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Keep us posted on that front end clunk, I've actually got something similar that I'm trying to figure out as well.
Sorry to hear about the Fox shocks, that sure is disappointing to have them fail so soon. I guess I'd better go double-check mine!
Keep us posted on that front end clunk, I've actually got something similar that I'm trying to figure out as well.
Sorry to hear about the Fox shocks, that sure is disappointing to have them fail so soon. I guess I'd better go double-check mine!
Will do Limey. After I sort out the front shocks, I'll do more digging for the front clunk. I'm pretty sure it's the shocks themselves not actually being hard mounted up top, but I could be wrong. If your kit was the actual W463 specific kit that Fox sold pre-2020, then there's a good chance you'll be fine. All of my issues seem to be isolated to the Eurowise kit.
Originally Posted by 8899
I bought and installed this body molding trim on my G55 and think it looks so much better than the silver accent trim:
These look pretty good and the price is very fair, considering replacing 1 piece of the trim with an OE part is >$100. I think I'll leave mine naked though as I like the look of the older W460/461 waist trim, but won't be going through the hassle of installing those for now.
Originally Posted by black06c230
I simply peeled mine off and wrapped in gloss black vinyl. Then put back on the 3M adhesive. Looks much better.
This is also a good idea. I was already missing 2 pieces (both badly damaged/cracked) so it was a no-brainer just to remove them all.
Did a lot of research and reading the past few days. Exchanged a ton of emails with Fox about compatible parts and ordered the following:
FOX-803-00-255A Fox 2.0" Shock Standard O-Ring Rebuild Kits For 5/8" Shaft With Piggyback Reservoir Qty: 2 (Front Left, Front Right) $13.25 x 2 = $28.50
FOX-025-03-012 Fox 7W Red Extreme Shock Absorber Oil For Factory Series Or Performance Series Shock Qty: 1 Gallon Bottle $61.75
FOX-202-00-217 Fox Shocks 202-00-217 Performance Series 2.0" Shock 5/8" Shaft Bottom Wiper Cap Without Threads (On the chance that I damage mine during removal) Qty: 2 $7.50 x 2 = $13.30
FOX-023-20-012 Fox Shocks 2.0" Shock 5/8" Shaft Reservoir Hose With 7/16" O-Ring To AN -5 Female Thread 16" Long Qty: 2 $30.40 x 2 = $60.80
I went under the car to measure for ideal shock line lengths to position the reservoir bottles in an easily reached location. The fronts will be mounted horizontal above the spring perch, and will not require any (more) cutting to the inner fender. This new 16in line should be pretty perfect and not have the line too tight. I'll probably try to tack weld the cuts I made previously to repair the inner fenders, then paint them with undercoat to protect from rust.
More to come when I get the parts and have the time to do the shock rebuild.
Later down the road, I also plan on rebuilding the rears, adding shock shaft guards, removing the rusting fittings, and moving the remote reservoirs to mount them higher to the frame rails.
Fox parts are in the mail. I did clean the top of the shock very well to see at what rate the shock is leaking, and didn't see a drop after a recent 150 mile day trip, so I'm a little bit confused about the whole shock thing now. Will continue to monitor.
I finally got some good weather and time to finally get some maintenance done to the G. I'm right around 10k miles since my last oil change and around 8k miles since I put on the BFG KO2's. I think next interval I'll keep both to every 5k.
Ordered some stuff from FCP - Air filters, Cabin Filter, Oil Change Kit, LiquiMoly Additives, and installed the larger hood bumpers (they work better, but still get the hood squeek)
When rotating my wheels (Both fronts move to the back, and the rears move to the front but switch sides), I noticed that my wheels had probably been previously balanced 10 or so times. Each time, the shop decided just to leave the foam tape on the inside of the wheel. Below was after cleaning and scraping off like half of the foam already with a plastic scraper. When I have the wheels off for the shock rebuild, I'll do a full clean and ceramic coating on the inside of the wheels.
I did see this one one of my wheels. There is a ring of corrosion right where the brake disk would be. Could this be caused by brake dust alone? I was thinking at some point something got stuck in the wheel and scored the inside, leading to the accelerated corrosion.
I took a quick second to scrape it with the plastic scraper. The top coating comes off and you get right down to a layer of oxidation. I may have to take a lot more time to clean and refinish this wheel, or get another one and use this as a spare. Any thoughts?
