Crawlin's Build Thread

[crawlin91]

Thanx for posting the picture of the leaf spring perches! I was looking for somewhere that sells those. I ordered a set tonight.

its good shit. got mine the other day and did some painting. diff cover still had some slag and metal shavings in it so I cleaned it up real good with a wire brush and some brake and carb cleaner. I also started in on the rivets to make the lift install go faster. first one took for ever but when I finally figured out an easy method they werent so bad(drill em through, shave the heads and punch em out). Had to shave a little off the fuel filter mounting plate as well for it to clear the bolt and nut on the inside of the frame for the radius arm bracket.

 

[mjonesjr]

You should have ground them ALL down and then used a 2# sledge hammer and knocked the bracket off. That method is MUCH easier than using a punch to punch each rivet out.

Of course, if you have to re-use the stock bracket (please tell me you got a new drop bracket), then the way you did it is better; you will bend/break the bracket the way I just said to do.

 

[crawlin91]

cant afford new radius arms just yet, hell if I had a welder I would try and fab my own, the extra wheel travel would be nice so they will definately be the next mod. so yeah Im reusing the stock plate with the superlift drop brackets for now.

 

[mjonesjr]

Ah, I thought you were talking about the passenger side beam bracket. Yea that is the easiest way if you have to re-use the radius arm brackets.

 

[crawlin91]

When you coming down for adam and I to weld your shit.

talked to the gear shop, they have all the parts should be assembled in a few days. lazy bastards

 

[crawlin91]

Ah, I thought you were talking about the passenger side beam bracket. Yea that is the easiest way if you have to re-use the radius arm brackets.

yeah I will use that method. figured I would wait on those untill its more accessable when I drop the old axle out of the way and put in the lift. FORD sure did tuck em up there far enough.

 

[crawlin91]

8.8 is back loaded with truetrac and 4.56's Front range driveline did a hell of a job and were about 400 cheaper than anyone else that I called. The rest of my parts are on a ups truck headed to my house as we speak.

 

[mjonesjr]

Nice!

 

[97BlackBetty]

WOW, we are almost in the same place in our build, except my 4.88's appear to be so much thicker than your 4.56's. Oh well, I am looking forward to seeing you get this finished up.

 

[mjonesjr]

the lower the gear ratio, the thicker the ring gear and smaller the pinion gear.

 

[crawlin91]

picked up a superrunner steering kit used cleaned it up and repainted. all my shocks and springs are here. today I got the rest of the grade 8 hardware that I should need, as well as diff cover bolts, tech library 2piece brake lines etc. progress pics up shortly...

 

[mjonesjr]

nice! I can't wait to see the truck lifted.

If you were closer, I would help ya.

 

[crawlin91]

nice! I can't wait to see the truck lifted.

If you were closer, I would help ya.

Yeah thanks that would be nice, gotta say though Im learning ALOT throughout this build doing everything myself so far.

 

[CopyKat]

Looks like a good kit. Helped a buddy install one on his explorer over the weekend. We did have to drill the holes for the spring center pin. The ones in the brackets and spring plates were on the small side.

 

[mjonesjr]

you might need to buy some tools for the install also.

- You will need a 1-1/8" wrench for the lower coil spring nut, the radius arm to beam bolts, and the rear radius arm nuts.

- You will need a pitman arm pulled. Most auto parts stores loan a tool program loans these out.

- You will need a tie rod seperator. Again, you can probably rent this from a parts house.

- You will need an angle grinder with grind/cut off wheels for the passenger side beam and radius arm bracket rivets. Get a couple cut off wheels as you will use atleast 2.