Best mod yet...

I took a vacation day on Friday to work on my truck.

Between my neighbour and I we set up in the driveway to install 5100's up front (set to 0.85") with Eibach 1.6" lift coils. We also changed out the stock UCAs for Total Chaos UCAs.

The front complete (it took about 6.5 hours), we set up on Saturday to install a Toytes TSB AAL for 1.5" of lift at the back. Also changed out the stock Billies for 5100's. The back took only 3.5 hours.

Now I thought my truck looked cool before, especially with the new BFG 265/75/16's, but this new setup looks AWESOME in my opinion. The stance of the truck is so much better now. I'm so glad we did the work ourselves, I have a great sense of accomplishment.

I ended up taking the new shocks/coils to a shop up the road because I could not remove the spring compressor from the coils when they were mounted. The coils were too close to wiggle the tool free. That was the only "outside help" we had. Changing out the UCAs took a bit of patience/bending of the fender walls, but all in all, the install was trouble free.

Tomorrow I have to get the front end aligned, then it's drive drive drive.

Before:



After:

 

nice!

 

Looks great! I almost decided to go with the TC UCA's myself but i was concerned with the ball joint during our salty winters. So i decided to go with LR UCA's instead. How do you like the ride with the Toytec TSB AAL and 5100's in the rear? I'm still undecided whether i want to go with the AAL or just get a new leaf pack....

 

I'm pleased with the ride so far. It seems noticeably stiffer with the extra leaf and 5100's in the back. My truck seems to handle our local raised railway crossing in a more controlled way now. I will drive it more when I have an alignment though - right now my camber is way out.

Yeah I didn't consider the road salt when I bought my UCAs - I'll just have to try and keep them clean and dry-lubed as much as I can.

 

Great mod investment, it looks like it was worth a vacation day. Looks like a lot of hard work...

 

I've lived in salt air environments the entire time I've had my TC UCAs and haven't had any rust issues.
I think Chris4x4 has a story about driving around with cement on his uni-ball...No damage done. A good cleaning and some good lube....You'll be all good.

 

Did you install a Diff drop as well? Those angles dont look bad at all. I was planning on setting the billies at 0 with the eibachs but yours looks great.

 

Looks a lot better. Good job!

 

you might consider trimming those leaf bolts back if you ever plan on offroading

 

Will do. I trimmed them back by a half inch already but I'll get them again tomorrow. Thanks.

 

No diff drop. I was pleasantly surprised at the not-too-bad-ness of the new angles.

 

Good to know, thanks for the input.

 

It was great to bust out all my tools and get this done in the driveway. I really enjoy tinkering. I had some awesome help too (my neighbour).

 

Just curious about the rust in pic 2 and 4 ? On a '09 ? Curious George
Truck looks great topside. You guys got a lot done rather quick !

 

doing your own work is very rewarding...

I installed my lift and fabricated my own sliders... very satisfying

 

Yeah the rust sucks. I drive a lot and the road crews salt the roads a lot come winter. I have the truck oil sprayed (Krown) every year to try and minimize the salt damage as much as possible. Some parts still take a hammering.

 

Thanks for the reply. Imagine if you didn't use Krown.

 

Looking at picture #6 (rear end), do the U-bolt plates look "rotated" too much around the bottom of the axle? I wonder if they should be loosened and pushed forward.

Each bolt is torqued to 73 ft-lbs.

 

Truck looks great, well done!

 

looking pretty good...congrats...