I really don't have a good way of lifting the truck onto 4 jack stands, so one corner at a time makes rotating tires really slow going. I will say that the Astaroth wheels are quite nice and really change the look compared to the G55 AMG wheels.
Fox parts have arrived, so I'll be planning a coming weekend to get the shocks rebuilt.
The rebuild kits are just precaution as I don't want to be stuck waiting for parts if I damage any of the seals. The lines are OTS Fox parts and 16" long, so they should be perfect for the fronts to mount the reservoirs horizontally on the top of the spring perch in the wheel well. I'll experiment with mounting them in the engine bay also to see if that would be a better solution.
Ironically, my shock doesn't seem to be leaking now. I cleaned it up really well along with the surrounding areas that were caked in fluid. Several hundred miles later, there isn't a new drop at all. Will keep monitoring but planning on the rebuild anyway.
I had some inconsistent steering after blowing the bushings out on an aftermarket panhard bar. some of the steering input would be absorbed by the bushing and then the wheels would move. It was pretty sketchy until the new bushings came.
Hey knowbenz,
I must have missed this suggestion but after some more thought on how the steering/chassis is behaving and more observation while driving, I too believe the culprit to be the panhard bushings. I've ordered 2 new ones and will install when I they arrive. From under they look fine and prying they don't seem to move much, but that's probably not a reliable indicator. I'll start doing the front 2 bushings and will probably replace the rear ones as well down the road as I think there is a weird shimmy there also.
As I wait for some parts to come in and plan my front suspension overhaul, I wanted to look into why my Multi-Contour driver's seat didn't work.
I have always found the G seats to be pretty uncomfortable. It's not terrible, and tolerable for long drivers, but definitely not comfortable. I come from over 100k miles in a Volvo P2 sport seat, which are extremely comfortable and supportive. Knowing that my Multi Contour functions never worked, I decided to investigate as I have a few long drives coming up later this summer.
I had always thought it was the seat air pump that had gone out as is usually the case with a 16yr old truck, but I was surprised to learn otherwise!
Started by taking apart the pneumatic switch mechanism to grease it up. I couldn't tell if it was leaking, so I disassembled the entire thing and sealed with some silicone grease. I found that nothing was cracked, and the O-rings were all in pretty good shape. The whole thing disassembles pretty easily with a few clips and push retaining features. These are delicate so be careful during disassembly.
1. To remove the top black plastic cover, press in near the assembly split and you will be able to open 1 clip at a time. You will have to press pretty hard but be gentle. Stick something small to prevent the clips from reattaching. There are 4 clips total as shown below.
2. To remove the pneumatic assembly from the lower housing, look into the assembly and you will find 4 clips. You will have to pry open the black piece to unclip the part. stick a flat head or pry bar in gently while pressing the tubing assembly out. This step is not necessary but I wanted to see how the system worked.
3. To remove each individual switch from the pneumatic tube assembly, gently pry open the clips and rock the switch assembly out. All 4 switch assemblies are the same and only go in 1 way, so no need to keep track of orientation or location.
I used some silicone grease I had lying around to lube up all the connections, being careful not to put too much on or clog any ports. I also lubed up where the bottom of the switch module tubes connect to the seat bracket to make sure those connections were sealed nicely.
No dice. The system performed exactly as before, with the pump running, but nothing inflating and an air leak sound coming from the seat area.
I removed the back of the seat to find this - The bolster & splitter tube had broken off and the tubing in general was in a pretty bad state.
Upon further inspection and reconnecting the line, I found that the left bolster inflated properly, but the right bolster was leaking badly, which didn't allow the system to inflate or hold pressure.
I decided to remove the bolster air bladder and found some small holes here and there!
I looked online on several MB OEM parts databases and found that you could only get 1 side bolster and the under leg air bladder, both being ~$50, which is way too expensive for what it is.
I started looking on Amazon for air bladders when I found these cheap hand pump air wedges used to lift heavy things.
I purchased this 3 pc kit after taking some general measurements hoping they would fit the bill. These are cheap so no harm if they didn't work.
For reference:
Side Bolsters Dimensions (x2): 11" x 3"
Back Lumbar Dimensions (x2): 9" x 5"
I stuffed the medium sized air shim (7.5" x 4.4" into the side bolster location and it fits fine. Not perfect, but should work for a test. Ignore how I connected the tubing as this leaked right away.
I removed the rear lumbar support air bladders and found them in great condition:
The large air shim from the kit is almost perfectly sized (10.6" x 5.1") for the lumbar support.
