c0ugar69

its been a long time since I have posted anything on here, havent had time or money to work on the rig. I finally got around to doing my SAS and at the same time I installed My f150 leaf springs in the rear. I am not finished with it yet but here is a few pictures of the progress. Here are a couple after getting her on jack stands and taking of the wheels. lots of mud buildup on the caliper and the rotor vents were packed also.



Now for the fun part taking the IFS off. it was a little more work than i thought it would be. well this whole project has been a lot more work than I thought.




I already had the trailgear spring hanger in the front welded flush with the front cross member. I still need to install my ford shock mounts and get some shocks, install highsteer and finish my brakes. I am doing the tacoma rotor modification. I will get pics and details of that when i get it done. I had to do a couple modifications to the e-locker because the spring was hitting a bolt on the motor cover so i replaced it with a recessed bolt.


Here is a shot of my Ruf springs, they were a little weak so off to pick n pull half price day to get some f150 springs. i currently have the rear main with 3 leafs from the f150 pack and a leaf from the rear pack. it is holding better, will see how it works when i am finished. Here is a shot of my front shackle angle.

I will post more pics as i get more done. this has been a couple of weeks progress. the rear f150 springs seem good, I need to make new spring mounts for the rear also.

osv

nice work... are you going to plate the frame in the steering box area? and move the box forward?

c0ugar69

Yea I have the marlin steering box mount. I need to rebuild the steering box, its leaking. I may tap it for hydro assist in the future. Its been a lot of work. I need brake lines, new brake pads.

osv

cool... the work never ends on these things! :-/

the rig i bought had the mount installed, with the steering box moved about as far forward as you can get, without cutting metal.

that allowed me to run 35's, with the fenders hammered in at the bottoms.

when i went to 37's, tho, it became a whole new ballgame... i put in the trail gear axle housing, and moved it as far forward as it would go, but then the crossover bar that was attached to the steering box arm hit on the other crossover bar, at full stuff.

so i got an expensive short steering box arm, which barely gave enough crossover rod clearance, but now my steering radius is really really wide, like a mack truck, lol... i also want to blame some of that on the trail gear axle housing.

moral of the story is, if you think that you might ever want to run true 37's, and not have to cut and weld on the foot area of the cab, it might be helpful to have a second set of steering box mounting holes, further forward than what you need now... that involves some cutting of sheet metal to mount the box, tho.

marlin's kit probably has the holes all mapped out, so that the angle of the box is correct... the other goal is to keep the crossover rods as parallel as possible, without hitting.

looking forward to see how it comes out!

Yopar

iTrader: (2)

Updates?

c0ugar69

I havent posted in a while, so heres an update. Got my steering box mounted with marlins heavy duty mount, I added some f150 springs to my front pack which really helped. its drivable now but cant use 4wd yet because i need to regear the rear and install a front driveline. i need to install bump stops. I notice when i enter a turn that the truck wants to go strait and i have to input more to get it to turn, i think its bump steer from leaning when turning. i will get some pics put up soon with some more details.