Beelzeburb, The Story More Than a Decade in the Making

[Beelzeburb]

Originally Posted by rjsdad

How much did those wheels set you back if you don't mind my asking? Need to get some 16's and really like those.

Jeff

Well, it depends what width you want. Mine are 16x10 which cost 126.96 ea. They come standard painted satin black, or you can request bare steel for no extra cost. The powdercoating alone cost an additional $45 per wheel. I could have saved $20 having them shipped to me in bare steel and letting a local shop powdercoat them, but it was more convenient letting Wheel Vintiques do it all in one shot. Of course, shipping is additional on top of everything else. It'd be a little cheaper to go with an 8" width. Actually, both the 7" and 8" ones are listed on Summit Racing's website, already painted white. Of course, all you have to do is call Wheel Vintiques on the phone and they'll be happy to get you the latest price, or contact one of the many dealers listed on their website.

[rjsdad]

Thanks guy! Yeah, I like the 10" wide ones like yours. I'll definitely be getting these wheels. Can't wait to see your finished product.

Jeff

[Beelzeburb]

I have actually been driving the Suburban, and it has been really nice to use it as intended. Still takes a little acclimatization changing over to the large steering wheel and extra throw when making turns.

I still had one or two little wiring issues to sort out, so I disabled the Suburban for a couple of days. The list included: horn sounding while turning (I unplugged the horn right after this started), adding in a neutral safety switch and properly wiring up some indicator lights instead of the two temporary ones dangling about beneath the dash.

I assumed that the horn issue was caused by my steering column not being well supported down near the lower bearing. I'd lost the large spring and washer meant to hold it up years ago. Instead I found a big washer in my stash-o-washers and cut a Nissan L28 outer valve spring in half. Now the lower column bearing will be supported.



While the tilt column was out, I used my old steering column as a template and marked where to cut a new hole for the neutral safety switch. Once the rectangular hole was excised and two screw holes drilled, I welded a small sheet metal tab to the inner tube and buttoned it all up. Now I have the 1970 NSS preventing in-gear starts and switching the reverse lights. The white plastic switch is a 1988 style Park/Neutral position switch I modified to fit and secured with a custom bracket some time back so that the engine computer knows when the transmission is in gear.



Lastly, I added four indicator lights to the dash cluster.



Left to right we have a brake indicator, SES, high beam indicator and alternator/battery warning indicator. They're 5/16" lights (non LED) from Painless Performance. This is a compromise solution until I some day build my ideal transmission temperature and indicator light all-in-one gauge for the center hole. I'll also add two more eventually, a 4WD indicator and cruise control light.

[mosesburb]

I bet your horn while turning issue is the screw that holds the turn signal lever to the switch. The factory used a screw with a very low profile head to retain the lever and pretty much any other screw will contact the backside of the horn contact ring at some point in its radial motion, thus grounding the ring and honking the horn.

[Beelzeburb]

Thanks mosesburb, I'll be sure to have a look at that.

I found some exciting pieces of wiring today. I've been shuffling things around between storage units, consolidating and getting ready to move when I find a new job. On one trip I completely filled the inside of the Suburban with stuff. I had removed the third seat and in the back I piled boxes to the roof, filled the two remaining seats with items and stacked up boxes over every inch of the floor too. With perhaps 1000 extra pound of dishes, appliances, books, auto parts, paperwork, computers and other miscellany, the Suburban didn't handle or behave any differently at all. The big block's torque smoothly pulled everything along as if nothing had changed. I remember being able to feel the difference in acceleration when I had more than one passenger with me back in the days when the Suburban sported a SBC.

While sorting, I came across two boxes of miscellaneous bolts as well as other automotive bits and bobs. I brought them home to separate out whatever was useful. Later, while checking them out, I spied a late model brake switch in one of the boxes. I pulled it out and there was a wiring harness attached.



