Ever since I rebuilt the rear outers and brakes I could not get the hub the seat correctly. I finally gave up and took the truck to the stealer/dealer. They pulled the rear hubs off, which I did multiple times, but they found that the rotors were coming in contact with the parking break shoes preventing the hubs to seat flat in the rear. I could not see that when I was trying to figure it out.
The Ford mechanic noted:
"Removed the rear rotors and measured the drum. The drum diameter difference was about .002" between the aftermarket rotors and the factory rotors. Installed new rotors and now the parking brake shoes do not drag or come in contact. Cleaned hubs, spindles and bearings. Installed new hub seals and spindle nuts. Drained all fluid from axle and inspected, refilled axle."
The rear Powerstop rotors were the problem the whole time I was trying to 'seat' the hubs. While I struggled with the hubs I called Powerstop and spoke to their technician because I was thinking it might be the rotors, the tech said there were no reported issues. The front Powerstop rotor setup is fine, and as you know, does most of the braking any way. So long story short I have FOMO rotors in the rear and keeping the Powerstop rotors in the front. The stealer did notate the issue well in the notes which I will forward to Powerstop to get a refund on the rear rotors and see if I can get any compensation for the stealers charge of $3,400.00....
The stealer did do an alignment, which I backed out of the $ amount above. I was worried about caster but found out that my choice of shim I used when installing the Carli control arms kept caster dead on. The control arms come with a bag of different degree'd shims, I got lucky and installed the right degree'd shim.
Next steps for the build is:
- Take off drive shafts and rebuild. Doing this because when I rebuilt the front there was water penetration in the axle U Joints, therefore replacing all U Joints. I'll also replace the pillow/support bearing for the driveshaft too.
- Take truck to commercial GoodYear facility, have them inspect roundness of the tires. I noticed one had a high spot. I called GoodYear and they set up a warranty claim, I now need to take it in to get it inspected. You can feel a slight bounce around 40mph, smooths out before and after that. I wonder how bad the bounce would be if I had factory suspension and not air suspension.
- Start talking to FRP panel camper builders and get some quotes. This will lead me into how long to extend the frame and the design of the rail on rail sprung subframe. It will also help me decide if I build the camper frame up myself. If I do that I will go with aluminum framing and weld it up with the spool gun. Then skin inside and out would be fiberglass with spray foam insulation. I looked at Lizard Skin ceramic coating with the thought of spraying the aluminum, once framed out, to act as the thermal break then skin with the fiberglass utilizing VHB tape. Haven't thought this all the way through yet, once I decide on going with a builder for the shell or not I will cross that bridge.
