Rebuilding IRS

[S550HPP]

My original plan was to go through a set of rear tires every summer, but I blew that one. My new years resolution is to keep that promise. We will see.

Not gonna happen unless in snow nanny mode all the time!

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[DougS550]

Not gonna happen unless in snow nanny mode all the time!

Now that's funny.

 

[eisenhauer01]

Progress. Got the new Axle Seals and installed them. Then the GT350 half shafts went in.

Filled up the diff, and got her ready to put back under the car.

Installed the remaining Steeda Subframe Support Bushings, re-attached the diff breather hose, and ran the 4 subframe bolts in.

I am still waiting on my Steeda Subframe Alignment Dowels to show up, so I can't button things up 100% yet. The snow we just got delayed the delivery. I got the cradle squared up (by eye) best I could just centering the bolts in the large holes. Left everything loose. Began installing the front pieces of the BMR CB762 kit loosely.

Looks like the BMR piece is in contact with the front cradle bracket (or whatever it is called), so I will keep an eye on it, but I'm waiting to see what it looks like when things are in their final location and bolts bring the subframe up to the body.

Overall it was good progress. Wish I had the alignment dowels so I could go ahead and button up the subframe install, but we are getting close.
The FP M-5970-M Knuckle w/ Hub Kit should be coming in the next few days too, which is the last piece of the puzzle.

 

[GTP]

Great work, Kenny.

If the 762 bracket still hits the OEM bracket, you could always spend more money and buy the CB005 kit, because I'm pretty sure they will clear each other.

I'm still not completely clear on the purposes of those two kits. As I understand it, CB005 locks out the squishiness of the cradle rubber bushings, while the 762 braces the subframe harder against the body. Not sure.

You may also find that the 762 kit will argue with the alignment dowels as to the final position of the cradle. You may not end up using the dowels at all. IOW, the 762 may have a strong vote as to the position and it could be a mighty struggle to move the cradle around with it in place. Hence the dowels making it completely impossible to use both. In that case, you can choose one or the other but (as I'm sure you know) you will need an alignment after you get your car all back together.

 

[eisenhauer01]

I'm still not completely clear on the purposes of those two kits. As I understand it, CB005 locks out the squishiness of the cradle rubber bushings, while the 762 braces the subframe harder against the body. Not sure.
You may also find that the 762 kit will argue with the alignment dowels as to the final position of the cradle.

You are correct that the cb005 kit (as well as the Steeda subframe support bushings) lock out the squishiness of the cradle bushings. And the 762 kit (as well as a Steeda IRS subframe brace) does help brace the cradle harder to the body of the car.
I'm hoping that the cb762 and the Steeda alignment dowels don't fight each other much.

I can see how they might, since there isn't much (if any) clearance in either. Will figure it out as I go.

If I can get the two to work together, and the cb762 front pieces still rub the factory front cradle brackets, the thought also crossed my mind to remove the front factory cradle brackets and just put large washers in their place because the front 762 kit locks the cradle to the body...
so what's the point of the front factory cradle brackets? Just a thought.

 

[GTP]

Another tip on the alignment sleeves. They fit kinda snug. I think I recall that it may be easier to drop the rear ones in from above, so that is perfect if your cradle is already completely removed.

And don't forget that there is a top end and lower end on each sleeve. Steeda (in their infinite wisdom of designing their stuff with overly tight tolerances) made them with two slightly different ID's. The lower end ID is slightly larger so as to clear the knurling under the heads of the big blue cradle bolts. You might paint the lower end some color as a reminder.

 

[eisenhauer01]

Finally getting close to wrapping up this saga...
The Subframe Alignment Dowels finally showed up... I originally ordered them from Parker Performance in Florida. Long story short, they are out of business (according to their FB page).
I did not know this until after the order was placed. A week later, no tracking. So I email them. No response. So I find the owner's email address and I email him. No response. So I order them from somewhere else, and begin a dispute on PayPal to get my money back. Took a while to get it back, but finally did. Needless to say, don't order anything from them. Why their website is still active and you can make purchases and they gladly take your money without intentions to fulfill the order is pretty absurd to me. Rant over.

