$3,000 driver build

[hanly2]

Hey Mike when you have the front aired out and the tires resting on the fenders, are the bags bottomed out or if the fenders were not there would it go lower? I'm trying to figure out if I will need to cup the a arm or if I can just go with the same kind of set up you used.

[Mikeeal33]

The bags are not bottomed out yet, but from what I remember they're pretty close, meaning it would go lower without the fenders but not much. If I shortened my cups as well then that amount lower too. I haven't had it aired out since the day I put them in though. Had one leak, fixed that and it has sat at my visually acceptable ride height ever since. Tire wear is muy beuno now if that means much better. I think it does.

[Mikeeal33]

Back from the dead, I found a couple pics from when I bought it:





I had forgotten what it looked like.

Well the truck is parked in my garage for the last few weeks. I was doin 60 when my passenger front wheel bearing gave up the ghost. I'm really glad my kids weren't with me. It shot into the center lane, so I corrected and it shot over two lanes and into the shoulder. Scared the crap out of me. Luckily I was able to get it off the road and pulled over without any damage to myself or the truck.

I got a 3 mile tow home and it's sat since. I haven't even pulled anything apart yet to evaluate the damage. Hopefully it's just the bearing and my spindle is ok. I only drove on it for about a minute but it was smoking like a champ when I finally pulled over.

Probably gonna have a professional pack the bearings next time!!!!!!!!

[hanly2]

Thats crazy. Good thing no one was hurt.

[boynton]

Man that's rough.

[Mikeeal33]

Forgot I took these too:

[Xeen]

Hey Mike glad you weren't hurt that could have gone really badly it sounds like luck was on your side that day.
Packing bearings isn't hard here's how you do it.
If the bearing is used then get a washed plastic peanut butter container put an inch of gasoline in the bottom and put the old greasy bearing in it and shake the crap out of it let it sit for 5 min then shake the crap out of it again then pull the bearing out and rinse it off with water and wallah a clean bearing.
Then inspect the clean bearing for irregularities, bent retainer teeth, pitted, cracked or badly worn bearing needles, if there is visible damage replace the bearing.
Then get a container of high quality bearing grease and dip 3 fingers in it and put it in the palm of your other hand then take your bearing and literally slap it against the grease in the palm of your hand around in a circle until all crevices are filled, the idea being to "pack" the grease into the bearing.
That's all there is to it.
There is no need to grease the spindle if you have packed the bearing correctly.

[Mikeeal33]

Thanks Brian, I do feel very fortunate. Like I said mostly because my kids weren't with me, (I was actually on my way to pick them up holy cow yikes) so yeah, I'm glad it happened when it did.

I'm going to buy two new bearings for it and do both. However, I've been told the same method as you described, and I still don't want to. I've only packed 3 pairs in the past including these, but even if I've done 100, I'd still feel better if I had someone who's done 5,000 of them do it. Even if I were to pack em right, I'd still be left tightening up the castle nut correctly which I probably did wrong too. I just remember taking all the slop out while still spinning freely, then tightening just enough to get the cotter pin in.

I'll just take it in and have a professional do it. <<< I can't believe I just said that hahaha.

[dmack91]

I hate bearings - always afraid of screwing them up.

On your fuel sender, I found the new one in mine worked for a while, then started having problems of it going to empty. I found when I pulled it out that the ground strap ( It was a flat piece of metal leading from the upper mount plate to the swing arm) was touching the tube. I moved it away and haven't had an issue since ( a couple of years). I attached an ohm meter and moved things until I found it working properly before putting it back in the tank).

[Xeen]

Mike did you buy a new bearing seal for it when you installed the bearings, also were the bearings new or used?
If the bearings were used it's likely that one of them was damaged and you didn't realize it and it failed.
If the bearing was new it's likely that the bearing was defective and it's not your fault.
Even if you pack the bearing properly it can still fail, sometimes things break.
I wouldn't let it discourage you, watch a youtube video on how to pack wheel bearings correctly and do it again.

[hanly2]

Mike do you have a airdryer/water trap, plumbed into your air ride system somewhere?

[Mikeeal33]

Hey dmack, thanks for the heads up, I'll have to check that out. Would be nice if it worked ALL the time!

