Superflexy install, diff drop and preservation

[Marlin]

I've been trash talking the Mechatechs for quite awhile now. I don't know why some people think they're so great. I guess it must be the emperors new clothes theory. If they cost the most, they must be the best right? FWIW when I still had my IFS installed I bought about 10 or more different sets of aftermarket boots to do my own evaluation of their performance. Some were almost identical to mechatechs but made of different compounds. One set was even gray. I got all the different types from Rockauto.com. I figured it would be better to spend the same amount as a set of mechatechs and get 10 different sets even if they did all tear eventually. I never got the chance to try them out and ended up giving them all to Clint(Crncnn) when I pulled my IFS.

I think you hit it right on the money, I bought those because they were the most expensive. I could go through several sets of generics for the price of one set of mecatechs. I wonder if Clint would want to get rid of a set...for the sake of experimentation.

[pbkid]

chris-

why did you get rid of your 'splash guards'??

you know your gonna dent the S#@T outta your fenders if your tires pick up any rocks at all... (which im sure they do, since they are AT's)... just FYI

[Marlin]

chris-

why did you get rid of your 'splash guards'??

you know your gonna dent the S#@T outta your fenders if your tires pick up any rocks at all... (which im sure they do, since they are AT's)... just FYI

With 34" MT tires, once the flexy kit is installed, the tire will tuck up in there so much that it will catch the splash guard, which if you are moving at any speed, may rip it out of there, bending the fender all to ****.
I had mentioned this on the SFIFS thread, Bigmeat confirmed my suspicion that his had to be removed as well.
I don't often drive in gravel, and I am going to bed liner the inside of the fender, which is surprisingly rust free. That will help prevent dents.
She isn't a DD anymore, I drive the F250 and the wife drives the RS. Minimal road time=less chance for damage.

[Marlin]

Got the crossmember out, gournd down the diff drops and painted em, red is drying right now. I drained the front diff, and since I am a dummy, I forgot to disconnect the prop shaft prior to removing the wheels and CVs. PITA to break those bolts loose with a strap wrench.
Tomorrow I will pull down the axle, get the CVs ready for install on Thanksgiving or friday. Should be all buttoned up by sunday...I hope.

[Marlin]

Diff drops are dry, spent the last few hours cleaning up 4 CV joints. They were all immaculate once I got all the grease out. Only one mecatech boot made it through the inspection, but it is looking bad around the inner tie. It was still sealed tight though, so no problems dunking it in the parts washer. I am in the process of priming and painting now...anything to avoid dropping the axle. Tomorrow, I will have no choice but to bring it down. Hope my finger doesn't end up like Justin's....

[Marlin]

Some pics of what I have done so far:

[tom4bren]

Chris,

You will probably need to trim a little of the leading edge on the passenger side of the modified differential bracket. Where the edge curves inward, there was some interference with a bolt on the differential when I tried to install mine. It just depends on how much drop you added to the brackets and it doesn't interfere by much (about 1/4 inch). It's much easier to grind that down before installation than during especially if you want to hit that raw metal with some paint.

Tom

IIRC, this is where I had to trim the curve on mine.