After much deliberation (more like dithering 
) I've decided to remove my fully functional AHC and replace it with just 'normal' springs and shockers. I like the smooth ride AHC gives on road on the Normal setting but it's not so good in High, being a bit bouncy, and each time I select High I wonder if I'm going to get it. So today I disconnected and removed most of the AHC and I thought I'd start writing it up before I forget an important detail.
First I dropped it into the Low position and then I pulled the AHC fuse out in the engine bay fuse box so that the AHC won't try doing anything silly if I start the car for some reason part way through! Then, because there is still pressure in the system on the Low setting I opened the blead nipples on all 4 actuators and also on the accumulator. Keep in mind this will drop the truck right down onto it's bump stops so don't get squished
Next I disconnected the hydraulic lines from the top of the rear shockers, 2 x 12mm bolts each and pull the fitting up to get it off once those are undone. Access is a bit tight although my 40mm body lift helps give a bit more room. With the pipe out of the way you'll see the 22mm nut on the top of the shaft. A regular size 22mm socket isn't quite deep enough and there's not enough room for a long reach socket so I used a spanner. Of course like all shockers when you turn the nut at the top the whole upper body of the shocker rotates with it! I used some pipe grips to hold the shocker still but you destroy the shocker in the process.
With the tops disconected, I undid the anti-roll bar bolts at the chassis (2 x 12mm each side) so I could drop the ARB out of the way. Then I undid the lower shock mounting bolts (17mm), slid the shocks off and emptied them out into my oil tub. Mostly clear fluid came out but right at the bottom was some milky fluid, possibly the disolved remains of my old sphere membranes.
Next I jacked the back end up far enough to pull the old springs out and swap in the RidePro ZC7565's I got from Overland Cruisers, then installed the custom valved Bilstein shockers I also got from Julian
and refitted the ARB.
With the back finished I put the front on axle stands and removed the wheels, slacked off and then removed the torsion bar adjusting bolt and undid the pipe from the top of the shockers which are held on the same way as the rears. On mine the 22mm top nut didn't want to come off and it took a fair bit of swearing and grunting before they finaly came undone! Then it was an easy job to undo the bottom mounting nut & bolt and remove the shocker. Fitting the new shockers was very easy and obvious what to do!
Then I undid the 2 x 22mm nuts / bolts holding the front torsion bar mounting and tapped that mounting along the splines so it was moving further onto the bar, not off it. That gives you enough play to be able to go to the rear mounting point and tap that off the end of the bar (don't hit them hard, tapping works better). With the rear mounting removed the bar can come out from under the truck and then you can tap the front mounting off ready for the new bar. Fit the front mount to the new bar and slide it on past the splines. Then put the rear mounting pieces in place and slide the bar into the rear mounting. I wound the adjusting nut in until it was only just sitting proud of the bracket then it gets a little bit tricky for one as the rear mounting needs holding twisted into place while the front mounting is aligned and tapped into place along the splines. If you don't hold the rear mounting in place while fixing the front in place you'll end up with lots of slack on the adjusting bolt and there's a risk you won't be able to wind it in far enough to get the tension needed for ride height. If you don't leave enough slack though the bolt head will sit proud of the bracket and be vulnerable to damage so you need to find a balance.
There was nothing very complicated / tricky to doing this job, I still have some AHC components to remove but it was a bit of a rush job to have it all done for late afternoon and still be able to fetch my daughter from the stables so no pictures :-(
) I've decided to remove my fully functional AHC and replace it with just 'normal' springs and shockers. I like the smooth ride AHC gives on road on the Normal setting but it's not so good in High, being a bit bouncy, and each time I select High I wonder if I'm going to get it. So today I disconnected and removed most of the AHC and I thought I'd start writing it up before I forget an important detail.First I dropped it into the Low position and then I pulled the AHC fuse out in the engine bay fuse box so that the AHC won't try doing anything silly if I start the car for some reason part way through! Then, because there is still pressure in the system on the Low setting I opened the blead nipples on all 4 actuators and also on the accumulator. Keep in mind this will drop the truck right down onto it's bump stops so don't get squished
Next I disconnected the hydraulic lines from the top of the rear shockers, 2 x 12mm bolts each and pull the fitting up to get it off once those are undone. Access is a bit tight although my 40mm body lift helps give a bit more room. With the pipe out of the way you'll see the 22mm nut on the top of the shaft. A regular size 22mm socket isn't quite deep enough and there's not enough room for a long reach socket so I used a spanner. Of course like all shockers when you turn the nut at the top the whole upper body of the shocker rotates with it! I used some pipe grips to hold the shocker still but you destroy the shocker in the process.
With the tops disconected, I undid the anti-roll bar bolts at the chassis (2 x 12mm each side) so I could drop the ARB out of the way. Then I undid the lower shock mounting bolts (17mm), slid the shocks off and emptied them out into my oil tub. Mostly clear fluid came out but right at the bottom was some milky fluid, possibly the disolved remains of my old sphere membranes.
Next I jacked the back end up far enough to pull the old springs out and swap in the RidePro ZC7565's I got from Overland Cruisers, then installed the custom valved Bilstein shockers I also got from Julian
and refitted the ARB.With the back finished I put the front on axle stands and removed the wheels, slacked off and then removed the torsion bar adjusting bolt and undid the pipe from the top of the shockers which are held on the same way as the rears. On mine the 22mm top nut didn't want to come off and it took a fair bit of swearing and grunting before they finaly came undone! Then it was an easy job to undo the bottom mounting nut & bolt and remove the shocker. Fitting the new shockers was very easy and obvious what to do!
Then I undid the 2 x 22mm nuts / bolts holding the front torsion bar mounting and tapped that mounting along the splines so it was moving further onto the bar, not off it. That gives you enough play to be able to go to the rear mounting point and tap that off the end of the bar (don't hit them hard, tapping works better). With the rear mounting removed the bar can come out from under the truck and then you can tap the front mounting off ready for the new bar. Fit the front mount to the new bar and slide it on past the splines. Then put the rear mounting pieces in place and slide the bar into the rear mounting. I wound the adjusting nut in until it was only just sitting proud of the bracket then it gets a little bit tricky for one as the rear mounting needs holding twisted into place while the front mounting is aligned and tapped into place along the splines. If you don't hold the rear mounting in place while fixing the front in place you'll end up with lots of slack on the adjusting bolt and there's a risk you won't be able to wind it in far enough to get the tension needed for ride height. If you don't leave enough slack though the bolt head will sit proud of the bracket and be vulnerable to damage so you need to find a balance.
There was nothing very complicated / tricky to doing this job, I still have some AHC components to remove but it was a bit of a rush job to have it all done for late afternoon and still be able to fetch my daughter from the stables so no pictures :-(
