Squeaky Penguin's (Trip Reports) Build Thread

Nice job. Now I know who to call when I'm ready.

 

Hard to tell. It's needs an alignment pretty bad.

Yes you did. Whiteline's are the way to go.

Yep, never heard that before.

Well, when I first lifted the truck and Big-O stripped out one of the stock bolts, they replaced it with an SPC and gave me the other one from the pair. I went ahead and ordered a second pair, and replaced all the bolts for the hell of it. The SPC setup doesn't use the stock sleeve as the bolt is a larger diameter. In the end I only had two complete stock setups I could have reused.

It was a lot of work, no doubt about that. And between the day of dirt biking in between, I'm sore. Next time I have to replace all this crap it'll be long travel....

 

Nice work, dude.

Am interested to see how you like the OME shocks vs the Billies.

 

Well, the shafts haven't bent yet.

They're stiffer, but feel better. Happy with the setup so far.



Anyways, big thanks to Brian 'thefatkid' for helping me out with an alignment. Wanted someone as knowledgeable as possible to take a look at it. Still at 0 caster though. Drivers side is fine, we could get 1.4ish caster with correct camber. Passenger can't get positive caster with the correct camber. He thinks its possibly due to my 7/8" taco lean, or a bent spindle. Not too concerned about that though, as it drives fine, and he confirmed my suspicions that a new clutch is in order.

 

Revalved my 7100s. Super easy, gives me some hope of further tuning them in the future. Just need to find somewhere to fill them with nitrogen, local motorcycle shop wants $20 per shock


As always expect a super-deluxe setup from me. Took a scrap of 2x4, drilled a hole in it with a 2" hole saw, cut it in half with a circular saw, and it worked as a nice clamp.



Figured out a few tricks getting them apart, and now I could probably swap valve stacks in less than 10 minutes per shock. We'll see how these 255/70 stacks work out though.

 

Im going to have to steal that idea... By the way I checked the steel yard and all they have is 1/8" sheet steel. I couldn't find 3/16" but they sale a new 2'x4' 3/16" sheet for 55.00 figure I let you know.

 

Thanks, not bad on the pricing. I'll just pick up a sheet and have at it. Drew this up the other day. Should be pretty accurate. Only changes I was thinking of making was shortening the bend-ups on the side to 1" being they don't seem very important and add weight, and adding a bend up in the back after the new crossmemeber. Going to have quite a bit of cutting for the whiskey bend method, which will require a steady hand that I don't always have.

 

Good comparison on the same poser rock. Don't think I lost too much droop with the new spring setup. Curious to see what happens after the shock relocation.

Yesterday:



Last fall:

 

Looks like more droop last fall?

 

Are those different shackles?

 

Keep in mind the tires are slightly bigger, but actually, I was expecting to loose more droop than I did.

This is why vvvvvv

The pic from last fall was with my 2" lift shackles, so 4" longer than stock.

Ditched the 2" lift shackles when I redid my springs and am running stock shackles again. I improved every other factor of my rear setup besides droop doing so. More uptravel, better shackle angle, better handling, etc.. The performance gain was very much worth the every so slightly less droop. Some of which I may get back with the new shock setup, but maybe not. Overall I am extremely pleased with how my springs are performing now. The added droop is not worth the cost, and I now see no reason to run longer shackles on stock replacement springs. Order up some custom made longer springs made for longer shackles sure, but adding them to any all-pro, dakar, or wheelers pack like mine doesn't make much sense IMO. Same reasons 2nd gen guys have issues with shackle flips on a lot of springs.

Wish there was a 'can of worms' smiley....

TLDR: lost droop, still happy with springs.

 

Droop is overrated. It's nice to have for sure, but a suspension that is supple and actually cycles to it's full potential is better. Looks pretty good though, top of tire is even with bottom of body in both pics, or pretty close to the same.

Shackle angles look better too. Notice how the longer ones had very little travel, they were not allowing the axle to rise on the stuff side. And the shock is holding them back on the droop side.

The shorter shackle does look to be close to full extension on the droop side but it does have a little more to go.

I think we noticed your shocks were the limiting factor when we did your leafs, so a relocation would definitely get you another inch or two.

 

I agree with you. Other then my truck..haha idk why. But 1'' lift shackles seem to fit my springs perfect.

but...

im a 96, different leaf springs all together. But i have good angles and ride and lots of droop and good up travel.

Shock relocate will help a bit, but not a ton.

 

New springs look to have a much better arch in them.

 

Dang, that's cheap!

I need to build some skids for my truck, too. Just saying...

 

I pick up my steel at K&K Surplus. In commerce city.

 

X2, that's where I get all my metal as well.

 

Nickelodeon!!!!!!!!!

 

hehehe

 

I have no idea why I have been away from this thread for so long.