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MAJOR trimming?

four_by_ken

four_by_ken

1/2 ton status
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Just looking at what I am going to be running into with some major trimming on a K5. Now... I do NOT want to boat side, or narrow the front or the rear, etc.

What are the problem areas? From what I know...

In the front the radiator support will need to be modified and also the firewall? What problems can these two places lead to?
 
I took care of the firewall with a large hammer, it will move quite a ways! LOL

while I am narrowed up front the firewall is full width, I have about 3" of lift and had 44s for a while
 
Right now I am at about 8 inches of suspension lift and 2 inch body lift, and 44s. I am not concern right now... as I wont have to be too drastic with the trimming.

But..... but.... future plans I have in the works may require me to trim a lot more.
:D
 
The third page of my build thread has some dimensions for trimming with 40's and 4" retaining the inners.

There are quite a few pics of the firewall area. I still rub under the rad support when I stuff the tire while its turned, but its smooth there.
 
Oh, and to add a little more... I will have to still keep some kind of inner fenders as I run mud almost all the time. Even on the trails... there is a lot of mud usually.
 
MTBLAZER89 said:
The third page of my build thread has some dimensions for trimming with 40's and 4" retaining the inners.

There are quite a few pics of the firewall area. I still rub under the rad support when I stuff the tire while its turned, but its smooth there.
Click to expand...


Your tires tuck in there real nice. Good job with the fitment.


I just think that even with phase 1 of this build I will have to trim a lot more than that. And them when I take the next step... there will be a lot more.
 
I have run a really lame inner fender well setup but it would not be too hard to fab up one out of some sheet metal and stuff.

My fenders are trimmed up to the body line, but as you have already realized its not the up that is the problem its the front and back.

I have looked are redoing the firewall area where the tire hits and it doesn't seem too hard, somewhat time consuming but not too hard.

Soooooo future plans? do they include some non DOT tires?:D and or axles with square tube in them? :D
 
Thanks :wink1: Correction page two has cutting pics too. I cut as far as I could without cutting into the firewall then pounded the firewall in a couple inches.

This is under my rad support though. Still working it out, but for now it doesn't rub often

IMG_4465.jpg
 
I don't know how you guys get that much tire and not rub. My 37's with 52's rub the firewall and fenders. It is narrowed 9" on each side which brought the core support back about three inches. I have trimmed the fenders within an inch of the bodyline and still hit the firewall and fenders. What am I missing?


Hijack off.
 
It's honestly been so long that I don't remember exactly what I did. ~5" of lift on wide 40's. Front axle was pushed 1.5" forward. This was about as far as I could go while retaining the factory inner fenders. If you're handy with sheetmetal, you could ditch the factory pieces and make your own.

Picture0241.jpg
 
four_by_ken said:
In the front the radiator support will need to be modified and also the firewall? What problems can these two places lead to?
Click to expand...

Skipped over this part the first time. I haven't seen it done on a Chevy, but Toyota guys "tub" the firewall all the time. Cut out the offending corner, patch it back in with a flat or bowl shape.

The only issue I think one would run into is you're pretty close to getting into the curvature that starts to support the doors there. Otherwise, relocate your battery and hack away at the radiator support.
 
four_by_ken said:
OK... care to expand a little more? Any pictures?
Click to expand...


I know you said that you didn't want to narrow the front... I did... You could still go with something similar and keep it standard width though... We did that on a buddies rig...

I cut 6" out of each side on the rad support between the headlight and the radiator... Alson everything under the headlights... Ran pipe on the upper body line and center body line, then cut just the skin of the fender to hang over those and built an inner fender using angle and sheet...

Going with the 52s in front moved my axle away from the firewall...

On my buddies, we cut out below the headlights, added the pipe, hung the skin and built inners with angle and sheet...


Here's a pic of mine...

0314101243.jpg




His looks almost the same, we didn't cut anything out between the headlight and the rad...
 
How much can I gain with spring perches? I am thinking the front forward and inch and the rear rearward an inch?
 
I moved my D60 front forward in my old Jimmy just by redrilling the perches and spring plates. I got 1.25" out of it no problem.

Rene
 
four_by_ken said:
I have also been told that the cab mount at the rear of the front fender is also a problem.
Click to expand...

No you shouldnt have any issues with that body mount. The firewall will be in the way long before that. You can see the mount in Lueys pic above. Its right at the bottom of the firewall.

four_by_ken said:
How much can I gain with spring perches? I am thinking the front forward and inch and the rear rearward an inch?
Click to expand...

Yeah like Rene said 1"-1.25" by redrilling preches.

As I mentioned above The more you move forward to get the tire out of the firewall the rad support becomes the issue. I am thinking about cutting everything under my headlights out and re fabbing that portion of the inners.
 
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