Brian I didn't buy a seal kit, and I re-used the old bearings as they looked good to me. You've restored my confidence, I think I'll give it another shot with the new bearings.

hanly no water trap. I put a quick connect fitting on the tank though, and just before the bearing went out I put a line on it with a gun and drained it, there was some water in there, but not a huge amount. The whole air system needs to be re-done when I add the valves for the front, so at that time I'm probably going to add one.

Thanks guys.

[hanly2]

I am going to put a safety valve on the bottom of my tank for draining and such, but I just don't see where it would make sense to put the water trap, because the air doesn't travel far enough to cool down. Between the compressors and the tank

[hanly2]

Mike I have a few questions for you. I just started working on bagging the rear of my truck and I removed the springs and crossmember, thing is my bags are different then yours and the air port is offset so far that I will have to notch the frame to get a fitting on there, if I mount the bag so that I can use the 2 bolt holes. Can you tell me what hardware you used for the install? Also do you know the length of your track bar? I think I might try to make a bracket like you did, but buy a track bar instead of trying to make one. Thanks [IMG][/IMG]

[Mikeeal33]

I want to say my bags are just like those. I drilled 3 holes in the underside of my frame. 2 to mount them, and one big ass one for the fitting. I posted a pic somewhere in this thread. I remember notching a hole in the crossmember brace for my airline to come out of. At that point I just tightened the fitting until it faced the notch/hole that I made. I'll have to find a pic for you cause this is hard to explain.

I used grade 8 bolts for everything and put a lock washer wherever I could. Pretty sure they are 3/8"-16.

[hanly2]

I saw the picture you are speaking of, but it looks like your air hole was in between the bolt holes. Can I get grade 8 bolts at a home depot?

[Mikeeal33]

Yeah they carry grade 8 hardware. I prefer places like True Value, they seem to be more organized than the big stores and definitely more willing to help. The air inlet on my bags is definitely offset from center, maybe someone will correct me but I think they all have the same mounting dimensions.

[Mikeeal33]

So does anyone know where I can get ONE drop spindle?



Hahaha, damnit.

[Xeen]

Yeah you can probably call up the company that makes it and tell them what happened and they might be willing to sell you just the one you need at the single price, it's worth a shot.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

looks good so far..i'd drive the snot out of it as-is!

[hanly2]

Forgive me if you posted this already but I was wondering what shocks you are running? Also which way did you run the airline in the front crossmember?

[rusty76]

I'm in for the ride. Nice truck.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Mikeeal33

So does anyone know where I can get ONE drop spindle?

Hahaha, damnit.

I'm with Brian, call the company that made the spindles. They should be willing to sell you one.

Are you certain the spindle is toast? Did the bearing inner races spin on the shaft and score it? It's kinda hard to tell from the picture.

[Mikeeal33]

Yeah I called them up, he immediately said, "No, we only sell them in pairs" I told him that's a bummer because they're less than a year old, in perfect shape other than the trashed pin. He then told me to send him pictures, and maybe they can pop the pin out and press a new one in. Brilliant! Well, I never heard back from him. Thanks CPP!

So I bought a new pair last night, along with new bearings, races, and seals.

I was concerned my rotor may be ruined too, but luckily it was only the front race. A little chewed up:



I popped them both out this morning, EASY:



So hopefully tonight I'll have this thing back on it's tires and out of my garage. Then I'll take it to my shop and do the other side.

And Mike, yeah I'm sure it's toast, take a look at the threads:



Not only are the threads wasted, but the front portion where the front bearing sits is super gouged out and scored all over the place and the washer is completely stuck on there. Upon further inspection it looks like the rear seal gave out, then bye bye grease.

Thanks guys.

[Xeen]

Mike sorry CPP wouldn't sell you just one, that's wrong on CPP's part there is absolutely no reason they can't sell you just one considering they are produced one at a time not in pair's.
CPP could absolutely replace the Pin it's too bad they can't follow through with a simple customer service request.
It sounds like you need to call CPP and talk to someone in authority and tell them that you are disappointed in their customer service.
I would order a Pin from them and press it in and sell the pair as used to recover some of the money.
I'm glad you are moving forward again, what's next after you repair the suspension?