75 Dually build

[75Dually]

Had the stomach flu all week, Yuck! So today was the first day I felt decent. So this evening I got out to the shop and started to clean up the cross member. Once I got most of the grime off of it I mounted it to my fabrication table and mocked up the suspension.

I have got a good idea what I need to do for the bag fitment. The picture below of the bag in place is just me messing around when it got late in the evening. I will be of course modifying the lower a-arm, but I have some serious plans for the upper spring pocket as well. Most of it will be cut away. I want all the angles to be right so that I allow the bag to move in as straight a line as possible. I have seen to many builds where the air bag is pulled at odd angles, and this allows increased wear and potential failure.

So tomorrow should be a fun day in the shop. I hope to have the lower a-arm and the upper spring pocket at least roughed in. Then I am going to start finding the right spot for the air ride sensor. Stay tuned!

[Matt21lutz]

Bad ass work man, love the entire setup, liking how you're trying to keep the bags as straight as possible in the front! I'll be doing something similar but won't be using regular bags. Definitely subscribing though!

Also... making me want to change over to a dually hahaha

[75Dually]

Got some work done tonight. Finished up the lower drivers side a-arm. Then shot some black paint on it and the upper a-arm as well. I also painted the spindle since I was on a roll. Going to let the 3 of them dry over night and then tomorrow going to start on the upper bag mounting.

A good friend of mine gave me 2 - 6" round 1/2" plates the other day that were scrap laying on his shop floor (Thanks Ryan!). So I am going to put them to good use and make them the upper bag mounting plate.

[75Dually]

I now have one side done! The below pics show the suspension at ride height, and the other 2 show the suspension at full drop. The only thing I have to change is where the bag is touching one of the mounting bolts on the top. I am going to tap the lower plate and use a short bolt so that the bag is touching nothing at all.

I tried to get the bag as straight as possible, but I compromised a bit on the lean angle so that in the lower portions of it's movement (when the vehicle is lowered) it was fairly straight. In the end I felt that it came out OK, so I am happy with the final result.

So tomorrow I am going to start on the opposite side and now that I did all the mock up on this side the passenger side should go a lot faster. Then I will tackle drilling all the mounting bolts 1" forward and moving the steering the same distance. Should be interesting...

Stay tuned...

[75Dually]

Originally Posted by Matt21lutz

Bad ass work man, love the entire setup, liking how you're trying to keep the bags as straight as possible in the front! I'll be doing something similar but won't be using regular bags. Definitely subscribing though!

Also... making me want to change over to a dually hahaha

Matt - Thanks for checking out my build page! Yes you should change over to a dually! Accept no substitutes!!

Tell me what you think of the completed drivers assembly right above this, just finished it last night, now it is on to the passenger side. Should be a ton easier because I have the drivers side to go off of.

Thanks for the encouragement!

[aggie91]

I might have missed it, but what bag are you using for the front?

[75Dually]

Originally Posted by aggie91

I might have missed it, but what bag are you using for the front?

I am using the 3800 bag for the front and the rear. They look big on the rear, and absolutely humongous on the front!

For the rest of my air ride components I am using the eLevel Accuride controller, iLevel wifi interface, 1/2" Airbaggit valve assembly, 5 gallon stainless steel tank, and York 210 compressor assembly for the air source.

[Matt21lutz]

Originally Posted by 75Dually

Matt - Thanks for checking out my build page! Yes you should change over to a dually! Accept no substitutes!!

Tell me what you think of the completed drivers assembly right above this, just finished it last night, now it is on to the passenger side. Should be a ton easier because I have the drivers side to go off of.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Only "problem" with going dually for me is changing the bed out, rear end, four tires for the rear, rear rims and everything else haha that's why I was thinking maybe just go wide ass ties in the back haha besides I have an idea for widening the rear fenders to give it that wide body look in the back. we'll see about that later though haha

Looks good. Really good, definitely not much angle to the bag at all, just slightly but it doesn't look enough to effect the bags performance like some that I've seen.

[aggie91]

Thanks for the info on the air ride. They say the larger diameter bag gives a better ride since it can be set at a lower pressure.

Can't wait for your feedback on the ride!

[Dieselwrencher]

Your bag set up and control arm mods look great. Nice work!

[75Dually]

Been very busy in the shop today. I got the passenger lower and upper a-arms completed.

I also got the cross member just about done. All I have left to do is finish the upper bag mounting plate. Then I will clean up the cross member and give it a good coat of paint.

However before the paint flies I am going to mock it up back on the truck with the complete suspension, rim/tire, and have it moved forward 1" and test the fitment of the complete assembly. I want to make sure that everything works and see what else needs to be modified so I can button up this portion of the build.

Oh yeah my rims (so says the UPS website) are supposed to be here on Monday. Thanks again Trevor!! Can't wait to see them!

[75Dually]

Got some more work done tonight. I marked off the 1" and 1 1/2" forward marks on the frame. Then I got the cross member up in place and put it on the 1 1/2" mark first. The pictures below are on that mark. You can see the fully lowered and the fully raised. I am really happy with the initial range of movement.

