Wednesday, July 8, 2015

If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.

I received a package from Australia today that contains two sets of front beam bushings to replace the needle bearings and bakelite bushings buried deep in the front beam.  The bushings are made of Ertalyte and are the subject of this thread on TheSamba.com

I currently have three front beams: 1. The current front beam on Nigel (OE), 2. The NOS beam I bought eons ago that has very slight surface rust on the needle bearings and 3. The beam that came from Ferris, which is harboring sand due to being subjected to one of the many incompetent powder coating shops I managed to find.  The beam that's currently on Nigel will ultimately become the 'spare' beam-assuming that it's not rusted out in the lower collar corner (typical place for them to rot).  Ferris' original beam is intended to go back once the sand is flushed out and these bushings are installed.  Control arms will be stripped and powder coated, new ball joints, tie rod ends and a reconditioned steering box will be added.

The Airkewld front disc kit will wind up on the Ferris beam.  I decided to take advantage of the CIP1 sale and bought a CSP front disc kit that will arrive in about a week.  The brackets from the Airkewld kit will be replaced with properly manufactured brackets to eliminate the 20 washer assembly process provided as 'normal' by Airkewld - which, let's face it, is fucking ridiculous.  To me it says that they don't give enough of a shit to do it correctly.

I plan to post up a comprehensive review and comparison between the two kits once I've had a chance to get everything together.  I realize that the 'review' will probably sound biased based on my recent experience with Airkewld but that's on them, not me.  I'll do what I can to make it objective but the facts will likely show what I already suspect.

I can't wait to start getting some of these parts together...it's been way too long.

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