The last few weeks have been packed full of a very gut wrenching, fast paced build. I have clocked well over 140 hours of nights, very long nights, of wrenching-grinding-welding.
On the very last Thursday of April, I pulled both my 3rds to have a set of nitro 5.29’s installed by Bohannons Auto Repair (great guy!) And so began the build…
But first, I needed to find some parts… Steering box, 63” springs, shocks, hysteer, knuckle rebuild kit, etc. My first choice for new parts was marlin, but alas… I have a budget and I have to meet it! So, trail-gear it is… I ordered a hysteer, knuckle rebuild, tcase mount, front ubolt flip kit, and a knuckle gusset from them.
My first impression of trail-gear; efficient. I called them with questions, they were not talkative and supplied yes or no answers. I did not enjoy this like the many calls I have shared with other vendors, but I have a budget to obey. I waited a while to see if marlin would put his hysteer on sale, but it never happened. So trail-gear it is. My impression of their product, aside from the knuckle rebuild kit (it was missing one gasket and most of the knuckle ball seal set), was decent. They remedied the mix up on the knuckle rebuild and all is well.
I decided to go with longfield lifetime wipers after the pics were taken, yet Im a little weary of them.
I picked up the used parts from a local auto salvage for 125$. A damn good price for a 94 steering box and a set of complete 63” chebies.
All other things such as shock mounts, spring mounts, shackles, and steering box mounts, I planned to make.
While I was doing this, I was tearing down a old rusty 1st gen I had to sell parts, so I had the extra rear spring set. I made some money off of it, but not enough so my budget got tighter.
I built everything - the spring hangers, mount, rear ubolt flip kit, shock mounts, etc. - using a portable gas powered arc welder, a small Hobart mig, a old set of cutting torches, a grinder, and a hand drill.
By the end of weekend one, I had very little progress. The RUF pack was in, all needed to make things were made in AutoCAD, printed to allow an easy transfer to the metal and the best part… Finals were the next 3days and I was grease stained, mechanical minded, and anxious to get back… I finished my first semester with a 3.6 gpa, down .07 from last semester but the class load was… strenuous.
Picked up my 3rds on the way home from the university, made a quick trip north to pickup the steering box and springs and started out summer break with a long grueling task – finish within budget.
I placed an order from trailworthyfab.com for a set of double beadlock, custom H1 rims with 37x12.5R16.5 . My impression with Tod(d) at Trailworhty- Great guy, very busy, but a standup business man.
Total spent as of May 5th, 2010
Gears- 585.00
Set up – 410.00
Tires – 1156.00
Trailgear-631.00
Used parts-125.00
New parts (brake lines, oil, etc)- 131.00
Sold- Axle from 1st gen +200.00
Old (new) tires +500.00
Total spent – 3038.XX
Profit - 700.00
New Figure 2338.XX
Remaining budget- 664.XX
Then starts the ultimate row of pissed off girlfriend, no dinner, welding burned nights…. EVER. I fabbed everything myself, except for the front boomerang shackles (local machinist, be done Tuesday).
Heres how it went, in no specific order;
RUF- Used an 84 spring pack, removed overload leaf, first 3 leaves of 81 pack used, each cut down three inches from another. Cut down an overload to space the driver side. Used the original metal insert in spring by pressing out the bolt from the alignment sleeve (is that the name?) on the front mounts, slid in a G8 14mm 5” for a perfect fit.
63 swap- Made my own spring hangers. Using a 6” shackle with stock rear chevy shackles to create a double shackle. Made a shackle lock (more on this later, when its totally done.) to prevent some bad s*** on the road. I moved the hanger 10” forward, giving me a damn near 45* shackle angle with load, and stretching my wheelbase 2.5” backish. Had to use a 1.5” lift block in order to make a level truck.
Rear Driveshaft – Had the stock 81 shaft shortened 2.5 inches, perfect fit.
I also built a square front drive shaft, except I used tubing a size smaller so that I can chop it and use the larger tubing when I extend it for the dual case set up. It vibrates at 35 mph. under no load (i.e. the tcase in 4hi but no resistance from hubs).
Shocks- Front Rancho RS5017, bolts to stock location.
Rear Rancho RS5254 (Ill have to double check). Made mounts and drilled crossmember to mount like / \.
Steering box mount- Used ¼ plate to fab up mount, mounted using G8 7/16” bolts.
Welded, lots. Cut, lots. Ground, lots. Cussed, lots. Measured twice, cut once on everything except for the driveshaft.
The project has been on the burner for the last two days, we will just say some sucky ass personal reasons that someone wouldn't enjoy me going into public detail about.
