^ I know what you mean. I love my Grabbers but a week after buying them I started wishing I would've gone with the 30s.

 

I nearly went with 30's b/c a shop here had a clearance on Destination ATs but I knew I'd regret not getting 31's. I was fortunate that I was able to snag these. The guy had another buyer lined up to pick them up the next day so I rushed out to get them before he sold them.

Paul, I was up on jackstands most of the day so I couldn't get far enough away to get a comparison pic. I'll try and get one within the next day or so...

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I found a receipt for my brake pads I bought a few years ago and they had a lifetime warranty so I went to get them replaced today. I figured I'd go ahead and have the rotors turned/machined while I was at it but they were stuck on pretty badly. Mallet didn't help, and neither did tons of oil and pb-blaster so I had to resort to a hammer. Finally got them off and there were a few decent sized dings from my hammering.

The guys at O'Reilly's said there wasn't enough material to turn them down even without the dings in there so I ended up buying new ones. Only $10 more than having the old ones machined (25 to machine, 35 for new rotor). Not entirely sure what brand they are but they have a one year warranty. Hopefully they'll be decent.

Also, found a wrecked Z at a junkyard today and I'm gonna go and get some parts. Anyone know if the rear leaf springs would work on mine? I suppose I could keep my top spring the same and just add a leaf or two from another pack to help. I'm also gonna try and grab the centerlink (not 100% sure it will work) so I can add a steering stabilizer and I'm gonna get the tire carrier off the back. :P

 

Had to fight it some but I finally got a rear tire carrier to follow in the footsteps of Rcars2, Benedict and others who have one on their 4dr trucks

All but one bolt came out fine. The bottom one was so stripped it wouldn't move at all so I started just twisting. I'm not sure how much extra support the 2drs actually have b/c the nut that it was attached to eventually ripped right through the panel.

 

I have no extra support on my spare mount. I actually sprayed off my truck today and forgot to latch the tire and I was on the highway probably doing 50 around a turn and it swung out my tires screeched a little , still hasn't ripped off my corner pannel... I'm headed to the junk yard later this week hopefully I'll be on the lookout for a centerlink so I get can a stablelizer. if you want better leafs just pull some off of a full size chevy that'll give you some lift

 

That's good to hear that it hasn't ripped yours off... Is it easy to get inside to get everything bolted on?

I ended up cutting the bolt off that ripped through the body on that green truck in the pic. The nut it was attached to appears to have been spot-welded to the inside of the panel which means there isn't a lot of support there in the first place. I'll add as much support as I can but even some fat washers seems like it would be better than the stock setup.

When I drilled through my roof to install my yakima rack, I epoxy'd and bolted a 1.5x4" plate of 3/8" aluminum to the inside to make a thicker surface to attach to. I'll probably end up doing something like that for this tire carrier.

 

Well. Installing the rack is 1000 times harder than taking it off. There is no room to put the bolta in. I had to get creative and luckily my hands are pretty small. I ended up cutting a 4x4 hold in the bottom of the metal. The top bolt closet to the front is the only bolt that is easy to do. The two on the back are the most difficult. Deep well sockets and extensions are your friend. Make sure you set aside enough daylight it took me a lot longer than i thought. And also make sure you measure 10 times. You can adjust the latch a little but just make sure everything lines up perfect before you start drilling.

Oh and how much do brake pads with a lifetime warrenty cost? I go through a set of pads a year. Seems like the company would loose a lot of money unless they are charging a lot?

 

I remember paying more for them but the Oreilly's site shows the front at $49 and rear at $56.

Even their $20 pads say they have the limited lifetime warranty too. I don't know how they can afford to offer that unless most people forget about the warranty...

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...998&vi=1314133 The ones I have are Wagner ThermoQuiet

 

that's really good. I bet they last a good while too I might have to pick up a set for the front and rear soon. I might get the cv axles too they have a lifetime warrenty too, lol I go through cv axles faster than my brakes

 

It's been raining the past few days so it's hard to paint but my tire carrier is coming along nicely. Not sure when I'll finally get around to installing it though. I don't even have a full size spare to put on it yet.

Also, the shackles that Blazin_Jason made for me came in today. Thanks again man! I'll hopefully get them installed this weekend as well as new O2 sensors and an oil change. I'll be sure and take plenty of pics of the shackle installation (as well as the tire rack when I do it)

I'm debating whether or not to change the balljoints now or wait until spring break or summer and do the rest of the front end (CV, tie rods, steering stabilizer centerlink and possibly hub assemblies) while I'm at it. The boots around the upper BJ's are torn but the test where you rock the wheel back and forth doesn't indicate that they're in bad condition. Currently I'm putting very few miles on my truck so waiting until summer isn't that big of a deal.



next to an AAA battery to show thickness




hopefully the tape through all the nuts and around the bolts protected the threads from overspray

 

This is getting interesting... keep up the good work and moeny spending.