Dean's '11 Crew Cab Budget Build

Time for a quick update to keep me on track this month. There's one or two things I plan on getting done before Carlisle hits at the beginning of august. First off is replacing the heims. The ones that came with the kit are junk. I'm at the point where I have to lube them at least once a week to keep them from getting too squeaky. I'll be ordering some FK stainless heims this week to replace them. To go along with that, I need to replace my steering boots. When I installed the tie rod kit, I ended up butchering them to make them work (as you can see in the pic) and I can't get them to stay in place anymore. This time around I an on pinching them between the clevis and the steering rack to keep the outer end in place. The last thing to go along with the heims is adjusting the struts down a notch (1.18 to .59). This should give me some more breathing room with the cv's and LBJ's and maybe help out the ride some. Right now I plan on leaving the rear of the truck alone. As it sits now, I have about 1" of lean. The front adjustment should bring it pretty close to level.

Here's a pic of the current angles that shows condition of the heims and steering boot.
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sc0tt said:
Hows the finish on the wheels holding up?
Click to expand...
It's holding up good on the back wheels. I had poor application on one of the fronts and it started to tear, so I peeled it off. I'm hoping to redo it this week. Only othef issue I had was getting brake dust off of the fronts. You have to wipe them down extremely well during washing so that it all comes off.
 
Ended up picking up some rear fender liners when I went up to Carlisle this weekend. I also got some great shots taken of the truck. Photo credits to Khaos aka Chris F.

Dean's Lifted Silverado by Chris Farragher, on Flickr
Dean and Geoff by Chris Farragher, on Flickr
Dean's Lifted Silverado by Chris Farragher, on Flickr
Dean's Silverado by Chris Farragher, on Flickr
Dean's Silverado by Chris Farragher, on Flickr
Dean's Silverado by Chris Farragher, on Flickr
Dean's Silverado by Chris Farragher, on Flickr
Dean's Silverado by Chris Farragher, on Flickr

And of course, I can never go problem free for very long. Ended up getting a crack in my windshield on the trip home. Insurance should replace it though.

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They are very similar. This one shows the height different the best

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Phone upload, but you get the idea. It does look great in person though, perfect dd height.
 
Work ramped back up again so the truck has been on the back burner for now. No real updates, but want to try to plan out the next couple of items that I know I want to do. First off, like I've mentioned before, I'm going to pull some of the lift out of the struts. I'm still not sure how much yet, but it will come down. Right now my caster is at 0, so I'd like to get that back closer to factory spec. Since I like the height it sits at now, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a small body lift to gain some height back. The last mod on the list will be the deaver mini packs for the rear. Hopefully they will let me ditch the 3" blocks that are in there now. I still haven't decided what I'm doing with the wheels, but if price is reasonable I'll have them blasted/powdered when these tires wear out ot I get the extra cash. At this point I'm more concerned about getting the suspension completely set so I can leave it alone for once. I'm not sure when the body lift will happen, but I'll adjust the front when I do it. Hopefully it will happen before the weather gets bad here. On a side note, my heim had been squeaking like crazy and the dry lube I had been using didn't seem to be helping anymore. Tried some WD-40 a couple weeks ago and now they are quiet as a mouse.

TL/DR

New plans:
Lower front some
Add small Body Lift
Deaver Mini packs
 
Finally some actual updates to share :pepper:

I had been thinking about getting some led headlights for a while but just hadn't pulled the trigger yet. Well a bulb burn out on me Monday, so I promptly ordered these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141626728210

I opted to go with these since they have great reviews and they come with reverse polarity adapters and load capacitors in case you need them. I did end up needing the reverse polarity adapters. Here's some pics from install.
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I got the adjustment tweaked in last night and I'm pleased with the outcome. I'll get some pics on the road tonight showing the true output.

When changing the headlights, I discovered an air leak in the airbox. One of the screws had stripped out and was keeping the lid from closing all the way. I snagged a bolt and nut from work to temporarily fix it. I'll run it like this until I get a new airbox.

I also decided to clean the throttle body and mass airflow sensor since I had been getting a bit of a rough idle. The maf wasn't bad at all, but the TB was pretty bad on the backside. Probably from the pcv return before I installed the catch can. I didn't get any before pics, but here it is all clean. It's not perfect, but not bad for my first go at it.

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I picked up a used Range AFM Disabler around the same time as the LEDs, so that is in as well. So far I think it's well worth what I paid since I don't think I'll have the funds for an actual tune for quite some time.

The body lift is still sitting in the garage. I haven't really had the time to mess with it, so it will probably have to wait until spring rolls around.
 
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