Once I spied the oval weatherpack connector it was clear that this had come from my grandfather's truck. This is the cruise control harness that I had assumed was lost forever. The blue connector on the right hooks up to the cruise control motor, the orange one attaches to the mystery connector (mystery solved now) in my exiting wiring harness, the brake switch wiring is obvious and the other four wires are for the cruise control switch on the stalk. All I have to do is mount the motor (I've had it sitting on my bench for months), connect the two brake switch wires to a 1970 style four prong brake/cruise disengage switch (which I happen to already have), buy a period correct cruise engage stalk and wire it properly. Then the Suburban will have working cruise control.

Deeper in the box I found one more bit of wiring.



It is the missing Hot Fuel Module. This one plugs into the existing wiring harness and keeps the fuel pump on for 20 seconds instead of just 2 when the key is turned to the 'on' position. That's supposed to help alleviate vapor lock on hot days when the motor is already up to operating temperature, but has been shut off. It cycles fuel through the lines to flush out any that had boiled before you start the vehicle again. Something that was only equipped on heavy duty trucks with SBCs and all 454 engined trucks. The only other exciting things in the box were a Tekonsha trailer brake controller from 1990 and 5 flywheel bolts that can eventually be used for shoulder belt mounting.

The Suburban is still running great. I'm starting to run into people around town whom I've known for years, but they never knew that I owned a Suburban because it has been nearly a decade since it was last on the road.

[hgs_notes]

Congrats on finding those bits. I've been going through all my extra parts too, either to sell or make sure I had what I needed to finish my truck and Jimmy. Amazing the things you can come across. Some I forgot I ever had.

[Beelzeburb]

Okay, first official mileage report is in and the results are 8.6 mpg. That was mostly stop and go city driving (with a little full throttle to hear the sound). I've now got a little over 200 miles on the engine. There will still be a few hundred more miles of varied RPM driving, but after that I can't wait to find out what highway mileage will be on a longer trip.

[Beelzeburb]

Well, a little over a week ago I hopped in the Suburban to drive into town, made it to the first stop sign in my neighborhood and didn't have any brakes at all. The next day I popped the reservoir cap off and the front portion was completely drained. I figured that perhaps a leak had developed, probably at one of the caliper seals since I couldn't see signs of a leak anywhere in the front. I pulled both front wheels off and removed each caliper only to find absolutely nothing unusual. All the literature I had at hand indicated that the front reservoir was for the front brake circuit and the rear reservoir for the rear brake circuit. I filled the front reservoir back up and got some assistance in bleeding the front brakes. When I checked the master cylinder a couple of minutes later the rear reservoir had lost fluid and the front was still full. Wait, what?

Looks like things were a bit backward. I did track the leak down a couple of minutes later though. There was a connector on the rear circuit that wasn't tightened down quite enough. We bled the rears and I went out for a test drive. In hard stops it locked up the rear end first (like I mentioned briefly in post #137). It hadn't been doing this recently though because the rear circuit was low on fluid. Putting 2 and 2 together it became clear that with the circuits switched, the combination valve was pushing too much pressure to the rear and not enough to the front.

Here's a picture of what the master cylinder to combination valve lines looked like:



I remembered that I still had brand new stainless intermediate lines from my Inline Tube kit that hadn't been installed. I never put them on because they looked completely different than what I already had. When I held them up now, I could see that the new lines would route the fluid correctly and solve the problem I was having. I quickly grabbed a couple of flare nut wrenches and tried to put the new lines on only to find that two of the fittings were the wrong size. After some research, I ordered two adapters. All I needed was one 1/2-20 to 9/16-18 (Edelmann p/n 258307) and one 9/16-18 to 1/2-20 (Edelmann p/n 258306) which a local O'Reilly was able to get for me overnight.

This is what I've got now:



We'd have bled the brakes again this afternoon, but it started snowing (third time so far this fall). Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to test it out and make sure everything is working properly. Who knows, it may even help improve mileage a little.

