I'm not trying to bash on anyone, but it seems odd that so many people attack the 52's for losing approach angle, yet stick big silly front bumpers on that hang out a mile.
Martin
CK5
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'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond
- Thread starter mrk5
- Start date
Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
I'm not trying to bash on anyone, but it seems odd that so many people attack the 52's for losing approach angle, yet stick big silly front bumpers on that hang out a mile.
Martin
After running 52s in the front for years looking back I would suggest stock length springs. I spent alot of time screwing with different leaf combinations and it worked good but approach still sucked even with 43s. Most the time it wasn't a deal beaker, just had tool attack certain obstacles at and angle some. The front of my truck was thw front spring crossmember too, no big hillbilly bumper. If your going to stay leaf sprung order up some leaves from ORD and be done.
Not sure what you have done for the frame shortening but on my old 83 shortbox after I got rear-ended and it folding the frame above the rear axle. In the farm junkyard we had what was left of an old longbox chevy parts truck. We cut the frame as pictures and made the splice in the middle of the front spring hanger. Figured it would add extra strength there with the hangers and crossmember tying the splice together too. I wheeled that truck alot and never had an issue with the welded frame. All the bolt holes even lined up after shortening the sectioned in long box frame back to shortbox length.
robbed ms painted pic of where we spliced
the truck
robbed ms painted pic of where we spliced
the truck
I had 52's on my K5. I added 'fangs' on the bumper to protect the springs and they really did take a beating.
With this truck I wanted to do something different. That's part of the fun with doing a new build.
Overall I didn't have serious complaints with the 52s. I have seen others have trouble with them. I remember one guy that had the healthy articulation but he was getting so much axle wrap he broke the driveshaft ujoint at the axle yoke when in full suspension droop. Ultimately he had to use an improvised limit strap on the passenger side.
The 52s are great when setup properly but I knew I could get a great set of springs from ORD that will work better for a mixed use truck.
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Not sure what you have done for the frame shortening but on my old 83 shortbox after I got rear-ended and it folding the frame above the rear axle. In the farm junkyard we had what was left of an old longbox chevy parts truck. We cut the frame as pictures and made the splice in the middle of the front spring hanger. Figured it would add extra strength there with the hangers and crossmember tying the splice together too. I wheeled that truck alot and never had an issue with the welded frame. All the bolt holes even lined up after shortening the sectioned in long box frame back to shortbox length.
robbed ms painted pic of where we spliced
the truck
That's cool. That could work since I'll likely be moving the front hangers for 64" springs.
Picked up some lightly used OTT arms on Pirate. Really only wanted one but the price was good.
Not sure I'll use the existing hole. Gotta figure out my steering angles, range of movement and all that good stuff.
Here's an OTT arm compared to one of my old WFO arms.
The OTT arm is a full 1.5lbs heavier.
As you can see I'm switching back to the factory spring preloaded king pins. Doing this since I'm dropping to 37s and I want to keep it more fool proof.
Not sure I'll use the existing hole. Gotta figure out my steering angles, range of movement and all that good stuff.
Here's an OTT arm compared to one of my old WFO arms.
The OTT arm is a full 1.5lbs heavier.
As you can see I'm switching back to the factory spring preloaded king pins. Doing this since I'm dropping to 37s and I want to keep it more fool proof.
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Today I made the first step to converting this thing to a 4wd. When I installed 52's in the front of the General, I fabbed my own body mount brackets with hangers. This time around I decided to get the B52 brackets from DIY4x.
Kurt warned me the holes wouldn't line up much on a 2wd truck. I was hoping it would be a little closer than it ended up being. I think I still saved a little time over fabricating my own brackets. Regardless, the brackets themselves are very nice.
First thing we did was pull the front bumper and the grill. This is what the factory brackets for the core support body mounts look like:
For reference this is what factory 4wd brackets look like with the spring hanger.
I unbolted the body mounts and used a couple of 2x4's to hold the core support up a little. I'm fortunate enough to a oxy-acetylene torch to use for cutting off rivet heads. The only thing you have to careful of is to not burn through the frame. If you cut the heads off on the bracket side the brackets will make it easier to keep the torch from damaging the frame. I'm still always careful not to go too deep. Here's how it looks with the brackets removed.
