Added more pics of suspension after I removed the upper control arms. Check out the T100 with Superlift album for before photos and the Superlift Removal album for during and after photos.

Now I need to bring the control arms in to a shop to have the new bushings installed. I loosened the 4 nuts on the ends of the upper control arm studs this afternoon. The nuts on one arm came off cleanly with PB Blaster, heat, an impact gun, and a breaker bar. On the other arm one nut came off cleanly and the other spun on the stud stripping the threads so I need to price those parts and see if I can buy two or just one if the cost is high.



http://photos.yahoo.com/sdelthony

Looks like the rust belt has taken its toll on your T...did you lay down a thick coat of rubberized underbody coating while you are under there???

I will definitely spray some undercoating on the bottom of the body after I seal the hole made by the t-bar bolts. My truck isn't that bad as far as rust goes. It has only been in NY for 2 years. Prior to that it was in TX and NM.

Last night we removed the rear u-bolts, add-a-leaf, and the lift blocks. It was so much easier than the front components.

Tonight I spent a few hours drilling, sawing, and pounding to get 4 of the control arm bushings out. I did the lower arms. I had to drill out the rubber bushing, sabre saw through the thin walled outer metal sleeve on the bushing and then pound it out of the control arm. Tomorrow I'll bring all the control arms in to work and ask a tech to press in some new lower control arm bushings and replace the upper control arm bushings.

So far I only had a handful of bolts break due to rust/age. The propane torch has helped and it gets things warm enough to make a difference.

More pictures tomorrow.

Zack and I got my truck torn apart and then we started in on his. We both had a tough time with the control arm bushings. I wound up replacing all of mine and even had to get some new upper control arms with the bushings already installed. My upper control arms bent when I had someone press the bushings in so I decided to get new ones.

On both of our trucks the cam adjusting bolts were rusted to the lower control arm bushings and had to be cut out with a reciprocating saw. We spent about $50 on saw blades to get all the cutting done. I would recommend that anyone considering this try to avoid replacing the control arm bushings. Mine were still in good shape and could have been re-used if we were able to remove the cam bolts cleanly.

After Zack's the front suspension on Zack's truck was torn apart we moved on to the rear. We took the rear suspension apart and put the lift on in the same night in a couple of hours. I can understand now why it is so easy to lift a solid axle/leaf spring truck. Take off the u-bolts and the major disassembly is done.

During the next couple of days I put the rear suspension on my truck back together with stock components and Zack installed the front crossmembers, control arms, and tie rod ends on his T100. Today was a short day and we worked for a couple of hours checking bolt tightness, adjusting the front wheel alignment, bleeding the brakes/clutch, and test-driving Zack's lifted T100.

We need to finish mine tomorrow, but it will go much faster since we know what steps to take. It was a lot of work to do the swap, but we both learned a lot about our trucks.

I found the Superlift rear brake levers and I realized I did not use them. The stock brake levers for the parking brake worked fine with the lift. The brake cable to each rear wheel goes under the leaf springs with the lift on instead of over the springs with the stock suspension.

We both spent some money buying new nuts and bolts from our local Toyota dealer, but the new parts fit perfectly and are worth the cost. It sucks that the smaller bolts and nuts rust completely after a few years in NY with all the salt on the roads. When I lived in Albuquerque it was so easy to remove the cam bolts and I re-used them when I had my lift installed in 2001. Now it is 4 years later (with 2 years in NY) and the cam bolts rusted solid to the inner sleeve of the control arm bushings.

More pics at: http://photos.yahoo.com/sdelthony in the superlift swap album. Zack has the black T100 with black wheels and 33x10.5x15" BFGs.

Note- Zack is spelled Zack- not Zach as I wrote previously, too late to edit the previous posts.

We were installing the torsion bars, upper control arms, etc and I got one side in okay. On the other side I started the 3 bolts that hold the upper control arm to the frame. The bolts went in and tightened up quickly so I knew the threads were messed up. I took the bolts out and they are tapered at the end. The first 3-4 threads are cross threaded. I went to Sears looking for 12 and 14mm taps and dies and they don't carry any in-store that large. I looked up the tap and die sets at Sears.com and it doesn't list the sizes in the sets. I need some advice about where to buy some large metric tap and dies. I'm going to try to borrow them from a friend, but I want to have them in my toolbox. I also need to get them soon so I can fix the threads on the truck since the bolts go into the frame and are torqued to 131 ft/lbs.

Does anyone know of a place to buy individual taps and dies?

Looks like you and Zack have been busy. Once you two guys get the lift swapped over and your truck done, why don't ya relax, have a beer!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

As far as loking for individual taps and dies, did you check a hardware store, some place like Ace Hardware, Tru-Value Hardware or a local hardware store. You could also check your local Napa or an automotive parts store, they might sell individual taps and dies. You may even want to see if Autozone might have them <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" /> or and Advance Auto or maybe Pep Boys if there is one of them close by. I don't know if the Mac tools, Snap-on or Matco tool guys sell individual taps and dies or not, but it might be worth a try.

If you can't find a die in the size that you need, maybe you can find the tap and just purchase new bolts....just a suggestion. Good Luck!

Good idea about the beer! We definitely needed one after some of the days we had. While we were at Zack's yesterday we cracked one open as we stood and admired his newly lifted truck. The black T100 with black wheels looks really good.

I'll look at some of the places you mentioned for taps. Your idea about getting new bolts is exactly what I was thinking later tonight as I thought about fixing those threads. A tap would clean up the hole and new bolts would turn in correctly.

I couldn't find a tap in a 14mm 1.50 thread pitch so my boss told me to file/dremel one of the old bolts with decent threads and use it to tap/clean up the threaded bungs in the frame that are used to mount the control arm rod. I spent a half hour shaping the bolt and then used a lot of grease and cut the threads on the frame. It worked well and 20 minutes after that I had decent threads that are ready for new bolts tomorrow. I ordered the new bolts this morning and tomorrow afternoon I'll put them in. I took some pics of the bolt that I shaped and the pics are in the album listed in previous posts.

I only found a few tap and die sets that had any 14mm taps and the sets were in the $200 range. Not a bad price for a whole set and I will be buying a good set in the next year or two.

I'm getting closer to the end.

You know, back when I bought Airikk's T100 and had the two of them, I almost swapped the lift from the Blue T to my White T. This whole scenario has made me really glad I didn't try it. While his had no rust and I'm sure the lift would have come off easy enough, my truck has been in winter-road-salt Indiana for enough time that I'm sure I would have had a mess on my hands. I'm glad it has ultimatly worked out for both of you guys though. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Joel, the corrosion and rust definitely add a lot of extra time to the swap. I've been working on mine after work and on the weekends and it still isn't back together. I'm having a little trouble with the upper ball joint stud and its reluctance to drop into the tapered hole in the knuckle. The tapered hole is corroded and I need to file it out a little so the threads and studs will go down into it. Little things like this take a lot of extra time and add in even more time and money if you need to replace broken hardware.

I envy people who live in the Southwest where trucks don't rust after 10 years even with scratches through the clear coat and top color coat on a body panel.