EvM trilink

Well, after being on backorder for just about forever it finally came today.... small box with a nice lil hole in it. after panicking and ripping it apart i was kinda disapointed to see that there were indeed loose parts rolling around. almost everything was wrapped in foam, and all the bolts/nuts/crap were taped up in ziplock bags. however the main tunel rod (which is wat i am guessing popped the hole in the box), double sheer spacers/bolts, 2 washers, and bushing press were all flopping loose around... got home and tore the box apart and went over all the gear.. once satisfied with everything i did a quick mock up (though i still cant figure where the hell those 2 loose washers go)

hooking everything up on the floor of my living room (with ultimate fighter 4 on the plasma) it looks like its going to be pretty easy in the beginning, but get a bit more technical trying to wrap it up. mounting the differential brace, and rear cradle will be cake.. i think the only issue will be getting everything secured with the front cradle.... removing the UCA bushings, and probably the play on the rear axle to get it manuvered so i can connect the trilink (I know its going to ove from out of place)

I'll take pics of this one as not many people get the Tri-link, so i think it might be benificial to do so on this project... and as always i will be doing this install solo, with no lift, and basic hand tools.... as i'm poor just likr proving the point i can install under worst case scenario I'll start friday night after work, and continue on saturday morning. questions? comments?

Torinalth

heh.. after reading the instrutions and laying out all the pieces i honestly think its going to be easier then the panhard rod. and yes it oes through the driveshaft tunnel with reinforcements. the design is really great.. where physically the tunnelmount is to hold the orientation of the front hoop........ everything is rendered in 3d space for stress points by the uca front mounts, uca rear mounts, and diff top bolts. really smart how they did it.SFCs are still in the garage.

Torinalth

i was in the same boat... i prefered the idea of the TA, however the welding issue made the TA an imposible option. so the only thing i could do would have been the steeda 5 link (way too much gear in the back) or the trilink/PHB... you know what i chose

the PHB/watts debate will be forever rendered... i think the watts is a better controller.. however, has a higher chance of breakage, exhaust issues/more moving parts then i am comfortable with. shrug. i'll know this weekend. i noticed there is a need for cutting at one part... i am dreading this as i dont have a vice, so cutting is very time consuming and ugly. i think i can get around that, and will detail that in my writeup if i do so.

please note that i will be installing it with the stock setting of antisquat (90%) just to get it moving/testing for isues... then resetting for max length for full antisquat and see how it effects the ride... that may be a weekend in the future though.

havnt seen anything for the mod guys, ironically enough. the fox guys have had a few slight issues with fitment (it was made for the mod and adjusted for the fox), but the results were favored by everyone that has installed it so far. i have not seen too much on the adjustments and how much it changes though... but i have not been to much on CC lately.

i'll do a bit more research if you want. but i'll have some first hand soon enough

Torinalth

i have it on the flor now, runing all the bolts to ensure they will slip in easily tomorrow morning. i'll let you know soon enough.

Torinalth

well... this has been one disturbing day as far as letdowns and lack of progress... kinda like the PHB all over again. i'll tell this to anyone that is attempting this... be prepared for a load of issues with just hand tools when it comes to the bushings. that was a nightmare and still not over.

i can only speculate that the MM bushing press design will be a valuable asset to the process... the EVM one is only good for pushing the solid bushings into the ear. so far my best tool has been a torch to burn up the rubber enough to allow me to peel it off the bushings with a screwdriver and hammer. then heat the ear to allow me to pound out the sleeve... one went out ok enough once i get the torch.. the other is giving me massive issues still. going to start again at first light and get it taken care of come tomorrow.

i was able to test fit the front hoop seperatly and though its not perfect it does go in ok.... just have to be weary about the brake lines that are in the direct path of the passenger side arm. with some light work it will work into place then just slide in the spacers.. but the bolts will take some fenageling.... almost certainly will need to lightly enlarge the outter UCA mount hole to allow for the right angle to bolt through to the cradle arms.

not a lot of progress for today... those damn bushings took forever and are still being worked on.... i dont forsee but a few hours work once the bushings ar out of the way.... but damn, they took forever. anyhow... there is my update... kinda lame i know.

Torinalth

just chiming in here.... i am 6 kinda of unhappy with a few of the directions and tools listed by EvM... i'll outline the needs later on, but it would have been nice to know what kinda of desaster i was walking into without having a full mechanics/machine shop on hand.... now i'm damn near terrified i wont be able to finish it tonight and miss work tomorrow.... very very unhappy..... this thing better ****ing rock ass when its done or i'm seriously going to be pised off.

if it does turn out to be a great product (aside form the garbage i've had to deal with) then i can safely say that anyone installing this after me will have no problems as long as they make the adjustments that i outline onceits done... sheesh...

so i finally got the whels back on at 11:45 last night... and man i wish i knew now how to deal with the tramua this thing creates. going to download the install instructions and go by with my additions for how to actually make it work. need to hit waffle house for some lunch and then I'll talk about it all.

ok, here we go, going to go step by step with their instructions and then my thoughts on what needs to be done to prevent the loss of an entire weekend....