I also took care of another minor issue recently. While performing a visual inspection in the engine bay, I noticed that the serpentine belt was now riding over the rear lip of the engine pulley. With some research, it seemed that the damper was too far forward. The front seal had very recently started to leak a little bit too, so perhaps the damper had been slowly migrating (or I never got it fully seated 6 years ago when I built the engine, or both). I pulled out the fan w/ clutch and the pulley to verify that, in fact, the damper was slid forward. I made an installer tool with a long bolt (had to cut threads in the shouldered section to make it long enough) that I chopped the head off of, a nut and the big thick washer that had been on there. It is now snugged down flush and torqued to 85 ft-lbs so hopefully we don't have any more problems.

The only other thing I've done is pull the steering wheel off to have a look at that screw mosesburb mentioned, but it looks okay. One bit that didn't look quite right was the plastic part of the turn signal switch that the lever is screwed into. It has a small crack or two and flexes with use. I don't have any good spares, so it'll be a piece to replace eventually. The reproduction horn hardware that I installed under the horn button also seemed pretty loose (despite being fully tightened) and could be a culprit. I made sure everything was lined up well when I put it all back together, and it has only honked inappropriately once or twice. Luckily no one else was near me on the road when it happened.

[hgs_notes]

The master cylinder/booster set up I have is from a C-20 and it has the lines reversed like that also. I haven't had any braking problems though.

[Beelzeburb]

I had passingly read about the difference between 1/2 and 3/4 ton routing before playing with mine. Actually, my booster and master did come from a '71 C20 if I recall correctly. It appears that I was thinking a bit in the wrong direction the other day. I looked closer, and the larger reservoir is in the rear on this master cylinder which should mean it is the one meant for the disc brakes. This would indicates that the original line routing was correct. Still, line routing from master to combo valve shouldn't make any difference in the amount of pressure metered out. The combination valve should take care of that as long as the outlet lines are hooked up correctly. And according to this diagram, mine are.



Either way, with the intermediate lines now in the 'incorrect' routing, we bled the brakes again yesterday and I went for a test drive. The rears still lock up first, the pedal was pretty mushy and the front brakes could be heard dragging very lightly all the time. I think I've got a big air bubble in the front circuit because there is a damaged bleeder on the driver side caliper. I'm going to replace it with a spare I've got lying around, bleed again and see if that corrects the braking. If all is good after that, I'll just switch the intermediate lines back (then bleed yet again) and call it a day. If not, I'll be looking into buying a new combination valve I guess.

[jeffg1010]

Did you ever get those steelies mounted? We need pics! I contacted Wheel Vintiques about buying them for mine and they said they wont fit on mine because it is on a newer chassis. They said the rims won't go on my front disc brakes. If you were closer, I'd come over for a test fit. If it was close, I would machine down the brake caliper to make it fit. I just cant convince myself to drop $600 bucks on the "off chance" they will fit.

[hgs_notes]

I was confused on mine also but when I realized the lines matched up based on size with the master cylinder, I figured it was correct and just went with it. Instead of the standard bleed you might try pushing brake fluid into the bleeder and up the the master cylinder. If one side or the other isn't grabbing at all the problem is probably in the master cylinder and you might have to bleed it separately like a bench bleed through the intermediate lines. I doubt it's the prop valve because you reversed the lines and there was no real change.

[Beelzeburb]

Originally Posted by jeffg1010

Did you ever get those steelies mounted? We need pics!

I'd love to get some pics, but I still don't have tires for them, so the Wheel Vintiques steelies aren't on yet. Still running the chrome Dodge wheels and ancient BF Goodrich All Terrains for now.

I did finally figure out the brakes. It was something stupid and self inflicted. Somehow I'd hooked up three wheels on one circuit and the passenger side front all alone on the other. I did some rearranging and we bled the system for about the fourth or fifth time. Now it stops much more predictably and the pedal feels normal. It does lock up the right rear at the very end of the pedal throw in a panic stop. Before it was locking up the rears at about 3/4 throw, so it is much more confidence inspiring now.