Back to the story. Put the Alignment Dowels in, and everything went pretty well. The CB762 kit was maxed out on adjustability (slotted holes) to allow the dowels to line things up perfectly, but it worked out.

I ended up with 1/8" clearance from my Front Diff Mounting Through Bolts to the Gas Tank. It was close, but it worked out perfectly and evenly!
Finished installing the CB762 kit, and began torqueing everything down (regarding subframe and bracing). I imagine this rear cradle & suspension is going to be rock solid and ready for abuse for years to come.

After that, I unboxed the Ford Performance Knuckle & Hub kit. This knuckle comes with the FP Toe Bearing already installed, and I wanted to put new hubs on the car, so I went this route.
I imagined they would come fully assembled, but they actually arrived separate, with 8 new bolts to install the hubs. Got them on and torqued, then did all of the bolts that attach the knuckle to the rear suspension.

Next was all of the brake components, and then the Viking Warrior shocks.

After that, I was pretty worn out and called it a day.
I still lack the driveshaft, exhaust, and then adjusting and tightening the rear sway bar end links.

The car is not coming off of the jack stands right away though.
I have new FP FR3 Track Struts going on the front, along with the Steeda Roll Center & Bump Steer kit. But this was good progress, and I am very happy with how everything turned out!

 

[GTP]

Since you have strong DIY skills, have you considered doing your own string alignment? I use the Caliper Garage kit. Works great.

 

[DougS550]

Finally getting close to wrapping up this saga...
The Subframe Alignment Dowels finally showed up... I originally ordered them from Parker Performance in Florida. Long story short, they are out of business (according to their FB page).
I did not know this until after the order was placed. A week later, no tracking. So I email them. No response. So I find the owner's email address and I email him. No response. So I order them from somewhere else, and begin a dispute on PayPal to get my money back. Took a while to get it back, but finally did. Needless to say, don't order anything from them. Why their website is still active and you can make purchases and they gladly take your money without intentions to fulfill the order is pretty absurd to me. Rant over.

Back to the story. Put the Alignment Dowels in, and everything went pretty well. The CB762 kit was maxed out on adjustability (slotted holes) to allow the dowels to line things up perfectly, but it worked out.

I ended up with 1/8" clearance from my Front Diff Mounting Through Bolts to the Gas Tank. It was close, but it worked out perfectly and evenly!
Finished installing the CB762 kit, and began torqueing everything down (regarding subframe and bracing). I imagine this rear cradle & suspension is going to be rock solid and ready for abuse for years to come.

After that, I unboxed the Ford Performance Knuckle & Hub kit. This knuckle comes with the FP Toe Bearing already installed, and I wanted to put new hubs on the car, so I went this route.
I imagined they would come fully assembled, but they actually arrived separate, with 8 new bolts to install the hubs. Got them on and torqued, then did all of the bolts that attach the knuckle to the rear suspension.

Next was all of the brake components, and then the Viking Warrior shocks.

After that, I was pretty worn out and called it a day.
I still lack the driveshaft, exhaust, and then adjusting and tightening the rear sway bar end links.

The car is not coming off of the jack stands right away though.
I have new FP FR3 Track Struts going on the front, along with the Steeda Roll Center & Bump Steer kit. But this was good progress, and I am very happy with how everything turned out!

I almost ordered O2 Defoulers from them, but when I could not contact them I bought from Fasthemi.

 

[eisenhauer01]

Well, I finally got the car off of the jackstands (after almost a month).
It took a little bit because I went ahead and did a few things to the front end while I was at it (Front End Time).

Need to get an alignment, but warmed her up and took her for a little spin.
It is like a completely different car. 100% planted, and smooth as silk.
No more jarring feeling while driving secondary roads. It feels like it should.
Looking forward to getting the alignment done, and some warmer weather.