I carefully made all the air line connections (temporary for now) using silicone paste to seal the tubes against each other, and some electrical tape to hold everything together.
Then stuffed the air shim into the lower lumbar position.
Everything works great! The system is sealed pretty well and definitely provides support now in places the seat is severely lacking.
Since this all seems to work, I've purchased another set of these same air shims (to arrive tomorrow) and will replace the left side bolster, as well as a second mid-lower back lumbar support. I'll use fabric/foam tape to hold everything in the correct location, and will make the tubing connections more permanent, replacing tubing where I can with newer/higher quality stuff.
The last issue to tackle for this would be the front 'seat extension' bladder. You can still buy this bladder from MB, but I'll try my hand at using the last air shim in the pack (6.5" x 6.5") and use 2 of them under the front lower seat cushion. This area is where I find the seats severely lacking. I'm not tall at all (5'8" with normal length legs) and the lack of support under your thighs really makes the seat uncomfortable, even with the rear of the seat tilted all the way down, and the front all the way up. I'll look into disassembling the seat cushion tomorrow as this is much more involved.
The second set of air shims arrived yesterday and I had some time this morning to finish up this project.
I used fabric tape and fastened the 4 air shims in place, 1 for the lower back lumbar, 1 for the middle back lumbar, 1 for the left side bolster, 1 for the right side bolster.
Below you can see how the air shims look inflated after being crammed into place. These air shims easily expand 2-3x what the OE air bladders do, so it really doesn't need much pressure to get more comfortable in the seat.
I went to the local hardware store and after trying a bunch of different fittings, I found these two barbed fittings, one for 1/4" hose, and one for 3/16" hose. In total, I used 2x 3/16" hose barbs, and 3x 1/4" hose barbs. They were ~$2.50/each.(way overpriced and overkill, but worked and available right away)
This is how I used them:
Lower/Middle Lumbar - the 1/4" hose barb fits perfectly with the rubber hose that comes with the air shims. The ID of the 1/4" hose barb is just slightly too small, so I reamed it out using my late to fit the OD of the tubes in the seat (red and green). I used super glue gel to fix the tube in the barb, and used several different sizes of electrical shrink wrap to seal everything up, covering the joint areas with silicone paste in case there were any small leaks.
Side Bolsters - The 3/16" hose barbs fit well into the rubber hose that comes with the air shims. The other end connects well with the OE Y-splitter to the L and R bolsters. I used silicone paste on the barb and electrical shrink wrap to seal everything up. I also added a zip tie for good measure. I found the 3/16" barb fit better, but the 1/4" barb would also fit for this.
Barbs as purchased from my local hardware store:
Reaming/drilling out the 1/4" hose barb ID to fit the OD of the green and red tubes in the seat (lower and middle lumbar) I drilled the ID out to 0.185" since that's the closest drill bit I had, but something closer to 0.175"/4.5mm would have been a better fit.
Air shim tube (left) fits right on the 1/4" barb. Shrink wrap placed on the tube first on the left and right sides. Super Glue gel used to attach the green tube (OD) to the brass barb (ID).
Used Silicone paste on the hose barbs and the joints to seal everything together and slid the shrink wrap over the joints. Used a butane lighter to shrink wrap the parts together. (Using shrink wrap with glue would have been ideal for this, but I didn't have any)
After sealing everything with 3 different sizes of shrink wrap, this is what the joint now looks like:
For the side bolsters, the hose barbs fit into the OE Y-splitter. I used silicone paste on these joints also.
Shrink wrap used again on the tube side to hold everything together, with extra silicone paste on the joints. Everything cleaned up and zip-tied in place on the seat rear frame.
And now I have working lumbar and bolsters! Total cost for this project was ~$40 in parts including completely overpaying for hose barb fittings. If doing it again, it could be done for ~$30.
Next for this project is to figure out how to remove the seat bottom cushion to insert the last set of 6.5" square bladders in the front of the seat. This is much more involved so may not happen right away.
Wow, amazing work as usual along with detailed how-to information.... I confess, I had my mechanic fix some of my seat contour issues, and it wasn't cheap. Thanks for helping other people save some money anyway!
Your post has been excellent! I just purchased an 2003 G500 and am starting to work on it and my glove box latch also broke. Any chance you can make more of these?
just noticed some of mine is coming off, mine is silver on silver. they look to be a bit wrecked by UV damage. Going to see if I can refresh them somehow, lower on the things to do list for me, but something that I definitely want to tackle eventually.
just noticed some of mine is coming off, mine is silver on silver. they look to be a bit wrecked by UV damage. Going to see if I can refresh them somehow, lower on the things to do list for me, but something that I definitely want to tackle eventually.
