Caoboy

You didn't test fit your wheels yet?!?

AndrewDB1

Great, hope it was helpful to him!

The Ranger wheels? They're buried under a bunch of junk in the garage right now lol. Maybe at some point I'll pull them out, but I wasn't really planning to until the weather warms up and I can paint them.

Couple pics of the CR-V doing its thing.

I have to be honest, the underside is on the ground in that picture. The only way forward was to back up until the end of the rut.

I'm quite satisfied with its balance of being nice to drive around town and still being able to do business on dirt, once equipped with appropriate tires. It has gone everywhere I've tried to go, once I picked the right line. There have been times when I've expected it to stall on really steep hills but it somehow keeps on pulling, foot to the floor and revs steady around 1000rpm. Other times I have stalled it, but usually that's a fault of the driver! Most of the time, the RT4WD provides *just* enough of a boost to keep the car moving forward when one front wheel comes off the ground.

I should mention, even with the ~1.5" of ground clearance I've added, I still do hit my trailer hitch on the edges of some deactivation ditches. It doesn't damage the vehicle so I can't really complain.

AndrewDB1

Alignment parts finally arrived. I went with Moog R-series for the rear camber arms. These don't have grease nipples like the more expensive Moog parts, and I think they are in fact Chinese made, but they are less than half the price of the SPC ones. Worth a try.

AndrewDB1

Noticed the Moog camber bolts have an SPC logo on the bolt head. Don't pay extra for ones that come in an SPC box.

I got an alignment that looks really good by the numbers, but car still pulls... to the right of course. #dreadedPTTR

Picked up these VisionX VX-L3 driving lights for cheap on Amazon, I mean CHEAP. $13 cheap. I had been cross-shopping the classic Hella 500's vs comparably priced LEDs and they popped up. For the price, it seemed worth a try with expectations set appropriately low. Not yet sure if I'll try to stick 'em in the fog light location or just go for an easier mounting option like behind the grille.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Caoboy

I'm assuming those are 3" lights... The OE fogs are about a half inch smaller than the cutouts. There isn't anything to really mount them to the bumper either...the OE and aftermarket replacements have brackets that screw in to the bumper. When you take the bumper off you'll see what I'm talking about.

AndrewDB1

They're 4", worst case I might have to trim the foglight holes slightly bigger. I've been looking at pictures of other people's CRVs with the bumper cover off, so I know some sturdy custom brackets will be necessary to reach over and mount to the bumper beam.

There's always behind the grille as a backup plan, haha...

Caoboy

It won't be too hard if you're handy and can fabricate an L bracket that would hold them.

ClabbeB

Wish I could have found them for 13USD!

AndrewDB1

Finally got the tires removed. The Ranger wheel weighed in at 22lbs. I haven't had opportunity to weigh a bare CR-V wheel, but it was 52lbs with tire. Using the manufacturer's listed tire weight of 28lbs, that puts our stock wheels around 24 lbs.

ThisIsMatt

Thanks for the follow-up! Looking at those Ranger wheels I'd have sworn they were heavier than the CR-V ones, but maybe it's just the chunky, trucky look that they baked into the design that throws the eye off. I put my winter tires/wheels on about 6 weeks ago and there is a distinct weight difference between the cheapie aluminum wheels I bought from Craigslist and winter tires vs the stock CR-V wheels and Yokohama all-seasons I had on there. I plan to weigh each when I swap them back. Fuel economy took a roughly 10-20% hit. Tough to know for sure how much was wheel weight/tire tread and how much is cold weather since winter tires and cold weather don't tend to happen in absence of one-another.

AndrewDB1

I'm surprised they're lighter as well, given the Ranger is heavier than the CR-V! On the other hand, tire weights can vary and my scale is just an old bathroom scale. I wouldn't be too surprised if both wheels actually both weighed the same. In the end I mostly just care that they're significantly lighter than steelies.

My fuel economy has also been pretty bad and I'm not sure which factor to blame the most. Winter tires, a slight lift, cold weather, and of course the switch to winter gas in the pumps, all within a couple months of each other.

Occidentalis

How bad is bad on fuel economy? I'm down here at what I consider the lowest of the low - 215 miles or so on a tank before the light comes on. That's just with the KO2's, lift and light bar.

AndrewDB1

I think I'm doing a little better than that, but I'll make note of when the light comes on next time. KO2s are strong but so heavy! 35lbs each for 215/70r16. Other ATs are in the 27-29lb range.

AndrewDB1

Installed the VisionX VX-L3 driving lights. First I mounted them in the lower grille. It looked sharp, but wasn't sturdy.