On the very last Thursday of April, I pulled both my 3rds to have a set of nitro 5.29’s installed by Bohannons Auto Repair (great guy!) And so began the build…
But first, I needed to find some parts… Steering box, 63” springs, shocks, hysteer, knuckle rebuild kit, etc. My first choice for new parts was marlin, but alas… I have a budget and I have to meet it! So, trail-gear it is… I ordered a hysteer, knuckle rebuild, tcase mount, front ubolt flip kit, and a knuckle gusset from them.
My first impression of trail-gear; efficient. I called them with questions, they were not talkative and supplied yes or no answers. I did not enjoy this like the many calls I have shared with other vendors, but I have a budget to obey. I waited a while to see if marlin would put his hysteer on sale, but it never happened. So trail-gear it is. My impression of their product, aside from the knuckle rebuild kit (it was missing one gasket and most of the knuckle ball seal set), was decent. They remedied the mix up on the knuckle rebuild and all is well.
I decided to go with longfield lifetime wipers after the pics were taken, yet Im a little weary of them.
I picked up the used parts from a local auto salvage for 125$. A damn good price for a 94 steering box and a set of complete 63” chebies.
All other things such as shock mounts, spring mounts, shackles, and steering box mounts, I planned to make.
While I was doing this, I was tearing down a old rusty 1st gen I had to sell parts, so I had the extra rear spring set. I made some money off of it, but not enough so my budget got tighter.
I built everything - the spring hangers, mount, rear ubolt flip kit, shock mounts, etc. - using a portable gas powered arc welder, a small Hobart mig, a old set of cutting torches, a grinder, and a hand drill.
By the end of weekend one, I had very little progress. The RUF pack was in, all needed to make things were made in AutoCAD, printed to allow an easy transfer to the metal and the best part… Finals were the next 3days and I was grease stained, mechanical minded, and anxious to get back… I finished my first semester with a 3.6 gpa, down .07 from last semester but the class load was… strenuous.
Picked up my 3rds on the way home from the university, made a quick trip north to pickup the steering box and springs and started out summer break with a long grueling task – finish within budget.
I placed an order from trailworthyfab.com for a set of double beadlock, custom H1 rims with 37x12.5R16.5 . My impression with Tod(d) at Trailworhty- Great guy, very busy, but a standup business man.
Total spent as of May 5th, 2010
Gears- 585.00
Set up – 410.00
Tires – 1156.00
Trailgear-631.00
Used parts-125.00
New parts (brake lines, oil, etc)- 131.00
Sold- Axle from 1st gen +200.00
Old (new) tires +500.00
Total spent – 3038.XX
Profit - 700.00
New Figure 2338.XX
Remaining budget- 664.XX
Then starts the ultimate row of pissed off girlfriend, no dinner, welding burned nights…. EVER. I fabbed everything myself, except for the front boomerang shackles (local machinist, be done Tuesday).
Heres how it went, in no specific order;
RUF- Used an 84 spring pack, removed overload leaf, first 3 leaves of 81 pack used, each cut down three inches from another. Cut down an overload to space the driver side. Used the original metal insert in spring by pressing out the bolt from the alignment sleeve (is that the name?) on the front mounts, slid in a G8 14mm 5” for a perfect fit.
63 swap- Made my own spring hangers. Using a 6” shackle with stock rear chevy shackles to create a double shackle. Made a shackle lock (more on this later, when its totally done.) to prevent some bad s*** on the road. I moved the hanger 10” forward, giving me a damn near 45* shackle angle with load, and stretching my wheelbase 2.5” backish. Had to use a 1.5” lift block in order to make a level truck.
Rear Driveshaft – Had the stock 81 shaft shortened 2.5 inches, perfect fit.
I also built a square front drive shaft, except I used tubing a size smaller so that I can chop it and use the larger tubing when I extend it for the dual case set up. It vibrates at 35 mph. under no load (i.e. the tcase in 4hi but no resistance from hubs).
Shocks- Front Rancho RS5017, bolts to stock location.
Rear Rancho RS5254 (Ill have to double check). Made mounts and drilled crossmember to mount like / \.
Steering box mount- Used ¼ plate to fab up mount, mounted using G8 7/16” bolts.
Welded, lots. Cut, lots. Ground, lots. Cussed, lots. Measured twice, cut once on everything except for the driveshaft.
The project has been on the burner for the last two days, we will just say some sucky ass personal reasons that someone wouldn't enjoy me going into public detail about.
and a 20 % off the price.
's older brother in the grave and she was really close to him... So, internet time has been minimal. Then, one of my good friends from high school had a baby a year ago and now the baby has cancer between the 7th and 12th vertebrae, shes having a benefit to help pay for the treatment this weekend... Which is when i was planning on hitting up the Razorback LandCruiser Assoc Ramble to stretch my legs a little bit... But, alas, what little i can help will benefit somebody in the future... I have all summer to 'wheel!
that be sexy
