On the ground again!

[jdmaffeo]

An order arrived last night from Summit (Shocks, body mounts, tranny mount, and exhaust goodies). I can finally get the exhaust work finished only if I could find someone to do it here in Dallas! Does anyone have any suggestions???

Last night during the rain here in Dallas I was able to finally get the truck back off of the jack stands and onto wheels again! It has been quite some time since this has been seen. I am excited and I hope that I can share some of this excitement to some of you guys out there that can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet! I have a long way to go yet, but I am excited to say the least that I have made it this far! Tonight I will get the brake lines taken off and hook up the new ones to the calipers that are already mounted. It will then be time to turn it around and work on the rear end flip kit, c-notch, and rebuild the brakes. Anyway here are a few pictures for you all to enjoy!

[twoodson]

I used advanced exhaust in duncanville. The guy name is Doug and he said to give me a call 711 Woodhaven Blvd. Duncanville, TX 972-572-3700. He did mine on my '87 swb. And his welds are clean and neat and he takes pride in it work

[twoodson]

Ooops i meant he said to give him a call. I typed give me a call. dyslexic typing skillz.

[jdmaffeo]

Thanks for the information! I'll give him a call as soon as I get it back in one piece!

[Malo83]

jdmaffeo that front end looks cherry

[boxrodz]

Looking good, jdmaffeo. I'd run it without the front clip.

Just a couple of minor things. It looks from the pics that the rubber boots on the LCA ball joints are not fully seated. And, judging by the clearance, it looks like you may have to trim a bit of the rubber bump stops.

Again, looks clean. Good job.

[benoit454]

Do your control arms rub the rims? What size rims are on it BTW?

[jdmaffeo]

I'm not sure about the bump stops yet, how much clearance do I need between the bump stop and the place where they will hit?

I knew about the LCA boots. The boots will not go all the way down. I tried like heck, they kinda float, but still seal. I greased them last night and they definatly held grease. Do they need to be beat down to the LCA? I haven't seen any information on this........

The previous owner put on the 15 inch Centerlines, I will have to measure the width and all of the other stuff. There seems to be no clearance problems at all. I used the 2 1/2 drop spindles and 2 inch springs. I am hopefully going to set the fenders on it tonight, I'll post a picture for you all.

[boxrodz]

Originally Posted by jdmaffeo

I'm not sure about the bump stops yet, how much clearance do I need between the bump stop and the place where they will hit?

I knew about the LCA boots. The boots will not go all the way down. I tried like heck, they kinda float, but still seal. I greased them last night and they definatly held grease. Do they need to be beat down to the LCA? I haven't seen any information on this.........

Once you get the front end buttoned up, check to see how much clearance you have between the bump stop and the crossmember/spring pocket. From the pics, it doesn't look like much clearance and you may possibly end up beating up your nice bump stops. For clearance, I'd shoot for ~3", but since you have installed dropped springs, they may be more progressive than stock. You may get away with less, but I'd error on more clearance.

I used one of the sleeves from a ball joint press kit to fully seat the rubber boots. After applying a light film of grease, they went on fairly easily. Otherwise, it's a bear to install them as you said. Here's a few dated pics:

[garysouthlake]

THERE'S A GREAT EXHAUST SHOP IN hURST/bEDFORD. i THINK THEIR NAME IS kENNYS. They will do a terrific job for you.............

[jdmaffeo]

boxrodz....Thanks for the pics...I didn't even think about that. I will take it back apart and fix that before I get it on the road...DOH!