Sas's 'Will It Fit in the Garage' Build

For sure, a buddy of mine lives down in the DFW area so will have to make a weekend of it one of these trips.

 

Thanks Dan, I appreciate the advice and direction on the suspension choice. I can feel a marked difference on the rough parts of our crappy Oklahoma roads, of which there is no shortage lol.

 

Were going to have to have a MOD weekend in the near future. Im on the brink of pulling the trigger on all the rest of my crap.

 

I saw that. I'm going to be out of town a lot in Oct so the timing might be bad on this one.

 

Yeah me too hunting season is starting. So i might have to do it in chunks.

 

I like your priorities.

 

Damn that looks good. Now it's time to send it off a jump...

 

looking good buddy ! blacked out rims look great !

 

Thanks gents! I'll wish we had an off-road park close by to air it out a bit. I need to make another trip down to Cross Bar Ranch here in OK soon. Also headed out to see my sis in Prescott, AZ the week of October 8th, so maybe I can hook up with a few of those folks while I'm out there.

 

PM sent

 

Looks great, but damn dude all that work and that dash is dirty as all get out...I am disappoint son....LOL

Looks great, if I get the LED headlights think you can give me a hand wiring them in..

 

Lol, yep, it's definitely time to give the interior a good cleaning. Driving with the windows open all the time in construction zones did me 0 favors in that department.

Yeah, I can help out with that. Let me know when you're wanting to do it and we'll figure out a good time to git 'er dun.

 

That looks really good!!

 

Truck looks unreal!! Sooooo I may have missed it but what's the suspension/wheel/tire set up? When the suspension in my 16 pro goes I'm gonna be coming your way for some suggestion..

 

Thanks! I thought I posted the suspension components here, but maybe I forgot to do so. Anyhoo, here's a pic below for that. The leaf springs are Deaver U748's. I got it all from Matthew over at @M C M. He's a great dude and has been immensely helpful. @GiantsFanDan is the one who initially turned me on to this setup. I think he's been running the exact same thing or something very close for a while now. The tires are Nitto Ridge Grappler 35x12.5x18 and wheels are Method Grid 18x9 with a +18 offset.

 

good shit !

 

Okay, so here's the suspension install post. This is gonna be a long one (giggity), so go grab a beer or three, sit back and settle in for a bit. I'll try to break up the monotony with a dick & fart joke here and there. Also forgive my lack of proper terminology. I'm sure I'm calling some of these miscellaneous parts the wrong thing.

I want to start off by saying this was by far the most difficult automotive install/upgrade/fix/whatever I've ever done. It was insanely frustrating and exhausting, but also incredibly rewarding once I finally finished it up. If I knew then what I know now I don't think I'd do it again. Well, at least not without help. Tackling this alone is obviously doable, but I wouldn't recommend it. You need to have quite a few tools, a lot of strength and a lot of body weight to throw around because you're going to have to use a shit ton of leverage to get things in place.

Let's get this show on the road!

A couple of posts up is the list of components that went in as well as the wheels and tires, so I won't bother posting it again here. I started prepping the UCA's and leaf springs Thursday night to try and get a head start on the weekend. The bushings and steel tubes went into the springs easily enough, but when it came to the UCA's, the tubes were a bitch to get into the bushings. I greased them up but they were extremely tight. So I ended out having to use some clamps. I began tightening them by hand which was my first mistake. That's where the blisters started... yep, right at the beginning of the entire install.



I should've taken that as a warning shot that this install was going to be anything but easy. I ended out having to use locking pliers to get the handles turned from that point on, then I left the clamps on for a bit to let the steel tube settle in evenly in the bushings.


Friday evening finally came around and excited me couldn't wait to get started. However, I had to wait on the damn rain to end though because it was blowing into the garage and I'm not able to work efficiently with the garage door closed. It would've been a lot of low-crawling under the truck to get from one side to the other so I decided to wait out. Once it finally passed I chocked the front tires, jacked the truck up high enough to account for the new wheels/tires, positioned and checked the jack stands, then got after it. As I like to do, I started working the rear.
The original shocks and leaf springs came out easily enough. The springs were a little cumbersome but not terrible. "Cool" I thought to myself, "this isn't going to be all that bad". Yeaaaaah...

