LostPilots truck

Looks good. Bedliner will look better. Although I hear that it can be tricky to make it look even, where as paint will be wetter in spots and dry up, berliner will stay looking wet if you don't even if out right away. Just something to keep in mind.

 

Hmm, yeah that's something to think about. Although I met up with @LFTDJEEP426 yesterday and he's got his entire truck coated in rustoleum, and it looks perfect. He said if it gets scratched he just sprays more on and you can't even tell.

 

Looks good man when you paint the front bumper if you paint both the upper and lower valence it will look more even colored rather than just painting the upper (but im ocd about that)

 

Yup. When I do that I'm gonna pop the whole bumper off so I don't get shit on the frame and I can do both parts thoroughly. The bedliner will make it look a lot more "tough" too.

 

Got a scangauge 2 for $50 bucks off a guy at work. Perfect! I just bundled the wires with a zip tie and velcroed it under the radio.

 

Just installed my bilstein 5100 shocks on the front. Went to a mechanic first and he said it wkd cost 300 bucks just for the front and it was impossible for me to do it on my own. Another shop said it wouldn't work with the stock springs because they are 'too small' - all bullshit. So I rented a spring compressor from O'reillys, had a few tools and a shop jack. And went to town. We jacked up the right front end first. Took the wheel off without issue, unbolted the big bolt that holds the bottom of the strut to the LCA, undid the 3 smaller bolts up top, and the whole thing popped right out. Tricky part was figuring out how to use the spring compressor, but we managed it, mounted the old spring on the new strut, and good to go. The new strut was about a inch longer, and it didn't really want to go back in place. So I did the bottle jack trick, put a bottle jack on the UCA and push against the wheel well to force the lca down, then take a hammer and a punch hole and work on getting the bolt in place. Once it goes in, just tighten everything down and you're good to go. Took us at least three hours on the first wheel. The second wheel only took maybe 2, because we already knew how to do it. I literally only had to touch five bolts not counting the lugnuts for the wheels.


At first I got about 1.5 inched of lift out of the front, but it looks like it settled in at an inch. It is now exactly 7" from top of tire to fender all the way around the truck.

Also the mechanic who told me it couldn't be done without a "strut compressor" is an asshole and will be recieving a bad review on yelp.

Pics coming

 

Pics of the 5100 install! The finished product isn't a very good pic, I'll try to get another up soon.







Note the bottle jack placement to force the LCA down.

 

Nice truck man. Did you put the shocks in the middle setting and how did you reused the old dust boots from the 4600? Mine old ones wouldnt fit over the 5100's.

 

Yeah, they're the middle setting, which is supposed to level it, and that's what it did.

The dust boots literally just went right on the 5100's no problem.. I didn't even think about the possibility of them not fitting. I'm not sure why yours wouldn't..

The only problem I see with DIY'ing it is I beat up some of the hardware and whatnot, so it could be an issue if I do it multiple times.. (Like when I upgrade to OME 881 or eibach coils down the road)

 

Here's a pic of my buddy wrestling with the spring compressor. The dust boots were the least of our worries lol...

 

Nice man! Thanks. Looks like you were struggling on those spring compressors. Haha.

 

Haha, yeah they're a pain. We did the whole thing by hand too, no power tools.

 

Finally sold my stock wheels for $125. Any suggestions on a fairly inexpensive/worthwhile mod i could put that towards?

 

Got a shop to put on a 18" magnaflow, muffler today. Sounds deeper and pretty nice. I feel like I coulda gone a little louder, but I like the way it sounds now, way better than stock. It was 195.00 for the muffler, installation and all, out the door.

 

ive always wanted to hear one of those in person they sound good on the computer but you never get the full effect.

damn that looks good! Mines level too but only cause my rear leafs sagged a bit

 

Yeah, I'm going to have to trust one of my friends to drive my truck by sometime so I can find out what it sounds like from outside. It sounds deep and powerful from the cab, but not overly obnoxious. I have noticed it seems to be getting a little louder and I did a google search and found they supposedly get louder the first few hundred miles.

And thanks for the complement on the level man! I love the way it looks right now. Not gonna change a thing on the suspension for a while

 

Got my seat covers in today, bought them from ISU2014 on here. They look pretty suhhweeet, also some badass stickers to add horsepower.



Oh yeaaaah and I also got a red LED dome light, cause I like a red led interior at night, and for some reason when I open the door it is weak and flickery, and when the key goes in the ignition or you start the truck it comes on bright. It seems like it's not getting enough electrical flow until the key goes in the ignition. Not sure how to fix that one, or if I need a different LED.

 

Woot! I'm glad the seat covers found a good home. Enjoy!