Let's Build A 1 Ton Crew Cab 4x4

[MalibuSSwagon]

My buddy did a NV3500 swap in his 88 Suburban, I suggested he convert to AN fittings on each end and he had a custom line made, but you can also buy pre-made lines on ebay fairly cheap. Worked quite well but his truck is 2WD.

[MTCK]

Think your options are a drop pitman arm, drag link with an s-bend in it, or spacer block that raises the DS kingpin cap. ORD's web site has a pretty comprehensive list of options.

[NastyBuzzard]

Yes I am on there! Apparently I need to decide if I'll be using ds4 or db2 pump before I pick which lift pump so that will have to wait. Just trying to get fuel lines ran.

[NastyBuzzard]

So apparently I mounted the trans xmember the wrong way. On my year crew cab it is supposed to be mounted inside frame not under. So that will help with my pinion angle.

Supposed to be picking up a different set of 4" lift springs on Friday. They are superlift, brand new with new bushings for $140. Guy bought them then decided to go bigger so they are brand new. Should be a hell of a lot less stiff than the damn rough country springs which are 5+ years old.

I still NEED a set of 6.2 mounts with the spacers/torque plates.

I am hoping to move it outside a bit to clean and paint frame, then I will finish up mounting everything in rear with grade 8 hardware and running lines. After that will be all new steering components up front and locking everything down with grade 8 hardware. I am so ready to get this thing coming together a tad bit faster.

[NastyBuzzard]

Few little updates. I went with my buddy to pick up his LS donor for his 78 K10 short bed LS swap. 2000 2500 6.0/4l80e 4x4. He got a sweet deal, truck started and ran, was wrecked in front but still clear title, $1400. I let him in on the deal and was kicking myself a bit for not buying it myself but he needed a complete truck for his swap.



Picked up my new superlift springs. I compared them to the 4" ones I had on there and was surprised by the height differences.



This is my friends other chevy, it normally runs 38s but he had to get an alignment so he needed to borrow some wheels from me. Thought it looked funny.



Also got argon/unimix tank swapped out and got temp 220 wired up for welding machine. Seems to work pretty good. May start learning here soon, I just need to get some stuff done to frame before I can paint it.



Dana 60 back out for cleaning!





Got my bed up on my cart as well so if I need to put it on the frame by myself I can.



I have been trying to put in my new poly bushings but they have been giving me a hard time.

Hoping to order some steering parts this week as well as stuff needed to paint frame.

I also need to order a rebuild kit for my gear box. Anyone know part number for kit?

Another thing I am trying to remove the mounting plate from the 96 hydroboost unit and put the mounting plate from the 78 hydroboost unit on it so I can get it mounted. It has a giant nut on the back that isn't cooperating.

[NastyBuzzard]

So I figured out what I needed to do to fix my shackle angle and caster angle on the dana 60 for this 4x4 conversion. I could always cut loose the axle tubes and clock the hog head but I will pass on that. Instead I will be dropping the front spring mounts down 4". I probably don't need all of 4", but at least 3" I am going with 4" so I can have more adjustment which will be done with the length of the shackle links.

This basically replaces the front spring mount.



I pretty much went ahead and modeled my own versions of the core support mount and the little brace as well.



In the end my hopes is to have all parts necessary modeled and ready for a complete 4x4 conversion if the need arises again.

Unfortunately with me dropping the front like this it will add lift. Which isn't something I am overly happy about. By some calculating I will be around 6-6.5" of lift if I keep the 4" lift springs up front. We will see when it is together, if it is too high I may just buy a set of 2" or 2.5" lift springs to get me back closer to 4" of lift total.

I also have ordered all my steering stuff besides my drop pitman arm. Going to have my buddy rebuild my steering gearbox and help me swap mounts on the hydroboost setup. He is supposed to bring his setup over when I have it all together to spray the frame.

I bought some more of summits chassis shield. I am going to paint the chassis with the satin black, but I am seriously considering spraying the bottom of the cab and floor of the cab as well. I have even thought about using it to spray firewall. Thoughts?

I also tracked down a set of locking hubs finally and have a ORD engine xmember on the way. I picked it up used, its a sbc one but I plan to modify it to fit my needs.

[NastyBuzzard]

Started on rebuilding the gear box. Much thanks to my friend and his patience..





I started trying to learn how to weld as well. Figured out I was moving too fast to begin with. Another friend came by for some welding lessons.



I got one of the locking hubs on!! A lot easier than I expected for sure. Just need to swap out the other side.



I mounted the trans xmember inside the frame. The xmember is from a 1500 truck or suburban I belive. It was 1/2 too wide to fit inside the frame so I had to cut a 1/4" from either side so it would even fit in there.