Yesterday I tried out my new birthday present, a 10" adjustable drop hitch.



I don't have the trailer light connector wired up on the Suburban yet, so I only took the 16' car hauler around the block to reposition it. I did find a Tekonsha 2030 Mark 12 trailer brake controller in the box with my cruise control wiring, so I'll probably use it. Just need about 60' of wire and some circuit breakers.

Today I hopped in the Suburban to run into town and drop something off. I got as far as the end of the driveway when the steering wheel stopped doing any steering. I threw it in reverse and backed straight into the driveway again. I looked over all of the steering components and nothing was out of the ordinary. The box looked good, the rag joint was intact and tightened properly, the pitman arm, drag link, steering arm and tie rod all looked fine. Even the power steering fluid level was correct. I was finally able to see the problem by reaching through the window from outside and steering with one arm while stretching my neck and watching the steering components. I could see the pitman arm moving back and forth properly, but so was half of the leaf spring pack along with it.

The leaf spring u-bolts weren't clamping tight and the whole leaf pack had been moving back and forth until the center pin finally sheared. Very luckily it did this while I was moving at 3 mph and right in front of the house. I jacked up the frame and pulled the broken pieces out.



I had a couple spares so it went back together pretty quick. I torqued each of the leaf spring u-bolts on the whole vehicle to 130 ft-lbs (the rear ones were already pretty tight, but I guess somehow I hadn't done the front ones to more than about 50-60 ft-lbs) and now everything feels much firmer. The turning radius improved quite a bit, the steering wheel stays centered and overall the steering reacts much more quickly to any inputs. Together with the improvement of the brakes, it feels like driving a regular vehicle now. No slop or funny quirks any more.

[mosesburb]

As you found out, those bolts typically break because of insufficient u-bolt torque. Now that you have them torqued, re-torque them after the next five (or so) drives you take in it and notice how "loose" they are going to be. Seriously. Any time I do work that requires u-bolt removal, I will re-torque them for the next week until the nuts don't turn anymore at the specified torque. If they are loose, it doesn't mean they stretched, just that things have moved around slightly and by default "self-adjusted" their torque values. Re-torque them until nothing moves around anymore. It usually takes me about five times to get them all good. Also, oftentimes one out of the four nuts will require re-torque, not necessarily all of them.

[47thriftmaster]

Just read your thread, very good detailed info and great work. The jokes along the way were pretty good too, keep it up.

[jbclassix]

I keep looking at pics of your burb because I like the height better than where mine sat... and I think my body would look just right where yours is with LT315/75-R16. You have LT285s on right?

[Beelzeburb]

Thanks 47thriftmaster. I’ll be sure to keep it up. I'll be sure to check out your Blazer build too. I’m approaching 400 miles on the Suburban's odometer now. At 500 I’ll change the oil and perhaps try some longer distances in it.

I did have a little mini-adventure in the Suburban a few weeks ago. It all started when I wanted to get a picture of my Suburban out in the snow for the Snow pictures thread here on the board. We’d had some decent accumulation, so I decided on a quick jaunt over to a close-by wheeling spot here. Nothing super tricky, but just far enough away from houses for a decent picture in undisturbed snow. I got out at the beginning of the access road (which ascends straight out from a subdivision) and locked the hubs, put the t-case in 4-hi and happily plugged away up the incline that leads to the base of the “big hill”. I lost my forward momentum about a half mile from the nearest houses, jumped out and snapped this picture:



There was no way I was going to try for anything steeper with the ground as slick as it was and I hadn’t packed nearly any recovery gear. Instead I put it in reverse to back slowly down the hill. Everything was fine for about 100 yards until I wound up with both driver side wheels in a 2’ deep ditch and couldn’t go any further. It turned out that the road I was on wasn’t level even though it looks like it in the picture above. The drifting snow had completely filled the 2’ deep ditch on the downhill side of the trail and unknowingly I’d backed myself right into it. I got out to ascertain the situation and almost couldn’t open my door because the ground on the other side of the ditch was in the way. The snow that the wheels were in was over my knees and the tip of the back bumper was even buried under it.

