I only bled them for now. I flushed the system last summer, plus I was trying to get the the shop before they closed. I'll flush again later this summer.

Perfect Interior!
Now I'm going to order a swivel base!

Having to replace the hub before I get it aligned got me thinking, as long as I'm in there... :-k I've always felt that the Astro brakes were pretty marginal, just barely adequate. I found a pair of brand new rotors while rooting around in the junk yard a few weeks ago for $20, the rust is just from...

Took my wife on a drive out on the Old Oregon trail south of town. Crawled up towards the Danskin Mtns so I could test the new brakes on the way down. They worked well, really worth the upgrade.

I replaced my hubs and rotors plus did a big brake upgrade and got it aligned.
Big brake write-up and pictures to follow in the brakes forum...

Picked up supplies to change engine oil, 2 quarts of Auto-Trak II for the transfer case and oil for the front diff. Camping season starts next week!

I like it!

How difficult was it to remove the body panels?

I swung by the junk yard and grabbed some like-new rotors (still have the Blanchard-grinding marks) and some 2500 Suburban calipers for my big-brake upgrade. I also got another pair of roof bars and a pair of ABS hubs as the alignment shop says I have a bad driver's side. I can't feel it myself and ...

I installed a trans cooler and replaced my worn out idler arms while I had the front end torn apart.

Installed my UltraGauge today. I still need to fiddle w/ it this weekend to get the setup right...
Thanks for the tip Vince!!

john

Mine has a bit of wander, but it has 230,000 mile on the original suspension, but overall, it tracks down the road just fine.

The combination of lift and larger tires will tend to exaggerate any looseness in the rest of the system.

Sounds like that other Astro had serious problems...

The filter is pretty easily accessed just from the side and I could cut a hole for the drain, but I figure, if I hit anything hard enough to damage the bolts, I've likely got bigger problems than the next oil change

I'll get some more pics in action tomorrow...

Thanks! The Aluminum was $112 w/ tax, bending included. Hardware was another $5-ish. I never did weigh it, but I think it's about 45lbs. It has to come off, unfortunately. It's only 4 easy to access bolts in the front and 4 more in the cross member. It took the better part of the morning to install,...

Here are some pics of the skid plate I built.... http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff395/Frankensaab99/P2121231.jpg http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff395/Frankensaab99/P2121232.jpg http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff395/Frankensaab99/P2121233.jpg http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff395/Fr...

I installed a skid plate based on Lifted's plans, took my wife out for a drive in the desert to test it out. Didn't hit anything in spite of the loss of about 1.25 inches of ground clearance Got muddy.