Nate's build

Here is a post from the 35's thread I posted a while back after getting back from from our Big Sur camping trip. Still haven't completed these. It's on the long list of "to do's". Just wanted to update this thread a little. Opinions on the flares welcome. More to come soon.

Nate


So I've been lagging on getting my fender flares done but finally trimmed the rear flares. I will be doing the rear how I did the front by using 3m adhesive to reattach the cut off inner piece to have more of the factory look. Here is my dilemma, I took 2" out of the front flares the entire radius of the flare since that seems to be the minimum clearance for 35's. The rear really doesn't "need" to be cut to clearanced. If anything, it would be the rear part of the flare a little. So I cut 2" from the rear and less on top and in front. I didn't want to cut 2" all around to avoid having a massive wheel well opening.

Looking at it now, I think it looks alright but seeing as the front flares are thinner than the rear, I don't want it to not look proportionate. In factory form the rears are thicker than the fronts anyways. Before I cut the metal I want to make sure the flares are good so I cut enough metal. Having the metal under makes it a little difficult to visualize it. If anything I'd take another 1/4"-3/8" off the top and front to make then more proportionate to the front flare. Once they are good I can continue and adhere the cut inner piece to make it look factory like the fronts.

I'd like your opinions. What do you guys think? I know I can be pretty anal about stuff and that it's more work than most would be willing to do, and that fine with me. I would like a few opinions on how they look and/or how they are shaped and if they should be done a bit different. I've asked a few friends (not really automotive people) and have gotten different answers. Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.




Here you can see the trimmed piece to get an idea for what was cut off. More off the rear and minimal off the front and top.


Nate

Edit: the bottom rear will soon be cut for a high clearance rear at the body line.

 

Next order of business was to drop the diffs for a regear. After lots of research on whether to go with 4.56 or 4.88's I settled on 4.56's and front ARB locker in one of the ECGS group buys. I drove around with the stock 3.73 gearing with 35's for some time. My take on it was that it wasn't too bad. Slower, less responsive? Yes. but I was doing mostly highway so the lower RPM helped on those long drives. I drive like a grandpa anyways so hauling balls wasn't needed. It did, however, make me slow down a little to get the tranny where it wasn't constantly trying to "find" the right gear. Hell, I got better MPG's with the stock gears and 35's than I did before any mods!



I am short on photos for the diff removals since I was under the truck lifting and wrenching things out the way. For the front I removed the two large bolts going up near the lower ball joint. That allows you to just pull the front axles out of the way without having to remove a bunch of extra crap.


Then Unplug whatever harnesses that are on the front diff. I believe there were two plugs and two breathers. The front diff is pretty heavy and a pain to get out but you save a few hundred bucks by removing and just dropping of the thirds for a regear.


I dropped the thirds off at Yotamasters in Corona to install the Nitro 4.56 gears and front ARB locker. Eric and his guys there are top notch and a good dudes. Every time I swing by we end up BS's about camping, guns or wheeling for some time while having a few cold ones before shutting down for the day.

---

Then came the shipment I waited a long time for. The armor from Relentless Fabrications. It was their High Clearance rear bumper packed with all sorts of cool features I had asked for. It included the tire swing out with dual military jerry can holder, Hi-Lift mounted under the tire, tire carrier was canted forward to accommodate the jack. I asked for the Synergy swing out latch, Rigid SR-M reverse light cut outs, hidden tow hitch and plug behind license plate. Eric and his guys did a great job on this bumper and it was well worth the wait. I also picked up some Relentless bolt on slider with a "half" kick out and some Rigid D2's from Eric.


Laid everything out.


Swing out hold open pin and double sheer pivot


Sliders with half-kick out


It was over 100 degrees that day so these things got hot really quick!!
Synergy latch and test fit jerry can


Removed the neglected Pelfreybilt bumper and loaded up to drop off at powder coating


I took all the armor to Seven S Powder Coating in Riverside CA. They are right down the street from the Demello shop and handle all their powder coating as well as stuff for Currie and many more. I liked the look of the powder coat on the demello bumpers so I went with that. It's a textured matte black. I think they call it testra black or something. Price was pretty low since they have a metric fuck ton of that PC on hand for the Demello stuff and they know to do things double thick on the sliders since the do those all day.

