This is currently my biggest issue. The problem is I can’t even move the bracket backwards because it will run into the upper link on top of the diff. I think I might have to cut it all out and use heims because they’re narrower than these wide johnny joints. Sucks but I’ve come to terms with it.

Assembled my Yukon chromo 60 shafts. These things are beefy as shit. They’ve got a ton of material added to them compared to the stock ones. I actually had to grind them a little to get them to fit through the knuckle.







My buddy Peter helped me 2 days in a row this week. And I use the word help loosely as he installed a bearing race backwards in the hub and also broke the little pin on the inner spindle nut. For the race we welded this piece of steel across the back and were able to hammer it out from the front of the hub.

Peter put the rest of the hub and bearings together and then installed the Yukon locking hub. These things are kind of a bitch to install compared to the Warns but the design is obviously much beefier. They were also like 10 bucks cheaper.


Peter helped me brace and install some new 6” shackles. I had this grand thought that I could lower the truck a little and installed 5” shackles when the 44 was still in the truck. No way in hell that’s gonna fly with the monster trussed 60 up front. I thought the truck looked funny with no tires so I got some pics.




Then… true story… it drove!

Around the block and then I parked it again…






And took it apart to address a bunch of little problems, including shocks

Peter cut out these brackets that I welded to the link mounts. It was a weird ass cut and Peter did an awesome job.

Then I welded some tabs on top



Cut the shock towers to length and mounted them

(yes I know they are ugly)

And mounted the shocks

And then, as previously mentioned, I drove it on the freeway! I stopped at the ATM along the way and took some cool poser shots that give an idea of the stance and look and such





It could use another inch of lift in the back. But that’s an easy fix if I decide to do that.

Driving impressions were quite good. I played with the drag link a bit and got the steering wheel pretty straight. Brakes are a little squishy, will need to bleed more. I think it needs a little more toe in. At speed if you turn a little left, it keeps going left and vice-versa. I think a little more toe in will fix it. It doesn’t wander so I’m inclined to think the caster is OK, it’s at about 5 degrees. All in all though it’s quite drive-able as is.

I was concerned about my track bar length and angled compared to the drag link because its about 4” shorter and 4-5 degrees off. I busted out some high school geometry and excel and calculated that at 4” of suspension travel the difference in horizontal travel between the track bar and the drag link was about ¼”. Which means, according to the math anyways, you’d never have noticeable bump steer. And so far so good, I hit some bumps on the freeway at 60ish and it was solid. On a related note I can share my excel spreadsheet to anyone interested. Also, on that note, it turns out that the angle is more important than the length in keeping them moving in similar planes.

Soooooo, where we at? There’s 2 big projects left. First, I need to sort out this track bar bracket hitting the tie rod thing. I think I’m gonna cut out everything that’s in there and put in heims that aren’t 2.63” wide like my johnny joints and narrower brackets, and that should be the difference I need. The second is bump stops. I’ve got a plan going that I like so I’m hoping that won’t be miserable. I’m gonna do both of those things next weekend.

the truck is quite driveable as is. It's been on the freeway several times and has pretty good road manners from what I can tell so far. So... 2 big projects:

Track bar, part deux. I ordered 1.75" .250" wall tubing, 7/8 heims with weld in bungs and stainless mis-alignment spacers and a 2" wide frame mount from RuffStuff. Got the parts delivered today. The plan is to completely remove everything track bar related on the frame and start over with the new mount. It's .63" narrower to start with and I'm gonna move it back about a half inch. The tubing is also 1/4" narrower than whats on there. I think between the narrower starting point, smaller tubing and bracket relocation, the tie rod will clear.

Awesome progress this weekend, I’m pretty happy with how things went. Saturday I spent 3 hours burning through 8-10 cutting wheels, 2 sawzall blades and about all of the patience I have left for using a grinder. But I got the track bar bracket cut off the frame, cleaned the frame up and started over… I’m now using 7/8” heims with 1.75” OD 1/4” wall DOM for the track bar. I moved the bracket back about 3/4” and the heims are narrower than the Johnny Joints I had in there so it moved the centerline back about an inch. It’s a perfect amount of clearance for the tie rod.


Sunday my friend C.J. came over and helped install some steering linkage, clear coat the lower links (bling bling!) and get the bump stops in. I welded in the can mounts for the bump stops and had a mild moment of panic when the bump stops wouldn’t slide into the cans. C.J. talked me off the ledge and we got it together. I’m quite happy with how the bump stop mounts turned out and I think they’ll work nicely. My main curiosity will be to see how well the foam inserts hold up over time to a 7K pound truck.


I drove the truck around with C.J. on Sunday and to work on Monday. It drives pretty good but still wanders a little, I think it might need a touch more toe-in. I’m having new drive-shafts made at south bay driveline and have a few other little odds and ends to take care of this week but it’s coming together real nice. I’m about at a point where I feel good about driving it 200 miles.


And I took some pictures but I’m being lazy in uploading so you’ll have to live with the story for now and use your imagination.

thank you

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery



I ordered the allen key online, ill get a link for you

and no I don't use flap disc's a lot, I like the way the griding disk works better, gets into the metal, and not just the surface shit

and yeah, its a paint in the ask


ware parts that have a life time warranty and I don't have to ever pay to replace, AutoZone ftw lol

Holy balls, 8-10 cutting discs .. $4 a pop usually, and 2 sawzall blades 5$ a pop, 3 hours labour say $90 .. thats atleast $140 to cut off that bracket .. a few brackets more and you could buy a plasma cutter fuck.

This post was edited by TSL on Aug 21 2013 03:33pm

I own a plasma cutter




also, I have a buddy that works at a supply house, the cutting disks and blades "fell off a truck"