Our Dual-Sport GMC Sierra

[justcuz]

What outer C's and knuckles are you running on the 14 bolt axle? You can make a nice LSD front axle by removing the flyweight mechanism and adding extra frictions and shims to a Gov-Lock center section. You going to have to run 3 inch coil-overs in front due to the weight of the vehicle?
I would run 3 links and a panhard rod. Make the upper link on the right side of the axle, with the panhard attached to the same bracket down close to the axle tube. Have it follow your steering link to the top of the right knuckle. Set your caster at 4to6 degrees positive and camber between 1and2 degrees with about an 1/16 to 1/8 the toe in. Should track straight and true on the highway with a little tug on crowned 2 lanes.
If you get a 241 to swap in to the truck, you can add a 4/1 low range planetary gear set. There is a Borg Warner case used in Hummer H2 or H3 alphas that have a 4/1 planetary also.
You have lots of options and your fab skills are stellar, so you should end up with a beefy conversion. I think I would use 1.75 or 2.0 inch DOM .250 wall minimum for your links. Same for the panhard rod and 1.5 for your tie rod. Do it right once and never have to do it over.
Considering the weight your dealing with I am surprised you are not using leaf springs, but I commend your choice.
LeRoy from Pirate lives up that way and he has a crazy buggy he built with Ford parts. If I find his screen name on Pirate I will post it up and you can maybe look him up. He has good tech and skills.
LeRoy's screen mane on Pirate 4x4 is Skipped_Link, look up his Monster Buggy build.

 

[chaos616]

Hey Larry, Yeah I'll have to source a shifter and then I was thinking for ease of linkage run a big cable linkage back especially if I can't put the handle far enough to the right on the center hump. Well see how that all works out, still in the market for a close NP241 sounds like, would like a bit tougher T-Case but whatever I can get at this point will work, can always swap if I come across something else later.

Hey justcuz, Yeah, the gov-lock locks up pretty good right now, its out of my old axle i blew up on the highway (burn the left side hub end up basically). The C's are D60 kingpin but really beefy, not sure where they came from but they should be good. Knuckles are D60 GM, may upgrade to aftermarket tougher ones later if need be. I'm running 2.5" coilovers due to the selection in springs, been on the phone with a few folks and there was mass agreement that they should be fine. You've pretty much got my plan down on paper after that. Its a three link, have to gusset up the link more but will have a panhard and i am running 2" .250 links and panhard along with 1.5" .250 tie-rod and drag link. Gotta turn the C's still but should be around 4-5 castor, camer is non adjustable on the kingpin axle as far as i know. I am in the market for a NP241, may run a lower gear set although maybe not as I am also gearing to 1:4.88 Didn't know about the Borg Warner case in hummers, may take a gander and see what I can find. I looked at leaf springs, but I want it to ride real nice, and I love the adjustability of axle placement along with spring rates of the coilovers, shouldn't ever need to change anything but maybe some coil springs. I'll take a gander at LeRoy's stuff, always love a good buggy.

Ok, sorry for the lack of updates, been working a lot, mostly at night on the poject to try to progress it, forget the camera, etc... Excuses excuses.

But finally, here is where we were via last night. Its coming together slowly, still lots of work to do on the axle and full mounts for bumpstop, coilover, sway bar mount and limit strap mounts. That should be the last bracket, it will be custom made. I did admittedly buy a few brackets because they fit the bill perfect and it would have taken me and my limited tool supply a long time to build. I don't have breaks or presses or anything to form steel so I do it all by hand.

Anywho, enjoy:















Cheers,

Ehren

 

[locrwln]

Wow! I haven't been checking your thread too much lately and I missed the latest round of mods. Great work and looking forward to the final product. I did a SAS on a 4runner and it is no small task.

Jack

 

[justcuz]

You can set your caster on the C's before you weld them on the tubes, with the axle setting at roughly static.
You will also have up to a couple degrees of adjustability in your links too.
They make camber shims that go behind the spindle, but if you set your C's on and set up a knuckle, the camber should be right on.
Check it all before you do your final weld up of the C's
I'll be following along.
I am glad to see Britt shares your enthusiasm for the truck. Before my wife had back surgery she would hand me tools and actually helped me install a 4 speed in one of my Chevelles. She no longer goes camping with me but does enjoy 4wd day trips. It's nice to have the support. Our kids changed a lot of that when they came along. As they grew, they have become involved too. We do 4wd trips and desert races fairly regularly.
Our daughter does all of her own vehicle maintenance, oil changes, lube, trans fluid changes and brakes.
Our son is a pretty decent mechanic in his own right. Was an MK in the Coast Guard so he has diesel skills too.
Both of my kids own 4x4's also.

 

[red EOD veteran]

Lots of work into it looks like a great project!

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[chaos616]

Hey locrwln. Thanks, yeah its really taking a change now. I like those skids you bought for you rig, if I would have had that option those would have been my choice. They look like they fit super well.

justcuz, yeah, I have to set my castor positive a bit, gonna do that after the links are in and some more welding is done, didn't know about the camber shims, good to know as I don't like cambered in running gear. That being said the camber looks spot on right now but that's based on a visual check. That's neat that your whole family is an offroad family. One day if and when we have a family hopefully it turns out similar to yours.

red, thanks its been fun so far, a few frustrations but as to be expected.

