2005 Silverado 6.0L, heading to Argentina.

[pawleyk]

Thanks for all the real-world suspension advice too! I'd really like to do something, but obviously I'm limited by being so far from the US. We're in Colombia now and they're crazy about importing car parts..

There will definitely be a very serious re-fabricating of suspension once I'm back home though..

Here are a few pics from our week in Panama. We literally camped along the Panama Canal. I made coffee and sat in my chair watching the container ships pass.. Just some random parking lot in a quiet little end-of-the-road town, but it was a pretty cool place to spend the night. Those things are eerily quiet. I'd wake up and see the lights passing 300 feet from us, but not really hear a thing.

We also met up with another couple and crashed in the parking lot of their swanky Panama City hotel. Our first time sleeping in a sky-scraper forest.

The last two are from loading day. We're in Cartegena Colombia now, just waiting for the container to get here with my truck in it..

 

[locrwln]

Love the contain photos. How did you get in and out of the truck when you put it in the container?
.
Jack

 

[pawleyk]

Love the contain photos. How did you get in and out of the truck when you put it in the container?
.
Jack

I climbed out the driver's side window and then scrambled over the tire/fender/bumper. Not all that hard really. I insisted with our agent that he let me back it in, thinking it'd be too tough to get out, but now that I've done it pulling straight in would have worked just fine too. The pictures wouldn't have been as ************ though..

 

[Tiki]

Good to hear your travels are going relatively problem free!

That is a Kryptonite UCA. I used a Pro comp 690001 shock stem mount for the upper mount and used the stock lower shock mount (welded it to the LCA for extra insurance). The jounceshock mounts were all custom and required a lot of fitting, cutting, grinding and welding to the frame and LCA. I did all of it myself and I'm a relative novice so for an experienced fabricator it wouldn't be too bad. If you use the stock bump stop you will have to cut the corner off on the bracket for the coilover to fit.

We need a build thread on this @pgw

 

[locrwln]

I climbed out the driver's side window and then scrambled over the tire/fender/bumper. Not all that hard really. I insisted with our agent that he let me back it in, thinking it'd be too tough to get out, but now that I've done it pulling straight in would have worked just fine too. The pictures wouldn't have been as ************ though..

Awesome. Do you end up leaving the window down once you climb out? The pictures are very impressive.
.
Thank you,
Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Im not convinced I would of been able climb out....

 

[1stDeuce]

KP, I just saw a quick vid of your truck on FB. It reminded me to ask if you yanked the front sway bar... I have a '02 with snow plow prep that was really stiff in the front, especially on single tire bumps, rocking the whole truck. I yanked the sway bar to see what would happen... After a week of driving the truck around, I tossed it in the scrap bin. The ride is WAY better in the rough, and on the road I can't tell the difference.

If you're still running it, I'd say it's time to pull it. I doubt you'll see much interstate in South America, and that's the only thing it's good for... It is NOT good for rough roads or offroad use, that's for sure.

Keep on runnin'!

 

[pawleyk]

Awesome. Do you end up leaving the window down once you climb out? The pictures are very impressive.
.
Thank you,
Jack

Yep, just left it down. The containers are relatively weather-proof so it wasn't an issue. There really wasn't a way to get the window back up, just not enough room.

 

[pawleyk]

KP, I just saw a quick vid of your truck on FB. It reminded me to ask if you yanked the front sway bar... I have a '02 with snow plow prep that was really stiff in the front, especially on single tire bumps, rocking the whole truck. I yanked the sway bar to see what would happen... After a week of driving the truck around, I tossed it in the scrap bin. The ride is WAY better in the rough, and on the road I can't tell the difference.

If you're still running it, I'd say it's time to pull it. I doubt you'll see much interstate in South America, and that's the only thing it's good for... It is NOT good for rough roads or offroad use, that's for sure.

Keep on runnin'!

You know, you're right. I actually drove around without it for a time trying to diagnose a weird noise, but I thought I got just a little more front-end dive in tight, twisty road turns. Never tried it with a load either. I was considering trying to come up with a quick disconnect system for it, but I'm actually a little concerned about tire clearance now. The old t-bars are sinking fast at this age. Before the trip I was running 35x12.5's without rubbing ever, now with the weight of the camper the torsions have weakened so much I get a little rubbing just in regular driving with the 34x11.5's.

Still, it could be an easy improvement to do while I'm down here. The front end really does ride terribly and I could re-balance some of the weight to the rear by letting some pressure out of the airbags in the rough stuff.

Plus, weight reduction, right!?

 

[pawleyk]

I have the same front suspension setup (when it was stock) on my Yukon XL 2500. I installed a 4" Cognito lift, Fox 2.0 6.5" travel remote reservoir coilovers, and Light Racing jounceshocks (these things are magic). Was originally shooting for 10" of travel but ended up limiting it to about 8.5" travel as durability was more important to me than an extra inch or two of travel. The front suspension is awesome, with the jounceshocks it essentially never bottoms out. The jounceshock/coilover combination is so good that I took off my front sway bar completely and it drives great. It controls sway very well (not as stiff as with the sway bar on) and allows for a true independent front. I just got back from its maiden voyage, 4800 miles or so from the Gulf of Mexico to Northern CO, UT, and a little bit of NV. On rough roads the front suspension vastly outperforms the rear. My rear leafs were custom from Deaver and they have sagged a bit so they are getting into the bump stops too soon. Will need to tweak that. While road testing it I could hit speed bumps/humps at full road speed and the front just soaked it up, the back would kick a bit, but this is a 500lb axle on leaf springs so it is only going to get so good. I have 700lb springs on the front which have settled in with the CV's about level, I may swap springs to get a little more height, but that is the good thing about coilovers, they can be tweaked to your exact needs. Overall ride height is fairly low for a lifted truck but the back end needs a little boost up.

