My Slow 71 GMC Build

[lukefalls]

Cool build. Going fast really is the most fun you'll have, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Thanks. Right now I am working on the final details of the rear 4 link. I am trying to decide on how much anti-squat I want. Some say 80% is still a good number. I've read a few posts over on Pirate about guys running negative numbers and numbers over 100%

I don't know why Robby Gordon won't return my calls to tell me about his set-up.

Kidding

 

[lukefalls]

My WFO Concepts 14 bolt truss showed up today. Its beautiful. It fit perfect...I mean really perfect. All of the bolt holes lined up and went on well.

I also ordered some rod ends from them. They large for uppers, but they shouldn't fail.

Now that I put the truss in place, I double checked all of my rear 4 link measurements to account for the actual parts. NOT GOOD. I don't like my roll axis at all, but short of lowering the truck, don't think that I can do much about it. I can try lowering the front of the upper link, but I don't think that I can go that low.

I am too stupid to put my link calculations up with taking a picture of it. Let me know if you guys have any suggestions. Tried to set this up as a go-fast set up.

 

[Avery4jc]

Truss looks killer!

 

[Avery4jc]

I am too stupid to put my link calculations up with taking a picture of it. Let me know if you guys have any suggestions.

There is a button on your keyboard that says print screen (or something along those lines, my laptop's keyboard button says "prnt Scrn".... it might be it's own button or you might have to hit control while you hit it. Either way it'll take a screen shot when you hit it (you won't know, nothing really happens it just snaps a screen shot).
Then go into MSPaint and hit paste, then you can save it as a .jpg or whatever you want and post it up.

 

[lukefalls]

Awesome, thanks

 

[lukefalls]

 

[Greg72]

Alt-PrtScrn: Will do a screen capture of the active window on your desktop
Shift-PrtScrn: Will capture ALL items on the entire screen (All windows, toolbars, etc)

Open MS Paint afterwards, do a Ctrl-V to paste it in there then save it as a .JPG and its ready for Photobucket or whatever web hosting pic spot you use.

 

[lukefalls]

Alt-PrtScrn: Will do a screen capture of the active window on your desktop
Shift-PrtScrn: Will capture ALL items on the entire screen (All windows, toolbars, etc)

Open MS Paint afterwards, do a Ctrl-V to paste it in there then save it as a .JPG and its ready for Photobucket or whatever web hosting pic spot you use.

Thanks guys for the "tech" on how to copy my screen. It worked.

Small update. I designed my lower trailing arms. They are 60" long with a Uni-ball on one end and a rod end on the other. The shocks mounting is centered 1" behind the half way mark (borrowing Giant's design). I am using 1.75x.120 DOM for the lower portion, then plating it with 3/16 and 1/8. The shock mounts 1.5" below the center line and the external bypass is located directly on the center line.

Below is a photo of the top plate roughed out. I need to pick up a 4" hole saw to cut the openings for the shocks. Speaking of which, does anyone know what the outer diameter of a King/Bilstien 2.5" coil over are with the springs mounted? I know the spring is 3" ID.

I'll add a bend to the plate for one end and once the uni-ball is welded, the plate will wrap around the cup.

 

[lukefalls]

Time for a small update.

Rory is 6 months old now, so I am getting to spend a little time the garage again.

After seeing the price of steel in Fairbanks, I decided to cheat and use some Ballistic Fab parts. Overall, I am not impressed with them. The fit and finish was not great. Their link brackets don't fit their link ends, which are supposed to work together. So I modded them a bit. I think that they turned out well. I decided not to use the Ballistic joints anyway. I went with high end 1.25 Heims.

I was able to get the lower links mocked up and get the rear link brackets burned into the frame. Keep in mind that the lower links are temporary until the get the trialing arms complete.



This is the WFO Concepts rear lower link bracket. Their stuff rocks. It fit perfect and was already welded when it arrived. They don't use some lame shipping calculator, they just throw it in a Flat Rate Box. (Ballistic charged me $271 for shipping, then 3 $14 Flat Rate Boxes showed up. )
)

Once I get the other side tacked on, I'll pull the 14 Bolt and clean/paint it.

I also got the Ford 60 mocked up and the bracket tacked onto the housing. I really don't like how the brackets look for the upper link and panhard. I'll have to make something that looks better.

I expect to have the rear all welded up by next weekend. Then I'll start on the rear cage work. It'll be some time until I get the $$$ for the coilovers and bypass shocks.

