Short drop boxes

Attempted installing drop boxes that came with my 4 inch lift today and out of the three cross member bolts I tried to remove, I snapped all 3:mad: 2 on the passenger side, 1 on the drivers, they are heavily rusted.

A family member used to work at coastal 4x4 as a fitter/mechanic and he had only ever installed drop boxes that were only fixed to the chassis using the original control arm mount.
Has anyone ever seen these before? Im contemplating cutting the back end off and mounting them this way for the time being as I really dont want to drive around in a 4" lifted vehicle with out any castor correction.

It took 1 hour to drill out one of the snapped bolts to 9.5mm so I will need to set aside a whole weekend to remove the rest of the xmember bolts and weld the back end of the drop box on.
So whats better, fitting a shortened drop box and have correct castor with the aim to fix the main issue in a couple of weeks ? Or driving with out any castor correction and fitting the drop boxes as they were designed in a couple of weeks?

Bloody pi55ed off it didnt go to plan

I've haven't heard of the short drop boxes that only attach at one point but I would never use them, the amount of force that is applied to them is far too much for only one attachment point per side.
The safest way to be able to keep driving your car is going to be putting the shorter springs and shocks back in, a real pain in the butt but what price safety?
Maybe you should have got drop arms instead.

Tony

Either way, just be bloody careful mate! I drove for 1 single day without my caster correction after the lift as I needed the car the following day for work and they hadn't finished it the first day, and I was all over the shop like a dog on a marble floor - very floaty in general, and wandered all over the shop at speed driving straight.

Hope you get it sorted mate, but definitely put safety first - it's just not worth the risk, especially for weeks at a time let alone a few days.

Yeh I needed to put it back together for work today, will see how it goes and if its too bad I can always put the standard springs back in today.
I dont really want to cut them down so Ill just sort out the broken bolts asap, didnt realise there was much force going through the drop arms

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GUte

Yeh I needed to put it back together for work today, will see how it goes and if its too bad I can always put the standard springs back in today.
I dont really want to cut them down so Ill just sort out the broken bolts asap, didnt realise there was much force going through the drop arms

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Not a lot of force on the road as such (until you go over speed bumps and pot holes), but a fair amount once you get off the black stuff ... I have to put drop boxes in mine, as the arms aren't overly parallel to the ground, so any solid force against them is basically hammering straight up the arm and on the rubbers (and into the whole frame), rather than simply going up and down as they should ...

Good luck with it mate. You'll get it sorted no doubt.

Cheers mate

Bugger!
Tim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YNOT

I've haven't heard of the short drop boxes that only attach at one point but I would never use them, the amount of force that is applied to them is far too much for only one attachment point per side.
The safest way to be able to keep driving your car is going to be putting the shorter springs and shocks back in, a real pain in the butt but what price safety?
Maybe you should have got drop arms instead.

Tony

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X 1000 ^^^^^ What he said! Not Negotiable

On another note, I was expecting to have the same problem when i fitted mine to the GQ to the point that all the ones on the passenger side had taken a very big hit and where bent and i expected to sheer them straight off or have to go the grinder.

I used one of those Cheap arse 12v rattle guns (Legend status piece of equipment - will crack anything....When my very expensive pneumatic rattle gun wont crack it i always go back to this bit of kit) and i cracked every bolt without sheering a single one. I had bought a full set of over sized ones expecting to drill and tap all of them.

http://www.kcimports.com.au/itemimag...003189full.jpg
http://www.kcimports.com.au/item.php?i=31#gallery

Mate ^^^^That bit of kit WILL get you out of trouble with the rest. 100%
Give that a crack! Good luck.

Take the trouble to drill out the broken bolts & do the job properly as the whole front end hangs off the drop box.
Cheers

Mudrunner did you get yours from ARB? Looks like a good piece of kit.

I want to get stuck into repairing the bolts this Saturday and if that goes to plan, install the drop boxes on Monday, dont like all this wandering over the road business!

