My apologies for the lack of updates my leave time was spent taking care of things on the rig and visiting, the road trip back to California, transitioning back to stateside life, and preparing to move to NYC in February (that process is obviously still ongoing.). I installed the ICON kit with no drama whatsoever, straightforward and easy f you have ever had these trucks apart at all. I love the new performance from the suspension, it soaks everything right up but doesn't cause the truck to float all over the road. New wheels and tires are also on, though I did have a sight problem during the road trip when one of the bolts holding the beadlock on sheared and the added stress caused another five bolts to fail as well. Not a huge deal close to home base but in BFE Minnesota enroute to California it put a kink in the plans. Luckily we were able to bum some shop time from a friend of a friend in North Dakota and pull the sheared portions out, put all new bolts in the beadlock with the proper torque spec and Lok-Tite. and I've had no issues since then.
The road trip went pretty great, the highlight was definitely Montana and the dirt road we took through the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument to the ferry, a super old school and rad experience. Pictures are worth a thousand words so of course those are to follow.
However, I did run into a major snag when I got back to California. During a maintenance check I discovered the front ring and pinion had a fight, and they both lost. Most likely the pinion bearing failed and allowed the pinion a lot of play, which caused it to chew the teeth off the ring and evoke some gut-wrenching noises when four-wheel-drive was attempted. I yanked the front axle from the truck and it is currently at Coast Differential of Ventura being rebuilt. I was supposed to have it back yesterday, but of course there was a delay so I will not be able to get the truck back together until sometime this coming week. I will also be installing new hub assemblies, half-shafts, and rotors/pads when I get the axle back.