Well its been a couple extremely busy weeks so I havent had time to update until now. Thankfully a lot of the busyness was working on this truck. Suspension and hydro install is done and Ive got a couple hundred miles on the truck with the (extremely unbalanced) 40s. If anyone has suggestions for balancing the tires Im open. Was hoping to avoid beads but its looking like I will have to use them after 3 failed attempts at balancing the tires the "normal" way.
The Thuren rear track bar was more of a ********** to install that I thought it would be. Got it done eventually.
The Synergy MFG brackets were relatively easy to install. Only problem was they didnt come with all the hardware that they should have. The trans crossmember bolts needed to be replaced, not reused as the instructions state. I contacted them about this and was essentially ignored. So I went out and bought 3 additional bolts that I was thankfully able to find locally since they are pretty obscure. Crappy feeling after spending nearly $1000 on some pretty basic metal brackets with a couple fancy billet washers. Im going to try to get someone on the phone so I can elaborate on this situation with them in hopes that they at least update their hardware.
I currently have them set in the 1.5" forward position(the other option is 1/2" forward) which is allowing me to run the 40s with zero trimming of the fender behind the tires. I did have to remove the entire front bumper and trim the fender liner in front to clear since the axle is pushed so far forward now. Whats cool is everything clears with the axle pushed this far forward. Tie rod/draglink/trackbar/hydro ram etc. At full droop and compression, at least that I was able to do with a floor jack and a forklift. The real world is obviously very different so hopefully I can get it out in the dirt soon. The front lower coil buckets are at a weird angle but they are in stock form and the coils appear to have less bow than a stock trucks so thats interesting. Having the radius arms dropped ~3" also helps keep the caster in check and will probably allow me to dial in extra caster to try correcting the coil bowing issues. Having hydro steer makes it so adding caster has no real negative effect. Though some internet engineers will probably disagree with this. Im a fan of running caster as high as possible to combat death wobble as well. If anyone is interested in more detailed pictures or info about the Synergy brackets please ask. There is not a lot of info out there and very few installs that Ive been able to find documented online.
Next thing up was installing the Carli weld in coil spring isolator supports. These simply extend the upper coil bucket so you dont have to worry about popping a coil when flexing really hard. Simply stick them in place, weld them and paint them.
I also installed the Thuren weld on lower shock mount supports. These trucks are known to blow up the stock lower front shock mounts when driven hard on 2.5" or bigger shocks and I dont go easy on vehicles so here we are. Simple install of weld and paint.
I installed some Syndergy 2" front bump drops. but I dont know if Ill keep them. They dont hit the bump pad on the axle very well with the axle pushed 1.5" forward. I might have to fab something depending on what some flex tests result in. At a minimum I will have to reroute some of the brake line brackets on both sides to work with these bumps, or even the stock bumps.
Had a scary moment when I was grinding the upper coil bucket/shock mount area to fit the shock reservoirs. I hit one of the hard brake lines with the grinder. It hasnt leaked but Im worried about it. Its one of the lines that comes off the ABS unit and its a single piece that goes all the way back to the rear axle. A quick recon says it will be a huge PITA to replace. I will likely do this for piece of mind. Be careful when installing shock reservoir mounts on the driver side of these trucks.
Here is a pic of the inside/top of the track bar at the axle end. This is beyond full droop, there is no shock installed. You can see the spring is dangling. The track bar clears on all sides. All of the steering components clear as well which was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting to have to put the axle back into the 1/2" forward position.
Here is almost everything back in place. The coil spring looks better than stock. It does scoot forward as the axle moves upward so I need to do some more testing to see if its going to be safe when fully flexed but for now it works great and drives well on road. It would be rad if someone made a completely new upper coil bucket/shock mount that worked with the axle pushed forward and fixed some of the coil bow. I havent looked too much but Im guessing it more work than would be worth it to try to cut and weld the lower bucket at a better angle. ****** was Dodge thinking with this design?