I have a set of silver that was given to me. Minus front right fender if you need. Send me DM and we can work something out
Started digging into my suspension refresh and had a few hours this past holiday weekend before outdoors family activities.
I ordered new panhard bar bushings a few weeks ago and finally got some time to install them.
Short background on why I'm refreshing the suspension:
- Truck passed over 100k miles recently and most likely has had no suspension work in its life
- I get a pretty crazy cabin shake (side to side) when going over rough highway sections. It feels like the axle jumps side to side, and then that motion is transmitted to the cabin and through the steering.
Started by removing the bar. You do have to play with articulating the suspension in order to get access to the bolts with larger tools and enough room to actually remove them. I found lifting the truck by the frame on the front driver side maybe 6in ended up being just enough to access both bolts/nuts and remove them after loosening. I ended up using a 1/2" impact with 24mm impact socket, hitting the passenger side bolt from the front of the truck, and the driver side from the rear of the car. Impact tools do make the job much easier.
Front Panhard bar out.
Bushings don't have a lot of play and seem pretty solid still, but they'll be replaced regardless.
Putting the old trusty harbor freight 20ton press to work. I've had this thing for probably 15 years and it's still super sketchy to press out bushings. The initial pop when the bushings start to move still makes me jump every time. I had oversized sockets that were the perfect size to press in/out the bushings.
Old bushings out, and new bushings ready to be pressed in. Pressing these went much faster than I thought it would. Maybe took 10 minutes to get both out.
Old vs new next to each other. Old bushings don't look too bad and didn't have too much give, but probably have never been changed in the 100k miles of this truck's life.
Didn't take any pictures of pressing the bushings back in, but that process took maybe 20 minutes total. Just had to make sure to press everything in straight to not damage anything.
The bar with new bushings was a little more difficult to install, but nothing a pry bar, hammer, and secondary scissor jack didn't make short work of. I didn't find any bolt torque specs so I tightened them up to 55 ft-lbs and marked them. Added anti-seize to the bolt unthreaded sections also to avoid any issues in the future.
Bar back installed and everything on the ground.
Took the truck for a test drive and the shake feels slightly better (less shaking over rough roads), but it's still definitely there. I decided to just go all-in and I'll be ordering all rubber bushings to replace it all in an attempt to fix the shaking issue. It'll also be the right move as 100k I intend to keep the truck for a long time and addressing the old rubber bushings is a necessary start.
In other bad news, it looks like my passenger side swipe seal is leaking.
Driver's side - may be low on grease, so I'll be reg-reasing with marine grease when it comes in.
Passenger's side - milky mess that's leaking and spraying to lots of different areas.
I'll try repacking it with waterproof grease first and see how it goes. Swipe seals may be a job that is beyond by talent level, so a visit to Wolfgang's will be in order.
Also I noticed my front passenger Fox shock is leaking again. Seems like a slow leak overall but still dripping the red stuff, so the rebuild is back on the table soon.
Nice work Shiann, hopefully you’re able to figure out what’s causing your cabin shaking without having to replace all of the bushings up front.
I have a swiper seal that’s spitting grease just like that too. For a while I was sweating that I had a torn CV axle boot in there contributing to the mess, but it must just be the seal as I have no other symptoms going on (at 74,000 miles.) Curious to see how the waterproof grease experiment goes for you.
Nice work Shiann, hopefully you’re able to figure out what’s causing your cabin shaking without having to replace all of the bushings up front.
I have a swipe seal that’s spitting grease just like that too. For a while I was sweating that I had a torn CV axle boot in there contributing to the mess, but it must just be the seal as I have no other symptoms going on (at 74,000 miles.) Curious to see how the waterproof grease experiment goes for you.
Thanks Rob! I'll take a poke around the recirc ***** to see if I can feel any torn boots. I've heard of the split swipe seals that you can get that is split at the top (and stapled together), but am not sure if that is the right route to go. Easier DIY install, yes, but I haven't heard a lot of reviews on them. Any disassembly of the axle will involve a trip to Wolfgang's for sure.
I started my parts purchasing binge on things the G needs from FCPEuro:
Mercedes Serpentine Belt Kit - SKU KIT-516535
- My accessory drive belt tensioner is making squeaking noises on cold start and I can see the bearing not spinning true anymore.
