Coilovers? Im gonna be watching this. I just bought an '03 Dmax with the zf6 and will prob SAS some day when I get sick of fixing the ifs. Get a super 60 out of a F450/550 and then it will turn on a dime but they are kinda wide.
CK5
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2004 Silverado Crew Cab Solid Axle Swap (LLY with ZF 6 speed)
- Thread starter r3dd0g
- Start date
The WFO kit includes King Coilovers. The newer StupidDuty front axles have good steering as well. It's one of the biggest things I hate about my Silverado now.
This will be fun to watch, I've got two of the 05+ axles they really bring the beef.
I'm starting off a bit slow on this project. There's been a few things that have been bugging me about the Silverado that I'm finally taking care of in preparation for the solid axle swap. The first issue I took care of was the gauge cluster. 2003-2006 Chevy's had issues with faulty stepper motors in the cluster. You can send them out to get rebuilt for a couple hundred dollars, or you can buy a kit on Amazon and do it yourself in about an hour for $20ish.
I didn't take too many pictures of the process. There's good writeups online and on youtube if you're interested. It was an hour start to finish with all gauges functioning with upgraded stepper motors. The basics of the process are, remove the cluster, pull the front cover off, remove the needles, remove the back cover, desolder the stepper motors and discard, replace stepper motors and solder back in place, calibrate gauges and reinstall.
I've been wanting to install onboard air for quite some time and had already decided what kit I was going to use. Since I'll need air for the rear locker and for airing tires up I decided it was time. I picked up the full kit from Kilby.
The kit is very nice, the brackets all bolted up easily and everything lined up perfectly. This is a little weird for me because usually everything I do is custom one off stuff. This is the first build I'm doing that's pretty much "bolt on" for everything.
There was an aluminum angle iron piece that I removed and replaced with a 1x1 square steel tube so I could mount the fluid separator and manifold for the kit. It all tucks nicely behind the grill and I can still read the pressure gauge and drain the filter when needed.
I still need to run the wire in to a switch on the dash, but everything else is ready.
Since the 35" spare won't fit in the stock location, I mounted the air tank there. I haven't run the air line back yet, I have to do a lot of welding on the frame when I put the WFO kit on so I figured I'd just burn the line anyways.
One of the other issues I've had is that when climbing steep hills offroad, the truck starves for fuel as soon as the turbo spools. Since I plan on doing some engine mods anyways, I went ahead and picked up an Air Dog II lift pump setup. This will make the high pressure pump and injectors much happier.
I ran out of time today, but I got the pump/filter assembly mounted, the return line ran and the whole thing wired up. I think I'm going to have to pull the bed to finish up the install, so that will happen later this week.
The wheels are scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday, I'm hoping to have my axle and modified hubs/rotors early this week, tires will be ordered as soon as I have wheels and the bumpers are still a few weeks out. Next weekend I'm probably going to pull the rear axle, swap the gears, install the ARB and put in the lift blocks. I've already removed the air bags and Helwig rear sway bar since I'm not going to be hauling a cabover any more.
I didn't take too many pictures of the process. There's good writeups online and on youtube if you're interested. It was an hour start to finish with all gauges functioning with upgraded stepper motors. The basics of the process are, remove the cluster, pull the front cover off, remove the needles, remove the back cover, desolder the stepper motors and discard, replace stepper motors and solder back in place, calibrate gauges and reinstall.
I've been wanting to install onboard air for quite some time and had already decided what kit I was going to use. Since I'll need air for the rear locker and for airing tires up I decided it was time. I picked up the full kit from Kilby.
The kit is very nice, the brackets all bolted up easily and everything lined up perfectly. This is a little weird for me because usually everything I do is custom one off stuff. This is the first build I'm doing that's pretty much "bolt on" for everything.
There was an aluminum angle iron piece that I removed and replaced with a 1x1 square steel tube so I could mount the fluid separator and manifold for the kit. It all tucks nicely behind the grill and I can still read the pressure gauge and drain the filter when needed.
I still need to run the wire in to a switch on the dash, but everything else is ready.
Since the 35" spare won't fit in the stock location, I mounted the air tank there. I haven't run the air line back yet, I have to do a lot of welding on the frame when I put the WFO kit on so I figured I'd just burn the line anyways.
