|
Installation Summary/Notes from
Havock’s Full PRG Install
PRG Log:
3-19-05 18:00:00
Havock rolls his Titan into the shop under the direction
of MOTO-MAX-TITAN
PRG Log:
3-19-05 18:30:00
MOTO-MAX-TITAN finally finishes installing the wheels
back on his CBR (while VShortt and Havock sat patiently
by) so the lift can be used for the installation of the
PRG kit on the Titan.
PRG Log:
3-19-05 18:45:00
The CBR has been properly stowed and the Titan is
valiantly hoisted off its tires by the mighty lift!
PRG Log:
3-19-05 errr… something (who really cares about time
when your working on a Titan?)
We started by removing the driver’s front wheel, took
one look at the strut and agreed to read the
instructions before going any further. Of course at
this time Havock remembers to also read his notes from
when he talked to PreRunnerGreg on the phone and
realizes they were supposed to disconnect the upper sway
bar link while the truck is still sitting on the
ground. No biggy, it was easy to remove with the truck
in the air. Only problem is that Havock did not write
down in his notes to make sure and disconnect both sides
of the sway bar at the same time. (you’ll find out about
this problem as you read on) With the sway bar
disconnected, the cotter pin was removed from the upper
ball joint, followed by the nut from the upper ball
joint. Then using a small sledge, smack the ball joint
until the joint separates. We then used a tie-down
strap to suspend the arm to the upper control arm so it
would not fall and break the brake lines. Make sure you
secure this properly so you do not destroy your brake
lines, but if you do, the upside is that it would be a
convenient excuse to upgrade to some nice, shiny, new
stainless steel brake lines! But, your truck would be
out of commission until you repaired the brakes.
We then proceeded to remove the 3 nuts holding the top
of the strut to the coil bucket. The bolt holding the
lower end of the shock in place was quite a pain, but
VShortt muscled it out. The strut assembly was removed
from the truck and the PRF front block was mounted
directly to the top of the strut using the 3 bolts and
original factory nuts. These 3 nuts were torqued to 27
ft-lb and the we were ready to reassemble everything.
The strut required a 180 degree spin to align the 3 stud
bolts on top of the spacer to line up with the mounting
holes in the coil bucket and for the bottom of the shock
to fit in its mounting bracket. At this time we only
loosely attached 2 of the washers and lock nuts to the
studs at the top to hold the strut in place while we
installed the new bump stop.
To install the new bump stop, we
used a 12mm socket to remove the factory bump stop nut,
and then tapped a pry bar in to lift the bump stop from
where the factory had used an adhesive to stick it in
place. The mounting hole was then bored out using a
13/32” bit by “2 second Max”, and the new bump stop was
dropped into place and the lock nut was torqued to 20
ft-lb. Now that we are feeling confident in ourselves
and our “mechanicking” skills, we are ready to re-bolt
the lower shock into its bracket.
Confidence in our skills declines rapidly when we find
that the sway bar end is preventing us from being able
to fit the bottom of the shock into its bracket. We
stop and think. We try various skills to push the sway
bar with our hands, pull it with a pry bar, press it
down, pull it up, whatever we tried was unsuccessful.
We talked about it, we thought about it and then came
Havock’s admission of submission and he placed a phone
call to the ever-helpful PreRunnerGreg. Being the
super-cool guy he is, PRG proceeded to tell us in 2
seconds exactly what we needed to do. Exactly what he
had told Havock before, but Havock had failed to jot
down in his intallation notes. Exactly what Havock had
seen posted in a couple threads on TitanTalk and Club
Titan. (yes Havock admits a complete memory failure on
his part for this) “Disconnect both ends of the sway
bar and simply pivot it out of the way.” So! Around to
the other side of the truck where the other and of the
sway bar was removed from the link and the sway bar was
easily pivoted out of the way and the bottom of the
shock was easily slid into its mounting bracket and
bolted. The nut was torqued to 87 ft-lb. I am also
told that while I was on the phone with PRG, Moto-Max
proceeded to come up with disconnecting the sway bar on
his own. Why he couldn’t have volunteered this info
before Havock called and was forced to admit to PRG that
he couldn’t remember 1 simple instruction, I don’t
know. (I think he just wanted to watch Havock suffer
and squirm with frustration.)
With the lower end of the shock mounted, we put the
third washer and lock nut on the remaining stud bolt for
the top of the PRG spacer. We then proceeded to torque
these 3 nuts down to 27 ft-lb. Using a floor jack under
the lower control arm, we pressed it up compressing the
spring while pulling down on the upper control arm until
we could re-assemble the upper ball joint. This nut was
torqued to 56 ft-lb and a brand new cotter pin (supplied
with the PRG front kit) was installed. Major
milestone… Driver’s front is complete and time to move
on to the passenger side front.