Mercedes Brake Pad Set - SKU AKE-EUR1122
- Rear brakes are toast. Previous owner changed out the front brakes and rotors during his ownership and there is plenty of meat left on those, but the fronts probably haven't been changed in many many years.
ATE Type 200 Brake Fluid - SKU ATE-706202
Mercedes Supercharger Belt - SKU Con-8K1289
- Might as well change out the supercharger belt to a newer one. I have dreams of VRP upgrades but those will have to come later down the road.
I'll also be ordering a large list of parts from Vlad at fourbyfourclub and also a set of caster correction front bushings (I'm leaning towards going with poly front and rear as they will be infinitely more easy to install vs traditional rubber)
And bought Akebono EURO Ultra-Premium Ceramic Disc REAR Brake Pads (EUR1123) from Pep Boys and paid $57.46 including tax.
Thanks for the tip 8899.
I ordered Akebono Ceramics and wanted to keep to FCPEuro for their lifetime warranty. I've had great luck with Akebono Ceramics on my other cars with good stopping power, low dust, and long life.
I'll probably have to order rear rotors also but will check mine first. Price is just about the same as your ebay link. Does anyone know the minimum spec thickness for the rear rotors?
Things I actually got done:
- Replaced Air Filter
- Replaced Cabin Filter
- Replaced Serpentine Belt Tensioner
- Greased Swivel *****
Things I didn't end up getting done:
- Replace Serpentine Belt (FCPEuro kit included the wrong/shorter belt)
- Replace Idler Pulley (FCPEuro kit included the wrong pulley)
- Replace Fuel Filter (Didn't have the right crimping clamps or tool
Everything laid out nicely before mayham.
First time getting to do some actual engine related work. It's amazing how little space there is in the engine bay.
When changing the air filters, the inlet tube to the throttle body popped off. Is there supposed to be a clamp here?
Air filters were last changed by the previous owner around 80k miles. Not too dirty, but about time for a replacement.
Same story with the cabin filter. Good to start with a clean slate.
Serpentine Belt Tensioner was such a pain to get out. I didn't remove the fan so there was basically no room in there to squeeze your arms. I wasn't able to blindly insert a hex key with the tensioner clocked, so removing the mounting bolts took considerably longer than expected. Reason for replacing was a squeal on cold start that has been bothering me for a while now. I saw a slight rocking motion and figured it was time to replace it. Looks like this part may have been replaced at least once in the trucks prior life, which is a good sign in terms of prior maintenance.
For future reference, my tensioner took a 17mm socket to clock, and a T40 Torx bit for the bolts. I torqued the bolts to 25 ft-lbs.
Wanted to replace the idler pulley but the one included it the FCPEuro kit (Kit P/N KIT-516535) was wrong (Wrong Pully P/N: INA-5320160100)
I'll be ordering the correct pulley to replace later as it was making some noise also when free spinning (Correct Pulley P/N MER-1562020819)
Also, the belt included with the Kit P/N KIT-516535 was wrong/too short. I'll be ordering the correct length belt P/N CON-6K2449.
This was super annoying, but replacing the idler pulley and belts will be pretty quick once the parts come in. For future reference the idler pulley uses a E-Torx E14 socket and the bolt is pretty short.
A great purchase IMO. I didn't have a full sized grease gun and wasn't look forward to pumping forever with a pistol grip. The pneumatic gun made short work of filling the swivel ***** to the fill port level.
Fill port socket is a 40mm hex. I found a fill port plug torque value of 75ft-lbs which seems really really high. I torqued to 55ft-lbs and marked it. I plan to check these regularly to monitor my swipe seal situation.
Driver's side cleaned up and new grease added. I was down about 1-2 inches below the port, so added until I saw grease. Will check this again in the near future as the grease will level out after some use.
Passenger's side was a mess (refer to last post), but the grease inside didn't look too bad. It wasn't too milky, so hoping it's not a broken CV boot. Hoping it's just a failing swivel ball seal that let some water in.
I took a peak in there to see if I could see any signs of a failing CV boot, but didn't see anything either. I do have one of those small scope cameras that I need to find. Next time I'll jack up the truck so I can remove the wheel and rotate the shaft to inspect everything more thoroughly.
I'll be ordering a bunch of bushing parts from Vlad @ fourbyfourclub very soon to try to refresh everything.
I also purchased a Mercedes control arm bushing extractor tool. The sets made for the W210 are supposed to work with the W463 also.
