Not sure where you got your calipers but I have been through 4 sets in 4 years. Just hope you have a bunch of that red paint sitting around. i used black, lots of it. My first three sets were from napa, my last set I got from oreilly with a life time warranty. We'll see if my spring time annual break down reveals that i need yet another set.
GMC / Chevy Project Dual Sport ; 1998 GMC Sierra
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
-
- Tags
- build thread
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Wow, that's lame... what exactly is going bad with them? I got them from RockAuto and ordered their 'premium' calipers. Really hope I don't have those kinds of problems.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
After buying a junk 'new' rebuilt starter from NAPA, I try not to buy important rebuilt or electrical parts from them... the quality seems questionable anymore.
- Location
- Smithfield Utah
What a fun build. I can't wait to see the end result
Yep its a shame. As a last resort I'm still a NAPA shopper (more than fed up with all the others) but I'm convinced if its not OEM/NOS Toyota or Honda its likely Hencho en China garbage :-\
Yep its a shame. As a last resort I'm still a NAPA shopper (more than fed up with all the others) but I'm convinced if its not OEM/NOS Toyota or Honda its likely Hencho en China garbage :-\
LT.
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Los Alamos, New Mexico
I think the red calipers is cool. I think the only funny thing about them is the story about y'all offering that when folks bought new wheels. Wicked cool build and I cant wait for more updates.
LT.
LT.
No worries, it will be done when it's done.
That's a great feeling. I am never going to take on another project with a deadline. Late nights, overnighting parts... not worth the stress. If I have a time crunch project I will pay someone else to do it.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Yep, been there way too many times... often working on a rig that wasn't mine, a few days before a competition. I spent too many late nights doing that, these days I don't work on a deadline and it feels great! Same approach to the Beater Buggy, it will be done when it's done!
Yeah brackets are pretty easy...grind off and weld new ones on...worth it for the upgrade!!
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
It's been awhile since I've updated this, I've made some huge steps in progress and now there are only a few things left before it's ready to move under it's own power!
First thing was steering, the ORD kit came with the steering arm, drag link and TRE's. I bought some weld-in bungs from Ruff Stuff, some 1.5 x .250 DOM for the tie rod and another pair of TRE's for the tie rod. After getting all the parts put together, I threaded in the TRE's into the drag link and one of the TRE's got VERY bound up after threading it in less than 1/2 way in. I t felt like it wasn't threaded deep enough! I put a pipe wrench and a breaker bar on it and got it a little further in... but there is no way it's going to be adjustable. I will probably end up having another one built so I can adjust it.
I also installed the new pitman arm, after pulling the old one off. After a coat of paint, I put everything in place! I haven't tightened everything, so the nuts are loose and the cotter pins aren't in. -
Next on the list were the rear bump-stops... they were easy. I will probably need to lower them a few inches, as the shocks will bottom out first at this point.
Onto the front shock mounts! I picked up a pair of the commonly used Ford shock towers. I ran these on my previous 4Runner, but had serious issues... I didn't brace them enough and they ripped off, taking part of the frame with them! I didn't want that to happen again, so I spent some time thinking how to do this right. Here's what I came up with... I ended up cutting the shock mounts at the 'bend' and using that lower portion as a brace behind the shock tower to the frame. I also added a pair of large gussets on the side, plus used a hole saw to make a large rosette weld in the shock tower.
Drivers side -
In the end, the front shocks have 4" of up-travel... not much considering they're 12" travel, but I'm going to see if it works. If not, I can cut off the lower mounts and drop them down another 1-1.5". I do want to eventually add a pair of 2" FOA air bump stops to the front and I left room to add them.
Also got the rear shocks in place... Probably going to have the exhaust redone as some later point, as I had to cut the tailpipes off, since they were in the way of the shocks on the drivers side.
I pulled the stock brake master cyl, booster and ABS controller... also removed the ABS relay, so I shouldn't get an ABS light on the dash. I will be putting on a hydro booster from a '99 Chevy gas truck. I'm going to need some custom brake line routing/building to hook up the brake lines to the master and I'm really not looking forward to it. Oh well! After that, connect the brake lines, bleed them and go!!
And finally.... the H2 wheels that I'm going to run won't fit all the way over the Ford Dana 60. Rather than work them over with a flap disc, I decided to use an idea I found on OFN (Offroad Fab Network) by a guy who is actually a member on here! He used a Router and a flush mount bit. Basically the bearing of the bit rides on the surface you want to match and the router cuts away the rest of the material. You have to cut from the backside of the wheel. Here's how it started... no pics of the final product, but I will get them up here this weekend. It takes some patience and makes a HUGE mess with the aluminum shavings, but looks good and now the H2 wheels fit over the Dana 60 hub!