I was having trouble with this thin metal so my friend had to weld it up. I need to finish it out and grind welds down.



I started working on fixing my shackle angle and caster angle. It was too far advanced and spring pad was not level with the ground at all and was making my pinion angle point down. Shims would only fix pinion angle not my caster angle so I am having to go this route.



This will regrettably add lift. Ill be closer to 6" of lift actually . I may have to go back to 2" lift springs instead of the 4" ones I have now. The lowest I can drop so spring eye doesn't contact frame is 3" drop in the front and 5" hole spacing for the rear shackles. I contemplated going to 4" drop up front and 6" hole spacing in the rear but that adds another 1" to the lift so even with 2" springs I would be at 5" of lift instead.

I am going to hopefully get some parts plasma cut out this week and get everything mounted back up. Maybe 6" wont be too tall for my application but I think it will be. We shall see.

[daddyjeep]

I know that you are already done with the shackle on the rear of the springs, but maybe you should just revisit that instead of building the big drop brackets for the front. I have seen shackle hangers frenched into the frame before on LCG Jeeps so there is no reason you couldn't come up with something to fit your needs. Just food for thought.

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

I know that you are already done with the shackle on the rear of the springs, but maybe you should just revisit that instead of building the big drop brackets for the front. I have seen shackle hangers frenched into the frame before on LCG Jeeps so there is no reason you couldn't come up with something to fit your needs. Just food for thought.

What do you mean? What I am doing to the front is to fix the caster angle and shackle angle problem I have. It is what you have to do unless you plan on cutting tubes loose and rotating the hog head and welding them back. As far as I know anyways.

This is what another person did to fix the problem. He had bought the B-52 mounts and then come to find out his angles were all wrong so he dropped it down 3" to get his caster at 8deg which is what it is factory.

[NastyBuzzard]

Here is the mockup. I still have to weld it together. Doing this puts my spring pad at almost dead 0deg, which will put my caster angle back around 8 deg like it is supposed to be.



Now to get it all welded together, both sides installed and axle back under it.

I am so ready to be finished with chassis/suspension!

[COS399]

Looks good.

[daddyjeep]

My thought was....since you were worried about the additional height, I thought raising the rear of the spring would be better than lowering the front.

[NastyBuzzard]

Thanks COS!

Yeah I got what you meant about the rear of the spring. I just didn't want to have to cut the frame back there. I'm trying to do it like anyone else could. Plus my welding skills are limited so I'd have to get my friend to come over to weld in some extra support after it was notched out.

Got the drop downs welded up. A little cleanup work and they'll be ready to bolt on!

[NastyBuzzard]

Got her back on all fours!!



Front pinion is no longer pointing down!



It was time to come outside so I can wash and clean the frame and underside of the cab, firewall and floor inside the cab. I am going to paint them with summits chassis shield.

Any taller and she wouldn't have cleared.



Working on cleaning the frame. As well as cleaning up the shop while the truck is out.

It looks way to tall in this pic. To me is seems huge, I can't imagine another 2" of lift from 35" tires. I am thinking I will assemble as is and if its too tall after the fact then I will get some 2-2.5" lift springs for the front.



Here is a comparison from the old springs.



Few more shots to show the size.



Going to fix the gap when I get some grade 8 hardware and have to switch hardware back out. Right now all I had was some 5/16 bolts to put it all together.



Shackle angle is looking a hell of a lot better. Once the full weight is on it, it should be where it is supposed to be.

[68Timber]

Looking good. The diesel weight might bring it down to a more desirable height.

[NastyBuzzard]

Yeah I am thinking so. With it and the front clip should bring it down a good bit, and the springs are new so they should settle some. So we will see. That is why I am in no rush to just buy a new set of 2" lift springs. Then again, 35" tires will lift it another 2" so that will put it back close to where it is already.

Don't get me wrong I love lifted trucks, but I wanted this to be a driver and hauler. More so than just a jacked up truck. I don't even plan on running mud terrains.

[NastyBuzzard]

I definitely took advantage of the crew cab being out the shop. It was time to clean and do some more organizing. As soon as this shop was dried in I have been working in it and haven't made my lofts or anything so crap just ends up on the floor. It was nice to actually have some space to move around and clean up. I didn't have the materials to build shelves or loft but I did get some organizing done and relative things grouped together and some items hung on the wall to gain more floor space. What helped the most was the two free shelves. I have vertical space aplenty. More motivation to actually finish the shop. Ugh I still need to actually wire the damn lights and all I have up instead of this temporary lights I have now but that's for another day.







