The truck is extremely tippy. While the front is setup right, but needs fine tuning. the rear is completely not functional at all. Honestly? if I could offer anyone advice, I wouldn't do chevy 63s unless that's ALL you're using. my truck is setup with chevy 63s, 4" of block and dual shackles. and with that being setup that way, my truck wants to unload on the slightest off camber situations, allowing for a butt puckering sensation every single time.

Basically the plan is to swap out the chevy 63s with all pro 6" springs, and have a single shackle. ( all parts are lying on my garage floor ) plus I'll actually have bump stops setup.

and with the front, I'm basically relocating my steering stabilizer. its currently on the steering arm, and not the drag link. so basically I have about 2" of flex in the front before the steering stabilizer nails the oil pan. I'm going to relocate it the proper way, and have it go from the passenger frame rail, to the drag link and avoid the oil pan. I also have the clutch to do, and while the transmission is out, I'm swapping to a 2wd oil pan. which will give me about 4" more clearance up front. As far as getting the height down, I'm going to be pulling a leaf out of the middle ( 4th one down from the top of the pack ) of the front leaf springs. this should get me around 25" of frame clearance, down from my 29" now and should look extremely good on the 35s.

Not to mention, I'm geared for 35s. not 86lb military 37s. so this in turn should also help with gas mileage, going up hills, and just overall the performance of the truck.

Here's the springs. The non arched set is from a 2013 TRD Tacoma. Was thinking of pulling the bushings out of it and using them in my leaf pack so I don't have the polyurethane squeak. and my brother is going to be using the overload from it.



Here's how the truck sits currently until Friday or Monday. depending on when the wheels come in.

 

Here's a picture of the steering stabilizer issue.


instead of going to my passenger frame rail, it goes to the top of my axle.

Top part of the steering stabilizer w/ a dent in it.


bottom part of the oil pan with a mark on it.


All in all, this should make this truck a helluva lot more fun to drive/wheel. ill keep everybody posted. I'm swapping the clutch out this weekend, hopefully.

 

Are you doing your own welding?

 

On the rear end, no.

on the steering stabilizer? I thought about giving it a go at my uncle's house since he has a welder and such. the tab for the steering stabilizer is maybe an inch long bead. so even if it came out like ugh, it'll hold for sure.

 

cool, go for it, I would like to see how your stabilizer welds work out.

 

haha don't judge me. I still need to pick up a welder for sure and get to it. I have a torch accessible to me now. which will be helpful in pulling a leaf spring since I have to bend the retainer up.

But yeah, I cant wait to have the 35s. and have the truck lowered down!

 

Sounds like you got a good plan all worked out! Look forward to the pics when you're all finished!

 

Oh man, don't take it the wrong way. I am not trying to judge. I just know it is a great feeling to have, knowing that I did the mod my self. I do not think anyone would judge your welds. Plus if the welds looked really ugly, one can always pull out the grinder.

Go checkout the welds I did when I swap to the 63's. The welds were not pretty, but there was good penetration, and that is really what matters (penetration, and a grinder equals pretty welds).

 

Just finished yanking my manual hubs off. one of the things on my list to do. nothing wrong with how they were working. just looked like crap and dried up grease from failing seals. pulled them off, they're dunking in denatured alcohol until I get my tires/wheels. already had gaskets and such for them. so might as well. they'll be good as new in a day or two.

 

yanking your hubs off? you that lonely, mike?

 

yeah, wish you were here to do it for me, troy.



Here's a before of the hubs. grease stains all over, and paint is chipped to hell. I popped them off and the previous owner had wayyyyy too much grease in them. literally made a huge mess of my clothes and probably used about 5-6 shop towels just to clean the grease off. ridiculous.

 

Tip someone once gave me for grease cleanup: toilet paper - wipe toss, wipe toss...much less messy cleanup of greased parts like axle parts

 

I keep paper-towel with my tools, for just that occasion.

 

yeah I just used some blue shop towels. its no problem. just made a bit more of a mess than they should have. they're manual hubs and shouldn't be greased as much as they were.

haha yeah, its always a mess messing with the front axle.

 

got my 35s today.

35x12.50 Km2s on Cragar soft 8 15x10 3.75 backspacing -38 mm offset:

 

Your rig looks downright sexual now man. nice

 

35s on 1st gens just look good.

 

Thanks, man. I appreciate it. with the amount of cash being dropped into this thing in the past month. its moving along nicely. next up is a visit to pick n pull for a 2wd oil pan. and then the steering stabilizer gets relocated and the rear suspension gets welded up. Need to find time to do the clutch, too.

I was skeptical at first about going from 35s to 37s. but it didn't change much. widened the stance about 3" and lowered the truck from 28.5 frame clearance to ~27. its noticeably lower, for sure.

 

Yeahhhhh baby! Looks nice!

 

Looks great on 35's, I've always liked the looks of the soft 8 wheels, your hubs turned out sweet too!