1.1 disconnect battery
- ok... dont see this as a necessary item as there is nothing electrical anywhere close, and if you are not welding anything (welding optional) then its a moot point.

1.2 Remove the rear seat.
- ok, easy enough.

1.3 Remove the floor mastic from the interior floor pan, under the back seat. Place the floor reinforcement
plates in place until they seem to fit, then trace around their perimeter. This will provide a general outline for the mastic to be removed. Refer to Figure 3.11 (Page 15) and
Figure 1.0 for mastic removal references.
- this was kinda tedious but still ok, used a wide screwdriver as a chisel and broke off the areas i needed to remove.

1.4 Block front wheels to prevent vehicle from rolling forward.
- ok

1.5 Using a floor jack, raise the rear of the vehicle with the jack placed under the rear axle. Place jack stands on frame rails near the lower control arm front mounting point to the body.
[Figure 1.1] Lower floor jack slowly until vehicle is resting securely on the jack stands. Make sure vehicle is stable. Continue to lower the floor jack until the axle reaches full rebound. As you are lowering your axle, monitor the brake hoses to make sure they are not being stretched. If you need more rebound travel, you can unhook the lower shock mount.

- ok, at this point you need to start making adjustments, this would be MY personal step... if you are a garage floor guy like me, then you have few options to make this easy. honestly save yourself some time by taking more now. remove the wheels and disconnect the rear brake lines, remove the calipers and hang them out of the way with the back end jacked up (as high as your jack stands will go, i cant stress enough how ground clearance helps here). once it bottoms out on the shocks, continue with the next steps.

1.6 Remove the axle pinion snubber and bracket from the floor pan and the top of differential [Figure 1.2].

- no complaint

1.7 Remove axle dampener and upper bracket from the front of the differential [Figure 1.3].

- no complaint

1.8 Place a small jack stand or floor jack under the pinion section of the front axle. This will prevent the front axle from rotating out of position when the upper control arms are removed.

- this was a good point and was helpfull... i placed it just behind the joint on the rounded area, this forced the joint to bend to go any lower, instead of coming down in one unit, this rotates everything into your hands eactly where you are working.

1.9 Remove upper control arms from the vehicle.

- this was anoying, as the nuts came off easy, but at least with my warped bushings i had a time of it getting the bolts out... i had to force rotate the UCA to get the front bolt out then the back one after the tension was loose. since my bushings were completely warped i COULD rotate them, if yours were in better condition you might have a harder time.

1.10 Remove the upper control arm bushings from the rear axle housing. If a press tool is not available or ineffective for removing the bushings, use a drill or torch to remove the rubber and then remove the bushing cans from axle [Figure 1.4].

- this was my personal nightmare. i will advise EVERYONE to buy the MM bushing tool. i dont know if it works well, but it has to be better then nothing.... even if slightly. if you do use it and it still doesn't work, or if you were like me and chose not to buy it (retard) then prepare for the pain and anguish. go to lowes nd buy a propane torch, i got a lovely one with trigger light for 15 bucks with canister. use the torch and burn the hell out of the rubber in the bushing... once you have burned the hell out of it, do it some more (its suprisingly resiliant, even after 155k miles) and then use a screw driver and hammer and chissel it away from the walls of the outter "can" this should only take aobut 15-30 min per bushing. now that you have the rubber out, its time for the hellish part. without a press you HAVE to beat out the damn bushing can. I had really good luck with my final method. using a saw of some kind cut the outside of the can down to the "ear" of the housing (if you think of the can like a can of coke, you are cutting down from top to bottom and stopping where it meets the actual molded ear of the differntial housing) cut 4 slits... these will act as tension reliefs. use your torch again to heat the ear its self, yes the can will heat as well, but you are trying to heat the ear the most here to allow for movement, as well as extra space with the expansion. i heated it for about 2-3 min then when at it with a hammer... it took 4-5 whacks to get it to budge, but after the initial adhesion is broken it will make light be steady progress out of the back of the ear with each full whack... once the one side gets flush with the ear it becomes an annoyance as you now have to aim slightly off center from the hold to nick the sides enough to get the can to move in, but not consistantly smash the ear (dont want it to break). Thankfully with the relief slits cut into the can this part bacame easier the farther it went and required less force and allowed for more precision. this IS going to be a long process... expect it.

2.1 Press the supplied steel bushings/slugs into the rear axle (where the UCA bushings were removed) until the inside face of the bushing slugs are flush with the in-board sides of the rear differential UCA mounting ear [Figure 2.0, next page].

- this is prettyb strait forward however i will offer this piece of advice... prep the hole first. i personally after many attempts that were not going anywhere, or were starting to get "caught" at an angle decided to do the prep work... if i had the tools what i would have done was used a dremel to smooth nd eavenly roll the outter edges into the flat interior (used a round file, talk about time consuming) and then lightly sanded the inner portion folowed by using a wire wheel to deburr everything as well as remove extra metal (its an insanely tight fit). pushing the bushings in is another thing...

going to spread this to another couple posts to make it less... well... epic like.

Torinalth