djtoothowd
Member
Newly Dropped on 26s
well i finally lowered my hoe. i went with a 2/3 cuz its a 4wd and i plan to continue towing with it. I went with McGaughy's 2" drop spindles and Belltech's 3/4 adjustable rear drop kit. I went with McGaughy spindles because i liked what i read about them and the claim to keep stock geometry. Heard you loose turning radius with them, which from what i read, i did. Lost about 1/4 turn to the left and 1/2 to the right.....read that there is fix for this by grinding down in some spots (on another forum) but havent tried it yet....i will say i caught hell installing these. i put in new ball joints while i had everything apart and the ball joints (i think were original), werent all that bad to remove but had to use a breaker bar with cheater pipe to remove old and install new....i have a bad ass impact but i guess my air compressor isnt strong enough for it cuz it didnt help. anyway, the McGaughy kit came with nuts for upper and lower ball joints to replace the ones you have but the lower ball joint would not thread onto my Moog ball joint so i used the one supplied with ball joint, then got the front all put together and found my right front wheel was locked up. After inspection i found that my cv axle was pressed against the McGaughy spindle....so i had to tear it all back down again, grind some spots down on the spindle and reinstall. fixed that. Then started on the rear...the rear was a piece of cake....took an hour at most...probably not even that long.
So now for my test drive...i didnt even make it out of the garage.. lol.. i have 26s with 305/30 tire and a 10" wide rim. immediatly had rubbing issues. first main problem was the rear plastic inner fender. trimmed that enough and tried again. still heard rubbing when i gave it even a little gas to make the rear end sqaut a little and turns...went ahead and drove it a little to make some rub marks so i would know where to trim next. once i got home i found i wasnt rubbing the inner fender any more. i was rubbing the lower trailing arm bolt and frame where it mounts. the front only rubs when turning left and it rubs the firewall on most turns and on full lock turns to the left it rubs that wire harness that hangs down on the frame, which i just pushed it on top of the brake lines and zip tied it in place and i believe that fixed that problem.
i am going to try to put wheel spacers on tommarrow until i can afford the Spohn upper and lower trailing arms and a panhard bar. wasnt expecting to need all that with a 2/3 drop but....guess its not an option. also plan on getting the Airlift helper bags and new shocks after the arms...
I do want to give Tony (NorcalSS) his props though. That guy answered all my questions. He text me back quick. Even texted me a few days later to check back with me to make sure i didnt have any problems or any more questions. He was patient with me. Very good, stand up guy. Cant say enough good about that guy. I recommend him.
i will try to add before and after pics.
well i finally lowered my hoe. i went with a 2/3 cuz its a 4wd and i plan to continue towing with it. I went with McGaughy's 2" drop spindles and Belltech's 3/4 adjustable rear drop kit. I went with McGaughy spindles because i liked what i read about them and the claim to keep stock geometry. Heard you loose turning radius with them, which from what i read, i did. Lost about 1/4 turn to the left and 1/2 to the right.....read that there is fix for this by grinding down in some spots (on another forum) but havent tried it yet....i will say i caught hell installing these. i put in new ball joints while i had everything apart and the ball joints (i think were original), werent all that bad to remove but had to use a breaker bar with cheater pipe to remove old and install new....i have a bad ass impact but i guess my air compressor isnt strong enough for it cuz it didnt help. anyway, the McGaughy kit came with nuts for upper and lower ball joints to replace the ones you have but the lower ball joint would not thread onto my Moog ball joint so i used the one supplied with ball joint, then got the front all put together and found my right front wheel was locked up. After inspection i found that my cv axle was pressed against the McGaughy spindle....so i had to tear it all back down again, grind some spots down on the spindle and reinstall. fixed that. Then started on the rear...the rear was a piece of cake....took an hour at most...probably not even that long.
So now for my test drive...i didnt even make it out of the garage.. lol.. i have 26s with 305/30 tire and a 10" wide rim. immediatly had rubbing issues. first main problem was the rear plastic inner fender. trimmed that enough and tried again. still heard rubbing when i gave it even a little gas to make the rear end sqaut a little and turns...went ahead and drove it a little to make some rub marks so i would know where to trim next. once i got home i found i wasnt rubbing the inner fender any more. i was rubbing the lower trailing arm bolt and frame where it mounts. the front only rubs when turning left and it rubs the firewall on most turns and on full lock turns to the left it rubs that wire harness that hangs down on the frame, which i just pushed it on top of the brake lines and zip tied it in place and i believe that fixed that problem.
i am going to try to put wheel spacers on tommarrow until i can afford the Spohn upper and lower trailing arms and a panhard bar. wasnt expecting to need all that with a 2/3 drop but....guess its not an option. also plan on getting the Airlift helper bags and new shocks after the arms...
I do want to give Tony (NorcalSS) his props though. That guy answered all my questions. He text me back quick. Even texted me a few days later to check back with me to make sure i didnt have any problems or any more questions. He was patient with me. Very good, stand up guy. Cant say enough good about that guy. I recommend him.
i will try to add before and after pics.
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