Gen X's 2010 S

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
After spending the last year on a 1.9 acre compound with my bedroom 10 steps from my office desk, this semi-real world is great! The assignment was great and I worked with some truly amazing folks. But, you just don’t realize how much you miss having some freedom to move around. Glad to be back and looking forward to linking up for some rides. Should be ready for the trip ffxcores is planning.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Welcome back! Let us know if you need any help with anything. I’m in Fairfax and there are a bunch of us around NoVA
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Got my lift in today. For the rear, 3 leaf add a leaf, 3 degree shims, U bolt flip kit, and off-road gorilla breather extension. The Rancho shocks were already there from earlier. Measured two inches higher.

9DDAF380-8E13-4865-B54B-393F6B5A66F5.jpeg

On the front I added Rancho quick lift struts, a one inch spacer and SPC upper control arms. I have adjustable cam bolts for the lower arms but couldn’t get the bolts out. I’ll bring it for an alignment, if they can get it in spec I’ll pass on the fight to put in the new bolts. Got about 2.5 inch lift on the front.

ECAE315C-C8BB-4553-B4B7-2788A4B88F27.jpeg

I like how it’s sitting. Time for new tires now.

609211B5-859B-49C7-BA2C-EFA652DDA0CA.jpeg
 
Last edited:

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Got my lift in today. For the rear, 3 leaf add a leaf, 3 degree shims, U bolt flip kit, and off-road gorilla breather extension. The Rancho shocks were already there from earlier. Measured two inches higher.

View attachment 19949

On the front I added Rancho quick lift struts, a one inch spacer and SPC upper control arms. I have adjustable cam bolts for the lower arms but couldn’t get the bolts out. I’ll bring it for an alignment, if they can get it in spec I’ll pass on the fight to put in the new bolts. Got about 2.5 inch lift on the front.

View attachment 19950

It’s sitting nice right now. I’ll get a pic in the daylight tomorrow.
Did you trim the coil bucket back? You should be able to adjust camber with the SPC arms, but that requires a shop to read the #@!!* instructions. Technically they say to fine tune with the adjustable cam bolts but you can at least get it close. I couldn’t find one in the area capable of doing that.
 

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Supporting Member
Location
Burtonsville, Md
^^^^^^^ Take that grinder we see in a photo and grind back the coil bucket lip anywhere the rubber boot rub's against it with a quarter inch to spare then get the edge smooth then paint to keep the rust down . ASAP
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Once the alignment is done, it's likely to cut the boots on your ball joints and they won't last very long without LOTS of greasing.
The shop got it aligned with no issue. The boots aren’t hitting the buckets but I’ll grind a little just to be safe. I’ll hold on to the cam bolts for the lower control arms. When the lower ball joints need replacing I’ll cut out the old arms, replace with new, and add the cam bolts.

Do the SPC ball joints come already greased? Wasn’t sure so I added some.
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
The shop got it aligned with no issue. The boots aren’t hitting the buckets but I’ll grind a little just to be safe. I’ll hold on to the cam bolts for the lower control arms. When the lower ball joints need replacing I’ll cut out the old arms, replace with new, and add the cam bolts.

Do the SPC ball joints come already greased? Wasn’t sure so I added some.
Mine were not. Yours don’t like like they are either. When you pump it up the fold between the bulged parts fills out a bit.
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Well damn. Greased up ball joints this morning and there is a pin hole in the driver boot. Can I get a replacement off the shelf at Advance? I’m going to grind the buckets tomorrow and will replace the boot.
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Maybe it already had the hole? The lower portion of the boot is right next to the bucket but not touching. Looks like I can’t get generic replacements? I need to order specific replacements? I see some on Nisstec.

 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Maybe it already had the hole? The lower portion of the boot is right next to the bucket but not touching. Looks like I can’t get generic replacements? I need to order specific replacements? I see some on Nisstec.

Was it on the coil bucket side? If it’s a literal hole (vs a rip or tear) that may be a warranty thing. If it was caused by contact I’d think it would be an “over time” thing and not be there the first day even with some contact.
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
It had to be there already. I didn’t drive enough to make a hole. But, I bought these over a year ago so I’ll just get some new boots. Warranty would be a hassle.
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Got the buckets cut back and new boots on the way. Is there anything I can seal the small hole with rather than replace the boot? Flex seal or some other option maybe? I know replacement is best but wondering if someone has “fixed” them before.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Got the buckets cut back and new boots on the way. Is there anything I can seal the small hole with rather than replace the boot? Flex seal or some other option maybe? I know replacement is best but wondering if someone has “fixed” them before.
Just replace them. It would take more work to properly seal them than to replace them.
 

