How did I miss this thread???? Nice work. I don't even want to ask but I will, any estimate as to the amount into it?
Again, nice work!
Enough $$ that I could another 4wheelin toy
On a positive note, I now know what every single bolt and hose on this truck does
For me, one of the goals of the build was to replace aging parts and concentrate on areas that I felt needed an upgrade over OEM. One upgrade I knew I needed was to throw out the G80 b/c it was worn down...rather then stick with the 10 bolt (which is actually quite stout), I decided to try this big 14 bolt. I'm easy on the throttle (even when climbing) so I have a feeling the 10bolt would have been adequate, but when I found a 14bolt for $350, I figured the extra strength certainly couldn't hurt....but then I had the entire thing rebuilt from the ground up b/c the thought of a seal possibly leaking 1k miles from home sounded painful!
Also, after all the abuse, I'm hoping to come back with some real world experience for what mods are good/crap etc...versus the "forum opinion".
I've heard from a few guys that tow fees for some of the farther distances I'm going can be as high as $2k just to the "local" auto shop...knowing that makes some of the more expensive mods a little extra insurance.
---------- Post added at 12:16 AM ---------- Previous post was Yesterday at 11:43 PM ----------
i finally was able to upload some more progress photos...so here we go!!
Can anyone guess what may go in here? (i cut and grinded the heck out of it...came out pretty clean IMO)
On to the venerable 14 bolt and Alcan springs.
If you are going to replace your springs, plan on dropping your tank. I decided in my infinite wisdom that if I cut all the old bolts, it would piece of cake...wrong!
There is one bolt that butts up against the gas tank that once you cut the head off, it falls in between the frame and gas tank. The head of the bolt is bigger then the opening in the frame, so you can't simply grab a magnet and pull it out...also, these are grade 8 bolts, so unless you want to spend hours with a Sawzall, grab a grinder and go to town
- 10bolt stripped and ready to come out
- got it out nice and easy! I had new ubolts, so this part was actually pretty simple
This is where it gets painful...spring removal...it took me over a day to get these out b/c I didn't drop the tank and had to run to home depot twice for bigger cutting blades
- i did this at about 11p when I saw it was going to take hours of squirming to cut the bolt
New springs in - really easy - I installed with the head of bolt facing out
14 bolt in - POR'd it and with that ridiculous thick BlueFab diff cover, this thing is beefy
The RCX shocks are in the rear (white in the photo) as I wait for a bracket for my rear 5150's...sadly, the front 5150's are no valved heavy enough for this truck, so i'm ordering 5100's tonight
The driveshaft is also in, tomorrow is some buttoning up and then I go to pick up my new rear bumper!
