I purchased a 181 a couple of weeks ago, and now have finally set aside some time to go over it and make a "Todo" list. The first item is putting it back to stock height. It is low, but not so low that it jars me bones, but I want to put it back the way it was just the same. The P/O tells me that it has a "Thing" beam, with bug parts. He did put disks on the front as well. What I need to know from you seasoned veterans, is what do I need to replace, or how do I tell what is bug and what is thing.
The beam has not been cut, so I think he is right about the origins of it.
Thanks ahead of time, I'm glad to finally get my hands on a 181 and am looking forward to many miles.
>Timinator
back to stock height on '73 181.
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baja5
- Posts: 2615
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:22 pm
Re: back to stock height on '73 181.
Firts thing i would look at is the front trailing arms and spindles. Thing ball joints are both facing the same direction, bug ball joints do not. If your front end is running bug stuff you have a couple of options. You can change back to the thing parts, they are getting harder to come by though. Or, if you just want the height back but are not planning on really offroading it you could put some bug lift spindles on it.
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Tmn8tr
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2013 8:08 am
Re: back to stock height on '73 181.
Thanks, I've got a few sets of bug spindles and trailing arms from my Baja days, and it looks like they pulled the Thing t/a's and spindles and put bug parts on the Thing beam. The PO said he went back to the shop after they had done the work to get his original parts, and they had "thrown them out" (yea, right.) they gave him a $100 credit toward future work. I will put the bug stuff on it, just to get it back to the right height for now. The shop also re-clocked the spring plates to get the back down, any idea the position the spring plates should be sitting when the back is up in the air?