The leaf springs went in first and they about ended the install right then and there. If the passenger's side was a bitch, the driver's side was the ugly, cock-blocking friend with her. The gas tank is what made the driver's side such a PITA. Trying to maneuver it around everything and get the center bolt of the leaf spring to drop into its slot was like playing that kid's game where you try to get all the little plastic balls into the clown's face - but with a butt-ton of weight added. Those leafs were easy enough to carry around the garage, but once you start getting them away from your body they become exponentially more difficult to deal with. I was using my legs to try and push the things in place at one point. It was honestly a little nerve-wracking as well because the rear diff was being supported by one of my floor jacks and I sure as shit didn't want that releasing or slipping off. In the end it worked out, but it took all of Friday night and into early Saturday morning to get them in place and all the accompanying hardware installed.


You've made it this far, so here's a reward:

What's worse than sending the girl you've been seeing a dick pic and getting no reply? Her sending one back.​

So now that those were installed it was time to put in the shocks. They came out easily enough so they can't be that hard to put in right? Yeaaaaah...

I ended out having to break out my second floor jack to compress them to get them in. I was also pushing on the jack with my legs to get it positioned just perfectly and fiddling with the height of the jack that was supporting the diff to find a sweet spot for the bottom of the shock to fit into that little housing. The main problem was the angle of the shock compared to the housing. It just kept wedging itself at the wrong angle and wouldn't go in. I finally found the sweet spot, but man was it frustrating. After talking to Matthew at @M C M about it in the following days, it turns out that I actually did this he hard way. Apparently instead of putting in the top and then trying to fit the bottom, he starts by putting in the base of the shock. Doh.



I chalked that brain fart up to being really tired. However, that too was finally defeated and both of the shocks were finally installed a little before dawn. I threw on the new tires/wheels real quick to see if it would get in and out of the garage and to pull it in so I could get some sleep.


Here's what the stance looked like. The front still has the old wheels/tires and the rear has the new ones.


Pussy break.



So after a well-deserved shower and a whopping 3h of sleep, I was back at it. It was time to get the front done and I was, ohh, let's say slightly less than enthusiastic at this point. The blisters on my hands had popped while putting on the leaf springs so they were hurting, not to mention I hadn't really recovered much energy or strength either. I remember thinking how much easier this would've gone had it been 24 year-old me instead of 44 year-old me. "Don't be such a pussy and get going" I told myself.

So the process started again. Parking brake. Floor jack. Jack stands. Check vehicle stability.

The hardest part of this entire thing was about to come (double giggity). Everything about the front suspension fought me every chance it got.

The first big hurdle was breaking the nut's grip on the UCA bolts. I hit them with penetrating lube (gig... well, you get it) multiple times and got nowhere fast. The passenger side's nut was on so tight that it actually ended out rotating the entire bolt. I had to use another socket wrench on the bolt end and wedge it against the vehicle while working the nut with my breaker bar w/an extension to finally break it.


Once that was off, the UCA was easy to remove. So all that was left was the shock itself. Yes, I was getting close so I should be wrapping up before long! Yeaaaaah...

The first challenge was just getting the original shock off. I didn't have the stabilizer bar off yet so I was in a full-blown exercise in futility for a little while before deciding that it should probably come off to give the LCA some more droop. Once that was off I ended out crawling into the wheel well and sitting on the brake rotor as best as I could w/o screwing something up to get the shock out. Mind you I'm 6'4" and weigh 250 lbs, so not only is that not an easy space to get in and out of, it's also important to note that it takes a lot to get that LCA to drop low enough to get the shock out of its housing. It did finally yield though after a long while and a lot of tries, so I was able to check off another box.

At some point during that process I actually managed to sit too far back on the toolbox seat I was using and fell back into one of my other jack stands. It gave me a nice gash on my side and tore the shirt I had on to boot. Talk about pouring salt in the wound. Don't worry, I'm not going to take a pic of that bit of nastiness.

So here's a nasty joke instead:

What do the Mafia and pussies have in common?
One slip of the tongue, and you’re in deep shit.​

I noticed that the new coilover was a little longer than the old one so I was worried about how I was going to get it in. I tried the sitting-on-the-brake method several times, but it just wasn't happening. After a whole lot of other random, futile efforts, Saturday afternoon had rolled around and a buddy of mine had come over to watch the OSU/Tech game (great job laying an egg on that one BTW Cowboys). So I let him have a go at it since he's a little heavier than me. We got a little closer, but still nothing-doing. At this point I was nearly at my wits end so I reached out to the forums here as well as Matthew for some guidance. So I let the forums and emails stew for a bit while he grilled up some pork tenderloin and we watched the game. I don't know how I stayed awake because it was now Saturday evening and I was still only running on 3 hours of sleep in the past 36 hours.

