[Chevy1925]

Your buddy sounds like the guy that built a TT in his living room over a few yrs and had to take out the wall to get it out.

Cantilever setup does sound like a pain in the ass setup. i am just dreaming about that. First step is to get everything else done and down to messico and back.

haha na, he would if he could have but his parents own a big construction company here in az. they work on alot of the reconstruction of our freeways and streets. he does very well at his dads company so most of his free time is spent fabbin stuff. If he didnt take so damn long to build ****, id have him help me on some of my stuff lol

 

[Streetrods]

your truck looks awesome, I dont like many short beds but yours pulls it off

 

[SteelFuser]

So how about a little tech.

I pulled the truck into the shop tonight to measure travel for the shocks.
From full drop to fully compressed I had about 8" with 3" of uptravel.
I am going to try and gain another 1" of uptravel by the end of this.
Measurements were taken from a bolt on the UCA ball joint to the same point on the inner fenderwell. I know this isn't the best points to measure from but it worked for what I needed to find out.

I also found out that the shocks are too short. Seems like us being duramax drivers are always battling this. i don't understand why they can't be 1" longer. Maybe it's a packaging issue I dunno. But I do know that these are Cognito NTBD specific Shocks. No wonder nobody can keep a bushing in them.

 

[SteelFuser]

your truck looks awesome, I dont like many short beds but yours pulls it off

Thanks for the compliments. If it was a crew cab I would love it. Hell If It ha

All you fella's like my rig but nobody would buy it 6 months ago. It was on here. Although it didn't have the lift,wheel or this big of tires. So since nobody would buy no I have to modify. I guess it's better this way since I don't owe a dime on it, I can do all of this.

 

[SteelFuser]

Some shots fully compressed of the driver front with zero tension on t bar.

 

[SteelFuser]

Full drop

 

[buildingup]

Nice truck and sticking around for the build.

When are the heavy duty tie rods or sleeves coming in?

 

[SteelFuser]

On to the shocks.

I found a Vendor that will fully work with me on this http://www.dirt-fab.com
and give me a good base tune to the shocks.
I'm going to run FOX 2.5" 10" travel remote reservoir smoothies
with a single shock hoop.

For the rear I don't know what I'm going to do yet prolly just pick up some 2.0's off the self for the rear since my budget for the back is getting up there.

 

[SteelFuser]

Nice truck and sticking around for the build.

When are the heavy duty tie rods or sleeves coming in?

Thanks on the compliments.

No offense to anyone intended but READ THE THREAD.

I'm going with the full DMAXStore setup, Centerlink and tierods. Also going to through a RedHead steering gear. Since everythin else is brand new. Might even through in a SuperSteer pivot if the budget allows.

 

[SurferDB]

Hey, Nice truck! I am in so cal and am doing the same thing to my dmax- desert style and my truck is also black on black.

I just learned about these guys last week- as I also was looking to do a custom single 2.5 resi from upper shock hoop to lower a arm.

But then I found these...
http://www.bmsoffroad.com/store/chevrolet/01-2500-2-4-wd/stage-1-hd-shock-kit.html


THey are king 2.5 inch resi shocks, about 3 inches longer than stock made for our trucks with torsion bars cranked- so would work great with your cognito kit. 2.0 shocks are just too small for our trucks in the desert. these are the only 2.5 shocks i have seen for our trucks.

also- the upper a arms for the chevy hd are bad a**- trophy truck style check it out.

795 bucks for both shocks, pricey but pretty damn cool and valving is already spot on, just bolt in!

hope this helps- check it out!

 

[SurferDB]

Casey at Socal supertrucks in so cal was the one who fabbed up that single shock hoop for whipplehd a member on here. I just spoke to casey about the project for my truck and he said its pretty easy and has done a few of them.
if your in so cal you might want to give him a call.
http://www.socalsupertrucks.com/

As for myself, I am just going to run the stock location king 2.5.

 

[SteelFuser]

Thanks for the Info SurferDB.

 

[BiggJim]

I would HIGHLY reccomend a limit strap kit so your upper ball joint dont take a beating at full droop. Also for your application I think I would have ran a uni ball arm. The uni ball would be quite a bit tougher than a ball joint. One last thing I would do is ditch the HID lights and go with a rigid industries 50" LED bar on your roof rack. The LED lights are hard to beat.

 

[chitoy69]

I would HIGHLY reccomend a limit strap kit so your upper ball joint dont take a beating at full droop. Also for your application I think I would have ran a uni ball arm. The uni ball would be quite a bit tougher than a ball joint. One last thing I would do is ditch the HID lights and go with a rigid industries 50" LED bar on your roof rack. The LED lights are hard to beat.

I agree with the LED light bar.....by the way what part of mexico are you going to...San felipe to Gonzaga perhaps?

 

[SteelFuser]

I would HIGHLY reccomend a limit strap kit so your upper ball joint dont take a beating at full droop. Also for your application I think I would have ran a uni ball arm. The uni ball would be quite a bit tougher than a ball joint. One last thing I would do is ditch the HID lights and go with a rigid industries 50" LED bar on your roof rack. The LED lights are hard to beat.

As much as I like the LED light bars. It's just not in this partof the builds budget. For now my 6 kragen HID's will work. They are bought and paid for from my rock rig.


I chose not to run the Uniball Arm's for a couple reasons. One, ball joints are sealed and I can get them any where. Even Mexico. I can swap one out in about as fast as I could change a tire. Two, I personally think a Vertical Uniball is a waste of money and for looks. I will go Uniballs when I get someone to build me new uprights with horizontal uniballs and Longer Arms. I think a strapped ball joint will last longer, for this point in the build. It's more of a expedition type of build right now.

The truck will be definitely strapped.

I agree with the LED light bar.....by the way what part of mexico are you going to...San felipe to Gonzaga perhaps?

Yeah. Crossing in Tecate to San Felipe to Gonzaga and then where ever.
You know Filarski?

 

[nathanr15]

dont forget pitman and idler arm brace if that was not mentioned

 

[carter_44]

http://http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376206
I chase for a race team and frequent the Baja. I'm driving a different truck now but this was my very mild build and it held up great down there. It was leveled running NorCal Bilsteins and bump stops with tie rod sleeves and pitman and idler arm supports. I had that truck in the air multiple times and it never flinched...rode awesome. Miss that truck.

 

[SteelFuser]

http://http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376206
I chase for a race team and frequent the Baja. I'm driving a different truck now but this was my very mild build and it held up great down there. It was leveled running NorCal Bilsteins and bump stops with tie rod sleeves and pitman and idler arm supports. I had that truck in the air multiple times and it never flinched...rode awesome. Miss that truck.

Nice!

Yeah I have chased a few time for people. Never down in Baja tho. I put that on my list for the next 1K.

I don't plan on ever taking him in the air. Always helps to be prepared tho

 

[SteelFuser]

dont forget pitman and idler arm brace if that was not mentioned

Already have them on. Thanks for the input tho. Always helps.

 

[socal2ks]

Got a spot tracker?

I had rigid duallys lighting up the rear of my chase rack, very nice for setting up camp/pits at night.