OrvisKrawlers 96 chevy standard cab shortbed build

A month or so ago I picked this truck up on ksl after selling my grand cherokee, the goal was the same as the grand, build a vehicle to go wheeling, take to moab and do some hard trails, be a daily driver, and be reliable, plans were for a dana 60 and a 14 bolt, so here is what I started out with
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it was a pretty clean fairly low mileage truck with some horrible spray tint on the lights, the first thing I wanted to do was sand and buff the lenses and rip all the moldings off, here was the result
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a few weeks after I picked it up I started looking for a 14 bolt and a dana 60, found my rear 14 bolt at a local junk yard, it was out of a 96, after making some measurements I realized it would bolt right in and the stock drive shaft would even work( with a conversion ujoint)
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at the time I couldnt find a 78-79 d60 so I picked up a really clean '90 version off ksl after doing a little research and seeing that it would work for my needs
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now that I had the axles I needed to get the parts to build them, decided to go with 5.13's and detroits front and rear, high steer kit from balistic and cross over kit from ruff stuff, and some SOLID covers from polyperformance, got all that ordered and got the axles put together
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I was surprised at how easy they were to set up, only took a few hours, my dana 30 in the grand cherokee was a pita compared to these, anyway next I needed front springs, I went with 52" blazer rears, found them from a forum member on here, after I got those I was able to score a good deal on some 37" BFG dot Krawlers, then went and pulled a pitman arm from a dodge pickup, the taper for the tre is on the wrong side, in the past Ive used this arm and just fill the hole up a little with weld and taper the other side and its worked well, so thats what Im doing this time, just waiting for my tapered bit to show up
the time came this weekend that I would have some shop time so I got everything ready, went and got my steel for the front cross member and shackles, and shackle hangers, decided to do the rear first since it was just a bolt in deal and a shackle flip, here is how it started
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I ended up taking out the chicken killer bottom leaf and needed a set of shims to get the right angle for the drive shaft after the shackle flip
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forgot to take a pic of the shackle flip, Ill have to get one later, anyway rear was almost done, I modified the brake line mounts to be able to use the stock brake line, and tomorrow I need to go pick up a conversion ujoint and bolt up the drive shaft
so saturday I started on the front
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diff and torsion bars out, next was everything else
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OrvisKrawler

Captain Obvious
Location
Eden UT
How much up-travel do you think you've got? I've heard that can be a concern with these trucks and a lower SAS.

I have about 5" between the tie rod and the frame, when i had the front right tire stuffed to get a shock measurement it was an inch away from touching, im going to fab up some bump stops and if it bottoms out too much I will just notch the frame above the tie rod and drag link so i can get a little more travel,thats the only place it might have an issue with contact, i dont want it to be any higher
 

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
I have about 5" between the tie rod and the frame, when i had the front right tire stuffed to get a shock measurement it was an inch away from touching, im going to fab up some bump stops and if it bottoms out too much I will just notch the frame above the tie rod and drag link so i can get a little more travel,thats the only place it might have an issue with contact, i dont want it to be any higher


:cool:
 

OrvisKrawler

Captain Obvious
Location
Eden UT
so I measured my tie rod to frame clearance today and a tire must have been in a low spot last night at my house when i measured it, cause on the level concrete at my shop it was 4" on both sides, so after work i was feeling a little bored and notched the frame, hope it doesnt look to red neck haha, it does solve the problem though, now there is almost 2 more inches of up travel :)
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OrvisKrawler

Captain Obvious
Location
Eden UT
would anyone be able to possibly measure the verticle distance from the center of the wheel to the bottom of the fender at the top of the wheel arch on a stock truck of this body style for me?
 

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
so I measured my tie rod to frame clearance today and a tire must have been in a low spot last night at my house when i measured it, cause on the level concrete at my shop it was 4" on both sides, so after work i was feeling a little bored and notched the frame, hope it doesnt look to red neck haha, it does solve the problem though, now there is almost 2 more inches of up travel :)
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Looks great to me! Anything to gain up travel and keep the truck kind of low is very good!
 

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
Holy crap. I stop looking at this for a few days and you have an awesome truck built. I love the stance of this thing.

Now Greg needs to get on his.
 

OrvisKrawler

Captain Obvious
Location
Eden UT
I ended up getting a little bit done on this over the weekend, got my shock towers built for the front and got all the shocks all mounted up, should work ok, I used the ford shock towers off the 80's f250 heres how it turned out
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the back I just mounted up in the stock location but cut and rewelded the axle side mount up higher to keep it out of the rocks
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after I was finished I went and drove it, it actually drives really nice now, been looking at where I could possibly mount my track bar and thinking I might be screwed on that one, there is almost no room under there for it, I know its supposed to be as long as the drag link, is there any way of getting away with making it shorter and not having bump steer?
 

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Looks good! I've been thinking about how to fab up some neat-o front shock towers recently.

Is a track bar really needed? IMO, I don't think so. The leafs should locate the axle just fine. I think a track bar is quite redundant, considering you're already using leafs.

How is the body roll, any need for a anti-sway bar?
 

OrvisKrawler

Captain Obvious
Location
Eden UT
Looks good! I've been thinking about how to fab up some neat-o front shock towers recently.

Is a track bar really needed? IMO, I don't think so. The leafs should locate the axle just fine. I think a track bar is quite redundant, considering you're already using leafs.

How is the body roll, any need for a anti-sway bar?

honestly it drives pretty good without the track bar, Ive just always used them on the sas trucks Ive done in the past, it has just helped tighten up the steering with the cross over, Im thinking i might just run it how it is without one for now untill its linked and worry about it when that time comes

as far as body roll, it doesnt have a ton, it has just slightly more than my grand cherokee did with the swaybar hooked up, its very streetable
 

OrvisKrawler

Captain Obvious
Location
Eden UT
thanks man, just trying to keep it somewhat simple

going to try to get my front driveshaft made by the end of the week and possibly go do a test run this coming weekend, looking forward to getting out on the trail again, its been a few months
 
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