AaronArf's 2012 DCSB Build

Thank you so much!

 

Looks like you went from a drop bracket to LT-I'm thinking of doing the same. Just wanted to know how your truck wheeled with the drop bracket vs how it does with long travel. I plan on offloading more than the light offloading that I do, and I know the ground clearance of the drop bracket is a problem, but I'm not sure how much it would affect me. Thanks

 

difference will be night and day. drop bracket doesnt wheel well. if youre not going to get into serious wheeling just stick with a mid travel setup. LT is an expensive route especially if youre not actually gonna use it

 

Would you suggest getting rid of the DB for a Mid Travel setup. I'd like to keep the same tire size, so what would I need size wise for the Mid Travel Setup?

 

yes definitely. if you are running 35's you can definitely keep them

 

Thanks for the info. I'm actually a sophomore in high school (and it looks like you were when you started your build), so I'm on a pretty tight budget only working part time, but I'll definitely look into mid travel.

 

The truck handles much better on and off road without the Drop bracket kit. Not saying that you can't successfully wheel with a DB kit. Plenty of guys DO, but it's really not ideal.

If you can afford it I'd go down to a mid-travel set up, you can slowly upgrade instead of ponying up thousands of dollars up front for a LT set up which is probably not necessary. 35s will require cutting of the fenders regardless of LT or MT if you step down from a drop bracket.

 

Mid travel keeps sounding better and better. I'm running 27.5s right now and I know most people run 35s offloading, but 27.5s should be good right?

 

Tire size is where its at for us east coasters, ground clearance! As you wheel you'll probably move up to larger tires but everyone has to start somewhere, with the required mods (armor,winch,a rear locker) its more driver than how much cool stuff is bolted on your truck.

 

Thanks for the help. You've got a great looking build. I'm really wanting to get rid of the DB and replace it with a mid travel setup but just don't know if I've got the money or time to coordinate it right now.

 

did someone mention captain bolt-on??? #brix

 

Forever 21 like a boss now tho....


Ex DB club FTW!

 

Speaking of captain bolt on, are you sliders weld or bolt on? I'm assuming weld but not sure

 

What do you guys do for the part of the frame that was cutout when you get rid of the DB lift? Do you save the section of frame and weld it back in?

 

Nope, new piece of tube steel goes in there

 

Depends on who is doing the work and how much of the OEM cross member is left.

Fabtech directs you to cut the entire thing out and cap it. Pro Comp and BDS do not, they just have you cut a small section for the front drive shaft. Theoretically you could be re-weld it in but I'd say ditch that and weld in beefier stuff.

On mine its got a big piece of square tube and a big piece of angle iron for the front diff mount, makes it easier to get the diff out now.

yep! haha when did you change your forum name?

 

I had a PC DB so the cut out was small but in a very awkward spot and a very complex shape to reproduce...unless you did save the cut out piece. Mine went into a trash can back in 06' so we capped off the open ends with some plate to create so flat surfaces to build off of then we made our own boxed section out of plate. When I get my skids we will just have to add a tab or mounting point in that spot more than likely.

 

Interesting fix - a lot easier then recreating the Diff mount.
Paging @rbraddock the master mind behind my cross member fab! Thought you may want to see this for when its time to remove your PC kit.

 

I don't have a photo of the diff mount on the front of that new boxed piece but it is basically just a simple tab. We installed the diff at the front mounting locations, measured the OE diff mount location on a friends truck and cut out a tab from plate. We installed the tab to the diff with OE hardware and then jacked the back of the diff until it sat in place then tacked the tab on...hope that makes sense.

In hindsight it was pointless to spend $ on the OE rear diff bolt and nut. The bolt is just a stud like a wheel stud that you can buy anywhere and we could have just used s regular nut vs that funky OE nut. If you are not going to try to sell your used DB kit you could even just reuse the PC rear diff mount.

 

I had a PC lift and I took all my mods and bought a 2015




Not sure who spent more tho....