I also went ahead and programmed the 18+ keyfob I bought for it, so that is cool.
Now I have that one (with a Pony on the back), the Ranger one (Ford), and the Bronco Sport (BRONCO) in the key bowl. That is how we tell them apart, look at the back

Coming up, is a 18+ digital dash install, and a little later the Paxton 2200SL and some other goodies. But that is all for now. Steering, suspension, and driveline are rock solid!

 

[DougS550]

Well, I finally got the car off of the jackstands (after almost a month).
It took a little bit because I went ahead and did a few things to the front end while I was at it (Front End Time).

Need to get an alignment, but warmed her up and took her for a little spin.
It is like a completely different car. 100% planted, and smooth as silk.
No more jarring feeling while driving secondary roads. It feels like it should.
Looking forward to getting the alignment done, and some warmer weather.

I also went ahead and programmed the 18+ keyfob I bought for it, so that is cool.
Now I have that one (with a Pony on the back), the Ranger one (Ford), and the Bronco Sport (BRONCO) in the key bowl. That is how we tell them apart, look at the back

Coming up, is a 18+ digital dash install, and a little later the Paxton 2200SL and some other goodies. But that is all for now. Steering, suspension, and driveline are rock solid!

Great to hear it's all working great.

 

[Whitedevil95]

Well, I finally got the car off of the jackstands (after almost a month).
It took a little bit because I went ahead and did a few things to the front end while I was at it (Front End Time).

Need to get an alignment, but warmed her up and took her for a little spin.
It is like a completely different car. 100% planted, and smooth as silk.
No more jarring feeling while driving secondary roads. It feels like it should.
Looking forward to getting the alignment done, and some warmer weather.

I also went ahead and programmed the 18+ keyfob I bought for it, so that is cool.
Now I have that one (with a Pony on the back), the Ranger one (Ford), and the Bronco Sport (BRONCO) in the key bowl. That is how we tell them apart, look at the back

Coming up, is a 18+ digital dash install, and a little later the Paxton 2200SL and some other goodies. But that is all for now. Steering, suspension, and driveline are rock solid!

Solid build right there. I love my digital dash swap. One of my favorite things ive done on my 2017.

 

[NightmareMoon]

This is my setup. Typically the heads of the bolt are reversed from what I've done if you go with an off the shelf kit.

well, thats just cheating.

 

[GTP]

Agreed on the 4140, that is how I took it as well.
Also agreed on the Kelltrac needing to open everything up even bigger.
Yeah, I feel pretty confident the 14mm 12.9 hardware will work great, even for high HP applications.
Getting rid of the slop, through bolting, having a solid shank at the shear point... all of these things add up and work together.
I found everything on McMaster Carr.

Hey Kenny, will you send me your McMaster invoice for these parts? If I ever need to take out my cradle, I will implement your through bolt method.

 

[eisenhauer01]

Hey Kenny, will you send me your McMaster invoice for these parts? If I ever need to take out my cradle, I will implement your through bolt method.

Not a problem.
For the front, in order to keep the threaded screw end protrusion to a minimum (to prevent interference with the gas tank), I did end up machining off around .100" from those front steeda black pucks (and their aluminum bushings). Your mileage may vary on the amount needing removed, but I would guess it is going to be close. I also used 14mm high locknuts up front to reduce the amount of protrusion. After that, drilling out the threaded holes in the front cradle bushings, and everything bolted right up nicely.

The rear was a direct drop in (I did have to ream out the ID of your sleeves a little for the diameter of these screws to be a slip fit), after drilling out the aluminum threaded holes in the diff cover to be a slip fit hole. I used 16mm high locknuts in the rear, because I had plenty of room.

FRONT
M14X2 120MM 12.9 SCREW - MCMASTER 91290A772
M14X2 14MM HIGH LOCKNUT - MCMASTER 94645A240
M14 WASHER - MCMASTER 91455A615
M14 OVERSIZED WASHER - MCMASTER 91100A250

REAR
M14X2 140MM 12.9 SCREW - MCMASTER 91290A776
M14X2 16MM HIGH LOCKNUT - MCMASTER 97260A105
M14 WASHER - MCMASTER 91455A615
M14 OVERSIZED WASHER - MCMASTER 91100A250

Hope this helps.

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