Topic: Bumper Calibration and Front swaybar attachment

[LupinOne]

My tale of woe begins with "So a thing happened on the 405 or How I love my Shrockworks Bumper..."

SO yeah, a while back I had a small Toyota decide it needed to be a hood ornament in stop-n-go traffic on the 405 in the Valley early one morning.  It lost. Badly.  I avoided the first couple break checks from the guy and went to get out from behind him, but alas...

Bumper Calibration and Front swaybar attachment

Bumper Calibration and Front swaybar attachment

Bumper Calibration and Front swaybar attachment

Anyway, on initial inspection the only casualty was the winch control box which I fixed with some nice aircraft grade aluminum tape courtesy of my aircraft mechanic.  It seems after driving it some, that some "thing" may be tweaked with the bumper mount.  I noticed this when I took a close look at my right headlight and noticed it wasn't aligning nicely with the front of the quarter panel.  The mechanic at the dealer who normally works on my rig was saying it may need a body shop with a chain and come-a-long to help "re-calibrate" the bumper and radiator skid where it needs to be.

Does anyone here have experience "re-calibrating" a front shrock?  I'd rather work with family here that knows off road etc than some body shop. 

Also, it seems the threads on the upper nut for the front right sway-bar are stripped out as the bolt came loose and chewed them up on the way out.  Lower is fine.  I need to either drill and tap the upper nut or get a new on welded in.  Has anyone done this?  Also, with 700# springs, I'm contemplating just removing the front sway bar all together, as I did with the rear.

I can provide cold soda, monsters, beer, good booze, and food as required if you can help.

Thanks,

John

[JFanaselle]

Sorry for your situation John. Sure is amazing to see how much those front bumpers can handle though.

If the brackets themselves are bent, I wonder if you can just order a new set from Shrockworks?

[steve c]

On the sway bar, you can always disconnect one side and run it for a while to see what it feels like.

You may hear some clanking though.

[knightrider]

I would first check to make sure the bumper didn't just move in the mounts.  If the bumper does need tweaking, there's no need for a come along and some chain, you have a winch get a solid anchor and a snatch block and you're good to go.

As for the sway bar, do what I told steve c( he was too chicken to actually do it) to do and disconnect one side and drive it around for a bit. I'll bet you will notice the truck actually handles alot better and soaks up small bumps without upsetting the truck.

[npgtech]

Hey John, as far as the front sway bar goes, why not go ahead and ditch it?  You might have a bit more body roll, and slow down a bit on the curves up the "hill".  I didn't run any sway bar on my black X.  I was at 600lbs springs, and driving up to your place with the shrock front w/winch and all the skids wasn't too bad.  Ditching the sway bars will only help with articulation on the trail.   

[Toro]

Any chance you'll be coming back to cali?

Hey John, as far as the front sway bar goes, why not go ahead and ditch it?  You might have a bit more body roll, and slow down a bit on the curves up the "hill".  I didn't run any sway bar on my black X.  I was at 600lbs springs, and driving up to your place with the shrock front w/winch and all the skids wasn't too bad.  Ditching the sway bars will only help with articulation on the trail.

[npgtech]

Any chance you'll be coming back to cali?

To visit, most definitely. To come back an live there, probably not unless the Air Force is going to troll me before I retire (~2023).  I'm sure we'll drive through several times when we moved back to the mainland.

[Ghost65]

Is Colorado still a possibility?


Sent from Cygnus X-1

[npgtech]

Is Colorado still a possibility?


Sent from Cygnus X-1

Still our end game, so next assignment, hopefully 2018

[LupinOne]

Thanks all for the advice.  I'm thinking with the 700# springs I'm running, that little sway bar may be joining it's brother in my garage.  I'll recheck the mounts and hope for the easy solution.  I did notice the radiator skid took a little shot, so we'll see.