As always, feedback. How am I doing so far?

 

[NorCal69]

Ask and you shall receive, eh?

Like I said in the PM, your stuff looks awesome, just don't understand 1/2 of it yet..

Between Greg and you, it sure will be cool to see something under a classic 1st gen, other than leafs, that is.

The kid looks Great, Congrats. Is it your first?

 

[lukefalls]

[Like I said in the PM, your stuff looks awesome, just don't understand 1/2 of it yet.. ]

Me either Think full bodied, long travel, medium rock crawler...with a cage.

Thanks for the feedback. Its a good thing that she looks like her mother! She is our first.

 

[lukefalls]

Small update. Got all the links in. It squared-up perfectly. The hours of measuring paid off.

I realized that the link calculator that I posted was not correct. I don't know how the number got messed up...actually, I think that I had down travel when I saved the screen. My anti-squat is about 78, and my roll axis is -4 degrees.

 

[lukefalls]

 

[NV_K5]

Very Nice work. When will you be removing the saw horse from the ass end?

 

[AJs72K5]

Looking good.

 

[lukefalls]

Very Nice work. When will you be removing the saw horse from the ass end?

What? Your truck does not have a kick-stand?

I am going to start the cab and bed cage now so I'll have somewhere to mound the 2.5" King C/Os and bypass shocks. I just need to throw more money at it. I've been reading a ton on cage design, searching to steal ideas, and acquiring materials and tools.

Next update will take a while. My daughter's teeth are staring to come in, which means mommy needs more "alone" time, which means daddy babysits and doesn't build.

 

[lukefalls]

HELP!

So after reading how Mike fixed his rockers, I decided to give my a closer look (thanks Mike!). Mine suck...out loud...twice!

Before I cut into them, I started looking at my drivers' door and front fender to make sure everything was lined up like I wanted. I realized that my door is bent. The upper frame is all outta whack. The biggest problem that I have now is that there is no clearance between the leading edge of the door and the back of the front fender.

I tried to moved the door hinges, but no luck. The are as far aft as they can get. I have a good 1/4+" gap at the aft edge of the door where it meets the cab.

Has anyone built spacers for the door? How does this change how the door swings? I will post pictures of where I'm at now. I was thinking about using 16ga to fit between the hinge and the door.

I think I will build the shims just to see what happens. Any input would be appreciated. Otherwise, I let you know how this works out for me.

Thanks in advance.
Lucas

 

[lukefalls]

Okay, the first few pictures are before pictures. You can see how tight the door is to the fender and how far the door is from the cab.

Here are the shims that I build. Its 16ga steel.

Here are the AFTER pictures. There is almost no change. Also notice how the top off the door frame is so far away from the cab. I've got one finger in there so you can see the gap, but I can almost get two fingers in there.

I'm having all kinds of misallignment issues. I cannot seem to get the door alligned everywhere. Its like the whole door is bent. Two opposite corners are out of whack no matter how I adjust it.

 

[NorCal69]

HELP!

So after reading how Mike fixed his rockers, I decided to give my a closer look (thanks Mike!). Mine suck...out loud...twice!

Sorry Bud, didn't mean to start any chit..

I have no idea how many hours I have into my gaps, but I feel your pain..

When I first tried those new fenders (e-coat) with the new doors nothing worked at all. I ended up enlarging the holes on a spare set of hinges with my torch. I tried a drill press, but that was not happening. With the holes bigger on the two sides (able to push the door back and up) it let me try everything to the extreme and then bring everything back into proportion. I think that the un-hacked ones will actually fit now or at least very close.

I don't get why the shim didn't push your door back at least? Are those the original doors, I thought yours were cut? If not, that may be something. Even with OEM stuff, I've found out some works, some don't.

Have you set your cowl on? That may show you how the back edge is sitting on the fender. Maybe it's to close to the door and needs to move forward. All though it does look like that the door does need to come back from the photos.

How does the front edge of the door align with the front of the outer rocker. Did you install a new rocker?

Sorry I'm not much help. Just trying to get everything down that I came across. Maybe something will click in your noggin and it will only take ten minutes to fix.

Good luck Lucas..

 

[NorCalTank]

What do your body mounts look like? Do you still have the body lift in it? It took me a lot of time on mine to get the gaps correct, shimming the body mounts back and forth. It is amazing how much they will move.