View attachment 425011

View attachment 425012

I was reading back through this, and I REALLY like this setup. It's kinda what I had in mind for a coil-over swap before. I like building my own stuff and have a fair amount of fabrication experience so it would be a pretty fun project. Probably going to have to wait until she gets shipped back to the ol' US of A, but I'm pretty sold on a suspension makeover. Just wish I had done it before we left. There are some really bad roads down here..

 

[leviathan907]

Thanks for all the real-world suspension advice too! I'd really like to do something, but obviously I'm limited by being so far from the US. We're in Colombia now and they're crazy about importing car parts..

There will definitely be a very serious re-fabricating of suspension once I'm back home though..

Here are a few pics from our week in Panama. We literally camped along the Panama Canal. I made coffee and sat in my chair watching the container ships pass.. Just some random parking lot in a quiet little end-of-the-road town, but it was a pretty cool place to spend the night. Those things are eerily quiet. I'd wake up and see the lights passing 300 feet from us, but not really hear a thing.

We also met up with another couple and crashed in the parking lot of their swanky Panama City hotel. Our first time sleeping in a sky-scraper forest.

The last two are from loading day. We're in Cartegena Colombia now, just waiting for the container to get here with my truck in it..


View attachment 425482View attachment 425483View attachment 425485View attachment 425486

That flatbed you built is pretty damn cool! You're probably long gone from colombia, now but cartagana is incredibly dangerous at night, It's definitely a major trafficking point. Check out Santa Marta and Taganga is a cool little beach town with lots of scuba diving. And Medellin is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to, food is delicious and check out the park up on the mountain i can't quite remember the name but lots of easy cool hiking. Enjoy!

 

[Explorerinil]

Very cool trip, I’ve been reading stuff on your site. I would be worried about being robbed or worse in South America let alone touring Africa. I’m surprised you don’t allow for donations on your site.

 

[pawleyk]

Very cool trip, I've been reading stuff on your site. I would be worried about being robbed or worse in South America let alone touring Africa. I'm surprised you don't allow for donations on your site.

So far it's all been pretty safe.. Sure you can be robbed, it does happen. But it happens at home too. The first time we went to Africa we spent 2 weeks there and had a great time, the first 3 days we were home my wife's car was broken into on a main, downtown street, parked under a street light in full view of a busy intersection.

We made a conscious decision not to take donations. We feel very lucky to be at a place in our lives so early where this is something we're able to do for a few years. We saved a fair amount of money and tried to invest it well. When we come home we'll still have enough socked away to start a business or buy a house. It's hard for us to see such poverty we see on a regular basis, and it would be even harder to know we were taking money from others to help fund our decision to be deadbeats for a few years.

We really appreciate when people offer, but always suggest a donation to your favorite charity instead. Your cash can go a long way toward helping those that need it, instead of just a couple goof-off kids like us.

 

[pawleyk]

That flatbed you built is pretty damn cool! You're probably long gone from colombia, now but cartagana is incredibly dangerous at night, It's definitely a major trafficking point. Check out Santa Marta and Taganga is a cool little beach town with lots of scuba diving. And Medellin is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to, food is delicious and check out the park up on the mountain i can't quite remember the name but lots of easy cool hiking. Enjoy!

Hey man,

We are long gone from Colombia, but thanks for the suggestions. We actually found Cartegena to be one of our favorite places for night-life.. Ain't nobody lookin' to traffic me.

We spent a week in Taganga learning to dive, and spent a few days in Medellin as well. We did even check out the big park (I also forgot the name) and road the telepherico down from our camp.

We spent a ton of time in Coffee country too, and a bit over a week in Bogota as well as several days outside Cali at Lago Calima with the kiteboarders.

We loved Columbia and thought we'd never leave, then we got to Ecuador and were blown away all over again.

The great roads, $1.48/g gas and free national parks probably had something to do with that.

We've been in Peru about a week now and are loving it as well. Some of our most epic "overland" driving so far.

Heres the album of the 297 pictures we got in Colombia..

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...73741875.1624790521095961&type=1&l=a8c798d59a

 

[Explorerinil]

So far it's all been pretty safe.. Sure you can be robbed, it does happen. But it happens at home too. The first time we went to Africa we spent 2 weeks there and had a great time, the first 3 days we were home my wife's car was broken into on a main, downtown street, parked under a street light in full view of a busy intersection.

We made a conscious decision not to take donations. We feel very lucky to be at a place in our lives so early where this is something we're able to do for a few years. We saved a fair amount of money and tried to invest it well. When we come home we'll still have enough socked away to start a business or buy a house. It's hard for us to see such poverty we see on a regular basis, and it would be even harder to know we were taking money from others to help fund our decision to be deadbeats for a few years.

We really appreciate when people offer, but always suggest a donation to your favorite charity instead. Your cash can go a long way toward helping those that need it, instead of just a couple goof-off kids like us.

Makes sense, keep it up, your doing something the rest of us dream about and never get to do.