I didn’t take a picture at that moment, so instead, here’s one of my Dad doing the exact same thing about 15 years ago. He was in a different area and not on a hill, but same basic principal.



At least he’d thought to bring a winch.

I grabbed the closest thing to a shovel that I had in the vehicle, a frisbee, and started digging out the rear tire for a better view. A friendly guy pulled up on an ATV with his (approx. 3 year old) son to see if he could be of service. There was a family out sledding a little further down the hill and he’d seen me from below. Since he offered, I asked if he wouldn’t mind grabbing some rocks or other traction aid. While he was off I could see that both the front and rear pumpkins were resting right on top of the edge of that ditch. That’s what had caused me to stop, dragging the axle housings. Well, it didn’t help that I’d had my front wheel turned into the wall of dirt as well. The helpful ATV guy returned a few minutes later with some good size rocks and an old cedar fence post. When I’d dug out the low side rear tire with my handy blue plastic disk, it was apparent that it hadn’t been turning. Both of the wheels on high ground were getting power and not the ones buried in the deep stuff, so throwing those rocks down in the hole wasn’t going to help. Instead, I took the fence post and jammed it under the passenger side rear tire. Hopping back inside I straightened the wheel, put the transfer case in 4-lo and the young kid cheered me on from outside.

There was no way I would be able to go forward, and gravity was going to hold me fast in that ditch no matter what, so I had to reverse it back down 200 yards, dragging axles the whole way until the trail flattened out again. I thanked the ATVist for his assistance and proceeded to slide sideways for a while during my attempt to turn the Suburban around and get the nose pointing straight down the hill again. Made it out just fine after that.

This is what the rear looked like when I got home:



No damage done though, just a minor inconvenience. It was kind of funny having the wheels all off balance on the ride home because they were stuffed full of snow and ice. I’d actually been near that same spot about 10 years ago when the Suburban was stock height and wound up basically in the same ditch. That time the rear quarter panel came in contact with the dirt and received a dent or two, but now the sidewalls of the tires and the added height prevented such a thing from happening again. It might go without saying, but I’ve been through all of my recovery gear since and made plans for what to buy next. First will be some tow hooks for the front and a hitch shackle mount for the rear. Those hi-lift bases and wheel lift slings look pretty attractive too.

Originally Posted by jbclassix

I keep looking at pics of your burb because I like the height better than where mine sat... and I think my body would look just right where yours is with LT315/75-R16. You have LT285s on right?

Yes, the current tires are 295/75-16 size on 16x? Dodge wheels. I’m still not a fan of the fact that the rear of my Suburban sits a little lower than the front. I actually bought a pair of Superlift full-length add-a-leaf springs to put on it. The center pins got lost in transit somewhere and they’re sending me a new pair. Sometime after the holidays I might be able to add them into the spring packs and see what it looks like.

[jbclassix]

I miss the snow! just not working outside in it!

[low'n slow]

Good story. I think anyone that grew up in snow country has a story like this.

[1985-GMC]

Very nice build and story!

Oh and this part... it couldn't be more true.

Originally Posted by Beelzeburb

We figured “why not, we're already this far”. Famous last words if there ever were some, right up there with the nefarious phrase “How hard can it be?”.

[Beelzeburb]

Okay, I got around to installing those full length AALs a little while back. I put together a few other bits that needed to be slapped on too. There was an ORD U-bolt flip kit and the correct stainless rear axle hardlines from Inline Tube.



