Disclaimer: This is not a guide and is really just meant to highlight some of the more troublesome spots. Please read in conjunction with the Rancho instruction manual!
Step #1: Purchase of new tools & parts
I actually have a fair amount of tools, probably similar to most guys who do some wrenching at home. I had to pick up the following items though; A universal puller tool, a larger torque wrench, a second set of 6-ton jack stands, a set of metal drill bits, silicon lube, 35mm socket, metal sawzall blade, black anti-rust paint, extra cool looking safety glasses
Step #2: Front End Breakdown
So, firstly.... take measurements and record distances of wheel hub to fenders for all wheels.
Then prop on jack stands (I always have a backup one as you can see) and pull the tires
Then remove skid plates (as you can see I don't have a stock front skid plate) This was actually hard for me as the Allen bolts in the front had stripped... stupid bolts.
Removal of the torsion bars is pretty easy, most of you have already had experience cranking the keys... just uncrank them until the bolt comes out. Put the bolt and assembly aside somewhere safe; then lift the entire bar and key up, then bang off the key with a rubber hammer. Using a real hammer, bang around the other end and coax the bar to come out of the lower control arm. Again, easy stuff, no photos really needed.
After that I removed and hung the calipers, also pulled the shock out at the same time, Easy. I also removed the axle nut with an impact, also easy.
Here is where it gets annoying... GM has pretty much the worst design ever for the sway bar end links. You need to put an Allen key into the end, then turn the nut... which is probably half seized. You can hit it with penetrating lube first and hope it comes off... if this works for you, great... however it worked on only one bolt of 8 for me. The rest seized and eventually stripped the Allen key hole, which allows the bolt to spin freely inside the end link. There is some good news here... you don't need them ever again as the Rancho kit comes with new end links... so my suggestion is save yourself a couple of hours of frustration and get a sawzall blade and go to town.
This is my friend Kevin... he was also extremely happy to just kill it with the sawzall after trying to remove one the nice way.
Anyway, removing the rotor is another patience testing procedure. It takes about 15 minutes of pounding moderately in and around the top-hat portion of the rotor. Let me stress this; do not pound on the disk, do not hit the studs with a hammer. I worked on mine with a rubber hammer feverishly, then switched to a real hammer after about 5 minutes to finish it off. My recommendation is pound for 1 minute evenly all around, then using your hands... reef on it, eventually it will give a tiny bit and you can just keep doing that until it comes off.
For the ABS I just removed it from the bearing hub (1 screw) and hung it beside the caliper.
Removing the ball joints is actually pretty easy, you can use the universal puller to get the lower joint and tie rod joints apart... however that fancy ball joint puller you likely picked up as per the instructions is probably too small for the upper one and the puller is useless there. Easy enough to work around, just get a screw driver into the separation gap, then get a nice long punch and drive out the joint.
Shown here is the upper joint disconnected, the lower joint about to be disconnected via puller tool
Support the lower control arm and hit the CV out of the wheel hub assembly with a rubber mallet.
After that the entire knuckle and wheel hub assembly comes out together:
And I supported the CV with a bungee cord.
Here was my awesome idea to separate the wheel hub assembly from the knuckle, excellent idea in theory... but this sadly does not work.
What I ended up doing instead was giving the guys at the Honda dealer near my house 20$ to throw it on their press and pop them apart. I think this was a good way to go!
