Postby marsdawg » Wed Sep 27, 2017 12:23 pm
Wanted to give an update on my progress. After having been told by my local dealership that the alignment was "close enough", I washed my hands and took my Pathy to a highly reputable Off Road shop for some real advice. Jason and the guys at Rocky Top Customz in Knoxville, TN admitted that they don't see many Pathy's but were more than excited to help me with my issues. I was having some noise coming from the front end and they diagnosed that as worn out bushings. They also recommended to replace the Bilstein HD 4600 shocks with the 5100 adjustables as the 4600s were not accommodating to the 2" lift. During front end disassembly and installation of the bushings that were observed to be worn, they discovered additional ones that appeared on the surface to be fine. Since it was apart I gave them the go on replacing all the bushings. What a difference. The stance, ride, and handling of my Pathy is incredible. They showed me the bushings that they replaced and they were definitely way past needing to be changed. The rear is a continuing story. Even though everything looks and performs better than new I was told that they couldn't get the rear camber in spec. We agreed on installing a set of camber adjustment bolts but even that didn't get it. I remembered seeing a post on rear alignment issues where someone had found some adjustable rear upper control arm bushings. The guys at Rocky Top admitted they had never heard of them so asked if they could do a little research. They called me back and recommended the bushings from Super Pro suspension products. Being $40 cheaper than the ones from 4x4 Parts and being higher recommended we have ordered the bushings and am waiting for delivery/installation. At this point, including shocks, my suspension upgrade/repair project has cost me @ $1700 and that's including labor. Probably would have been a little cheaper if I had gone to Jay and crew in the first place for the whole install but we live and learn. I will let you now how the bushings work but they are confident that will solve the alignment problems. I have read where other folks that don't do their own wrenching have recommended finding a good Off Road shop in lieu of the dealership or chain stores and I can't agree more. Even though I am not doing a 20k off road build the guys at Rocky Top treated me as though I were. Their knowledge of 4x4s is unequalled by the guys who say "It's good enough!" I encourage anyone trying to solve the problems associated with installing a lift on these Pathys, to not try and skimp on money and just go have it done right by someone who knows what they are doing. Keep up the posts.