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Project Snow Bear K20!

Overview Gallery Discussion
imiceman44 said:
Do you need just the switch or the whole setup with crossmember?
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Honestly, I'm not sure what I need. I have not troubleshot the system at all. It is all still installed on my truck.I just know it wasn't working before tearing the truck down. Since everything is exposed now I figured it was a great time to just replace it all. I may not be keeping the saddle tanks but whatever I do end up doing I will have a main and auxiliary tank so I could use the same system.
 
Builders Note: Factory spring bushings stink like HELL when you they catch on fire. Rebuilding my spring packs to get everything just like I want it without the overload. One "parts spring" had the bolt seized in the mount. Breaker bar...no dice. Impact no dice...BIGGER impact, no go. So I got the torch out. Long story short the bolt came out after nearly cutting it in half setting the bushing a blaze. Don't do that.
 
I've done a ton of superduty leaf springs. Just about every set the bolt is seized in the shackle to frame bracket and I always just torch through the eye and bushing and inner sleeve until they come out. They are horrible stinky, especially inside a building. The under bed winch idea would be good if you can get the cable straight out the back without the crossmembers and stuff in the way. I was picturing above or through the bed with the cable ran across the floor and out the back but then its all in the way of other uses of the bed.
 
Truckman4life said:
I've done a ton of superduty leaf springs. Just about every set the bolt is seized in the shackle to frame bracket and I always just torch through the eye and bushing and inner sleeve until they come out. They are horrible stinky, especially inside a building. The under bed winch idea would be good if you can get the cable straight out the back without the crossmembers and stuff in the way. I was picturing above or through the bed with the cable ran across the floor and out the back but then its all in the way of other uses of the bed.
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I think it's doable, I had just not considered doing it that way. It does open up some other uses for it as you mentioned. The only consideration for me is how to use it off of the back of the truck for recovery. I could certainly figure it out.

That's essentially what I had to do with that bolt. Just burned it out with a torch. I didn't need tha bushing anyway it was just connected to the frame bracket. I'll put it back in with anti-seize as I am flipping the shackles upside down on the frame. I was removing the overloads from the springs I am using, I don't think I will use them.
 
One very nice "PRO" to mid mounting the winch would be that I can use the suburban fuel tank in the back of the truck without any issue at all. I'm planning to pull it from the donor SUB as soon as the rain stops here.

One small concern I have is that I have never tried to Lift anything using a PTO winch...Hmmm, that should be interesting.
 
Screwed out of the whole day for rain here. Tomorrow should be better. If It is I will get some larger saw horses made up to set the cab on for the work I need to do to it. Believe it or not I expect the mechanical and frame work to go relatively fast. When I get on a roll, I tend to stay there till it's done. I want to get the cab ready to just set back on the chassis with the new seats,seat belts and console and things installed. Makes it SOOOO much easier with it off the truck to weld or install the little stupid things I need to do. First step, get it elevated and cleaned up.
 
Haven't done anything to take pics of. Hopefully the rain will hold off today and I can get the rear springs finalized and rear axle hung. Several hours of work there but I think I can get it done.
 
So today's efforts were fruitful. Got the drivers side spring assembled, dropped the overload on both sides. Got the rear axle placed and mocked up. Still need to adjust the side to side spacing a small amount before burning in the spring perches. Everything went together smoothly. I went ahead and used the factory spacer blocks and the stock u bolts for now. Not sure if I'll keep that setup but for now it gets everything bolted together. Everything else looks pretty dang good. Not sure how much lift I have just yet. Frame over the axle is about 34 inches from the ground. Looks to be about 5-6" of lift. Of course this will change as The frame has no weight on it. Rear shackle flip on the stock hangers looks perfect. I added about 500 pounds of weight to the rear bumper and the shackles rotated to about 15 degrees or so. I like it. Everything is moving along so that I can get the chassis rolling and down to my shop. Just have to be patient I guess. PICS PICS PICS!

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Got the front half of the frame leveled up and cleaned off of nonsense. Rolled the front axle into place. Sort of a pain in the ass to do everything by yourself on dirt but we'll get there. All I am really looking to do at this point is get things lined up and get some temporary mounts tacked up. When I get the front axle located and the control arms located I will likely tack in a piece of square tubing to hold the front axle where I need it to build the suspension. In the meantime it should allow me to get the thing rolling again, which will be a big step.

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One thing I noticed was that the stock Superduty springs located the axle one inch further forward than the stock Chevy axle. Then the factory lift blocks pushed it back an inch....weird
 
More progress today:

Located the frame brackets for the lower links.Tacked everything in and then did a fillet weld to hold it for now. I will go back and brace this when I start on the transmission crossmember, which will tie it all together....you'll see! Front axle is in now and located about 3.5" forward. I sat and started at this for some time before deciding to push it that far forward but as it is it should clear everything underneath with no BS. Welded in two temporary struts from square tubing. These hold everything in place, keep the dimensions true and will allow me to build my coil over hoops. Now I can locate the track bar and work on the steering. I'm working on the front pinion angle so that I can build the upper mounts for the control arms. Things are rocking right along. PICS!

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One last pic from today. Got the short upper arms built. 12" exactly eye center to center. That was the number I was looking for. All this planning and nonsense is finally starting to come together. The Snow bear is back to being a roller now! Next step is to get the drivetrain in and fab a cross member to tie all this crap together. Having the 454 in place will also allow me to get the shock hoops welded up (once I get some) and do the crossover bar at the same time. Built not Bought baby....

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Truckman4life said:
Working in the dirt like that looks like a whole lot of extra monkeying around.
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No so much of a pain except you have to get everything level and square before starting on any welding or fab work. Now that it is sitting on the axles again that makes it MUCH easier. I use repeatable location points on the frame to weld to. Not creating points out of thin air.
 
Did you find some coilovers for this yet?

Digging that High Pinion D60.
 
I have not found coil overs yet. I keep getting an infusion of money and having to use it for other stuff. It's killing me.
The front super 60 is really cool, it's just wide. REALLY wide. I have the pinion set at 5 degrees and the upper control arms zero'd out so I can put as much as I want. I will play with it more when I get the transfer case in.

Also looks like the track bar is going to work in stock form. Not sure what is going to have to happen with the steering box yet. It will need to move forward for sure.
 
So why keep the factory blocks?

I don't like blocks in any situation. Glad you bolted it all on that's easy to do.
 
blazinzuk said:
So why keep the factory blocks?

I don't like blocks in any situation. Glad you bolted it all on that's easy to do.
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Honestly? I did it because the bolts that I had were factory length and I needed them to get it all bolted up. What's really weird is the pin on the spring is 1" forward. The factory block corrects it backwards an inch before connecting to the spring perch. Makes no sense to me. Anyway, it will all change when I get some new u bolts in from DIY4X with the heavy duty spring plates as well.
 
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