'Morning Glory' 1971 C10 Stepside

[cruisinthe34]

Finally wrestled around and got the front coil springs out:

[cruisinthe34]

Ball joints out and ready for rust proofing and paint:

[cruisinthe34]

Got in the garage early this morning and started buttoning up the 4" Drop on the front end.


Need to replace outer tie rod ends, grease the ball joints put the rotors back on and the new brake calipers. Should go ahead and install the new front sway bar too.

[Dieselholic92]

I love that you kept the straight 6. That will be a sweet little truck when it's all done
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[Green67Stepper]

Originally Posted by cruisinthe34

Finally mounted the steering wheel. Got the new dash pad, and actually had to paint it as the only GREEN dash pads I found were the 'Olive' green.

Also note the new brake pedal (converted from 3 on the tree, and the new Torque converter lockout switch. Installed new 700R4

what brand and size shifter is that?

[cruisinthe34]

Green67.... that is a Lokar 23" with a FLOOR Mount (not a tail mount) to a 700R4

[cruisinthe34]

My new Coy C-5s arrived. 17" for the Front and 18" for the rear on a 4/6 drop:

[cruisinthe34]

Here is Morning Glory with all four new wheels and tires on the ground with the new 4" front drop.......6" rear drop to come.

[swamp rat]

I like the new wheels!

[Dustmaker65]

Looks Good!

[cruisinthe34]

All setup to do the rear 6" drop. Started by removing the rear shocks.

[cruisinthe34]

Ended up having the cut the rear coil springs out, then scored and chiseled the upper shock mounts out and installed the new ones. Then had to cut the old U-Bolts and ream the trailing arms for the new U-Bolts etc.



A little less effort and we replaced the upper shock mounts.

[cruisinthe34]

I still need to anchor the rear coil springs in porperly, but she starting to get her new 'attitude'.

[cruisinthe34]

Finnally Finished the 4/6 Drop:



My Favorite Angle:

[swamp rat]

Perfect! Now why does that driver front wheel/tire look like its back too far???

[cruisinthe34]

Swamp. It does have that appearance on second look. I used the ECE 1 1/2 drop spindles and replaced the upper control arms with new DJM Control arms. These control arms do throw an extra 4 degrees of positve caster, but I'll investigate more closely.

[cruisinthe34]

When I go back and look at photos like this one WITH the 4" front drop prior to the 6" rear drop of the Passenger side, It has a similar offset.

[NewType72]

Factory these trucks are further back from center in the front when we get lower BUT I am curious if you possibly put the UCA's on the wrong side? We've all been there so it's a quick resort to ask. Also might just be the wheel being turned but if both pics look the same DOH!

[cruisinthe34]

I questioned strongly the positioning of the Upper Control Arms. the only indication on the so called instruction sheet indicated the ball joint positioned 'further to the rear'. I'm going to have to find a video or something that SHOWS the proper location of the arms. Its a simple enough swap, but a real pain if thats what it is.

[swamp rat]

Boy did i open up a can of worms huh?

[cruisinthe34]

Swamp..... No it was something I've wanted to verify. I emailed DJM for some clarification, but on measuring the caster angle. It is exactly what the instructions ask for.

[cruisinthe34]

After swapping the Upper Control Arms, the wheel centers better in the wheel well. There is no weight on the wheel in this photo. Still on lift.



I emailed DLM Suspension, their instructions state the "ball joint will be slightly rearward". Their 3 word response to my EMail inquiry was "Short Arm Forward". We'll see when I go to get the alignment, which is backwards of the instructions.

[NewType72]

That certainly looks all kinds of odd but I mean if the My were further back the other direction then who knows! Did the spindle look fairly straight up when you swapped today?

[cruisinthe34]

Spindle does appear nearly vertical after the swap

[cruisinthe34]

Doesn't sound like much, but to me it was an accomplishment. Added a new license plate bracket which includes an LED third brake light, LED License plate Light, then added a 9" LED Backup Light to the bottom of the bracket for a backup light.

Used a Lokar switch mounted to the transmission pan with a locator arm off the 700R4 tramsmission to sense reverse.



Backup Light: