Switch definitely knows their stuff, I just wish they were not as stuck up and rude. Or at least they were to me when I called and asked questions.
CK5
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They're right up the road from me, they've been very helpful. I got the drop spindles and all the air management system from them.
Maybe it was just a off day for someone
Thing's are looking much better after today! I picked up the upper plates from Switch, I did have to modify them a tiny bit to work with the QA1 bump stop, but not a big deal.
The bags showed up from Summit on Friday so after drilling the holes in the crossmember we bolted those up and mounted the plates.
After testing a few different options, the easiest option seemed to work. I cut a couple plates out, ground the powder coat off the lower arms and tacked them in place. With the bag fully compressed we marked where it sat and drilled a hole in the middle to mount the bag to the lower plate.
We tested the bags and the stiffness of the front end and everything seemed to work and feel great, so we moved on to the next issue. The clamps for the level sensors would no longer work, so we made some new tabs to mount those (now that the paint is trashed, welding was an option). Once we got the level sensors in I tested out the whole system and calibrated the level sensors. Everything worked perfectly, the suspension feels compliant and should give a good ride (pretty even front and rear). The only thing left at this point was the shocks. It looked like I could make the QA1's work in the factory location, so we went with that. The factory upper mount is 9/16, but the QA1 shocks need a 1/2" bolt, I threw it in my Harbor Freight mini lathe and turned it down to the right size. For the bottom mount, Amber found a set of tabs in my spare parts bucket that worked perfectly.
We got one side tacked in place and made sure we had full travel, we need to do the other side tomorrow, then take it all apart again for finish welding and paint. I'm hoping to finish that up tomorrow, then work on the rear brake lines and rear crossmember. More pictures tomorrow!
The bags showed up from Summit on Friday so after drilling the holes in the crossmember we bolted those up and mounted the plates.
After testing a few different options, the easiest option seemed to work. I cut a couple plates out, ground the powder coat off the lower arms and tacked them in place. With the bag fully compressed we marked where it sat and drilled a hole in the middle to mount the bag to the lower plate.
We tested the bags and the stiffness of the front end and everything seemed to work and feel great, so we moved on to the next issue. The clamps for the level sensors would no longer work, so we made some new tabs to mount those (now that the paint is trashed, welding was an option). Once we got the level sensors in I tested out the whole system and calibrated the level sensors. Everything worked perfectly, the suspension feels compliant and should give a good ride (pretty even front and rear). The only thing left at this point was the shocks. It looked like I could make the QA1's work in the factory location, so we went with that. The factory upper mount is 9/16, but the QA1 shocks need a 1/2" bolt, I threw it in my Harbor Freight mini lathe and turned it down to the right size. For the bottom mount, Amber found a set of tabs in my spare parts bucket that worked perfectly.
We got one side tacked in place and made sure we had full travel, we need to do the other side tomorrow, then take it all apart again for finish welding and paint. I'm hoping to finish that up tomorrow, then work on the rear brake lines and rear crossmember. More pictures tomorrow!
We went back out today, Amber started working on moving the wiring and hoses for the front and I started working on the second shock mount. I turned down the second stock upper mount and tacked the lower mount on to the a-arm.
Once that was done, the lower arms and bag mounts came back out for final welding and paint. We started working on the rear brake lines, but didn't make much progress. When the paint was dry we put the front end back together for hopefully the final time, torqued everything to spec and greased all the zirks.
We need to do the brakes next, we need to make up the hard lines on the rear axle, source some new soft lines for the rear calipers, install and plumb the hydroboost master cylinder and bleed the system. We also need to get the driveshaft modified, that may just be a conversion u-joint or possibly modified back section.
Once that was done, the lower arms and bag mounts came back out for final welding and paint. We started working on the rear brake lines, but didn't make much progress. When the paint was dry we put the front end back together for hopefully the final time, torqued everything to spec and greased all the zirks.
We need to do the brakes next, we need to make up the hard lines on the rear axle, source some new soft lines for the rear calipers, install and plumb the hydroboost master cylinder and bleed the system. We also need to get the driveshaft modified, that may just be a conversion u-joint or possibly modified back section.
Another weekend in the shop working on the shop truck. I'm really hoping to be driving this in the next couple weeks, the to do list is getting short!
We started out the weekend by making a new crossmember. While working with the rear suspension I realized that the watt's link passenger side mount warped a bit when I boxed it in, I had already planned on bracing it, but now I had to push it back where it belonged. We removed the watt's link, took a couple heims with jam nuts and a section of 3/4" conduit we had laying around and used that to bolt between the two frame side mounts to push the bracket out where it belonged while we worked on the crossmember. The crossmember is 2 1.5" .120 wall DOM tubes with an 1/8" plate welded between them. I made a kicker to come down off that to brace the passenger watt's link mount.
With that sorted out, we pulled the axle out and painted it along with the new crossmember. This morning we went back out, made the final brake line, and put everything back together. The finned diff cover I bought didn't fit with the watt's link so we just painted the stock one and put that on.
We adjusted the rear axle and locked it in, measured for a driveshaft and moved on to the next step.
Since I do plan on adding a turbo(or two) later I wanted to swap out the vacuum boost brakes for hydroboost. We picked up a kit from POL and got to work.
That's where we stopped for the day. I'm going to run a valve (from ORD) on my rear brakes for various reasons so we need some additional fittings to finish up the brakes, plus I need to figure out what I have and what I need to make the new power steering lines and get that hooked up. We also took the opportunity while it was on the lift to fix a trans leak (at the shifter) and an oil leak (at the oil pressure adapter). Hopefully it stops marking it's spot.
Almost drivable again! Time to start ordering more parts so we can finish this thing up.
We started out the weekend by making a new crossmember. While working with the rear suspension I realized that the watt's link passenger side mount warped a bit when I boxed it in, I had already planned on bracing it, but now I had to push it back where it belonged. We removed the watt's link, took a couple heims with jam nuts and a section of 3/4" conduit we had laying around and used that to bolt between the two frame side mounts to push the bracket out where it belonged while we worked on the crossmember. The crossmember is 2 1.5" .120 wall DOM tubes with an 1/8" plate welded between them. I made a kicker to come down off that to brace the passenger watt's link mount.
With that sorted out, we pulled the axle out and painted it along with the new crossmember. This morning we went back out, made the final brake line, and put everything back together. The finned diff cover I bought didn't fit with the watt's link so we just painted the stock one and put that on.
We adjusted the rear axle and locked it in, measured for a driveshaft and moved on to the next step.
Since I do plan on adding a turbo(or two) later I wanted to swap out the vacuum boost brakes for hydroboost. We picked up a kit from POL and got to work.
That's where we stopped for the day. I'm going to run a valve (from ORD) on my rear brakes for various reasons so we need some additional fittings to finish up the brakes, plus I need to figure out what I have and what I need to make the new power steering lines and get that hooked up. We also took the opportunity while it was on the lift to fix a trans leak (at the shifter) and an oil leak (at the oil pressure adapter). Hopefully it stops marking it's spot.
Almost drivable again! Time to start ordering more parts so we can finish this thing up.
I will have to check this out soon, it’s looking really good.
I ordered all the parts I need to finish up the brake lines this morning. Now I need to figure out what I need for the power steering side so I can finish that up.
After much measuring I ordered the stock 2004 6.0 2500HD pump to hydroboost line and some adapters to run a -6AN line from the hydroboost to the steering gear. I'm really hopeful to have this driving by the end of the weekend.
We had a little time to work out in the shop tonight, so we drained the PS pump, removed the factory high pressure line, swapped out the fitting in the back to an o-ring style, clocked the hydroboost back to factory orientation, and verified that the factory 2004 2500HD 6.0L hose worked.
We have all the fittings for the brake lines as well, but wrestling with the hydraulic lines took up too much time. I'll need to make a custom line to go from the booster to the steering gear, but I did verify that we had the correct -6 AN adapters for the pump and box.
We have all the fittings for the brake lines as well, but wrestling with the hydraulic lines took up too much time. I'll need to make a custom line to go from the booster to the steering gear, but I did verify that we had the correct -6 AN adapters for the pump and box.
This week has been crazy busy, I was hoping to have this driving this weekend, but we remembered last night that I hadn't ordered the driveshaft yet...
That's done now, but it will be Monday or Tuesday before it's ready
That's done now, but it will be Monday or Tuesday before it's ready
Thats a bummer, but will give you two time to look everything over again.
Thanks for the cold beverage and letting me check it out, really cool truck.
Thanks for the cold beverage and letting me check it out, really cool truck.
Yep, we realized our mistake last night. It's been a hectic week.In a two wheel drive truck, the driveshaft becomes very essential.
Yesterday did not go as planned. We headed out in the shop to make the last couple brake lines and power steering lines yesterday morning, we started with finishing up the brakes and decided to bleed them, this is where it all went wrong. It turns out, just because the expensive parts you bought didn't come with instructions (and they don't have any on their website), it doesn't mean that they don't have special installation requirements... We spent most of the day trying to get the brakes bled, we tried vacuum bleeding, pressure bleeding (with a power bleeder), regular bleeding and a lot of cursing and yelling. Finally I looked at the old -vs- new booster/master setups and remembered that the vacuum booster has a lever system that moves the pushrod on the master/booster much farther than the pedal does. After a ton of google searches, looking at other manufacturers install instructions/pictures and some DIY solutions it was clear we needed to move the pushrod further down on the brake pedal arm.
