So I'm not sure if this is a Mod, or Maintenance, or whatever, but it's a good excuse to attempt to post pics since Photobucket is now garbage.

My Deavers were flat as a flap jack and my RR Fox blew the seals and leaked oil on my brand new parking spot I had paved. Which in turn ate a hole right through the new black top .

This lead me to replacement of the leaf packs and a hopeful rebuild of the rear shocks. Well, after hours and hammering to get the corroded bolts out of the shockls, and seeing how badly beat they were, replacements were ordered. Fox Factory Series 2.0 x 10" travel remote reservoirs.

I'm only posting this one picture of the work mid way. The Deavers actually came out with little problem. Broke all the U-bolts loose then cut them off. Broke the bolts loose on everything else and they all came right out. Anti-Seize is your friend. The Deavers that came out took a 1/2" bolt in the front hanger while the Alcan's needed a 9/16" bolt. Very slight file persuasion was needed on the front hanger holes to get the larger bolt to clear. The Alcan's also do not come with a steel insert for the back shackle side. This is because they're intended to be used with stock shackles not the lift shackles that I have. So, I whipped up some inserts from the DOM I had laying around, greased the shit out of them with some silicone grease and in they went. From there it was pretty easy. Certainly much easier than it was when I put the Deavers in. Back then, I had one set of stands and my jack. Now I have a lot more tools and with more tools come more options. I was able to jack up the truck, then put the axle on another set of stands with the jack holding the pinion and pull both leafs out at the same time. Much simpler than the one at a time balancing act I did 5 years ago.

As for the new shocks, they went in no problem. The mounts were moved to behind the axle and the width of the lower mounts is an off size. Combine this with my home brew bolt in upper mounts (built before I had a welder) and I have to make my own spacers. Got a 3ft piece of 316 Stainless and cut them down and around the upper, lower and limit strap spacers. Yes, I run limit straps in the rear so I do not over extend the shocks and wreck the seals. 10" shocks are strapped for 9.5" travel.



Alcan Install

Hopefully that picture works. The link should if the embed didn't. I'm using google photo until I figure out something better. Anyways, when I get a minute I will take better pictures of the final product including the upper mounts, U-bolt flip, shock spacers, etc. The truck currently has a 2" rake (nose is lower) and that's OK because I have to rebuild the front UCA's anyhow. I will put 3/4 or a full turn into the C/O's (if the adjuster ring will move) and see what I get. I will update the thread with the UCA rebuild when I get to that part.

Picture doesn't work. Try again.

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Try the link... Where can one host a picture so it can be viewed on the forum?

I just post pics via Tapatalk now.


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Tried a new image host. Maybe that'll work...

Looks good!

All right, thanks! Now that the picture works I'll snap some others of how the setup is now and I'll document the UCA rebuild. That should be entertaining if it's anything like the last time I did it

EDIT: So here's some other pics of the final product...

Lower shock mounts (a little bent) with the stainless spacers and limit strap mounted

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Outside of frame upper mount. Bolts through two sleeves in the frame and has a pinch bolt at the top that holds the inner and outer together. Frame not yet all repainted...

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Inside the frame upper mount. It's a close fit. Sorry it's a bit blurry. Took these in a hurry before leaving for work...

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Overall shot of the back...

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Final product. Hard to see the rake in it because the driveway/parking area slopes toward the back but it's there.

OK, so here's the UCA rebuild I promised. Along with this, I also noticed BOTH front coilover springs are broke. Rusted up and snapped at the top and bottom spring retainers. I will get pics of that later. I pulled both of those out today along with putting the OEM shackles back in to lower the rear. 2" of rake is ridiculous. The Alcan's are 3" lift, 550lbs over stock. Why so much you ask? Because with Vicki and I in the truck it weighs 5680lbs ready to wheel... For those keeping score at home, that's 80lbs OVER GVWR.

Anyway, on with the show.

Here's what we start with (I assume everyone knows how to remove these.)


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First up, break those jam nuts loose and get the heims out. I suggest getting stainless jam nuts if you don't have them. The ones Greg sends are zinc plated and will corrode. One jam nut is still rust welded to the heim from the last time I rebuilt them.


