So that fvkking busted shock has been getting worse, to the point where it's unsafe to drive over anywhere from 50 to 80 mph, and that varies depending on day, temp, and how many slow people I've run over in a day.
A couple weeks ago, I had to drive to far south Dallas during that vicious windstorm we had; and that right front wheel was bouncing around so fvkking much I could barely keep it straight, not to mention the wind itself. 
So I was off this weekend, and I was trying to find a decent place where I could swap those piece-of-shit QA-1's for my old stock Bilsteins with about 50k on them; without much luck--and I didn't want to risk doing it in the apartment parking garage, and get caught/evicted.
Well, I got a call couple-three nights ago from my younger son, who immediately asked me if "I wanted to earn some money."
Instantly suspicious was I, 'cuz when he asks me shit like that, it's usually something unpleasant I don't wanna do. Instead, he asked me if I wanted to set up his new computer; I ask what kind, and he says, "iMac". Double-
I'm like, "dude, that's the easiest thing to set up, like, EVAR!" He was insisting, so I asked if he'd let me use his 3-car carport and 2-car workshop to swap the shocks; he said "sure", so today we took a road trip to his house out in bumfvkk Egypt--I mean, Quitman.
We got my truck set up in the smaller carport (it was a NICE day, and his boat was in the other), and we swapped out the shocks. I thought I was going to need a welder to tack one of the nuts back on, because when I put the QA1s on I had trouble getting them onto the lower control arm bolts; but it wasn't necessary at all, and nor was the dremel I figured I'd need to cut the tacks off .
Shittay iPwn pics, of course--I didn't get many cuz I was busy, much to most y'all's relief :hifu:
Bilstein going in, best way to do this is to jack up the control arm a bit, then use another jack to push the shock into place (gas-charged shocks; crap shocks like QA1s don't need it):
Bilstein :
Damage to bumper cover, before I pulled it out some; needs more work, but the worst is done:
Driver side QA1, you can see the cut I had to make to get it to ***king fit :bash::
My son working on the back shocks:
Pic of my Ground Force lowering shackles, that I boxed--still looking good! I'll get shots of the other (welded) side later:
Pic of four turds, guess which one is the blown one??
The drive out wasn't all that pleasant (about 100 miles from here) thanks to that busted shock; the drive home, however, was MUCH more pleasant!! Grip was vastly improved, and vibration was mostly eliminated except for a little "jiggling", just like I was getting when they got removed in favor of the turds--amazingly they were EXACTLY as I remembered, about this time in 2006. Good thing I kept them.
Oh, and the iMac?? 15 minutes, took more time to take down my old hand-me-down Dell XPS. Four cables, and done. Keyboard and mouse wireless. AWESOME screen. Beautiful machine. I may just have to get my own.
So I was off this weekend, and I was trying to find a decent place where I could swap those piece-of-shit QA-1's for my old stock Bilsteins with about 50k on them; without much luck--and I didn't want to risk doing it in the apartment parking garage, and get caught/evicted.
Well, I got a call couple-three nights ago from my younger son, who immediately asked me if "I wanted to earn some money."
We got my truck set up in the smaller carport (it was a NICE day, and his boat was in the other), and we swapped out the shocks. I thought I was going to need a welder to tack one of the nuts back on, because when I put the QA1s on I had trouble getting them onto the lower control arm bolts; but it wasn't necessary at all, and nor was the dremel I figured I'd need to cut the tacks off .
Shittay iPwn pics, of course--I didn't get many cuz I was busy, much to most y'all's relief :hifu:
Bilstein going in, best way to do this is to jack up the control arm a bit, then use another jack to push the shock into place (gas-charged shocks; crap shocks like QA1s don't need it):
Bilstein :
Damage to bumper cover, before I pulled it out some; needs more work, but the worst is done:
Driver side QA1, you can see the cut I had to make to get it to ***king fit :bash::
My son working on the back shocks:
Pic of my Ground Force lowering shackles, that I boxed--still looking good! I'll get shots of the other (welded) side later:
Pic of four turds, guess which one is the blown one??
The drive out wasn't all that pleasant (about 100 miles from here) thanks to that busted shock; the drive home, however, was MUCH more pleasant!! Grip was vastly improved, and vibration was mostly eliminated except for a little "jiggling", just like I was getting when they got removed in favor of the turds--amazingly they were EXACTLY as I remembered, about this time in 2006.
Good thing I kept them. Oh, and the iMac?? 15 minutes, took more time to take down my old hand-me-down Dell XPS. Four cables, and done. Keyboard and mouse wireless. AWESOME screen. Beautiful machine. I may just have to get my own.
