Jack's 2007 Chevy Build

[locrwln]

Literally drooling. Well done, sir!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Thank you. My wife drove it to the store yesterday and put more time in the dirt with it than I have. Of course we had to keep it tame as the front and rear gears don't match.

We're ALL drooling! Can't wait until locrwln starts on mine

Hah!! You are a funny guy. Although, I'm sure the next one would go faster. And for anyone that is curious, the cutting and grinding was the worse part of the whole deal.

God I really got to stop seeing this I want to do mine so bad :drool: are you going to go with a full deaver leaf pack now?

Trust me, don't drive one that's been done as seeing is bad enough, but driving one really makes you want to do it. I am not. I have my current hybrid 3500 pack and I have a set 2009 Dually rear springs that I am going to try first. If the stock duallies aren't right, then I will try a mix of the two to get where I want first.

What is the eventual tire size goal, 35" or 37"? Seems like 37" would look cool.

Nice Jack.

35's are the goal. I thought about 37's, and while they will fit, they rub a hole in the washer bottle and there isn't an easy work around for that problem. I'm not willing to go without my washer fluid, so 35's it is.

Thank you, it was a lot of work and there is still fine tuning to do, but overall, I am very happy.
.
Jack

 

[Redline]

35's are the goal. I thought about 37's, and while they will fit, they rub a hole in the washer bottle and there isn't an easy work around for that problem. I'm not willing to go without my washer fluid, so 35's it is.

Thank you, it was a lot of work and there is still fine tuning to do, but overall, I am very happy.
.
Jack

35s are good, I'd not go without a washer bottle either.

 

[locrwln]

35s are good, I'd not go without a washer bottle either.

Agreed on the 35's. That's about the limit of what I can reasonably handle. With the 40's on my 4Runner; I have to get creative to deal with those. I can't imagine doing without one on a street driven vehicle.
.
Jack

 

[chilliwak]

That is some pretty impresive looking suspension. Me like. Cheers, Chilli..

 

[locrwln]

That is some pretty impresive looking suspension. Me like. Cheers, Chilli..

Thank you and me too.
.
Jack

 

[1stDeuce]

Pretty cool!!!
Let's see the tape measure!! Did the front come out at about 3", or a little higher? You gonna look for slightly lower springs for it, or just leave it where it is?
How much up-travel do you really have where it sits?

Just curious how everything packages... I still can't believe they can get 4" of up-travel with only 3" of lift on the SFA conversion...

Oh, and what did you end up doing with the CAD junk? I guess if you have a lever for 4wd, it probably doesn't care, but for push button systems, I think it wants that feedback... Worst case, I guess you could just zip tie the actuator up somewhere and let it think it's working like normal... Or is your truck lever shifted?

 

[locrwln]

Pretty cool!!!
Let's see the tape measure!! Did the front come out at about 3", or a little higher? You gonna look for slightly lower springs for it, or just leave it where it is?
How much up-travel do you really have where it sits?

Just curious how everything packages... I still can't believe they can get 4" of up-travel with only 3" of lift on the SFA conversion...

Oh, and what did you end up doing with the CAD junk? I guess if you have a lever for 4wd, it probably doesn't care, but for push button systems, I think it wants that feedback... Worst case, I guess you could just zip tie the actuator up somewhere and let it think it's working like normal... Or is your truck lever shifted?

I will have to get my buddy over with his totally stock (right down to the 245's) 07 Classic grandpa truck that he picked up recently. That way I can get a comparison between absolutely stock versus mine now. I just got done taking it for a spin and I might have to go up in spring rate versus looking for shorter springs. The 400lbs, might be a little light with the bumper/winch I have. Tim used 500lbs when he designed the kit and he had a winch/bumper on his. I expressed my concern about the lower rated springs to WFO, but they thought that I should try it based on their valving. I will have to get it out a little bit more to confirm that, so we will see.
.

I will get a measurement in a few days. I have to dial in the ABS, which I am planning on tackling this weekend.
.
I used WFO's steering box brace which has a bracket for the actuator to screw into. The actuator just sits up there (protected) and as far as it knows, it is still activating the front axle. And as you can tell, mine is a push button system.
.
So I finally got the dually springs installed and at first, I was a little nervous as the "free" height was the same between my "hybrid" and the factory dually springs. I got them installed and the u-bolts ended up being too short. I was doing a u-bolt flip using Ruff Stuff specialties u-bolts and plates. There just wasn't enough thread engagement, so I ended up using a set of u-bolts for a 2002 F250 rear suspension. As you can see from the pictures, they ended up being about 2" of lift over my hybrid pack, which worked out perfectly and they actually ride better empty than my hybrid pack did.
.