Nate

 

love the rig! with the 4.56 gears and on 35s did it get your gearing and speedo close to as if you were on stock gears and tires? Been doing the debate to jump to 33s or 35s but worry bout re-gearing. Thanks

 

Thanks John!
The gearing now with 4.56's is more back to normal but still over geared and revs more. RPM's are higher than stock at same speed. For some reason the speedo isn't back to stock or near it. I don't know where the speedo has it's speed sensor pickup but it's still off. I never had 33's but if I did, I wouldn't bother with a regear. But that's the thing, there are SOOO many reviews and different opinions out there that it's hard to decide if you don't know what that person prefers. I do lots of highway driving so I would prefer a little lower RPM. Most everyone says for 35's to go with 4.88. I think even 4.56 is too much as is. Hit up the regional section and see if anyone in your area has tire size and gear ratio you are looking at getting and see if you can get first hand experience on how it feels. Hope that helps.

Nate

 

Thanks! Yeah helps a lot. I have 4.10s since I have the 4-Banger. Do a lot of highway driving so might just do 33s and call it a day. I have heard it every which way to figure I ask you and your experience. Thanks again
John

 

WOO!! Just curious, why did you go with bolt on sliders?

 

Really my reason was to allow anything I did to the truck to be reversed and returned to stock if needed for whatever reason. At the time, I didn't plan on doing all this stuff to the truck. I had another project I focused on until a structure fire destroyed everything so this became my main focus. The relentless bumper was ordered right after buying the truck in May 2013 then added the sliders a few weeks later. In the 16 months it took to get the armor in, the direction of the truck had changed. Now I'm not to concerned with reversing things so I could have saved a little money with weld on sliders I guess.

Nate

 

Wow!! What a great build.. and a really beautiful job on the wiring!

 

It being a 4 cyl, you may have to regear. It also depends if you plan on throwing on a bunch of armor and extra stuff that it'll have to lug around.

Thanks man. I really took the time to try and plan it out and do it right.

 

Armor back from powder coating!!
Pelfrey front bumper, IFS and Mid skid
Relentless rear bumper with swing out and bolt on sliders. Powder coat turned out great!




Rigid SR-2 with hyperspot in the center




3rd members were also ready from Yotamasters with the gears and front locker installed looking nice and clean




Time for the 3rd's to go back in. The rear is easy. I just followed the instructions from HERE to get the rear diff out then back in.

Just cleaned up the housing and removed all gasket residue


Applied some RTV gasket maker


The e-locker gear in case you need to ever manually engage or disengage


Used bungee to keep drive shaft out of the way and torqued everything down to recommended specs with torque wrench




That little silver nipple is where the air line will go for the locker.


Getting the rear in was easy. The front was a pain in the ass. It's heavy and awkward to maneuver in and out. Trying to lift the heavy thing up while guiding it through the very narrow space it'll actually go in as well as plugging in and connecting the harness and breather tubes. Shit sucks. I had someone helping me and it still was challenging. It would have been easier if there was more slack in the diff breather lines. If I were to do it again, I'd unbolt them up above in the engine bay to give more slack to connect while installing.

Thanks goes out to the many people who've helped out with this stuff;
-MonkeyProof for doing the "step by step e-locker removal and install" write up.
-ECGS for allowing the group buy to go through and the OP and organizer of the group buy(sorry can't find thread for reference ).
-Eric at Yotamasters for taking care of the gear and locker install into the 3rds.
-Tyler at Pelfreybilt for coming through with the bumper only DAYS after placing order. Also for having top notch customer service and taking time out your weekend to link up for the skids.
-Eric at Relentless Fabrications for the amazing High Clearance rear bumper and bolt on sliders. Their fabrication skills and quality product are worth the wait!
-Steven at Seven S Powder Coating in Riverside CA for doing a great job on the PC for a very good price!
-Paul at Trinity Racing for hooking it up with some badass parts at a killer deal!!
-TW member Ackrite for lending a hand with the front diff and armor installs. I know that shit is heavy, it's hot, and you're tired and can't stand how much of a perfectionist I can be and blah blah blah. Thanks bro.