After the game got to the point where it looked like the Pokes were done for, I checked the forums and email again and it seemed that leverage was going to be my friend for this one. However, I didn't have anything that would fit anywhere useful. So we ran up to Home Depot to pick up a pry bar before he headed home. But, of course, they didn't have one that would fit anywhere useful either. So I snagged the thickest piece of steel I could find in hopes that it would be enough.

It was now around 10pm or so Saturday night, I was dog tired and I still had the driver's side to do. At this point I was thinking that I wasn't going to get it done by Sunday and was going to miss my alignment appointment and miss getting the shop manager my old wheels that he had already paid for. It was time to dig deep.

I spent the next hour or so trying my damnedest to get that steel rod put enough force down without bending so far that it lost leverage. It looked like it had a really bad case of Peyronie's disease at one point. I needed better leverage, so I decided to try and cut off part of the end of the really long crow bar I had so that it would fit in the stabilizer bar opening on the LCA. I don't have an angle grinder or any other metal cutting tool, so I had to resort to using my Dremel and metal cutting wheels. After eating thru 3 wheels and getting about halfway thru what I needed to cut off, the Dremel battery was spent. I knew that it took several hours for that thing to recharge so now that option was off the table. So it was back to the steel bar and trying to figure out a different way to approach it. In my mild delirium, I managed to realize that if I could just keep the pivot point from bending I might be able to get enough leverage to get the damn shock on. I slipped on the steel bar I use as my breaker bar extension and gave it a couple of quick pushes. This showed serious promise and my energy instantly perked back up.


I began to stand on the bar and immediately thought that this is how nut-shot YouTube videos get made. Murphy's Law had been in full effect this whole time, but I guess even he was worn out because it worked! It was a bit of a precarious balancing act but it thankfully worked out w/o any issues. I was immediately relieved and finally saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Here's a dog.



After threading the UCA bolt back in and getting everything mildly tight, I put a load on that side and torqued everything down. One side was down. It was around 2 am or so Sunday morning by this point and I was still running on that same 3h of sleep. But I was a man on a mission and nothing was stopping me at that point.


Now that I knew the trick to get the shock on I was really hoping that I was going to catch a break on the driver's side. It actually did go much more quickly than the passenger side, but I ran into one more minor hurdle - how to get the UCA bolt off on that side. There are a bunch of hoses that run right inline with the bolt that keep you from getting a socket in there. Since my wrenches only went up to 19mm I had to use a socket. However, there's a bracket held on by a bolt that can be removed to give those hoses some room to move. That was enough to get a socket in there, so then it was just a matter of getting an extension between the hoses. I initially started with a 3/8" impact extension and I actually snapped it. So I had to work one of the 1/2" extensions in there and hope for the best. The nut eventually gave way after working it for quite a while.

After that I knew I was in the home stretch. I removed the old UCA and old shock, got the new one in quickly, threaded the UCA bolt back in (I didn't have to remove the battery or any cables BTW). Then I put a load on it and torqued everything down again.

It was mid-morning on Sunday by this point and all I needed to do was get the wheels on and get it to Hibdon. But that turned out to be a task that was just too much for me at that point. I was so spent that I could barely lift the new wheels/tires. They only weigh 106lbs total, but I had nothing left in the tank. I probably tried for a good hour trying to get them on. Eventually I had to just put my old ones back on the front and load everything up into the back of the truck and let Hibdon take care of the rest. So I gathered the last bit of strength I had, loaded up the 4 wheels/tires into the bed of the truck, showered up and drove to Hibdon with my old, smaller 20's on the front and the larger 18's on the rear. I'm sure it looked stupid as shit but I didn't care.

I got there and of course they were PACKED. Even with them expecting me he said it wouldn't be until later in the evening until I they would get to it. Fuck. Oh well, nothing I could do about that. So I went to Chili's to grab some food and then took an Uber home. I hit the couch and was out within a few minutes. Well, about an hour later the phone rang and they had already knocked out the alignment! Huzzah, something finally went right! So I snagged another Uber (the same lady in fact lol) and went to pick up the truck. Maybe it was seeing all of that hard work come to fruition, but it looked absolutely amazing sitting there on the side of their building.

I went over the alignment report with them, thanked them for getting it done so quickly and went home. I don't even remember the drive home TBH. All I could think of was sleep and how much pain I was actually in at that point.

So, I took a page from God's playbook and rested the rest of Sunday. Everything else could wait.


I managed to get the Hypertech inline speedometer calibration installed Monday evening. Although it looks like it's a bear of a job, it was ridiculously easy. It was actually cheaper to buy it rather than have a shop do it, and since my speed was going to be off 5-6 MPH at highway speeds it was something that really did need to get done. Plus I have the module and software now if I end out changing tire sizes again in the future.