I knew that my current U-bolts weren't going to be long enough with an extra 0.401” thick leaf spring on each side, so it was time to upgrade. Unfortunately, I forgot to specify that I needed longer than stock U-bolts when the kit was ordered (the short ones are in the first photo and the longer ones are shown later) but we got it all sorted out soon enough. The stainless rear axle brake lines were the last part of my brake system that hadn't yet been replaced. When I'd purchased the SS line package, it was ordered for a 1972 K10 Suburban to get the disc brake stuff positioned correctly in the front, but my rear axle is from a '71 C20 so the rear lines that came with the SCTB71B4 kit weren't even close to fitting.

Here is the original leaf spring pack, already apart and with the new leaf slid in just below the main spring. The AAL spring only had a smidgen more arch to it than the originals.



Once the center pins were back in and tightened down, the overall arch of the springs remained completely unchanged at rest. I laid one spring pack directly on top of the other just to verify, and they really were identical curves.



The old center pins themselves were a little short now, but I threw the modified spring packs back in just to see how things were shaping up. The rear did indeed raise up a good bit. It actually looked a little stink-beetly to me at first. After breaking out the angle-meter and doing some calculations, the difference in angles between the two rear driveshaft U-joints (t-case output to driveshaft, driveshaft to pinion) which had previously only been 1° was now 5.5°. I ran some more calculations and figured that a 4° shim should get the difference to 0.5°. At this height, the rear pinion and driveshaft angles were very close, almost ideal for a CV shaft. For now I'm running it in a “W” configuration. I also took a look at the front pinion angle and then ordered some shims. The cast aluminum pinion angle shims from Pro Comp looked decent when they arrived at my door, but my center pins slipped right through the hole on them. This wasn't going to leave the bottom part of the center pin sticking out far enough to easily locate the leaf springs on the perches anymore. My solution involved some handy washers from the big spare washer can. I'm not sure what they came from, but each one had a slight outside taper so that they fit tight and sat flush, and the ID was just right for the center pins to pass through.



This way the shims would be bolted to the leaf pack and it'd be much easier to get everything lined up come reassembly time. Like so:



By now I had tossed the old center pins and thrown the new ones on too. I had to get them in before bolting the shim to the Zero-Rate. While waiting for those shims to arrive I had POR-15 coated the new U-bolt plates from ORD (which have a handy, elongated slot to accommodate moving the axle backward or forward with the Zero-Rate), so as soon as those new, longer U-bolts arrived, everything was ready to go together.



Nice shiny cadmium plated bolts and less protrusion on the bottom of the axle. I also did a little paint touch-up while I was down there.



The end results over time:



Top to bottom:

4” lift springs w/ 1/2” longer shackles = 4.25” total front lift
4” rear shackle flip and 1” Zero-Rate = 5” total rear lift

4.25” total front
4” shackle flip, 1” Zero-Rate and 2” longer shackles = 6” total rear

4.25” total front
4” shackle flip, 1” Zero-Rate, 2” longer shackles and 1” - 2” Superlift AALs = 7” - 8” total rear

At least it doesn't look saggy in the rear anymore aside from the slight lens distortion the camera added. Some time spent with the tape measure on the flat part of the frame showed that near the firewall it is 23 13/16” from ground to frame and under the c-pillar is around 24 1/8”. That's not that even half an inch difference. I'm sure the rear will probably settle a bit more too, and hopefully things will stay close to level when all is said and done. Have to be careful because Utah law states that for my GVWR range the frame can't be more than 26” above flat ground. I also measured all of the rear driveshaft angles after the shims were in place, and the difference in U-joint angles is indeed 0.5° under power. No driveline vibrations to be reported.

I haven't felt a noticeable increase in ride harshness after the AAL install either. Though the ride has been a bit jouncy at slow speeds with the stiffer HD front springs, its still not bad. It does seem to have a good deal less body roll than I remember from High School. I was actually out testing in a parking lot recently, making sure there weren't any odd effects from the possibility of roll-oversteer that comes with having the rear shackle sitting lower than the front spring pivot on the rear axle. There really isn't anything out of the ordinary aside from some unrestrained items I flung around inside the cabin.