Nate

Edit-
I used what ECGS recommended for gear oil, Lucas 85-140.
I followed the break in procedures for the first 500 miles then bled and refilled the diffs.

 

I would have to assume you aren't married??

 

You would be correct good sir! I was originally going to title this "the not married and no kids build thread" but decided to keep it simple.

Its about finding someone that'll enjoy the exploration and adventure the truck will take you on. That way they know all the time spent working in it is worth it!

When in doubt, just show them this.

 

Haha. Sounds like a keeper. Good stuff dude. Truck looks solid.

Oh....and ACCESS CAB!!!!! Hells ya

 

Cool truck. Maybe I should build mine so I can drive it with more reckless abandon.

Looks like you're missing a part of the build that's visible in this pic.

 

Yeah, hold your horses bro. I'm getting there!

 

Let's just rename this boogys dream build

 

Great write up! wiring looks excellent, wish I had the patience for wiring! Truck is looking really good, love the MTR's.

 

Thanks man! The wiring isn't too bad. Just have to find some free time then throw on some music or a netflix show for background noise and get at it.

---
Next was getting the high clearance rear bumper on which meant it was time to cut into the bed side. Sorry for the shitty pics.

First remove existing bumper.
Remove trailer plug


Then plate lights


5 bumper bolts on each side


Remove any remaining wires and lower factory bumper out the way


Out with the old, in with the new


First I jacked up the truck and got the top of the bed rail level


Then put the painters tape on about in line with the bottom edge of the tail light which should follow the body line. Once eyeballed, I tried to ensure the tape line was also level so in theory the two lines should be parallel to each other. I didn't really have a solid plan. I just knew I wanted to leave a little bit more material and be safe then cut more later.




Cut away at this corner piece until the bumper will clear it and slide into place


For some reason the passenger side gave me more trouble than the driver side.
Everything was done exactly the same but it still wasn't enough to clear it so more had to be cut. It could have been due to many number of things but it just took longer to cut and check, cut and check.


Mounted spare, hi lift, jerry can and SR-M lights. Sill need to wire up aux reverse lights as well as trailer plug. Eric made the bumper to reuse the factory license plate lights which is great. Need to get a flip up plate holder now.


I called it a night around 4:30 am and decided to take another look at it the next morning and see if I could figure out why one side was cocked up more than the other. Also to adjust the bumper to give it a little clearance to not hit the bedside with body flex.
How it sat bolted up.




Trying to use a few floor jacks, hi lift and weights to get it all straight.


You can see the front sheet metal starting to curl in from making contact with the bumper (this won't be the last time that happens). That was from just going down a simple back road. Taped off the new cut line.


I noticed something while bolting it all back together That may be causing things to be off. I mentioned back when installing the ATO shackle hangers that I needed to trim off a piece of the factory bumper mounting brackets to clear the hole I needed. So with this Relentless bumper I'm sure it was build to clear the factory shackle hangers but since the ATO one is moved back a few **** hairs there was interference. Here's what I mean.






You can see that the ATO hangers don't allow the Relentless mounting plate to sit flush with the frame. And the ATO hanger sill has one more hole of adjustment to move back. The solution was to just cut off enough to clear both form touching. Eric, if you see this thread, I just cut 1/2'' off and everything went together great. I still would need to test fit and see if thats enough to clear on the last shackle mounting hole though.




I actually cut that last piece a while after noticing. Finding time and someone to help lift that heavy ass bumper on and off took a while. It wasn't after a trip out to Glamis sand dunes where I was going through some whoop section that I realized I needed to trim the mounting brackets and more of the bedside. When I got to camp my passenger bedside had curled and creased inward, but this time MUCH WORSE. It looked really bad. Luckily I was able to slowly pull it back and get it straight again when I had the bumper off to cut it. There wasn't enough room for body flex so the sheet metal gave way. Ohh well, lesson learned.

Speaking of lesson learned, any time you plan on taking a grinder to your truck, make sure you do something to protect the paint from all the sparks. I started to notice orange spots in my paint. It was the sparks that had embedded into the paint and started to rust and spread. The Clay Bar stuff worked to get it out, but you can still see the spots where they had burned into the paint.

Nate

 

New favorite truck on the forum!

 

Yep ^ Nate you need to get an IG and raise to Truck page stardom!