Jack's 2007 Chevy Build

Pacific Northwest yetti said:
haha right!?!? I dont know if I physically could- he is smaller than I am, im at 220ibs and 5ft 9in.

RoRO will work fine im sure! Will you be doing any type of thread, or blog for the trip?
Click to expand...

It would be a challenge, I'm 5'9",160lbs and I'm still not sure I could do it.

I hope, certainly not the first to do and I've heard pros and cons to both, so...;)

This is about as close as I will get to a blog, too lazy for that. :ROFLMAO:

Jack
 
So it's been a while since I updated this. I've been swamped getting things wrapped up. We have had a lot going on the last few months, so while I've been taking care of some final items for the truck, I haven't had the time to update this thread.

When I completed the SAS, I lost the swaybar. The truck actually drove and cornered very flat without it and we had no problems driving from Iowa back to Reno in a variety of terrains, but while it cornered with very little body roll, there was an oscillation that I wanted to address. Tim (the guy who designed the SAS kit) put a Currie torsion bar style swaybar on his truck. I looked at my options and ended up going with a similar system. It's a 1.25 solid bar with the arms. I wanted to utilize the factory Ford swaybar mounts on the axle and the swaybar links. Because the arms come straight and I needed them to "Z" bend 2" out from the frame width to the swaybar links and there is no way I could bend 1/2" thick steel at home, I had to take them to Wade Metal Works (the same guy who cut/bend the metal for the SAS). He did his math and figured out where the bends needed to occur and put them in his 100 ton press. Needless to say, it made short work of the arms.

They went from this:
IMG_2820-L.jpg


To this (installed of course):
IMG_2826-L.jpg

IMG_2827-L.jpg


I used a universal Energy swaybar bracket/bushing kit that bolted up to my factory swaybar mounting holes. The good news is that it settled the sway/oscillations down perfectly. The only downside is that because of my factory offset rims and 35" tall tires, I rub the arms/bar where the bar passes through the arms. I ended up losing a little bit of turning radius as a result.

Jack
 
Last edited:
Like most people who want to travel to multiple countries, I wanted be a lemming too and have a world map visible on the outside of the truck. I didn't really have enough flat real estate on the camper, I had an epiphany one day while driving the truck and realized that the hood was the perfect location. I talked to the vinyl graphics place and of course spousal consultation. Both agreed that it would be perfect, so I had them design and install my world map.

IMG_2851-L.jpg

IMG_2852-L.jpg


The final item we worked on was "attic" storage in the extended cab portion of the truck cab. It was un-utilized space and I really wanted to take advantage of that area. I built a frame and my wife sewed up some sun-shade material we had to create a "hammock" type area for jackets/backpacks/hats type items that take up space but don't weigh anything. I anchored the rear portion to the shoulder belt upper pivot bolts and used some large zip-ties to anchor it to the factory grab handles. I had to add a paper towel holder as well.
IMG_2866-L.jpg

IMG_2867-L.jpg


A friend took some pictures of the truck that you also might like.
IMG_2862.jpg


He asked me to set everything up so he could get a drone shot as well (he even wanted me to sit under the awning for posterity :ROFLMAO:).
IMG_2865-L.jpg


Jack
 
Last edited:
Jack that's a Nice Rig, and thanks for sharing your project with all of us!

Steve
No more Jeeps and Broncos.
They'll be missed, but a new direction and functionality is happening here soon :-)
 
outdoors said:
Jack that's a Nice Rig, and thanks for sharing your project with all of us!

Steve
No more Jeeps and Broncos.
They'll be missed, but a new direction and functionality is happening here soon :)
Click to expand...


Thank you and I hope the journey/build was worthwhile.

Jack
 
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