1998 GMC S15 jimmy 4wd build *TONS OF PICS*
- Thread starter ElCaminoManT
- Start date
ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
thank you sir!
ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
sway bar!! can be driven like a normal vehicle on the street again!!
bar is from a wrangler TJ. cut off the orig dropped sway bar mounts from the frame and mounted the tj bar about 3 inches forward directly to the frame. modified a set of universal disconnect links to mate up with the axle brackets. found a set of collars to keep the bar from moving side to side in the bushings. so far works GREAT!!
jimmy will be going on quite a break-in road trip next weekend....about 600 miles round trip! should be interesting.......
bar is from a wrangler TJ. cut off the orig dropped sway bar mounts from the frame and mounted the tj bar about 3 inches forward directly to the frame. modified a set of universal disconnect links to mate up with the axle brackets. found a set of collars to keep the bar from moving side to side in the bushings. so far works GREAT!!
jimmy will be going on quite a break-in road trip next weekend....about 600 miles round trip! should be interesting.......
ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
well, the little jimmy completed a 600 mile round trip to san luis obispo and back this weekend. was an all pavement run and averaged a best of 16.64mpg all freeway no traffic at 65-68mph and a worst of 13.25mpg doing 70-80 thru the mountains (just up and down, not twisty curvy road like). speedo/odometer and transmission have been corrected with a programmer for the 33s and 4.56s. not too shabby considering it only would best 17-18mpg on the freeway before the SAS
ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
took the jimmy out yesterday for some real off-roading and i must say, it blew my mind! it rides sooooooo nice off road thanks to the bilstein 5100s and with the sway bar disconnected, it flexes like i couldnt believe. not once did it lift a tire and with the 4.56 gears the crawl ratio in low range was absolutely PERFECT! it just went right up and over everything and rolled soo slow at idle downhill. the radius arms were a bit noisy as they twisted back and forth with the spherical joints at both ends. we may switch the joints at the axle end to rubber bushings to help that and quell some road noise feedback. anyway, heres a few pics from the adventure. i wish i would have taken more pics tho, but was having way too much fun on the jeep trail to stop!
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ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
couple more from the jeep that was behind us
ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
took the jimmy up another trail in the mtns yesterday and did about 45 miles off road. ended up starting the route in a huge thunderstorm with crazy wind, rain and hail. made for a pretty sloppy trail early on but was well worth it as the views were spectacular! im still extremely impressed with how the jimmy performs now, it really is nice
got home in the dark, jimmy was a bit dirty. took quite a while to spray it all off and get the mud out of the wheel wells today
got home in the dark, jimmy was a bit dirty. took quite a while to spray it all off and get the mud out of the wheel wells today
ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
fixed the saggy butt and helped with cargo capacity by swapping in some ZR2 leaf springs from an 04 with 28k miles. now sits about an inch down in the rear and looks just right. ride is a little stiffer but once the spare is hanging off the back with a fuel can along with the cooler and tools in the cargo area it should be pretty good. oh and the additional fuel tank that will go in place of the original spare too
ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
lil update;
have been fighting a 'loose' feeling front end since it became drivable again. knew from the get-go that the fact the long arms having 2 spherical joints wasnt good for a street driven vehicle. sure, itll give lots of articulation as the arms can move around more but since the long arms are able to 'flop' back and forth, it makes for a crappy road driver and was very noisy. swapped out the ballistic spherical joints at the front of the long arms at the axle end with poly bushings and also made up some poly spacers, or limiters, for the upper track bar heim joint. the bar has double heims and being in the 'Z' shape that it is, has a tendency to rock back and forth making knocking sounds when driving. gets old pretty quick. with the bushings and limiters in place, the truck drives soooooooo much better! and off road the articulation didnt appear to suffer at all and was soooo much quieter!
my brother has also been working on building a 'temporary' spare tire carrier to put the spare on the back. he made plans on the CAD system complete with all sorts of specs and dimensions (pretty damn slick). he had all the tubes, plates and flanges cut out then welded it all together. it mounts in the trailer hitch receiver and even has a 'wedge' design to hold it tightly in the square of the hitch. also has a receiver on itself so can still tow/pull on if needed. it is pinned and has a big pivot point on the bottom and tilts down flat but does not rest on the ground when wanting to get into the hatch. when the tire is up, there is enough room so the glass can still be opened without moving the tire down. i only have a few distance pics, ill get detailed shots when im up there next weekend
we had to take it out on the trail again to test the function of the carrier (it works great!
when the tire was on the roof, the truck rocked A LOT! ). besides, with the recent storms the trails have become VERY rutted and washed out. made for some interesting and fun cruising!!
have been fighting a 'loose' feeling front end since it became drivable again. knew from the get-go that the fact the long arms having 2 spherical joints wasnt good for a street driven vehicle. sure, itll give lots of articulation as the arms can move around more but since the long arms are able to 'flop' back and forth, it makes for a crappy road driver and was very noisy. swapped out the ballistic spherical joints at the front of the long arms at the axle end with poly bushings and also made up some poly spacers, or limiters, for the upper track bar heim joint. the bar has double heims and being in the 'Z' shape that it is, has a tendency to rock back and forth making knocking sounds when driving. gets old pretty quick. with the bushings and limiters in place, the truck drives soooooooo much better! and off road the articulation didnt appear to suffer at all and was soooo much quieter!
my brother has also been working on building a 'temporary' spare tire carrier to put the spare on the back. he made plans on the CAD system complete with all sorts of specs and dimensions (pretty damn slick). he had all the tubes, plates and flanges cut out then welded it all together. it mounts in the trailer hitch receiver and even has a 'wedge' design to hold it tightly in the square of the hitch. also has a receiver on itself so can still tow/pull on if needed. it is pinned and has a big pivot point on the bottom and tilts down flat but does not rest on the ground when wanting to get into the hatch. when the tire is up, there is enough room so the glass can still be opened without moving the tire down. i only have a few distance pics, ill get detailed shots when im up there next weekend
we had to take it out on the trail again to test the function of the carrier (it works great!
when the tire was on the roof, the truck rocked A LOT! ). besides, with the recent storms the trails have become VERY rutted and washed out. made for some interesting and fun cruising!!
ElCaminoManT
C'mon, don't bulls**t me
the hardware to swap in the straight axle was a kit from Off Road Direct out of utah. unfortunately, they didnt expect the huge demand they recieved when they released the kit and only a handful were actually shipped (we were one of the lucky ones). they then opted to shut down their business instead of adding another employee or 2 and make some money. great idea right? they were the only company building SFA conversion products for S-series vehicles like this