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Once those are out, next is the uniball. As you see, the nylon liner has come apart and they're rusty as all hell.


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First you have to get that snap ring out of there. If yours aren't corroded halfway to the minerals they're made from then you can use snap ring pliers to get that out. I broke a pair the last time so get good ones. If they are too corroded for the right way, the Mike way will do. Trusty screw driver and a rubber mallet. Tap the screw driver under the snap ring and work your way around the uniball cup.


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Now it's time to get that pesky uniball out of there. I HIGHLY recommend getting the 1" uniball (these are Titan UCA's, the Xterra/Frontier OEM heim UCA uses a 7/8" uniball) tool from Kartek or another vendor. These are welded cups that are actually the right size. I tried the old socket method the last time and the uniballs were rusted in the cup. When that rust let go the press jumped 6" off the ground and shot the uniball across the basement. Don't do that. Get the right tools. These welded cups keep pressure in the proper spot and keep it all nice and tight so if it lets go it won't fly out the press.


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When all that rusty corroded garbage is out, this is what you should have.


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I ground the rust off and painted mine. If yours are in good shape maybe just hit them with some paint or clean them up a bit. Mine needed a bit more work.


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I like orange...


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That's basically it. Put them back together the way they came apart. Scotch Brite the uniball cup and apply copious anti-seize to both the new uniball and the heim's before putting it back together. Snap ring may need some persuasion from the screw driver and mallet to go in the groove on the cup but hopefully not. Bolt them back in the truck, take for a test drive. Chalk the tires to check camber and adjust as necessary.

As for today's adventure...

OEM shackles back in. Should be pretty close to level or maybe 1" rake. Need the new coilover springs to be sure.


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And lastly a picture of all my junk to take the coilovers out. Having a compressor and gun is nice for the wheels. The work table was my first weld something together project. That thing is really useful.


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In our next installment I will show how you get a coilover spring off the coilover without killing yourself (hopefully.) They're both broke but I'm hoping my spring compressor will keep me fairly safe should a catastrophic failure occur.

Couple things to note for anyone who has SwayAway coilovers. AFE bought SwayAway. I have found parts are very hard to get and AFE's website is worthless. Remember, at the time these babies were specially made for PRG and they DO NOT use an off the shelf spring. They are 6.5" travel shocks, so they have a 13" spring. Whether or not they use the same shock bodies and shafts I do not know. What I do know, is anyone wanting to Titan Swap, get the Radflo's. They are at least still independent and you can probably get parts. I would love to go Fox, but nothing will fit so far as I know. I do not believe Fox offers a lower spring riser like SAW, Radflo and KING to clear the axle shaft.

If you need parts, contact Ryan at Accutune Offroad. I was able to get two new 13" springs in the original spring rate to replace my busted ones. He was in the office on a Saturday and returned my call same day. I will be back to him with more business for sure.

To be continued...

Very nice work


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That's a lot of work, Mike. Nice end results!

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Awesome !!
Nice work man !!

Thanks guys. Trying to get this thing ready for B2SR and the races we go camping at in Sept/Oct.

Here's pictures of the broken springs...

This first one just broke. The spring isn't rusty at all where is snapped. You can see perfectly clean metal. There are actually multiple breaks. One pieces you could take right out with you fingers.


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Shot of the spring compressor. I got this thing off CL from some dude that was closing his repair shop.


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Springs should be here this week. If this post gets updated with new pics, then you know it went alright and I'm not in the hospital.

Wow! It's definitely time! I'm paying attention closely to this thread.

I'll soon have a set of Radflo 2.0's that need rebuilding. I'll need to remove the 750 pound/inch springs and put in 550's. I'll be looking for advice.

Curious - where did you get the set of coilovers from?

Curtis (Ricel) had them in storage for a few years. I guess they were XTerraVT's at one point.

They're in rough shape, but for $0 I figured they're worth a look.

I found the Eibach springs I want for $65 each to my door. Add some elbow grease, and a rebuild and I'll have some coilovers for the Frontier too.

I have my fingers crossed that they're salvageable. Wish me luck.