VikingForge '23 4x4 LT Overland Build Thread

Not my truck, but it's been living in my garage for the past few weeks while I've been wrenching on it. Notable mods are the Total Chaos 2" Expedition Series LT kit, Warn Evo10 winch/All Pro stealth bumper, All Pro Expedition 2.0 rear leaf springs with King 2.5 Res, Chassis Unlimited Thorax Rack, Roofnest Condor Overland tent, KC ditch and fog lights, ARB onboard compressor, etc. Just wanted to document the process to maybe offer some assistance to anyone that might be interested in doing some of these additions themselves.

 

Base vehicle fresh off the dealer lot:

 

Chassis Unltd Thorax 12" bed rack and Roofnest tent (not the easiest thing to mount solo):

 

Front end pre-teardown:

 

If you're going to do a complete swap like this, just pull the calipers and flex lines entirely and plug the hard lines when you disassemble everything. I tried keeping everything plumbed, and suspended the caliper out of the way on the passenger side, but it was more of a headache than it was worth. During teardown:

 

Cam tab gussets. I found it easiest to use a slightly oversized drill bit to bore out the spot welds, and an air chisel to remove the factory tabs.

 

Comparison shot.

 

Welded and coated with Steel It:

 

UCA Gussets. These turned out to be a bit more labor than anticipated, mostly due to needing to install and remove the UCA bolt a few times for mock up/positioning.

 

Installing extended CV axles. This part was WORK. There's a reason shops charge $1400-2500 for complete LT assemblies.

 

Bearing star after cutting factory shaft short enough on chop saw to remove from outer CV cage.

 

Internals cleaned up and ready for reassembly.

 

Comparison of factory vs. extended: