That's a good deal. That's about close to the price I was gonna sell my drop for when I thought I wanted to put a level on mine
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Dean's '11 Crew Cab Budget Build
- Thread starter DeanH1290
- Start date
It's stupid cheap tbh, was gonna cost me almost that much for the flip and shocks. I'm gonna try to flip my old wheels this week to get some extra cash to buy it from him. If not, I'll try to sneak some money out on payday.
Well to make it even better, I threw the old wheels up on craigslist last night and already have someone asking about them. If all works out I'll have the kit in hand this week. It may be a bit before I can install, but at least I'll have everything ready to go.
Finally flipped the wheels last night and was able to get the drop tonight. Here it is all layed out before I wiped everything down.
The shocks are belltech street performance and everything else (springs, spindles, flip kit, hangers, transmission spacer) are street edge.
Before anyone asks about the ground off part on the spindles, they came like that from the suspension source. When the PO asked about them, they said that they 'couldn't say why, but they were supposed to be like that'. He then mentioned to them that they looked an aweful lot like belltech spindles. Their reply was 'I can't say anything, but you are on the right track'. So that leads me to believe that these are truly just belltech spindles with the logo ground off.
If I get the free time, I hope to install everything on Sunday. If not, I'll shoot for sometime next week. I'm still undecided what exact drop to go with, but the back will for sure be 7" right now since I don't want to fool with the hangers. I'm leaning more towards 5" up front, but I'm still undecided.
The shocks are belltech street performance and everything else (springs, spindles, flip kit, hangers, transmission spacer) are street edge.
Before anyone asks about the ground off part on the spindles, they came like that from the suspension source. When the PO asked about them, they said that they 'couldn't say why, but they were supposed to be like that'. He then mentioned to them that they looked an aweful lot like belltech spindles. Their reply was 'I can't say anything, but you are on the right track'. So that leads me to believe that these are truly just belltech spindles with the logo ground off.
If I get the free time, I hope to install everything on Sunday. If not, I'll shoot for sometime next week. I'm still undecided what exact drop to go with, but the back will for sure be 7" right now since I don't want to fool with the hangers. I'm leaning more towards 5" up front, but I'm still undecided.
Time for another lengthy update.
I was able to get with the local guy (07 Chevy on GMFS) who I bought the drop kit from and we got the drop installed.
Up front I went with spindles, 2" springs, and struts set to 1. While we were installing everything we checked out the rest of the front end parts. Everything seemed good except the lower ball joints which are worse than my uppers were. They will be next on the list.
Out back, we did the flip kit to get 7". We left out the bumpstops since there was very little clearance anyways. I accidentally left the overload leafs at home (I always forget something) so they did not get put on. Once I make sure I'm at the height I want I'll take the time to put them back in. I also left the hitch off temporarily. His shop has a pretty big dip at the entrance, so we had to take it completely off to get the truck out.
The ride home wasn't awful, but it wasn't really pleasant either. The front rubbed a ton and the rear bottomed out constantly under normal driving conditions. As seen in the last pic, the front has some pretty excessive negative camber at the moment. I believe that is the main reason for rubbing up front. It's getting aligned after work today, so I'll know more then.
I think the bottoming out is worse at the moment due to all of the parts and my 22 in the bed. Here's the current clearance for the rear.
Once I get it aligned I'll know more and be able to take actual measurements, but the rear seems like its closer to 8" than 7" how it sits.
I was able to get with the local guy (07 Chevy on GMFS) who I bought the drop kit from and we got the drop installed.
Up front I went with spindles, 2" springs, and struts set to 1. While we were installing everything we checked out the rest of the front end parts. Everything seemed good except the lower ball joints which are worse than my uppers were. They will be next on the list.
Out back, we did the flip kit to get 7". We left out the bumpstops since there was very little clearance anyways. I accidentally left the overload leafs at home (I always forget something) so they did not get put on. Once I make sure I'm at the height I want I'll take the time to put them back in. I also left the hitch off temporarily. His shop has a pretty big dip at the entrance, so we had to take it completely off to get the truck out.
The ride home wasn't awful, but it wasn't really pleasant either. The front rubbed a ton and the rear bottomed out constantly under normal driving conditions. As seen in the last pic, the front has some pretty excessive negative camber at the moment. I believe that is the main reason for rubbing up front. It's getting aligned after work today, so I'll know more then.
I think the bottoming out is worse at the moment due to all of the parts and my 22 in the bed. Here's the current clearance for the rear.