Unfortunately in my case really only 1 hole out of the 6 I needed lined up. In the picture below you can see the bolt in the 1 hole and if you look closely you can see the 2 holes on the bottom that are just a little off.
The brackets are set up for 2 options for location. The bolts are supposed to go in every other hole. As I mentioned there are 2 other holes that are close but the one furthest right is 2 holes away instead of just 1. You will notice in the picture above with no bracket there are already quite a few holes/slots and I didn't want to add anymore.
I ended up cutting the third nut off the backing strap so that I could drill out and use the 2 holes that were close. The top 3 holes had to be drilled out from scratch.
You can see in that picture above, the 2 existing top holes line up correctly except that they are too low. I had to drill 5 new holes in both sides. Also the top holes were close enough to the frame that I had to trim down the backing strap.
Before:
The other side worked out the same way.
And here they are all installed.
Hopefully next weekend I can get the rear hanger installed in the frame. Should be a little easier than the front. My son has basketball games on Saturdays for the next month so I'm only working on Sundays. Planning to do things in single steps so I can get the axle installed in one weekend.
Here are a few good pics from 54inches that show the difference in mounting holes.
Kurt warned me the holes wouldn't line up much on a 2wd truck. I was hoping it would be a little closer than it ended up being. I think I still saved a little time over fabricating my own brackets. Regardless, the brackets themselves are very nice.
First thing we did was pull the front bumper and the grill. This is what the factory brackets for the core support body mounts look like:
For reference this is what factory 4wd brackets look like with the spring hanger.
I unbolted the body mounts and used a couple of 2x4's to hold the core support up a little. I'm fortunate enough to a oxy-acetylene torch to use for cutting off rivet heads. The only thing you have to careful of is to not burn through the frame. If you cut the heads off on the bracket side the brackets will make it easier to keep the torch from damaging the frame. I'm still always careful not to go too deep. Here's how it looks with the brackets removed.
Unfortunately in my case really only 1 hole out of the 6 I needed lined up. In the picture below you can see the bolt in the 1 hole and if you look closely you can see the 2 holes on the bottom that are just a little off.
The brackets are set up for 2 options for location. The bolts are supposed to go in every other hole. As I mentioned there are 2 other holes that are close but the one furthest right is 2 holes away instead of just 1. You will notice in the picture above with no bracket there are already quite a few holes/slots and I didn't want to add anymore.
I ended up cutting the third nut off the backing strap so that I could drill out and use the 2 holes that were close. The top 3 holes had to be drilled out from scratch.
You can see in that picture above, the 2 existing top holes line up correctly except that they are too low. I had to drill 5 new holes in both sides. Also the top holes were close enough to the frame that I had to trim down the backing strap.
Before:
The other side worked out the same way.
And here they are all installed.
Hopefully next weekend I can get the rear hanger installed in the frame. Should be a little easier than the front. My son has basketball games on Saturdays for the next month so I'm only working on Sundays. Planning to do things in single steps so I can get the axle installed in one weekend.
Here are a few good pics from 54inches that show the difference in mounting holes.
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chevysmithz71
1/2 ton status
Looks good. My B52's lined up just about like yours. Kurt, how about a 2wd version??
Yeah, I was thinking that would be cool. Not sure if there would be enough demand. Too bad I didn't think far enough ahead to take a tracing. 
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Looks like a fair bit of work, but i think that was the way to go.
We could do a 2wd version and could also do a non adjustable version. More of a simple 2-4 conversion hanger.
I don't currently have the pattern for the 2wd in my stable of drawings. I'll have to see if I have any 2wd's in the yard.
I don't currently have the pattern for the 2wd in my stable of drawings. I'll have to see if I have any 2wd's in the yard.
I was thinking I could zip one off for a tracing, but it might be a little off after 2 to the holes were enlarged a little due to the slight misalignment.
As far as adjustability, for reference in case anyone reads this in the future. I installed my bracket so that it is as far back (towards the cab) as possible. I did this to allow more room for bumper brackets. The nice thing about having the options for bolting the springs is that I knew I could accommodate just about any B52 location.
As far as adjustability, for reference in case anyone reads this in the future. I installed my bracket so that it is as far back (towards the cab) as possible. I did this to allow more room for bumper brackets. The nice thing about having the options for bolting the springs is that I knew I could accommodate just about any B52 location.