From what I can tell without having the rim and tire in place it looks fairly centered. BTW I got 5 of my 6 rims in today. Another stellar day for the guys at UPS! I mean come on guys! The tags say 6 boxes, not 5!! Maybe we should use both hands in the future to count. Oh well maybe tomorrow my loan solider will show up... Again thanks to Trevor at Tenn. Wheel.

So once I get my tires mounted tomorrow I can start on finalizing the setup.

[Dieselwrencher]

Oh yeah, that's going to be sweet!

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 75Dually

Got some more work done tonight. I marked off the 1" and 1 1/2" forward marks on the frame. Then I got the cross member up in place and put it on the 1 1/2" mark first. The pictures below are on that mark. You can see the fully lowered and the fully raised. I am really happy with the initial range of movement.

From what I can tell without having the rim and tire in place it looks fairly centered. BTW I got 5 of my 6 rims in today. Another stellar day for the guys at UPS! I mean come on guys! The tags say 6 boxes, not 5!! Maybe we should use both hands in the future to count. Oh well maybe tomorrow my loan solider will show up... Again thanks to Trevor at Tenn. Wheel.

So once I get my tires mounted tomorrow I can start on finalizing the setup.

So that's @ the 1" or 1.5" forward mark?

[MB84C10]

Don't forget you still gotta fit tires on the wheels haha looks good!

[75Dually]

Yeah I remembered that I had to fit wheel and tire up in there... Tight fit, but it works!

Stopped by the tire shop on the way home today and got the front tire mounted. The below pics show the suspension at full raise, what I think right now as real world driving height (that will change I am sure...), and how close at full raise I am to the fan (dang close!). I will most likely go to a Vintage Air AC system and do like everyone else and smooth the firewall. I just don't really want to spend another $800 right now, yeah I know cry me a river!

So I did some initial measurements with the cross member at 1 1/2" forward. At full raise the tire is dead center, but as I lower the suspension naturally it moves forward. So I am going to have to find a middle ground. I will let you know where I end up.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 75Dually

Yeah I remembered that I had to fit wheel and tire up in there... Tight fit, but it works!

Stopped by the tire shop on the way home today and got the front tire mounted. The below pics show the suspension at full raise, what I think right now as real world driving height (that will change I am sure...), and how close at full raise I am to the fan (dang close!). I will most likely go to a Vintage Air AC system and do like everyone else and smooth the firewall. I just don't really want to spend another $800 right now, yeah I know cry me a river!

So I did some initial measurements with the cross member at 1 1/2" forward. At full raise the tire is dead center, but as I lower the suspension naturally it moves forward. So I am going to have to find a middle ground. I will let you know where I end up.

Cool. The wheel looks very good in the opening. Can't remember if you were 100% on a specific size. What size was your final tire?

[aggie91]

Looks great! I think I would center the wheel at ride height. I do not think it would be off much laid out or raised up...

[75Dually]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Looks great! I think I would center the wheel at ride height. I do not think it would be off much laid out or raised up...

Karl - That is what I was thinking as well. I am going to move it back to the 1" line and see what that gives me. I will play around with it and see where I get the best results. I will let everyone know where I end up, that way it might help someone in the future doing the same modification.

[SCOTI]

Tire size in the pic?

[75Dually]

Originally Posted by scoti

tire size in the pic?

265/35/22

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 75Dually

265/35/22

Thanks.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 75Dually

Karl - That is what I was thinking as well. I am going to move it back to the 1" line and see what that gives me. I will play around with it and see where I get the best results. I will let everyone know where I end up, that way it might help someone in the future doing the same modification.

Food for thought.... I think I'd do the 1.25" if feasible since it allows more clearance @ the fan motor. Not as much of a concern if the firewall is shaved but that real-estate is much desired w/the OE stuff (which is already paid for).

[75Dually]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Food for thought.... I think I'd do the 1.25" if feasible since it allows more clearance @ the fan motor. Not as much of a concern if the firewall is shaved but that real-estate is much desired w/the OE stuff (which is already paid for).

I will play around with several measurements and see what works best, but thanks for the idea!

[75Dually]

The thought of replacing the entire AC system was just driving me nuts. Don't get me wrong I have a Vintage Air system in another ride and it is great.

However my whole issue is that the tire at full drop was going to touch the plastic housing as I have shown in previous pics. To solve this I thought why don't I just rotate the blower assembly up out of the way. So after taking it apart and seeing the room I had available I went for it. Got out the sawzall and cut the housing. As you can see in the pics below it is a tight but nice fit.

With the housing in the new location I had to cut out the hole in the firewall larger for the fresh air, and I also welded up the lower portion that was now outside of the housing. I did not take a pic of that, but might tomorrow. So now I have to glass in the new air tunnel. That should be fun! Not!

I know the tire has a ton more room now. I may have to do some small trimming here and there to get it perfect, but this I feel is a much better solution because the factory AC systems on these truck works very good and I wanted to keep as much of the stock system as possible. I might be all wrong on this and if so I will put an aftermarket system in and call it good, but I hope not...