This is the tool set I purchased: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Next for this project is to figure out how to remove the seat bottom cushion to insert the last set of 6.5" square bladders in the front of the seat. This is much more involved so may not happen right away.
Hi...great write-up, thank you. I'm going to get on this project soon.....any idea when you will tackle the seat bottom cushion?
Hi...great write-up, thank you. I'm going to get on this project soon.....any idea when you will tackle the seat bottom cushion?
No idea. I took a look at how to remove the bottom cushion and it looks like you have to disassemble the whole seat. Not something I'm looking to do in the near future since there are so many other G projects to finish first (along with the complete rebuild of the other car, and a whole list of house projects/maintenance).
Some more parts came in and I had a free day to tackle them and finish some of the maintenance jobs I didn't get to finish last time.
The day's list of thing to do:
- Replace the rear brakes pads + rotors + bleed brakes
- Replace Idler Pulley
- Replace Serpentine Belt
- Replace Supercharger Belt
- Replace Fuel Filter
Here's a quick walkthrough of changing the rear brakes. This was super straight forward and took about an hour total for both sides, so if you've done any brake service before, this should be a cake walk.
Pull off the floating caliper bolt pin covers:
Disconnect the wear sensor. Note: My 2005 G55k only had ONE wear sensor on the passenger side.
Pull off the caliper spring clamp - Press the spring clamp towards the caliper with your fingers, then using a small flat head, pry out the retaining clips.
Remove the Caliper Bolt Pins with a 7mm Hex Key - I had to use a hex key and not a socket since my shock was too close to the bolt.
Push the bolt pin out of the way
As you can see, my pads didn't have too much life left. I have been getting a "Check Brakes" warning light for the past few hundred miles. I checked and saw how thin my rear brakes were when I first saw the warning light, but I probably still had 1k or so miles left in these easy. I knew I was going to replace the rotors so gouging them wasn't a concern.
The rear springs work great as a hold for the calipers:
Remove the caliper bracket - Top bolt needs an 18mm wrench. A socket won't fit here since the brake line/bracket is in the way. I used a plastic hammer on the wrench to loosen it.
Lower bolt you can use an 18mm socket.
Next remove the T50 torx screw holding the brake rotor on. I held the rotor using 2 lug bolts and a breaker bar. The rotor bolt is difficult to remove, so be gentle as to not strip it, but it will require a good amount of force to remove.
FYI - New W463 Rear Rotor thickness: ~22mm
Put some Blue Loctite on the Rotor Bolt and Reinstall - I installed using a 1/4 impact with the T50 torx socket and didn't torque it down to a specific value.
I used blue loctite on the rear caliper bracket also. I also torqued the bolts down to ~55-60 ft-lbs.
Install the new wear sensor:
Use some Anti-Squeal compound on the back of the new brake pads. I purchased this bottle maybe 10 years ago, and although I don't go through too many sets of rear brakes, this bottle has lasted. So highly recommended instead of just using the small squeeze tubes they provide.
To compress the caliper piston, I used a ratchet type caliper tool, which worked fine. A C-Clamp, or any type of tool will work great here.
Press the inner pad into the brake caliper piston, position the outside pad, then slide it back into place.
Tighten the caliper bolt/pins, reinstall the caps, then reinstall the front spring clip, and grab a friend/spouse and bleed the brakes. All done!
Installed a new Idler Pulley. Here's the correct MB P/N. The bolt design is updated to a T50 torx shoulder bolt from the E14 torx and washer. I believe there is a plastic cap also that I'll try to find to keep the bolt head clean.
Also replaced both belts. Super quick after struggling last time on the front of the engine. Belts are a perfect fit.
One thing I would recommend is to get some fuel line plugs in addition to the clamps. I would use them to plug the fuel filter after it is disconnected as to not leak out fuel all over the place (There is A LOT of fuel in there!)
If these new bushings don't fix my suspension/steering shudder, then I'll go all out and replace all the Radius/Thrust arm bushings, front and rear, adding eccentric caster correction bushings to the front - All in Poly as they are more forgiving to install. I may lose some suspension travel with all those bushings being Poly, but I'm not too worried since this truck will really be 90% road driven at least for several years. Nor do I see heavy rock crawling in my future.
05-17-2021, 10:32 AM
Will keep monitoring but planning on the rebuild anyway.
I confess, I had my mechanic fix some of my seat contour issues, and it wasn't cheap. Thanks for helping other people save some money anyway!
