Good Deal by Alex W.
For as long as I can remember, I have always loved to turn wrenches in the garage.
It could be anything from lawnmowers, chainsaws, dirt bikes, four-wheelers,
cars, and trucks. There has been a lot of trial and error, but I believe in making
mistakes to learn and grow as a person.
When I first started to put airbag suspension on my car I found a good deal on a
whole set of airbags and shocks for my car and I bought them, which now I regret.
I had to wait to install them because I had to order a management setup for the bags.
When the management came in the mail, I started to install the setup and my interior
swap from tan to black. I first started with setting up the tank and compressor, then I
ran all of the airlines, and I set up the rear airbags.
When I got around to installing the front bags I realized that there was something
wrong either with the bags or the knuckles. I knew I was going to have to drill holes in
the shock towers for the mounts but I didn’t realize that the bottom was too big to go into
the knuckle so I ground the knuckle out hoping that would fix it but it didn’t.
I only needed to grind a little bit off but it was enough to make it unsafe to use. I later found
out that the bags were for a different generation of my car so they wouldn't fit.
The next week I went to a junkyard and pulled both front knuckles, calipers, and
rotors off of another car of a different generation hoping that this would fix my huge
mess up. When I got home I installed the knuckles, after the knuckles are installed I
have to put on wheel adapters because the new knuckle is a different bolt pattern than
my wheels. Once everything is installed I air out my car and notice that the front wheels
stick too far out from the fenders. The wheels stuck out farther past the fenders
because of the new knuckle and the wheel adapter and creased my fender because the
car sat on the fender and tire.
The next week after I got paid, I ordered the correct bags for the front of my car
and I went to the junkyard and pulled knuckles for my generation car. Once I waited for
the front bags to come in I installed the new, correct knuckles and bags. I cleaned up all
of the wiring and airlines. When I aired it out, everything fit as it should.
In conclusion, do not buy things used if you do not know exactly what they are.
I learned this the hard way and jumped through hoops trying to make it work. I have
learned from this experience and only buy used things that I know a lot about. I believe
in making mistakes and learning from them to be a better person.
