@Wesley Green , did you have a sway bar before the Hellwig install? I had a very thin one that was worthless. There was a more robust bar available from Ford years ago, but finding one now is tough and not cheap.

I ask because I noticed a difference right away. Which holes did you use on the ends of the bar? I believe I used the middle ones, would have to look to be sure though.

 

Nothing b4 Sous. Was about the only factory thing missing from our unicorn

 

Finished turning my arms into hamburger. Just finished adding sound deadener to the 4th door. Was glad to put the isopropyl back in the bathroom counter and not inside the doors and all down my arms Frustrating; severe weather pattern coming in tomorrow, won't be able to go camping to test out the sway bar n door work. Feel too defeated on that front to install the trailer cameras now. Maybe Monday. Well, after the alignment Monday

 

@Wesley Green that exact sound deadener did wonders in our camper, I am sure your efforts will be rewarded.

I have my truck up on a stand while collecting parts and tools to replace the inner axle seal and E-brake hardware on the driver side and the E-brake hardware on the passenger side with the hub still in.

If you look closely you can see the 75w140 saturated shoes and the marks on the rotor drum from the fluid.

 

Lots of Brake Kleenex from Wally World. Cheap and cleans very well for those slimy projects.

 

That shiat aint bad at all. Now Tugs' was as bad as these chicks grilles here in bullhead.. Rotted lol
Change the seal, slap the rotor and tire on then drive around with ebrake engaged..job complete..
Slide, get a case of that here soon for seadoo repair purposes. CRC for the spraying of pumps and shining the motors...

Not much, the 02 has been around since 1/2018 with 166k on her then. Changed oil at 170k and keeping her at 5k intervals. Yesterday was that day. New oil/filter and greased the zerks. Since the h/h filters' present, changed it too. When dumping the fluid in the pan, small rust like pellets fell out. Not sure if its from tank or internal filter broke down from it being about a yr since replacing.
Now, up early to give ur a bath. Duststorms here, blows..

 

Went to the stealership for an alignment, $80 later & the toe was all that needed adjusted. Got multiple "amazingly well maintained for that old of a truck" compliments from employees

Nice 180* statement since 40 minutes earlier that same Service manager told me the gearbox was probably bad on it after pulling up it's info on the computer b4 i handed him the keys

 

Between yesterday and today...

Removed and installed axle inner seal on the driver side rear hub. Removed and installed E-brake hardware and shoes on the driver side. Adjusted E-brake shoes on the driver side.

Triple checked passenger side for leaking seal and proper operation of the E-brake.

Re-installed the fuel bowl drain hose/tube after it had fallen down into the valley area. I don't think it was ever connected since I bought the truck and despite all of the time I have spent in the engine bay, I over looked it. This is to include when I removed and resealed the fuel bowl a couple years ago.

Removed the passenger side front turn signal housing due to condensation and a puddle of water being in housing. I flushed it, cleaned it and now it is drying so that I can reseal the edges and reinstall it later.

No real pictures to post up because I took a bunch of video footage instead of taking pictures.

Now, we are smoking a pork butt and looking forward to the weekend. My wife's cousin (active duty Marine) is coming to visit and chill out for the weekend. She has been in the service for just about 4 years and needs a bit of time away from Parris Island from time to time. I can completely relate and we offer our home up to her anytime she feels the need for a break.

 

Found some pictures on my phone.


Axle fluid all over...

More of it. This is after I cleaned it so I could see what was going on.

Cleaned up and checking function of the slide arm/lever.


Large spring in rear of shoes. The legs of this spring MUST go on the bottom toward the ground in the holes they share with the smaller front spring.

Smaller front spring that the legs MUST go on top of the legs from the rear large spring. The hub will come into contact with the small spring if installed wrong.

 

Nice pics

 

Looks great Sous. Nice photos!!

In other news...looks like I get to replace may batts....they went in a matter of three days. Alt is charging and connections are clean and good. I guess it's time. Motorcarft with a 100 month pro-rated warranty. Hopefully they have some warranty left.

 

3 days... Like you bought and installed them 3 days ago?

Thanks, this was the first time I had done the E-brake or removed the axle shaft from the tube. Was a bit nervous about it, but took my time and it is no big deal at all really.

I am looking forward to having both sides of the truck having a working E-brake on them. The passenger side alone did pretty good holding the truck and trailer still with the ZF6 in neutral, so both sides working should be great.

 

As in the truck started to crank slow after sitting a day or two, but would crank fine after driving a few miles and be good the rest of the day. Yesterday, I noticed each time I had to shut it off and came back out to start, it would crank slow. This morning it is dead. Volts went down to 8.0 when the GPs were warming. I am surprised it died that quick, but that has been my experience in the past . I'll take them and get them load tested tomorrow after I check things with my volt meter.

 

I see... I bought some NorthStar AGM's 2.5 years ago in hopes that I don't have to deal with batteries again for 7-10 years from point of installation.

I am very impressed with the NorthStar AGM battery, that I plan to install one in our Subaru and VW Beetle when their time comes.

Batteries are just about a throw away item now a days, just silly.

 

Well deserved bath after taking us into Philadelphia and giving the SXE it's maiden long distance voyage.