The Frankenstein Build! LT/Expo/Trail rig..and BS

I started "driving" at that age. Just back woods type situations. But was fun.

 

You mentioned you have plans for igor's rear suspension. What will you be doing there?

With LT on the front, your stock rear track will be quite a bit narrower than the front. Are you going to swap axles, user your t100 axle, or just put on thick wheel spacers? And then run something like the archive kit? Your doing fiberglass bedsides too right?

 

I had planned on running the TC kit on Igor as it only fits 2'' body shocks. But figured it would be good for Igor as it would be a big improvement but not crazy.

Now though, I'll be using the Archive kit for some 2.5' rear triples likely at some point. Hopefully anyways, not 100% they will work with the towers. But if I can get the tubes to clear then triples hopefully in a short body 12'' or 14'' setup depending on well everything.

Leaf springs I was actually going to do something weird and order some 4'' Skyjacker leafs for a 95-97. These are the springs that I modified Frank's original Alcans with. This way I could build my own pack again with the alcan and Skyjackers. Plus use a few left overs to build the DD some new packs as well. Be a lot cheaper and probably work great. However, with me going this direction I might just do custom Alcans.

I am a bit curious about the rear in general. Frank's setup has always been...well..magic. It shouldn't work really, but damn does it. No idea why. Could be the short springs, the weight, any combination of anything. No idea. Hopefully I can get the rear to work how I want.

I had had the long term goal to possibly do a custom SUA setup of sorts. But not sure how that'll work out.



For now I grabbed the other pair of wheel spacers to run on the rear just like I have been on Frank for years. This will do the trick for now until I have better space to do something else.

I do still have the T100 axle, and that could come into play. Or i'll just get a 9'' or a LC axle. That's a big project though for later. Though I might have to do it sooner than later due to the outboard shocks and I don't think my spacers will let stuff clear enough.


I did order bedsides this time. Shipping cost the same and I didn't want to pay shipping twice. They are a PITA to install so will see when they go on. Might be a fall project really.



You can see why I had hoped to wait for a shop to do all of this. Every project is related to another project. Hard to do what I want in stages to do it right. But oh well.



Plus I need to work in boxing the frame and or side plates with hydro rear bumps in all of this..reinforce the bed mounts too.

 

It will be interesting to see if you are able to recapture that magic of the skyjacker/alcan combination. I recall it gave you good flex with a lot of droop while still able to to hold the weight. An interesting combo of traits to say the least. It is reminiscent of what Dan @drr has with his chevy 63 bastard pack.

Based on what I am learning from mine, a bypass setup has a lot of control to offer. I am still learning but my rear is already so much better than before and I expect it to continue to improve with time as the leafs fully break in and I learn to to adjust the tubes accordingly.

IIRC, someone had some custom triple Kings made where the tubes were relocated so they weren't on the inside or the outside. Thus allowing more room for a 2.5" dia. shock with the Archive kit. I can't recall where I saw that but I see no reason why ADS/MCM could not do the same thing.

 

Yeah I have to order form and you can put the tubes in a lot of different setups. Just a matter of clearance on the top due to the tower design.

Plus a resi too. Which you can do a remote resi with a bottom mount instead of top which is perfered as well.

I am curious and worried to see if any of the magic that Frank had will still be there. I've driven enough of these trucks to know that they are all the same and yet completely different. Will find out I suppose.

 

What’s the plan with those solo lca?

 

Wow wow wow, who you calling a bastard?
They're actually just a stock 3/4 ton Chevy 4-leaf pack with the overload removed, probably have 200k miles on them or more. 14" of vertical travel, flex like crazy, and they easily hold 1000+ lbs of gear, GFC, etc, for the low price of $100 at any junk yard in America. What's not to like?

 

I sent them to Solo for repair which I think just means they are going to turn me a bushing of some sort to either go on top or bottom of the LBJ slug adapter. So really just a bandaid. See how well it is. If I'm okay with it, I'll put them on my SX single cab daily along with the SPC uppers and ADS shocks from Igor. Be quite the upgrade from the blown Billie 4600's on it now hahaha

They're off a chevy



haha

 

Except fro cost, they sound just like your skyjacker bastard pack.

 

Pretty much.

And you don't have to fab new hangers up.

Personally if Im doing new leaf hangers, it'll be for SUA to pull 16-20'' of travel.

 

Stock main leaf? Or you relocate the front spring hanger?

 

Relocated front and rear brackets using the Ruffstuff swap kit here.

You have to move the front hanger like 9" forward and the rear about 4" back because the springs are so long. That puts the front bracket further down the sloped part of the frame, which effectively lifts the rear end more - one of the downfalls of this swap. You can french the bracket into the frame to minimize the effect, which I didn't do.

 

Ah okay. I was wondering how you were pulling so much travel with a stock length main leaf.

 

Interesting!

I’m curious where your ride height sits in that travel range when you’re loaded up. Being able to possibly get a legit 7” up and 7” down, or even close to that, would be a pretty huge upgrade after my shitty 2” of uptravel with my Expos.

 

Wow really? On frank I had 5.5'' of uptravel. You must have like no lift in the rear.

 

When it’s loaded, yes. It’s maybe 3.5 unloaded, with the RTT removed.

 

Yeah I don't think that would even be possible, the shortest chevy spring is probably longer than the stock main spring, plus they're 2.5" wide vs. 2.25"

My travel is limited to the 12" shocks I have, as there's no practical way to fit 14" shocks under the bed. I also have the bumps set to minimize negative arch at full compression. With that, my rear ride height fully loaded is probably 3" or so above stock (who really knows at this point), with maybe 4" of up travel and 8" or so of droop.

If I frenched the hangers into the frame, and got a new set of springs with more arch, I could probably get closer to 6"/6".

 

wow. You need more lift haha

Need better leaf packs for that matter