Here's the lip you need to remove-
My 37" MTR's should be here on Monday (I've been waiting over 8 weeks!! Apparently they were on national back order!) and I'll try to get them mounted up mid-week. Once they're mounted on the H2 wheels, I can bolt them on! :freak:
First thing was steering, the ORD kit came with the steering arm, drag link and TRE's. I bought some weld-in bungs from Ruff Stuff, some 1.5 x .250 DOM for the tie rod and another pair of TRE's for the tie rod. After getting all the parts put together, I threaded in the TRE's into the drag link and one of the TRE's got VERY bound up after threading it in less than 1/2 way in. I t felt like it wasn't threaded deep enough! I put a pipe wrench and a breaker bar on it and got it a little further in... but there is no way it's going to be adjustable.
I will probably end up having another one built so I can adjust it. I also installed the new pitman arm, after pulling the old one off. After a coat of paint, I put everything in place! I haven't tightened everything, so the nuts are loose and the cotter pins aren't in. -
Next on the list were the rear bump-stops... they were easy.
I will probably need to lower them a few inches, as the shocks will bottom out first at this point.
Onto the front shock mounts! I picked up a pair of the commonly used Ford shock towers. I ran these on my previous 4Runner, but had serious issues... I didn't brace them enough and they ripped off, taking part of the frame with them! I didn't want that to happen again, so I spent some time thinking how to do this right. Here's what I came up with... I ended up cutting the shock mounts at the 'bend' and using that lower portion as a brace behind the shock tower to the frame. I also added a pair of large gussets on the side, plus used a hole saw to make a large rosette weld in the shock tower.
Drivers side -
In the end, the front shocks have 4" of up-travel... not much considering they're 12" travel, but I'm going to see if it works. If not, I can cut off the lower mounts and drop them down another 1-1.5". I do want to eventually add a pair of 2" FOA air bump stops to the front and I left room to add them.
Also got the rear shocks in place... Probably going to have the exhaust redone as some later point, as I had to cut the tailpipes off, since they were in the way of the shocks on the drivers side.
I pulled the stock brake master cyl, booster and ABS controller... also removed the ABS relay, so I shouldn't get an ABS light on the dash. I will be putting on a hydro booster from a '99 Chevy gas truck. I'm going to need some custom brake line routing/building to hook up the brake lines to the master and I'm really not looking forward to it. Oh well! After that, connect the brake lines, bleed them and go!!
And finally.... the H2 wheels that I'm going to run won't fit all the way over the Ford Dana 60. Rather than work them over with a flap disc, I decided to use an idea I found on OFN (Offroad Fab Network) by a guy who is actually a member on here! He used a Router and a flush mount bit. Basically the bearing of the bit rides on the surface you want to match and the router cuts away the rest of the material. You have to cut from the backside of the wheel. Here's how it started... no pics of the final product, but I will get them up here this weekend. It takes some patience and makes a HUGE mess with the aluminum shavings, but looks good and now the H2 wheels fit over the Dana 60 hub!
Here's the lip you need to remove-
My 37" MTR's should be here on Monday (I've been waiting over 8 weeks!! Apparently they were on national back order!) and I'll try to get them mounted up mid-week. Once they're mounted on the H2 wheels, I can bolt them on! :freak:
Is that drag link straight? If so, and you can get it to me (or anyone with a lathe really) I can just tap it deeper--no need for an all-new one.
If it's bent, that's still a possibility...just have to run the tap in by hand instead of under power. Just more work.
If it's bent, that's still a possibility...just have to run the tap in by hand instead of under power. Just more work.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Is that drag link straight? If so, and you can get it to me (or anyone with a lathe really) I can just tap it deeper--no need for an all-new one.
If it's bent, that's still a possibility...just have to run the tap in by hand instead of under power. Just more work.
Yeah, it's perfectly straight. One side went in fine, the other one went in several turns, then bound up quickly. The only reason I think I will need another drag link is because I'm pretty sure the TRE that bound up won't be coming out!
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Oh, I forgot to mention the highlight of my day! I went to the local Ace Hardware to buy nuts & bolts for the shocks... when I walked out, this guy was pulling into the parking lot with about a '93-94 Chevy pickup... with a 1 Ton solid axle swap on 37's! I walked up to him and asked if I could check his truck out. He was also running an ORD solid axle conversion, but it had about 7" of lift and had Alcan springs.
On top of that, he had also swapped in a Cummins 6BT from an early Dodge. It was a neat truck, a little tall for my liking but still very neat. He gave me some great tips and pointers about the solid axle conversion. They guy is local, lives in the valley and recently got the truck on the road. I hope to see the truck around in the future.
On top of that, he had also swapped in a Cummins 6BT from an early Dodge. It was a neat truck, a little tall for my liking but still very neat. He gave me some great tips and pointers about the solid axle conversion. They guy is local, lives in the valley and recently got the truck on the road. I hope to see the truck around in the future.