So I moved them to directly on the bumper beam. Looks weird with the lights tucked so far back in there, but they don't shake! And I can't think of a better way to do it.

At the same time I painted the upper grille bars black. I left the badge and surround as-is because I think a full blackout would look cheap with the unpainted bumper.

Front end still needs something but I'm not sure what it is...

Occidentalis

Looks good. If you think it needs something, fogs would add a lot in my opinion. Factory style Fogs with the chrome applique kit added would give it a premium look that goes well with your grille and car color, plus more light. It would be easy even to do some kind of led bolt on in the cutout holes or retrofit a cheapo ebay set if you wanted to add some high end lighting.

Caoboy

Reminds me of a beaver for some reason...

AndrewDB1

Caoboy

AndrewDB1

lol!

I've found factory fogs are generally as useful as duct-taping a tea light to your bumper. If you're actually going <20 km/h in a thick fog or snowstorm they help you see the lines, but mostly they just serve to shrink your pupils and make it harder to see what's further away. With that rant out of the way, it is true that they make the CR-V look complete! I wouldn't mind having a retrofitted pair, but I'm on a tight budget right now, maybe someday...

The other thing that could help might be the optional bumper garnish / fake skid plate / whatever that thing is called. It's completely unfunctional except to visually define the lower edge of the bumper. But I can't even find a part number for it, so that's gonna be a junkyard find some day.

dakk

Andrew, I like what you have got going on here. Looks like you got the same thought process about using your 5spd CRV as a "weekend warrior". I am a fellow British Columbian and also have a 2nd gen 5spd CRV, but in the grandma gold colour

I got a few questions for you:
You got your 40mm lift kit from amazon right?
Whats the part number for that Moog rear camber adjuster?

I've got 1 piece of advice that might save your butt when you're out in the woods. There is a rubber "donut" in the halfway down the front axles to prevent vibration. Water gets between the rubber "donut" and the steel shaft which allows it to corrode making your axles weak. I snapped my axle by accidentally dumping the clutch at idle, luckily it happened in my parents driveway where my father has all the tools.
Check your axles! The weekend before I was doing some vigorous back roads with 4 adults and camping gear, I'm so lucky it didn't happen where I was...

Looks like you have easier access to the pick-a-part than I do, Honda axles are $700 a pop. I opted for OEM replacement but now suffer from vibration at low RPM high load.

Whats a post without pictures?

Occidentalis

I suspect busting the half shaft has much more to do with the clutch dump on a 12 year old car than some moisture on the bump stops.

You can get remanufactured parts for a bit of a discount off new. Many non OEM parts, or messing up the install will give you the vibration you described.

ThisIsMatt

Dakk isn't talking about the bump stops, he's referring to the anti-vibe ring that sits at the center of the shaft (as pictured). It's difficult to see if the shaft directly under where the anti-vibe ring sat is more corroded than the rest of the shaft, but it's a reasonable suspicion. Rubber and plastic coatings often hold moisture against metal parts causing failure. Ford had rampant issues with suspension springs breaking on early 00's Taurii and Focii and the reason came down to the protective coating placed on the springs at the factory would allow moisture in, and once moisture was allowed in it would rust away the spring until they inevitably broke. Subaru used to use a rubber molding on the sheet metal edge that formed their rear wheel wells. Moisture would collect in there too and rust away the rear wheel wells. All good intentions that resulted in the very thing they were trying to prevent occurring. Failure modes are fascinating to me...I like this kinda stuff!

Occidentalis

Well, there's only one way to find out. Do a few neutral drops with the new cv and see what happens =D

dakk

Yes there is major corrosion from where the anti-vibe ring sat. At least 2mm lost on the OD of the shaft... I have a buddy who works as a service adviser at Honda and this happens more often than you think (up north where they salt the roads)

I need to do the other axle before any more off payment adventures...

AndrewDB1

I couldn't wait for the gas light to come on because I was heading out of town when it was low, but I calculated my mileage and the last tank came in at 11.5 L/100km (20.5 U.S.MPG)

Hey! That's a great pic of your V. I think we'll start to see more of these cars used this way in the next few years as clean 1st gens get harder to find.

I got my lift off eBay, but it's on Amazon too. I got the Tema4x4 20mm spacers which gives roughly 30mm of lift (they also have 30mm ones), and the other 10mm of my extra clearance comes from my tires.
The part number for the rear camber arms is RK90489.

Thanks for a good tip on checking the axles, I will do that! Component failure way out there is no fun.