Another hint which will make the job easier & faster.
The outer two bolts can just be drilled out & nuts fitted above the factory threaded nut. Saves trying to tap a new thread ;)
Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GUte

Mudrunner did you get yours from ARB? Looks like a good piece of kit.

I want to get stuck into repairing the bolts this Saturday and if that goes to plan, install the drop boxes on Monday, dont like all this wandering over the road business!

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You can get them from all over the place to be honest, ARB would probably not be on my list as you will pay a premium there. Try Jaycar, Supercheap, Got mine from Strathfield car radio, they give them away with 4wd Action subs too, Even Aldi have them occasionally. Good luck.

That link i posted goes to the supplier and you could likely get one over the net pretty easy if you have trouble.

I ended up getting one today from ARB, it was supposed to be $105 but I paid $1.05, love check out stuff ups!

It loosened 2 bolts but broke another captive one :( cant afford to brake anymore so I will leave it till saturday. Very handy tool and can see myself using it a lot!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GUte

I ended up getting one today from ARB, it was supposed to be $105 but I paid $1.05, love check out stuff ups!

It loosened 2 bolts but broke another captive one :( cant afford to brake anymore so I will leave it till saturday. Very handy tool and can see myself using it a lot!

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oooops thats a bit of a buggah........ but nice score on the checkout stuff up though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GUte

I ended up getting one today from ARB, it was supposed to be $105 but I paid $1.05, love check out stuff ups!

It loosened 2 bolts but broke another captive one :( cant afford to brake anymore so I will leave it till saturday. Very handy tool and can see myself using it a lot!

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Nice score!! As said, you might be better off just taking the time to drill out the old bolts.

Well drop boxes in.

Took it for a drive and 1 km down the road it started shuddering and vibrating loudly.

Turned out to be the rear tailshaft rubbing on the chassis stiffener near the transfer case :( The drop boxes have dropped the cross member by 10mm so now I have to find some spacers to lift the gearbox approx 10mm off the cross member :(

Never heard of anyone requiring this before after installing drop boxes, I am over looking at the underside of my vehicle!!!!!!!!

Have you reversed the rear tailshaft so the smaller diameter section is at the front?

Tony

No, is that required with drop boxes? Will that put it out of balance?

It's required with any big lift and has no ill effects on balance.

Tony

I agree with Tony. Any patrol with more than 2' of lift should have the tailshaft flipped
EG: Skinny end near the gearbox
Whenever i fit a 3/4/6/ suspension lift i always flip the tailshaft
Cheers

cheers guys, back under the ute I go!

Before

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...4/IMG_1217.jpg

After

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...4/IMG_1224.jpg

Big difference and much easier than trying to lift the gearbox!

One job to go = extended brake lines

Couple more random pix

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...4/IMG_1178.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...4/IMG_1182.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...4/IMG_1216.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...4/IMG_1218.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...4/IMG_1184.jpg

Was gonna comment on the sway bar links but forgot that it was also your work truck.

That looks good with the lift in mate, what brand of gear did you end up using

Rig looks the goods mate!!

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Originally Posted by Dhuck

Was gonna comment on the sway bar links but forgot that it was also your work truck.

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Yeh I drive this thing from site to site every day so Im happy to remove the front sway bar but will keep the rear fitted (for now at least!)

I bought this kit second hand from a guy that had it in his gu for 6 months, sold that vehicle and put the standard suspension back in.
It consists of king springs, raw shocks and steering damper, ironman panhards. Unsure of the make of draglink, drop boxes and extended rear trailing arms but Im going to put superior engineering stickers on those haha

Very happy with how its coming along, snorkel is on its way and then I want to do the transfer case low range gears, may be awhile off though.

Let us know how the kit goes, there were a few guys looking at the raw shocks and for opinions on them..
They look the goods though

Im impressed with them so far, seem good quality and there not made in china :)

They have quite a firm rebound so not a lot of body roll even with the front sway bar removed