Speaking of suspension geometries and practical research, I mentioned having looked at the front pinion angle during all of this. I did indeed order some front pinion angle shims and installed them at the same time. I was only thinking of the front pinion angle when I did this though, not the caster angle. The difference from front pinion to driveshaft had been 7°. With a CV style front driveshaft, my initial reasoning was that the difference should be close to zero, so I ordered some 6° shims and threw them on.



Oddly enough, even though the rear axle changed exactly as I had predicted, the front wasn't even close. The pinion stayed at the exact same angle somehow, and only the driveshaft angle changed. The difference between the two at least decreased to 5° under power. After doing some more reading and research, I decided to check the caster angle, concerned that it might now be too little after having installed those shims. As it sits now, the front axle caster is 3.5° positive. It hasn't made any difference in handling or steering feel and the wheel still centers itself just fine after turning. It seems that the general opinion is to simply find a decent balance between pinion and caster angles unless you're willing to cut off and re-weld the axle Cs and spring perches. Another very knowledgeable individual made a nice argument for being able to run less caster angle with taller, wider tires because of some complicated calculations based on scrub angles and other influences. For now I'll keep driving it and see how things go. I can always slap in some shorter, less angled shims in the future if I want more positive caster.

The only other things I have done recently were take care of a minor coolant leak and start wiring up the 7 pin trailer plug and trailer brake controller. The front of the intake manifold was holding a nice puddle of green liquid when I was looking things over recently, so I hosed it all out and dried everything. After letting the engine run a while, a tiny drip of coolant reappeared at one of the bolts that holds the intake to the driver side cylinder head. I had to take the EGR valve off to get at it, but after cleaning the bolt up and slopping some thread sealer on it there hasn't been any more green stuff up top.



While the hose was out I'd cleaned up the dust and dirt in the engine bay, realizing that there were no pictures of the whole engine bay anywhere in my personal collection or online, just various close-ups. So here they are:




This seems to be how my builds go, the outside can stay looking crummy, all primer, rust and old body filler while the drivetrain is sorted out properly first. Then comes the interior and eventually I get around to the body work.

[hgs_notes]

The engine bay looks outstanding. Thats a lot of suspension work. Hope that caster angle doesn't come back to bite you.

[jbclassix]

Engine looks awesome! ride height looks awesome! your rear axle pinion angle looks the same as mine was. Didn't really have any issues, other than drive shaft was too long.

[Beelzeburb]

Someone moved the dirt and construction debris piles around at my suspension flex testing ground. Still, this time I brought along both the camera and a tape measure to gather some data and observations. Here's as much movement as this little dirt mound could muster:




I was able to get one rear tire pushed up pretty far into the wheelwell and 1 1/2” away from the plywood of the floor. On the compressed side, this left about 8” between the bottom of the frame and the new U-bolt plates (which look like nice big targets for some new bumpstops to hit).



I'm probably going to order a pair of the longer 11 1/4” Daystar Stinger bumpstops and make some sort of a mount that bolts to the side of the frame. As is plainly visible, the stock rear bumpstops aren't even close to being effective anymore. The rear tires do center nicely in the wheelwell under full stuff though. Nothing else seems to hang up, bind, restrict or limit at this degree of flex. As soon as the new wheels and tires are on, then I'll take it to another local area that I've got in mind to get some more thorough articulation testing accomplished.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

The engine bay looks outstanding. Thats a lot of suspension work. Hope that caster angle doesn't come back to bite you.

Originally Posted by jbclassix

Engine looks awesome! ride height looks awesome! your rear axle pinion angle looks the same as mine was. Didn't really have any issues, other than drive shaft was too long.

Thanks! As far as the caster angle, I'm still waffling about taking the shims out or changing them for some less angled ones, but it does seem to be working fine as is. Guess I'll just keep driving it and see if anything comes up.

[Beelzeburb]

*preparing best impersonation of George Takei as Mr. Sulu*

"Oh my!"