Chorky....sad to hear you’ve had all these problems. I’m always amazed at the luck one person has versus the luck of another. You’ve taken a good route to upgrade your truck to something you’d be happy with. The only thing I can offer is that most of your problems are somebody else’s fault. Since you hired much of the work done by someone else you have no way of knowing what was done properly-and what wasn’t. Not till problems occur. I’m confident that if you keep going you will work it out. You’ll finally get the bugs gone. And a loose hub can absolutely “clunk.” You say you want a dependable platform that is easy to repair and mostly problem free. I say you still have it. You can start over.....but you won’t be much better off. Here’s some hard advice- and I mean no offense in offering it. Please don’t take me wrong. You started out with one of the most usable and dependable platforms that there is. From the factory. Period. You’ve made a lot of changes to that platform. So now you get to work bugs out. It doesn’t matter what you start with-pick a brand. If you modify it much and don’t do virtually all the work yourself you’ll be in the same shape. The guy at the shop— it ain’t his truck. He don’t care. It’s yours. It’s difficult to find a shop that will care like you do. They do exist. Now I know that time, and specialty tools can limit what the average truck owner can do. I rebuilt both my trucks. All of it. Now.....it was slow and tedious. I had to buy and borrow some tools. The shop..... it just did my alignment. So I know first hand FOR SURE how every part was put on, how it fit together, and if it fit properly. I also purposely kept stuff in a basically stock configuration. More or less. The stuff that was made very different from stock....it took some messing around and aggravation to get lined out. It’s just how it is. That truck will sell easy. It’s very nice and has a wonderful parts list. But considers this....Don’t quit. There’s a lot of stuff that is working good. Maybe you check that other hub and spindle nut. Get on the phone with sky and figure out what went wrong. Maybe they can give assistance yet. Probably need to put washers against the springs it make em’ tight. One thing at a time and you’ll end up with what you were after. I realize it’s a little late. But starting over ain’t gonna be any faster. You’ve got great tastes, and I can see that you’ve studied hard to get reputable upgrades. You’re almost there. Even if it doesn’t seem like it. With a few basic tools you can quickly verify the front end and feel confident. But I also take you to be the kind of guy that will come out just fine if you decide to sell the old truck and start over. Who could blame you. There’s other trucks out there that are great. They are capable and dependable. But I still think you already have one. Just my overbearing .02. Again - I mean no offense or criticism to you in any way. You’re just trying to figure it out. But that’s what these forums and build threads are about. Just good ole’ boys offering up a little advice, help, and encouragement to one another. Good luck with whatever you decide.
