I'll put bumps in to limit the uptravel. Right now they droop about 6" from where they are, so if I can stuff a 12" travel shock in there that should be perfect. I have 10+ inches before it hits the fender.
CK5
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2004 Silverado Crew Cab Solid Axle Swap (LLY with ZF 6 speed)
- Thread starter r3dd0g
- Start date
Do you plan on towing/hauling much weight with this? If so, long travel air bags? That's one of my concerns. I don't want to wheel the crap out of mine but it will go places hunting and camping that I am concerned about air bags being an issue. Just wondering your thoughts on it.
double check bed floor crossmember for swing of the shackle using drop shackles.
my 2wd ( yes old body style ) had a clearance problem till I fixed it.
section out / section a half of exhaust pipe for arch / cap ends .
my 2wd ( yes old body style ) had a clearance problem till I fixed it.
section out / section a half of exhaust pipe for arch / cap ends .
Yea, there's a couple spots it's going to hit most likely.
I don't know what I'm going to do about airbags yet. The main reason I had them before was for the cabover, I won't be doing that anymore.
Most of the time I'm towing long distance it will be in my motorhome. My S-10 was originally supposed to be my overland rig, but it worked so well I ended up pushing it to more of an ultra4 pre-runner thing so now I'm building the Silverado to take over that duty somewhat. It will tow the overland trailer around no problem.
My Tiregate showed up today, but the bumpers got delayed...
The bumpers showed up today! They look great!
Dude, those are some serious bumpers
Those looks sweet!
We did our quick camping trip Friday night again this week. We went back out to the Gila, but someone got our spot before we did so we got another spot that's almost as nice.
Then we came home and started working on the truck again. We got the rear bumper and TireGate installed.
I want to modify the factory hitch for better clearance and reinstall it, and we also need to finish up the wiring (for the license plate lights and the bumper mounted backup lights).
We've got a few options for what to work on tomorrow. We'll have to see what we feel like doing in the morning.
Then we came home and started working on the truck again. We got the rear bumper and TireGate installed.
I want to modify the factory hitch for better clearance and reinstall it, and we also need to finish up the wiring (for the license plate lights and the bumper mounted backup lights).
We've got a few options for what to work on tomorrow. We'll have to see what we feel like doing in the morning.
Thanks, I'm really pleased with how it came out.
That's a nice looking spot you found out there! Too bad it's been so damn hot here lately.
Yea, I've got the evap running in the garage already. It's supposed to cool down this week though.
It's always about 10° cooler by the river as well.
We decided that today we would get the WFO crossmember installed. Here's a shot with new -vs- old.
I had mistakenly thought we could do this without removing any of the IFS stuff... I was wrong. I'm not going to get around to finishing the rest of the SFA stuff for a couple weeks so I didn't want to leave the truck on jackstands in my driveway for that long (it doesn't fit in the garage). I made some tube spacers that sit on top of the shocks to keep the truck off the bump stops and pulled out the torsion bars and torsion bar crossmember.
The Silverado is no longer IFS, however it's NFS now... With the torsion bars and stock crossmembers removed it was pretty easy to bolt up the WFO link mount brackets. 3 of the holes line up with stock holes (one of the torsion bar crossmember rivet holes has to be drilled to 1/2") then the other 3 holes need to be drilled to finish bolting it in place.
I was told up front by WFO that I'd have to modify the tranny mount to accommodate the ZF trans (it's designed for the Allison), with the side brackets in place I could put the center piece in to figure out how it needed modified.
I measured and decided I needed to cut 1 7/8" off the crossmember so I got to work.
I don't have a way to slot the holes like it came from WFO, so I made the plate a big too large, drilled the holes, bolted everything in place and tacked it together before pulling it back out, trimming the plate and fully welding it.
A little paint and everything bolted right up.
I decided to throw the new tires and wheels on while I had it apart and snapped a pic. It's still sitting a bit low in the front, but it looks pretty good. I think I only have about 5° of steering before it rubs the bumper though...
I still had a bit of time after finishing up the crossmember, so I worked on the axle some. I didn't like the factory track bar mount so I bought WFOs for their 6" lift and installed it. I'll make it work on the 3" lift. All of the factory stuff was cut away including part of the bump stop pad and the new mount was installed.
I had mistakenly thought we could do this without removing any of the IFS stuff... I was wrong. I'm not going to get around to finishing the rest of the SFA stuff for a couple weeks so I didn't want to leave the truck on jackstands in my driveway for that long (it doesn't fit in the garage). I made some tube spacers that sit on top of the shocks to keep the truck off the bump stops and pulled out the torsion bars and torsion bar crossmember.
The Silverado is no longer IFS, however it's NFS now... With the torsion bars and stock crossmembers removed it was pretty easy to bolt up the WFO link mount brackets. 3 of the holes line up with stock holes (one of the torsion bar crossmember rivet holes has to be drilled to 1/2") then the other 3 holes need to be drilled to finish bolting it in place.
I was told up front by WFO that I'd have to modify the tranny mount to accommodate the ZF trans (it's designed for the Allison), with the side brackets in place I could put the center piece in to figure out how it needed modified.
I measured and decided I needed to cut 1 7/8" off the crossmember so I got to work.
I don't have a way to slot the holes like it came from WFO, so I made the plate a big too large, drilled the holes, bolted everything in place and tacked it together before pulling it back out, trimming the plate and fully welding it.
A little paint and everything bolted right up.
I decided to throw the new tires and wheels on while I had it apart and snapped a pic. It's still sitting a bit low in the front, but it looks pretty good. I think I only have about 5° of steering before it rubs the bumper though...
I still had a bit of time after finishing up the crossmember, so I worked on the axle some. I didn't like the factory track bar mount so I bought WFOs for their 6" lift and installed it. I'll make it work on the 3" lift. All of the factory stuff was cut away including part of the bump stop pad and the new mount was installed.
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Looking good...
Looking really good!
Thanks!
Nice work man. That thing's going to be sweet.
You do nice work!
Going to be a very cool Duramax!
Going to be a very cool Duramax!