Upon cleaning I came across all the tools I have been missing!! Also realized that it was time for a big boy tool box. I have just been tossing tools everywhere because I have had no where to put them. My little 3 drawer craftsman tool box has been filled since forever. So I found this nice tool box on sale for labor day at home depot and snatched it up. It was even cheaper than harbor freight one and is longer! Just a few less drawers.



Also took some time to go to my buddies house to check out what his other set of friends had going on. They had travelled to his place to use his lift to install 6" lift and xover steering on this convertible k5. Really makes me want a k5. What was really nice was that he had some parts left over he was giving away and I scored a free raised steering arm for my 87 LS swap when I get around to doing the 4" lift.



With some help I got the crew back in the shop to be prepped for the paint!







Before paint, I needed some welding finished. So my buddy came over and welded in my fish plates, shock mount, and some nuts for my trans hump to make it easily removable.



Time for paint! I will say, spraying it vs brushing is so much better and faster! In the end it only took a tad more than the 1 quart that summit sells to get all this done!

















It is such a good feeling to have this done!!! It is time to start running new brake lines, fuel lines and such. Mount the tank permanently, put the bed on and move the fuel door. Also mount the rear hitch as well. I feel like this is a good turning point on the next set of progress for sure! I have almost all my steering components, minus the drop pitman arm. So that will be going on soon. Also need to install the ds locking hubs and take the passenger side one off b/c I tightened down the nut too tight and it is hard to turn the rotor, like really hard.


Any advice on:

Running New Brake lines
New Fuel lines
Shortening the park brake cable
Lift pump & filters for the DS4 pump

[daddyjeep]

The shop looks much better. I wish I could clean mine up. I have three cars to finish and get out of there before I can really get mine organized...darn kids.

The paint came out real nice too.

Brake and fuel lined should be pretty straight forward. One thing I found with mine was that the rear brake line was 1/4" from the proportioning valve to the rear axle and then split into 3/16".

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

The shop looks much better. I wish I could clean mine up. I have three cars to finish and get out of there before I can really get mine organized...darn kids.

The paint came out real nice too.

Brake and fuel lined should be pretty straight forward. One thing I found with mine was that the rear brake line was 1/4" from the proportioning valve to the rear axle and then split into 3/16".

Thank you! Still has a long way to go! I have another 2 storage sheds that I need to fill up once I clean them up a bit. So a lot of stuff will be moving out.

I have the brake lines on the axle, they go up to the line that used to go to the load valve that used to be on the truck. The one that was supposed to increase braking in rear depending on load. I heard they didn't work worth a crap anyway so I chunked it.

I just don't want to use the cheap autozone type lines bc I have tried in the past and they either split all to hell when I flared them or rusted so dang fast.

I want some good fuel line that will last the test of time as well but not stainless, that **** is so hard to flare. I could use hose I guess? Diesel is low pressure, I am used to LS stuff that is like 60 psi.

[daddyjeep]

Napa sells that NiCop (Nickel/Copper)stuff that is supposed to be pretty good stuff. I haven't tried it yet myself, but it might be something to look in to.

[NastyBuzzard]

I see they sell it on Amazon as well so that may be the route I go. That and stainless fittings. I just need to know sizes.

[daddyjeep]

Hopefully someone can help with fitting sizes. I have a bunch of fittings laying around so I just found some that fit. I use brake line to build the chassis for our R/C Rock crawlers and since I like to use straight pieces I get spare fittings.

[NastyBuzzard]

Only assorted stainless fitting set I have seen so far was on summit and it was $140 for a box of them. Granted, it had a lot of fittings in it but I only really need 10 or so. I have to keep cost in mind but another good thing about stainless fittings is they don't round off so dang easy.

[NastyBuzzard]

Finished painting the rear drums and installed the fuel tank.




Then I realized I will have to probably drop the tank again to swap out for grade 8 hdw on the drop perches.

I will also be needing to fix my sway bar mounting for the lift. I don't like just the drop brackets. I am leaning more so towards the one that shift the pivot angle up. I don't need ones that are detachable either. I found the ones zone offroad sells but just seems like $60 shipped is high for what these items are.

What other products are out there? I may just look into making my own.

[NastyBuzzard]

I couldn't help it any longer. I had to put the bed on to see how it will look. My palms are bruised real nice from having to move it myself but its on! Front holes lined up perfect. As you can see I have a bit of a rake.







I had to drop down the tank to get the bed on. The bed was kind of smooshing it with how I had to get it on there by myself. I still plan to move the fuel door to the rear of the bed around same spot as a blazer or suburban. Now I can mark the extra holes I need to drill as well as rear bumper and hitch mock up.