket back up again. I have to give some credit to Matty here too, I tried to call him a heap of times to see if he had any magic tricks, unfortunately he's overseas and couldn't answer his phone, however took the time to get back to me via sms a few minutes later, by then I had it sussed, he then followed up a few more times to make sure everything was all good. Can't complain about that.
The comparison shot, The new strut was nearly 100 mm longer
New strut in place
Had to grind a tiny bit from the washers for the swaybar bracket bolts on the bench grinder so they would fit the holes in the spacer.
Loaded up our new swag to head out to a mates block to give the front a bit of a raping so it can settle in before the wheel alignment. Its a three pole double dome jobbie, got it delivered to the door for $300 in the canvas bag. It fits perfectly between the sports bar, and I just do up the Velcros on the handles around the top of the bar, No hope of it falling out
So for I am bloody stoked with how well it drives. I'm going to throw in the rear shocks tomorrow and then head out for a good day of driving. So far there is a definite improvement in on road handling, and so far the little bit I have done off road has been very impressive. I'll try and get some god flex pics tomorrow.
I'll find the measurements I took to post up for comparison aswell. I know when I first dropped the car back on the ground and went for a spin I had 820mm from bottom of standard SR5 15" rim to the guard. At the lowest setting I think thats a bit over 4"
however that will settle.