Drew02a's Build from South Texas

Yeah, LT would give me better clearance for sure

 

Dude, you've been busy! Nice build!

 

My $.02 is that SAS'ing has been done over & over & that LT is the new "in" thing to do. How many LT 4x4 reg cabs have you EVER seen? I just like being different

 

You're going to appreciate that extra clearance when you road trip here.

Nice build!

 

SAS is out of the question. It would defeat the purpose of my build. If I want a vehicle with a solid front axle I'll go buy an old beater as a trail rig.

You make a good point about the drop bracket and RCV axles. I'm leaning toward going that route if I'm not happy after everything settles.

 

So for all those who don't read the Texas BS thread, I did a major install over the weekend on the rear of my truck.
Dakar Rear Leaf Springs
XJ Boomerang Shackles from Rubicon Express
ToyTec Stainless Extended Brake Lines
Font Range Off-Road U-Bolt Flip Kit

I haven't put any shocks on yet since my setup is pretty unique and I didn't know what the measurements would be. After the install the rear measured 30.5" from pin to eye at full extension and 12" from bump to stop.

I just put a 3" top plate spacer on the front to level things out as best I could, but that is only a temporary solution. Here's the pics of the aftermath:

Sitting all finished. Top of tire to fender measured 12" in back and 10" in front.




A good shot of the U-Bolt Flip Kit and Extended Rear Brake lines
I still need to fab something to mount the bumpstops




Side View of the Flip Kit and vacant shock mount




Here you can see the boomerang shackle sitting at a good angle and my dumped exhaust.
The XJ Shackles were a tight squeeze on the bottom end, but nothing a little leverage and lots of lube couldn't handle.
Also, I was in the middle of doing a gravity bleed.

...that is all

​

 

I made sure to add plenty of extra for the ARB when I installed it. At full drop, the only thing that was really pulling was the abs wiring. If need be, I can just un-bolt the mounting bracket. But once I get shocks on there, the down travel will be limited to about 29". That should keep everything copacetic.

 

holy tall truck batman! i bet your cv's dont like you much right now!

 

My CVs can suck it! Since they're the RCV ones they should be fine. If not, they're guaranteed for life.

 

haha... NICE!

 

I really hope to see your truck at the meet here this summer. You'll appreciate all of the extra ground clearance if you come. Those big sandstone ledges try real hard to grab your truck. Did you get shocks in back yet? 5125's or something? How about the front? I see you put temp spacers in there. I assume you're going 3" up there. Adjustable coil overs, OME?

Looks good!

 

No shocks yet. The ones i need aren't in stock. Hopefully they'll be drop shipped to me this week.

I've thought about a couple different things in the front, but I think what I'm going to do is mid travel. So, I'll need new coil overs and UCAs.

 

Jack stand mod, huh? That sucks. Hopefully they aren't backordered too long.

That set up seems to best fit your original vision of a trail worthy, road tripping truck.

Taller tires now? I assume you don't want to bog down your 4 banger too bad but you could probably pull off those 255/85/16's with minimal penalties.

 

My favorite reg cab!

 

I've been looking to get 33s for awhile now. Really wanting 255/85/16 BFG KM2s. That's what I geared for. I'm not sure if I should get tires or finish the suspension first.

 

The BFG's are obviously a great tire but they, like all M/T's can be sketchy on poor road conditions. As for which comes first. I can't answer that. I was once in the same boat. I ended up doing my suspension first but it was fortunately only for a couple months.

 

get ya some MTZ's instead.. much better sidewall than the KM2's....

 

Do they even make those in 255/85/16? That size has a very limited selection.

 

Okay, so my shocks finally came in today so I had to finish up a couple things before I installed them. I ended up going with 11" Bilstein 5125s. 12" was cutting it kind of close on the compression side of things, and I also wanted to make sure the axle couldn't drop too much.

Got some picks of the modifications I had to make to my bump stops for use with the U-Bolt flip kit:

First I had to flatten out where it curves up at the ends. One side done...




Then I had to use the grinder's cut-off wheel to take out a square and shorten the distance between the cut-outs on each side from 4-3/4" to 4-1/2" so it will fit diagonally between 2 of the U-Bolts



Because of the way the longer shackles change the suspension travel, I moved it as far forward as possible. I had already installed the U-bolt flip kit and made the mistake of only taking off one nut on each side to put the bump stops on. On this side, it cause one of my U-Bolts to bend. Gonna have to replace that one.
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The back rides amazing now. Nice and stiff, but still not harsh. I can't wait to wheel and haul with it!

Right now my measurements from tire to fender in the rear are 13" and 12". In the front it's 9" and 8". Looks like I am going to HAVE to do something up front, because there's no way the rear is going to settle more than 1".

 

Cool Drew, at least the taco is driveable now, LOL. Glad the rear is all worked out & I am interested to see what route you take with the front.