Cheers, More pictures and updates to come soon, maybe tonight.

 

[justcuz]

How far is Golconda from you? That's where LeRoy is. If you looked at his MonsterBuggy build on Pirate you can see he does real nice work.
Enjoy the 4th and looking forward to more updates.

 

[High Center]

....there are "build threads" and there are "bolt on threads"....



THIS is a build thread. Beautiful work, nice truck, enviable skills. Can't wait to see the (never) completed truck-

Best,
HC

 

[chaos616]

Hey just cuz, yeah, i've been chatting with him, might pick some 14b parts up from him, driveline specific. Good guy, actually worked with him out at the mines. He does do real nice work. I did enjoy the 4th and hope you did too!

High Center, Thank you very much for the comments, I have actually completed most of the front brackets, still have a bit of fab and cleanup to do but its coming along. I will post up some pictures soon. I cant' wait for the never completed truck to be done either, and funny enough thats exactly how it is, i've got more ideas every day, I think thats the downside to this hobby, its what is so expensive and time consuming yet so rewarding in the end.

I will post pics soon, (i've said that before and have lied, I will try not to lie this time). The project is still under full forward throttle ahead, been waiting on the axle to get some heavy duty welding and gears for about 2 weeks, may be a few more unfortuantly, but I guess thats how long you have to wait for good work sometimes (I don't have a big enough welder to do it myself unfortunately).

Cheers,

Ehren

 

[chaos616]

Ok, here are some photos, no axle as it is in the shop being welded up and will get its gears set. I was going to set them myself but decided that I would appreciate the warranty of having a shop do it since gears are not the cheapest pieces of metal.

Here is the ride height down 4" for your reference. Truck will sit 4" higher. Brittany is 5'9" tall so it will be tall but hopefully not rediculously so. If it becomes too tall after everything then I will be modifying slowly for a lower ride height:



Here is the new custom front crossmember. It also has incorporated mounts for the front skid plate that will be built:



Tie Rod, Drag Link, and Panhard Bar ready to go:



Left side coilover mount and Panhard bar mount. I did buy the coilover mount but modified it. The panhard bar mount is custom:



And right side:



Parts and stuff. Coilovers are Fox 2.5 dual rate 600/450 12" travel, the rear shocks are the same exact shock with no coils for now:



These are the lower links, uppers hiding just in front of these. They seem low but my skid plate hangs down 2 3/8", so they will only hang down a little, if they are too bad they can also be later modified.:



Right side again:



Crossmember ties both the lower link mounts together, there is also another member that ties in the upper link for overall strength.:



Front frame plates on and cleaned up ready for paint:



Front View of lower links, again upper link brace just in front on passenger side:



Cheers,

Ehren

 

[locrwln]

Excellent progress. Looking forward to the rest of the build, I like that you are conscious of keeping the height reasonable. I thought about SAS'ing mine, but everything I was finding was putting it too tall for my uses.

Just curious as to what you are going to do about the front output on the t-case? Leaving the slip or are you converting to a 271?

Jack

 

[chaos616]

Hey locrwln: Yeah, its going to be a little high as is, but as mentioned I will be modifying the drag link and steering box to allow for more clearance down low, might be tough with the mounts on the frame for the coilover but worth it in the end I think. I'm trying to hurry it a bit to get it out of my buddies garage. The T-case I am switching from an np263 to an np261. Its the manual shift same case. Will bolt up direct no issues with the same vss and electronics (minus the shift electronics) and I will be running a SYE from northwest fab. I have already spoken to high angle driveline about some flanges and such so that should all work well. I will also be putting in a new seal kit, maybe bearings if need be and doing a general inspection along with fitting in the pump slap fix kit for the 261. It had a few less miles than my truck so it should be alright otherwise. It will be a slip yoke in the back so I can use my stock driveshaft etc, saves on some costs.

Also I remember talking to you about putting an ARB locker up front and you had mentioned it worked out well. I was almost ready to when this opportunity presented itself, so now I will have the G80 in the rear like stock and the G80 in the front, so it should increase my front end traction by quite a lot. It will be interesting.

Cheers,

Ehren

 

[chaos616]

One thing I was going to mention is that I have been thinking of the upper coilover mounts. I am really questioning whether they will be strong enough under heavy load, i.e. large bump etc... I know they'll hold on the street fine, but who drives on the street anyway. I got the ruffstuff specialties coilover mount 12" and cut it down to 10.5". If anyone has any experience with these let me know, Otherwise I already purchased some of the parts to do a over engine brace, which I will be doing soon after the truck is rolling and gets an exhaust.

Cheers,
Ehren

 

[toyotech]

Getting big things done. Looks very well planned. Can't wait to see it flexes out


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[mccustomize]

Tie them together over the engine, I made my coil hoops and tied them to the frame in four places on each side and then across the motor with an engine hoop that is removable. I haven't noticed any flex or cracked welds at all.