Once I get it aligned I'll know more and be able to take actual measurements, but the rear seems like its closer to 8" than 7" how it sits.
The rear being that close will continue to bottom out unless you notch or get helpers. The weight of the truck just driving is gonna be more than enough to close that gap. As far as up front, I would bet you'll still rub a lot after an alignment. I don't want to kill your vibe or be the bearer of bad news, just giving you a heads up.
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Yea, not popping my bubble or anything. I knew there was a very slim chance that 5/7 would actually work without any issues. I'm keeping the very realistic possibility of going back up to 4/6 in the back of my mind. All I would need to get would be lift shackles since I don't want to fool with the hangers.
Here's some more pictures and some premature measurements before it gets aligned. Rear is measuring 30" and front is measuring 30.5" with junk in the bed.
Quick little update:
As it sat, the truck was maxed out on camber adjustments. They went on and reset the toe. Here's how it came out.
With the camber as bad as it was, I decided to go on and bring the front back up an inch. That seems to have cleared up the camber issue and it will be getting realigned tomorrow. I'll wait till I can see it in daylight, but I'll probably go on and get the lift shackles to bring the rear up too.
As it sat, the truck was maxed out on camber adjustments. They went on and reset the toe. Here's how it came out.
With the camber as bad as it was, I decided to go on and bring the front back up an inch. That seems to have cleared up the camber issue and it will be getting realigned tomorrow. I'll wait till I can see it in daylight, but I'll probably go on and get the lift shackles to bring the rear up too.
So I finally figured out my front issues. Apparently when I dropped the truck originally, it really sat at 6/7 instead of 5/7. When I lifted the front up on Monday, it really only brought it to 5" up front. After discussing with a few members we came to the conclusion that the springs gave more drop, most likely due to the extra 4x4 weight. Tuesday night I was able to swap the stock springs back in and got the front sitting how it should. It measures around 4-4.5 compared to where I sat at 2 up front.
With that said, the alignment is still off bad enough that I will go through tires pretty quick. Here's the alignment specs from last night with camber adjustments maxed out and a pic of how its sitting now.
I have a couple options when it comes to fixing it.
1- Belltech Offset Bushings - these are supposed to give 2° more. Caster would still be off, but camber would be in spec and they would be able to even everything out. I'd still have ~ -1° of camber.
2- Complete Belltech Camber Kit - includes offset bushings and cam plates for 3° more. This would get me all the way back to 0°, but apparently the camber plates are an absolute pain to deal with since you have to elongate the hole for the cam bolt.
Right now I'm leaning more towards just doing the bushings simply because of the ease of install. Would also be easy to have the shop put them in before they align it.
I'm planning on ordering some 1" lift shackles as well, but trying to get the alignment worked out first.
With that said, the alignment is still off bad enough that I will go through tires pretty quick. Here's the alignment specs from last night with camber adjustments maxed out and a pic of how its sitting now.
I have a couple options when it comes to fixing it.
1- Belltech Offset Bushings - these are supposed to give 2° more. Caster would still be off, but camber would be in spec and they would be able to even everything out. I'd still have ~ -1° of camber.
2- Complete Belltech Camber Kit - includes offset bushings and cam plates for 3° more. This would get me all the way back to 0°, but apparently the camber plates are an absolute pain to deal with since you have to elongate the hole for the cam bolt.
Right now I'm leaning more towards just doing the bushings simply because of the ease of install. Would also be easy to have the shop put them in before they align it.
I'm planning on ordering some 1" lift shackles as well, but trying to get the alignment worked out first.
Unfortunately Moog doesn't make any parts like that for the nnbs trucks. I'm planning on ordering some offset bushings and locking cam plates when I get a chance.
The bushings would be alright, it's basically the same as a camber bolt on a mustang. Did those on my buddy's cobra and it worked great. A tad bit of negative camber is usually fine, granted my experience is on cars. But I always purposely ran -2* on all my mustangs and never wore the tires weird with regular rotations.
Also another tip, if the shop will do it. Put as much positive caster in as you can. All the way. That helps steering feel, makes the vehicle respond better and turn better
Sent from Tapatwat
Also another tip, if the shop will do it. Put as much positive caster in as you can. All the way. That helps steering feel, makes the vehicle respond better and turn better
Sent from Tapatwat
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Unfortunately the caster will probably stay where they are at. I had them set it to get the most camber possible out of it. If I go with the bushings I'll have them set camber to ~ 1° and get everything else as close as possible while still being even.
Got a chance to clean it up after work and take a couple pics before the early sunset. The touch of lean is actually growing on me a little bit.