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Supporting Member
Location
Burtonsville, Md
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It's a nut and a cotter pin . The hardest part was the spring clip keep twisting around , just annoying. I cleaned all the old grease out as you'll probably get a little debris [ dirt-rust ] in there .
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Busy couple of days. Replaced the boots on my ball joints and installed rear sway bar re-locate blocks.

Put my Rugged Rocks battery terminals on, they are nice. I replaced the negative cable with one from BatteryCables USA. I got the 14”, 2AWG marine cable. It just barely reached the battery, I think a 16” cable would be better. You can order it with an M8 ring already added to one end. You need to leave the other end empty so you can pass it through the voltage sensor, then crimp on a ring. I ordered mine with a ring on both ends not realizing it wouldn’t fit through the sensor. I cut off the old ring then added a new one after running the cable.

DB8C0F85-19B4-4B5A-B127-CB17FE26097D.jpeg

Next were my AJ’s Offroad Armor super square rock rails with the extensions. They were harder to install than I expected. You need to drill 12 holes for each side. The bottom two holes on the front support on the passenger side were sitting a bit low on the frame. I decided to plug weld the holes and re-drill a little higher. They probably would have been fine but I didn’t want to risk it. Driver side lined up no problem

BE5CAC35-A3E2-448F-94CF-969381BEBDBB.jpeg

05D9E333-A7EE-4EEB-8E5F-F67315E7A314.jpeg
 
Last edited:

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
installed rear sway bar re-locate blocks
tenor.gif
 

ffxcores

[fully disclosed]
Supporting Member
Location
Virginia
Otherwise the bar clunks on the shock on the driver side. If he still has the stock springs (even with AAL) and stock bump stops. sway bar is probably still a necessity in the rear. Mine flopped around like a loose Slinky even with the sway bar in.
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA

I know, I know, just get rid of the sway bar. But, with the second gen bigger and heavier than a first gen, I wanted to run it with the sway bar a bit for road stability. Maybe I’ll get quick disconnects at some point.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
I know, I know, just get rid of the sway bar. But, with the second gen bigger and heavier than a first gen, I wanted to run it with the sway bar a bit for road stability. Maybe I’ll get quick disconnects at some point.
Just loose it. I've never noticed it being gone. From 100% stock to my current setup, trailering and living in the mountains, it's never been an issue.
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
Next phase! Bumpers and skids showed up at my buddy’s house. Felt kinda bad he had to unpack and move everything to his shed, but not really. No pic of the rear bumper. Can’t wait to get all this on.

059CC797-7695-4976-A5D8-CB48CD1DBF71.jpeg

C4047D37-0B72-4C9F-99DE-385AB97E1DCC.jpeg

06F1D137-DE53-46F9-876A-E837F32CBD2C.jpeg

FD501435-0332-4B68-A033-2503F605E9CD.jpeg
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
There's probably gonna be a lot of runs this spring if @ffxcores has any say in it.

We chatted about doing a run of PMR, Flagpole and Big Levels in one weekend. Dunno when that might happen though.

Hell yeah. I’m up for it. I haven’t made it to Big Levels yet. Always had something in the way when trips were planned. I’m in long term training until mid August so that means no night or weekend work! Almost like a paid vacation.
 

Gen X

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ashburn, VA
BUMPERS! Glorious bumpers. Shrock front and rear with a Smittybilt XRC 9500 winch, synthetic line, and flip up license plate holder. Didn’t have time to get the skids on today.

I did the rear on Wednesday. Fairly easy, just took time to get the swing arm in the holder. It’s a tight fit especially with the powder coat.

Front today was more problematic. The driver side bottom bolts for the bumper bracket gave us a real tough time. I guess since they were open since coming off the line they had been exposed to everything. We ended up stripping one and had to re-tap it. The passenger side had the factory tow hook so no trouble.

Took some time to get the winch in place as well. Having to mount it with the bottom facing forward rather than a normal up/down setup confused me for a bit. Finding a spot for the solenoid was a pain also. Ended up drilling two holes and mounting it on the bottom of the middle metal plate that runs between the bumper mounts. Makes it super easy to plug in the control, just reach through the bottom hole on passenger side and plug in.

Had several iterations of fit, remove, and trim the grill until all fit well. Trimmed the fender liners and added some self tapping screws to hold it in. Also able to tuck some behind the bumper corners.

Measured at the middle of the wheel well no height lost in the rear. Front went from 36 1/8 to 35 1/2.

Quick photos so I can show off my goodies.

DE5731E7-4BEF-450D-B712-D46E17B47865.jpeg

BB02269D-AA3A-4FE1-8C9B-324816EC3025.jpeg

866FB01C-0DC5-4210-9B68-719CD7247E4E.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Top