The POL kit came with a heim to replace the factory pivot on the axle and just used a bolt, unfortunately this setup would not fit between the steering column and the brake pedal so it had to be put on the other side of the pedal which resulted in poor alignment. Since we had to take the whole thing apart anyways, I modified the stock parts to work with the new master, pulled the pedal out, drilled a second hole and put it all back together, it's just that easy! I think combined Amber and I spent 3 hours or so laying under the dash taking things apart or putting them back together. The moral of the story is, don't ever buy anything from Performance Online/Western Chassis. The hydroboost assmble requires modifications that are not mentioned anywhere on POL/WC's sites and not doing this modification will leave you with a very soft/unusable pedal.
Here are the mods I did, we referred to Classic Performance Products instructions and drilled a hole that would align the pushrod with the master cylinder.
With that taken care of, we had a much better pedal and moved on to the power steering side. We made up a new high pressure line that went from the hydroboost to the steering box and ran some low pressure hose from the booster to the reservoir.
You can see the bulkhead fittings for the rear brake lines in this shot.
Since we didn't have the driveshaft we opted to work on something else rather than get the truck running again right now. I'm not sure how many of you have noticed the horrible 6x9 holes that the previous owner "cut" in the doors, but they were awful. I think he used a combination of a dremel tool, hammer, tin snips, teeth, meth, and anything that would leave the maximum amount of jagged, pointy bits sticking out. Rather than replacing the doors, for now I hammered the existing holes flat, welded in some patch material (they had actually cut the holes too big) and reinstalled some 6x9s for the soon to be installed head unit.
It's nice not being able to look inside my door all the time. I'll finish up this post with a couple interior shots, we've got the dash pulled apart for the head unit install and to replace some wiring for the Holly Dash, but you can see the AccuAir ECU, control panel and the ORD brake valve in these shots.
I need to modify the carrier bearing crossmember so I can get the one piece driveshaft in, I'll likely make it into a driveshaft hoop for added safety/strength. Once the driveshaft is installed it should be driveable, although it does need an alignment.
We're camping next weekend so I don't think we'll get much else done for a couple weeks, but I may get the driveshaft in sooner than that just to see how it drives.
The POL kit came with a heim to replace the factory pivot on the axle and just used a bolt, unfortunately this setup would not fit between the steering column and the brake pedal so it had to be put on the other side of the pedal which resulted in poor alignment. Since we had to take the whole thing apart anyways, I modified the stock parts to work with the new master, pulled the pedal out, drilled a second hole and put it all back together, it's just that easy! I think combined Amber and I spent 3 hours or so laying under the dash taking things apart or putting them back together. The moral of the story is, don't ever buy anything from Performance Online/Western Chassis. The hydroboost assmble requires modifications that are not mentioned anywhere on POL/WC's sites and not doing this modification will leave you with a very soft/unusable pedal.
Here are the mods I did, we referred to Classic Performance Products instructions and drilled a hole that would align the pushrod with the master cylinder.
With that taken care of, we had a much better pedal and moved on to the power steering side. We made up a new high pressure line that went from the hydroboost to the steering box and ran some low pressure hose from the booster to the reservoir.
You can see the bulkhead fittings for the rear brake lines in this shot.
Since we didn't have the driveshaft we opted to work on something else rather than get the truck running again right now. I'm not sure how many of you have noticed the horrible 6x9 holes that the previous owner "cut" in the doors, but they were awful. I think he used a combination of a dremel tool, hammer, tin snips, teeth, meth, and anything that would leave the maximum amount of jagged, pointy bits sticking out. Rather than replacing the doors, for now I hammered the existing holes flat, welded in some patch material (they had actually cut the holes too big) and reinstalled some 6x9s for the soon to be installed head unit.
It's nice not being able to look inside my door all the time. I'll finish up this post with a couple interior shots, we've got the dash pulled apart for the head unit install and to replace some wiring for the Holly Dash, but you can see the AccuAir ECU, control panel and the ORD brake valve in these shots.
I need to modify the carrier bearing crossmember so I can get the one piece driveshaft in, I'll likely make it into a driveshaft hoop for added safety/strength. Once the driveshaft is installed it should be driveable, although it does need an alignment.
We're camping next weekend so I don't think we'll get much else done for a couple weeks, but I may get the driveshaft in sooner than that just to see how it drives.
This is why there are so many unfinished projects.
Advertised as bolt in. Bought by someone with limited skills. No understanding on how to make it work.
I have ran into that many times.
Nice work, as usual.
You just explained my entire build, luckily I had some help from a few talented individuals.
The no instructions thing is new to me. I've never ordered so many parts that just don't come with any instructions even though they're clearly a custom part that requires modifications to install. I'm not sure why these custom parts places are moving this direction, it just results in unhappy customers and lots of calls for support.
If it's application specific then I can see having instructions but if it's a part that can be installed across multiple applications in multiple ways, then I could see there being no instructions.
This product was sold specifically for a 67-72 C10/20/30 with 4 wheel disk brakes. Pretty specific.