I picked up the 4" rear springs that sw99 was selling in the classified section. They already has new rubber bushings, or at least relatively new. I'm debating about keeping the rubbers in there and getting a new rubber shackle bushing.
Some of it comes down to cost. To do all rubber I would just need another $30 +shipping to get new shackles with bushings from LMC. I would need to spend about $84 +shipping for new greasable poly bushings.
Also it will save a lot of time and effort not having to press or burn out the rubber bushings I have now.
The other thought I had was if having the rubber bushings in the rear suspension would soften the right a little. I have some concerns about the rough ride you get driving around in an unloaded pickup. I hope to get the spare tire mounted out back right away to get some weight back there. Not sure how much help that will be.
Any thoughts?
Some of it comes down to cost. To do all rubber I would just need another $30 +shipping to get new shackles with bushings from LMC. I would need to spend about $84 +shipping for new greasable poly bushings.
Also it will save a lot of time and effort not having to press or burn out the rubber bushings I have now.
The other thought I had was if having the rubber bushings in the rear suspension would soften the right a little. I have some concerns about the rough ride you get driving around in an unloaded pickup. I hope to get the spare tire mounted out back right away to get some weight back there. Not sure how much help that will be.
Any thoughts?
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I'd just run the rubber.
Martin
Martin
I agree just run the rubber.
I honestly have never felt a difference. I thought I had but then I realized it was just the fact that I replaced old worn out bushings with new bushings. That was the whole difference
I honestly have never felt a difference. I thought I had but then I realized it was just the fact that I replaced old worn out bushings with new bushings. That was the whole difference
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Rubber. All new trucks still run rubber and they are rated to tow some crazy 20k+ pounds.
Sounds like a plan. 
For some reason I never realized I needed to adjust the steering stops on the Reid knuckles. I guess maybe I didn't want to ruin the nice orange powder coat.
The stops are cast into the knuckles. There are no bolts to thread in and out. You trim off the cast in stop until the axle shaft joints almost bind. I suppose if you cut off too much you build it back up with weld.
Here you can see what was cut down.
Each knuckle only has 1 stop.
I used a cut off wheel and sliced off just a sliver more than the thickness of the wheel. I think I took off more than 1/4". I had been limiting my steering all this time.
Interesting thing I ran into was the shaft yokes on one side started rubbing the knuckle before the yokes bound. It's the backside of the knuckle. Not sure how well the pic shows it.
I will use a flapper disc to take a little material off the yokes. It only rubs a little and I can still turn the pinion yoke by hand. There is just a little resistance to work past.
For some reason I never realized I needed to adjust the steering stops on the Reid knuckles. I guess maybe I didn't want to ruin the nice orange powder coat.
The stops are cast into the knuckles. There are no bolts to thread in and out. You trim off the cast in stop until the axle shaft joints almost bind. I suppose if you cut off too much you build it back up with weld.
Here you can see what was cut down.
Each knuckle only has 1 stop.
I used a cut off wheel and sliced off just a sliver more than the thickness of the wheel. I think I took off more than 1/4". I had been limiting my steering all this time.
Interesting thing I ran into was the shaft yokes on one side started rubbing the knuckle before the yokes bound. It's the backside of the knuckle. Not sure how well the pic shows it.
I will use a flapper disc to take a little material off the yokes. It only rubs a little and I can still turn the pinion yoke by hand. There is just a little resistance to work past.
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after riding in my first truck in rubber in rear and then swaping to greasable / poly all mine now get poly .
rb bushing = rubber bonded = oem stuff only flex so much before thay bind up or break apart .
the polly could spin 360 if it was not limited in range of motion .
mine was so much nicer in the rear after and swaping fromt to poly greasable after 1 year on reg lift bushing that were falling apart already it was better also . and thay last a lot longer .
and ball joint press and master adaptor set make easy work of r/b bushings removed from springs .
rb bushing = rubber bonded = oem stuff only flex so much before thay bind up or break apart .
the polly could spin 360 if it was not limited in range of motion .
mine was so much nicer in the rear after and swaping fromt to poly greasable after 1 year on reg lift bushing that were falling apart already it was better also . and thay last a lot longer .
and ball joint press and master adaptor set make easy work of r/b bushings removed from springs .
Interesting. Thanks for the info; more to ponder.
Seems like I bought the poly bushings from Kert back when I had the k5 for pretty cheap each instead of buying a energy suspension "kit".
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