Saturday, December 8, 2007

Truck 6 '03 Ford F350 SuperDuty





This truck was fairly easy to build, and was completed in less than a day. Pro-Comp's "basic" 6 inch lift with custom fabricated rear blocks, fully reinforced. Front suspension consists of radius arm drop brackets, longer coil spring, sway bar drops, dropped pitman arm, and a drop bracket for the track bar. The customer upgraded the shocks to Pro-Comp's chrome reservoir performance shock.

Tires are 35x12.5x16 Pro Comp mud terrains, on the stock Ford wheels.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Truck 5 '06 Chevy 2500 HD 4X4

Similar to the truck 4 build, but a company and personal first build. This is a 9" long-travel Fabtech coil-over conversion kit. The truck is converted from a torsion bar style suspension, to a complete adjustable coil-over style long travel system. According to Fabtech, less than 100 of these kits have been sold to date. A truly unreal kit to install because the entire suspension is literally re-engineered from the ground up.
I took a few "before" pictures to try and show how a stock HD sits.






This kit was somewhat overwhelming due to the fact that it arrived on its own pallet, in about 14 boxes. It felt like Christmas as I ripped each apart box to discover the impressive front end components. Fully boxed lower control arms that seemed to weigh 40 pounds each, massive Dirt Logic 4.0 coil overs with coffee-can sized reservoirs, 1 inch thick replacement tie-rod ends, 3 inch extended replacement front axle shafts, the list goes on. This is the first kit of its kind that I and everyone at the shop, has seen yet. The front end took 3-4 days to build as I had to remove the welded upper shock pockets, bump stop brackets, and a arm pockets. Theres no way this truck will ever be returned to stock condition.
This picture shows the installed kit. The upper coil over hoop is bolted on using 1/2 hardware in 4 locations, and also bolts to the trucks motor mounts for added strength! Seems a little overboard, but ensures a rock-solid upper mount for the massive spring. Because this is a "long travel" system, a total of 4 limiting straps are provided to limit suspension droop if jumping occurs.














In the rear is a 9 inch lifted leaf spring by Atlas Springs, along with the Fabtech reservoir shocks. The customer also brought in a larger fuel tank which took a full day to install, NOT FUN. A facial full of diesel fuel is never fun. Another 3-4 hours for the Amp Research power steps added to the fun of this project. This customer occasionally uses his truck for towing his power boat, so asked for an airbag system to be installed in addition to the lift. The air bag system he bought is a self leveling system complete with air compressor, and all wiring. In a lifted application the usual air bag brackets will not work, which calls for custom fabrication. Fabrication of these brackets took a full day, and weren't as bad as i originally thought. Now, when the truck bed is loaded, or a trailer attached, the truck automatically levels itself. Trick, but expensive, and very time consuming to install.














Truck is sitting on 37x13.50x18 Toyo Open Country tires. Wheels are 18" Chrome RBP's. Build time is about 8 days. Expect to pay around $12,000 for this entire package installed.

Truck 4'05 Chevy 2500 HD 4X4

Here we a basic 6" BulletProof lift. These kits are fairly extensive, and once completed, are not reversible. The factory bump stop mounts and upper a-arm pockets are cut away, and the frame section sanded smooth. Customers buying these kits need to be certain they want to keep the kit, and not return the truck to stock at a later time.


The upper arms are dropped down with provided brackets, along with the front differential, sway bar, steering center link, lower control arms, and torsion bar mounts. This customer intended to actually use the truck off-road, so he opted for 33" tires to provide for more overall travel in the suspension. A 33" tire will fit on stock HD components, so the 6" of additional tire clearance will really improve off-road capabilities in this application. 33x12.50x16 Toyo Open Country tires on 16" Mickey Thompson wheels. Also installed are the AMP research steps, which drop down when the doors open, and retract when the doors close. Very trick, but expensive at around $1200 installed. Provided instruction call for 3-4 hours install time by a professional mechanic.
2-3 day build time w/ lots of torching, cutting, and drilling. These kits arent too bad though, because most parts and hardware are included. The worst part about BulletProof kits are the hobos that run the show at the main office. They are currently 0 for 5 in getting me the parts i need. Every week they forget different components, and Im constantly being told by my boss to "make it work." I hate making it work. Another finished truck, another happy customer.