Now that we really knew what we were doing, and had
chased down all of the individual tools we would need
for the front installation, the passenger side went very
smoothly. VShortt and Moto-Max took over most of the
duties for this corner while it was Havock’s turn to
supervise. By the time we finished the passenger front
and reconnected the sway bar on both sides, we realized
that the installation is actually very simple. With the
major front end work complete, and the truck on the lift
with all 4 wheels off the ground, Havock seized the
opportunity to rotate his tires. (it is so nice to have
a lift to make tire rotation a 5 minute job!) And with
the front tires back on, we call the front end DONE!
Completely high off the success of our fantastic skills
on the front end, we moved into uncharted territory for
installing the rear kit. This time, we did not have any
written instructions to follow, so we had to rely solely
on Havock’s memory. Pretty scary concept, but we
thought we were expert suspension lifting gurus so we
started wrenching!
With the truck still suspended from the lift, we placed
a floor jack under the pumpkin to help support the axle
while we started with the passenger side. We removed
the 4 nuts from the factory U-bolts which then allowed
us to remove the bottom bolt plate and the 2 U-bolts.
We then removed the bolt holding the shock to the lower
shock mount. Disassembly side 1 complete.
Moto-Max lowered the jack until
the passenger tire contacted the floor. This allowed
enough space between the leaf spring and the spring
plate on the top of the axle for Havock to slide in the
PRG 1.5” rear block making sure the end labeled “Front”
was toward the front of the truck and the pin in the
block fit all the way into the hole in the axle so the
block would sit flush on the top plate. Then Moto-Max
slowly raised the jack, lifting the tire back off the
floor while VShortt and Havock made sire the pin on the
leaf spring fit into the hole on top of the PRG block
for proper alignment of the block/spring. Working
together (4 hands are better then 2 for dropping,
lifting, holding, screwing), VShortt and Havock dropped
the new, longer PRG custom heavy duty U-bolts into
place. We made sure that the top of the U-bolt rested
in its appropriate cradle on the bump stop mount, and
especially sure that the U-bolt was inserted between the
axle and all of the brake lines (don’t want to pinch any
brake lines especially the small ABS line on the front
of the axle). We then lifted the bottom plate back into
place and that the U-bolt threads fit through the 4
holes and then put on the 4 washers and screwed on the 4
new nuts. When tightening down the new nuts/U-bolts, we
were careful to tighten each side of a single U-bolt
evenly so the bolt would not be over stressed on one
side and cause any problems. Rear passenger block
installed. (shock still disconnected for now)
For the driver’s rear block
everything went pretty much the same except that we had
to bench press the leaf spring up about 3/8” to slide
the block in. We’re not really sure why this leaf hung
lower than the other, but it wasn’t to much of a problem
for Havock to muscle the spring out of the way while
VShortt took his sweet time sliding the block into place
and making sure the pin went completely in the hole of
the top axle plate. Once Moto-Max had the axle jacked
back up, the bottom plate and PRG custom U-bolts were
installed. Again the nuts were evenly tightened down on
each side of each U-bolt and we were careful not to trap
any brake lines between the U-bolt and the axle. Then
the shocks were re-bolted into the lower shock mounts on
each side of the axle. PRG 1.5” Rear Kit installation
COMPLETE! (Havock is completely elated at this point)
The mighty lifted Titan was then
lowered to the ground and for the first time, Havock got
to see how truly awesome a PRG Complete 2.5” Front and
PRG 1.5” Rear Kit can make a Titan look. Standing next
to the beast Havock could start to feel the difference a
couple inches can make in the truck’s presence. WOW!
OK, OK, back to the installation
stuff. With the truck back on the ground, Havock drove
it forward and backward in the shop several times to get
the suspension to settle down to natural ride height.
Then relying on our local alignment expert, Moto-Max,
for guidance, VShortt and Havock measured the toe of the
front end to be 5/8” toe-in. We accomplished this by
measuring from the center of the tire tread on one side
to the center of the tire tread on the other side as
close to the same height of the center of the hub as
possible. We then took the same measurement on the rear
side of the tires and figured out the difference. At
this time (clock time) it was around 11 PM so it was
getting late and we were all tired (plus VShortt had a
brake engagement with a neighbor to go to). So we all
agreed that 5/8” wasn’t that bad and since Havock
would be dropping the truck off at the dealer 2 days
later for a warranty fix, we would just let the
dealership do a professional alignment so that
everything would be measured and correct with more
precision than we felt capable of. After cleaning up
our tools, we headed out into the heavy rain storm and
went home. For Havock the 20 or so mile drive home was
20 or so miles of heaven, despite the horrible weather.
The truck handled and rode better than it ever had
before. Even Havock’s wife commented the following day
how much smoother the truck rode over the bumps and dips
in the road. And most of all, Havock’s 5 year old
daughter loved her new “pumped up truck”!
***Alignment
was completed at the dealership on 3/21.
|