.
Jack

 

[chilliwak]

The truck looks great:drool:Jack! Now all you need is some new meats to fill up those wheel wells. Cheers, Chilli..

 

[Redline]

Does look great with the rear higher!

 

[1stDeuce]

Awesome!
The measurements I was looking for were to compare to post 506, but I see that doesn't really tell you how much "lift" the kit really offers, since you were a few inches high to begin with...

Unless the front is prone to bottoming easily over mild bumps, I would put a sway bar on before you up the spring rate... The SFA setup has a LOT less roll stiffness than the IFS did, even compared to running IFS without a sway bar... IMO (as an engineer with a vehicle dynamics background...) you're going to need a sway bar to get decent for handling, no matter how stiff you make the front springs... Without it, you'll have a truck that's very prone to oversteer in an emergency maneuver, not to mention the iffy seat of the pants feel with body roll, especially with a camper in the bed.

Nice that the dually springs bumped it up. My first hybrid pack was really stiff too. The redux with thinner 2nd leaf is a bit better, but still pretty stiff empty, but so nice with the camper in the back that I'll suffer a little with the empty ride.

Will you be able to trim up the inner fender liners and put them back in? I cringe at the thought of spraying salty snow mess all over the insides of the engine compartment, though in Reno, that's probably not as much a concern...

Looking forward to your next trip report to see how it all does!

 

[spressomon]

<snip> I will have to get my buddy over with his totally stock (right down to the 245's) 07 Classic grandpa truck that he picked up recently.
Jack

I might resemble this remark :coffeedrink:

 

[locrwln]

The truck looks great:drool:Jack! Now all you need is some new meats to fill up those wheel wells. Cheers, Chilli..

Thank you and I agree. :sombrero:

Does look great with the rear higher!

I with you on that.

Awesome!
The measurements I was looking for were to compare to post 506, but I see that doesn't really tell you how much "lift" the kit really offers, since you were a few inches high to begin with...

Unless the front is prone to bottoming easily over mild bumps, I would put a sway bar on before you up the spring rate... The SFA setup has a LOT less roll stiffness than the IFS did, even compared to running IFS without a sway bar... IMO (as an engineer with a vehicle dynamics background...) you're going to need a sway bar to get decent for handling, no matter how stiff you make the front springs... Without it, you'll have a truck that's very prone to oversteer in an emergency maneuver, not to mention the iffy seat of the pants feel with body roll, especially with a camper in the bed.

Nice that the dually springs bumped it up. My first hybrid pack was really stiff too. The redux with thinner 2nd leaf is a bit better, but still pretty stiff empty, but so nice with the camper in the back that I'll suffer a little with the empty ride.

Will you be able to trim up the inner fender liners and put them back in? I cringe at the thought of spraying salty snow mess all over the insides of the engine compartment, though in Reno, that's probably not as much a concern...

Looking forward to your next trip report to see how it all does!

Yeah, my suspension has been messed with so many times, I couldn't tell you what the stock height was anymore.

Never thought about a swaybar making that kind of difference. I planned on adding one (in fact, I have an experiment up my sleeve), but I will definitely try that before I do the stiffer springs. It does have very little body roll, which I think is a by product of the radius arm design. It handles "flatter" than it did with the IFS.

I am pleased with the duallys so far, but I really have to drive it some more to make sure they are right.

You bet I am. I too wouldn't be happy to let all of the road grime get inside the engine compartment. We do get some salt, they started using it a couple of years ago. Not to mention, dirt/water/and debris while offroad.

Me neither.

I might resemble this remark :coffeedrink:

:victory: Just a little...for now.

Jack

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Great job on the swap this thing came out very nice by the looks of things.

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[locrwln]

Great job on the swap this thing came out very nice by the looks of things.

Best of Luck,

Mike

Thank you. I appreciate the compliments. I am still dialing it in, but so far, I am really enjoying it.
.
Jack

 

[HenryJ]

Very nice execution. It sits just right. I love the look of a truck where you almost wonder if that was stock? Not jacked up so high you know "someone did that".