MOE'S BUILD

After adding the longer shackles which added just 1" I felt the brakes act differently. It kinda felt like it does when riding a bike and only stopping with the front brakes, not that bad but you get the idea. So I ordered a brake proportioning bracket from BAMF on wednesday and it got here today (Saturday).

 

Cut the tail pipe, mainly to get it off the leaf springs.

 

New front driver side lower ball joint! Pretty easy job. Took about 2 hours, mainly because I had to go borrow a puller and separator from auto zone.

 

Also got "new to me" tires.
Cooper S/T 255/85/16
(thanks AustinTaco)

Can't wait to get them on!
A good 2 inches taller than my stock dynapro 265/70/16

 

Mounted the cooper s/t 255/85/16's. Can't wait to put the to work.

 

truck is looking insainly sweet man! like the new tires u had put on i think it even added a little more height to the truck. ive got a question for u. ive got a set of adjustable shackles on the way hopefully be here Thursday, so it did give u about a inch with the dakars in the back. peoples been telling me they dont give a lift for some reason. i figured since they are adjustable u can get a little bit of lift in the back even with the dakars i have in the back. when they get here and i get them installed ill get some pics up. thanks man i appreciate it.

 

Thanks! Yeah I like my new shackles. They definetly do give some height, whoever said they don't work is wrong. I had the slightest bit of bro lean after adding EIBACH coils and DAKAR leaf springs back in May. Since I don't have any extra weight in the bed or bumper I went ahead and added the adjustable shackles at the 1" setting and loved the stance. Even after adding the weight of 5 tires today, the bed didn't sagg as much as I thought. Anyway if your looking for a little more height on the rear I'd definantly add the shackles. Plus they add roughly what they advertise. I put mine at 1" and they added roughly 1".

Post pics once you get them on!

 

thanks for the advice man. i thought the shackles would pick it up in the back. if u dont mind when u get time can u get a pic of the truck on one side to see what a difference they make. id appreciate it man.

 

I have before shackles and after shackle pics if that's what your wanting to see.

Here are some before...


Here are the after...




As you can see it sits a little taller, but the height change also has to do with 3" taller tires. If you look and compare the rear from the before and after pics, you can see that there is more distance between the rear tire and the tallest point of the fender flare in the after pics. The shackles definently added to the stance and rear height. After I added the shackles I could definently tell the rear sat taller than before. Good luck with yours, post pics after!

 

Thanks for the pics u posted Moe. they definitely help and man what a difference the shackles make. i could tell from the before and after pics that the shackles made the stance in the rear. so u put yours at the lowest setting on the shackles? i put mine in the middle setting. after i got mine installed it raised the back up a lot imo. i have got some pics up from the install but going to get some tmrw of how it looks with the shackles on. thanks again man for the advice and the pics u took.

 

No worries, I'm always up for taking before and after pics. You didn't waste any time, you got yours on quick. How do you like the stance? Did you have bro lean before, with the weight of your topper? I'm sure the shackles put you at a little rake from back to front, especially putting the shackles at 1.5"

I'm happy with the stance now but when I add a soft topper and eventually a rear plate bumper, I'll definantly put the shackles on the 1.5" setting

 

it had a little of a bro lean before i put the shackles on their. and it has some rake from back to front but after i see it a while it actually looks good. it might settle with the topper and the rack on top but idk though.and i was ready to get them on. the day they got here i was off work and wanted to get them on cause i had to work today. i'll post some pics up tmrw and let u see the after pics of what it looks like with the shackle on.

 

thanks man for the compliment btw. likei said it has some rake but ideal like u said. it helps out when i am pulling my utility trailer what a difference it makes. and i drove around with them like that for about a year because that is about how ling i have had the lift. and like u said what a rough ride. i when down to a local shop an the guy helped me put em back on the stock setting. what a difference!!!! but i am glad i done it. i aslo got the front aligned up this week too. the truck drives amazing now that its aligned.

 

So the new'ish cooper st's I just put on are not good. I went the cheap route and bought "blemished" tires. Turns out I wasted $ that could of been used towards something else!

Now I want to do it the right way and just get NEW tires w/ warranty. These are what I've narrowed it down to...

285/75/16 Duratracs
285/75/16 MTR's w/ Kevlar
255/85/16 KM2's

My truck is my daily driver. I'm on trails 20% and street 80% of the time.

I figure any of these tires will be good enough for the trails I'm on. I've narrowed it to these based on looks. So which should I go with? Some one help me make a decision, please!

 

I hate Duratracs. Personally I think they are FUGLY!!! and they won't last nearly as long as the other two. The KM2 and MTR are both kinda noisy. I've run both and been very happy but you gotta know they're noisy and the MTR's ride worse than the KM2. Not by much but you can feel the lugs hit the pavement more.

If you want a smoother/quieter ride with decent trail ability, you should try the BFG AT KO.

 

Thanks Adam. I'm going with Km2's! I just ran into something else though, which hopefully won't take too much money!
Maybe you can help me out with this new issue. If you can take a look at this pic and let me know what you think could be wrong. I havent gotten home yet so all I can do now is assume what is wrong, until I can jack it up and take the inner tie rod boot off on the passenger side. Anyway I got to my daughters school and looked at my steering rack and noticed the passenger side inner tie rod boot was crumpled. I didn't notice anything majorly wrong with steering but I did feel something was not right. Anyway here's the pic

 

Boot could just be twisted. Or you have a busted tie rod.

 

Ordered a SOFTOPPER yesterday. Got it for $600 after the Labor Day discount! Honestly, I wanted a Supertop but they don't make'em to fit the 1st gen 5ft bed. No skin off my back though, I'm pumped for the softopper.

 

Was gonna change my rack bushings today but couldn't loosen the bolts! I'll just take it to the DIY shop and put it on the lift that way I can get more leverage, plus they are soaked with PB blaster, so that will help also.

After straining my neck and shoulder, I decided I'll switch projects over to skid painting. Cleaned them up and hit'em with some primer and semi-gloss black Rusto. Plus I added some missing bolts so now the skids are tight and bolted together. Plus they're not vibrating like crazy. Before I only had 3 bolts up front holding the main skid up, and 2 bolts holding the belly skid. Now there are 2 more bolts that secure the 2 skids together. Compared to before now it's solid! But I do forsee some heavy duty skids in the near future, mine are beat. At least I know they are doing their job.

 

trucks lookin good man. anxious to see what the soft topper looks like on there. what bushings did u go with for the rack?