Tuesday evening I was able to get out and check the rubbing. It definitely needs a cab/body mount chop as well as some fender well work, both of which I expected to happen. Here are some pics of where it's rubbing. You can see how close it is to the bumper, so I'll likely install the shims I've got to help alleviate that side of it. I have a CMC scheduled for next Wednesday. They want $360 for it - which is the cheapest I could find.

Driver's side:

Passenger's side:

This leg of the journey is just about done and I couldn't be happier with how it has turned out. A lot of planning and measuring went into making sure that the truck was going to fit in the garage and also look the way I wanted it to look. I've got a few minor mods I'm going to play with in the coming weeks, but this was the biggie I wanted to get done. So now it's time to take a break and pay down the credit card.

 

Forgot to post measurements. I ended out with 4" of lift in the front and 3.25" in the rear.

 

@Sas I see you removed the wheel well liners, are you going to reinstall those?

 

Yeah, they'll go back on. I'm just trying to figure out if I want to install the bumper spacers or not first.

 

Installed 0.50" bumper spacers and heated up the fender lining to push it out of the way to give the wheels enough space. Didn't need to cut anything, which I'm happy about.

Installation is pretty easy. Nothing is too heavy and the fasteners aren't on so tight that you need a breaker bar. Here's how it's generally done for those that are interested. Please note that I don't have any other sensors attached to the bumper, so if you have these kinds of things take care to disconnect everything as appropriate.

Start by removing the fender liner along with all the fasteners along the bottom of the bumper. Be careful with the plastic tabs attached to the bumper caps, they are pretty easy to break. If you have a large, wide body panel tool it will help lot. Next remove the grille and then the body caps under the headlights. This will give you access to the 4 silver bolts (2 on each side) holding the bumper cover on.

Take those bolts out while pushing on the bumper a bit so it doesn't just fall off. You may need to wiggle it, but the cover will come off in one piece.



Once you get that off, pop the tab out holding the fog light wire on and take off the 4 nuts on each side holding on the bumper reinforcement.



The bumper reinforcement will come off in one piece.



Here's what it looks like with everything off.



Slide the spacers on and reinstall the bumper reinforcement.



Put the bumper cover back on, the body caps, grille and finally reinstall the wheel well linings.

That's it. Only takes a couple of hours or so. The OEM "skid plate" will still use the original holes, but you'll have to finagle the bumper a bit to get them in there. Before tightening the bumper cover down I started by fitting those two pieces together while all the bolts were still loose.

Afterwards I set my heat gun to 750 degrees and used a 22mm long socket to roll out the heated fender well corners for another 1/4" or so of clearance. Here is the clearance now at full lock.

 

What preload was set on your ADS coilovers?

 

I left it at how it was sent to me. I don't know what they set it at. I still need to measure and play with it a bit to get everything exactly where I want it, but I'm in no hurry.

 

Installed the carrier bearing drop kit from Toytec. Takes all of 15 minutes. It's easier if you just loosen both nuts enough to slip the spacers in and do one nut at a time. That way you don't have to worry about the drive shaft dropping down. It's good to have a floor jack for backup though. Torque is 30 foot-pounds according to the graphic below, but that seemed just a little weak compared to how tight they were when I took them off so I upped it to 33. Also greased the three drive shaft zerks while I was down there.

 

Ahh, nice. That fixed the minor shudder I was feeling when taking off from a dead stop. Could be the combination of the grease and the drop kit, but either way it's smooth as butter again. Now if I could just figure out what's causing the popping when turning on a grade, I'd be set. I think I have an idea of what it might be though and I'm not looking forward to trying to fix it.

 

Chop is done and they did a great job! Took it to Custom Off-Road Equipment here in OKC. Was $390 out the door and it took them about 4h to get it done.

Driver's side before chop


Driver's side after chop


Underneath the driver's side after chop


Passenger's side before chop


Passenger's side after chop


Underneath the passenger's side after chop

 

Got the full size spare tire squared away. Taking those alignment tabs was breaking drill bits and I don't have the cutting/hammer tools to get it done, so I ended out taking it to Custom Off-Road Equipment again. They did an awesome job and actually didn't even charge me for it! I'll be taking it back to them to do the 4.88's. Great group of guys.

Anyhow, here are the pics. It's a tight fit!

Alignment tabs gone:


35x12.5.x18 spare:


Driver side leaf spring clearance:


Exhaust clearance:


Passenger side leaf spring clearance:

 

very nice ! looks like you all set now
nice to have a full spare under the bed and not inside