One of the other issues I've had is that when climbing steep hills offroad, the truck starves for fuel as soon as the turbo spools. Since I plan on doing some engine mods anyways, I went ahead and picked up an Air Dog II lift pump setup. This will make the high pressure pump and injectors much happier.
I ran out of time today, but I got the pump/filter assembly mounted, the return line ran and the whole thing wired up. I think I'm going to have to pull the bed to finish up the install, so that will happen later this week.
The wheels are scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday, I'm hoping to have my axle and modified hubs/rotors early this week, tires will be ordered as soon as I have wheels and the bumpers are still a few weeks out. Next weekend I'm probably going to pull the rear axle, swap the gears, install the ARB and put in the lift blocks. I've already removed the air bags and Helwig rear sway bar since I'm not going to be hauling a cabover any more.
Nice progress. I love this since I want to do all the same things to mine. Just curious but where did you get the Kilby set up and roughly how much was it?
Kilby changed their website to https://www.cuoffroad.com/ . The full kit was $1200, but you can get just the mounting bracket and source everything else cheaper.
Thanks. I'll check them out.
different name / same crazy prices / and new site SUCKS ! ! ! who ever designed it was a dumb arss . . . not user friendly like most other sites on the web .
I agree about the website, not so much about the crazy prices. The kits are very complete and come with a lot of stuff that you probably wouldn't get if you were piecing it together yourself. They also come with a rebuilt York compressor sealed in the box (no core charge) so that's a big part of the cost.
I can tell you that the brackets fit perfectly and come with all the hardware you need to install them. These things also put out 10 times the volume of a small electric compressor, the only thing I've found that is as good/better is an oasis, but this is way cheaper than an oasis.
For comparison, oasis sells just the york compressor for $950. I have an oasis in the S-10, but I bought it used for a fraction of the new price, and it has it's drawbacks (HUGE current draw, you better have big batteries and a big alternator). Before I upgraded to a group 31 battery it would actually stall out my truck if I tried to air up a second vehicle after mine. I'd have to have someone sit in the seat and rev it up (I'm running a 150 amp alternator for reference).
I remember when kilbey sold a specific bracket for 50 bucks . then jumped it to 150 bucks. no changes to it or reason why . lots of other guys mad also over it .
and search the York and there 250-350 range all day . . . few hundred for serp clutch pulley unit.
I am not nocking his 1 stop shop price . . . but these days there is WAY to much mark up on stuff out there .
and search the York and there 250-350 range all day . . . few hundred for serp clutch pulley unit.
I am not nocking his 1 stop shop price . . . but these days there is WAY to much mark up on stuff out there .
So how about a picture of the whole actual truck?
LOL, I'll get one later today.
Here is the official "before" picture of the Silverado in all its stock, dirty glory:
More parts are showing up, the wheels got here today:
I'll order the tires tomorrow, so hopefully by next week I'll have those all set up. I got the winch, still waiting on the bumpers though:
We had a couple hours to pull the bed and finish up the lift pump install tonight. That's finished up and seems to be working properly:
Tomorrow night we'll probably pull the rear axle in preparation for gears and locker install this weekend.
More parts are showing up, the wheels got here today:
I'll order the tires tomorrow, so hopefully by next week I'll have those all set up. I got the winch, still waiting on the bumpers though:
We had a couple hours to pull the bed and finish up the lift pump install tonight. That's finished up and seems to be working properly:
Tomorrow night we'll probably pull the rear axle in preparation for gears and locker install this weekend.
Tony Vickers
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Just a thought. Might want to put some protection around the AirDog.
It's above and right next to the frame, but I agree, I need to put something there.
I don't plan on doing any serious wheeling in this, just trail running.
I don't plan on doing any serious wheeling in this, just trail running.
Yay for the HD PYO wheels, haha. No seriously this is a neat project and can't wait to see the twist you put in on the end that we least expect.
Tony Vickers
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All I can think of is a rock, coming up on the highway or some dirt road and hitting those.
I had the same thought, but that's where they say to mount it and it's the only place that makes sense. It is tucked up better than it looks in the pictures, but I'll be putting some protection on it.
No "twists" planned for the initial build. I am just building this now so I have something to wheel while I back-half the S-10.
Everyone has theirs mounted in that spot. My kids truck has a Raycor filter mounted the same, I has been there forever the only thing that hits it is gravel.
