thanks for the pics man... yeah was never really impressed at all with that hellwig clamp on setup thing... seemed kinda flimsy to me :dunno:

I like your brackets you made there, but what about when the bar flexes with the suspension travel? I mean the bar is gona move in an arc... doesnt that put alot of twisting and stress on those solid mounts you made there?

Yeah. I looked at the factory ZQ8 set-up and they use the dogbones that come down from the frame so that the endlinks can pivot. That would probably be a better set-up. Although, I didn't really understand how that works since the bar would go to transmit its load to the frame, and the endlink would pivot.

 

the dog bones work just the same as the front outter end links would work, since they are mounted strait up and down as the bar flexes its gona try to collapse or stretch the dog bones. THe sway bar itself is what controls the movement of the dog bone much the same as a link bar would on a 4 link setup

The bars I plan on fitting up on my truck are just the factory X bars, so that means my rear bar has the end link mounts that are vertical. My idea was instead of running the stock dog bone links with the soft rubber, i was considering replacing them with small link bar with heim joints on both ends. That should provide a slightly tighter performance handling.

 

I see, yeah, what you have planned would probably work great. I'm putting a notch in this winter so I might redo those with a design similiar to yours. I'll just have to come up with a different attachment to the bar since my ends are turned 90 degrees.

 

just noticed this thread.. u did a great job

 

so when you going to bag it? that would look sick if you did.

 

so when you going to bag it? that would look sick if you did.

It'll probably never get bags. I'm wanting to do an adjustable coil-over set-up. Basically I can achieve the suspension design I want, with a lot less moving parts and systems to maintain.

 

WOW!
ANd I thought I was anal!!!
Looks awesome,you did a better job then GM ever thought about doing!
I love the Chevrolet emblems on the bed side,little things like that make your truck stand out!
Thanks for making up my mind on the pan,Ive got a few more pennies too save up.
Flowmaster 50 series comes first,then roll pan.
Who made your grill inserts?I think I may go that way instead of painting my grill body color.
My 03 is a daily,I wax my inner fenderwells every weekend or after a bath,I then spray on some tire dressing on the rubber sheild in the front.
I think I'll keep my undercoating though,dont plan on showing my truck,just driving it from day too day Etc.
Since I live in IL as you do you know how salt can be on a daily driver frame and any rock chips you get in the frame.
Again nice truck,totally sweet!

 

Dude, you are insane! I wish my truck was as sweet as yours. Maybe someday.

 

WOW!
ANd I thought I was anal!!!
Looks awesome,you did a better job then GM ever thought about doing!
I love the Chevrolet emblems on the bed side,little things like that make your truck stand out!
Thanks for making up my mind on the pan,Ive got a few more pennies too save up.
Flowmaster 50 series comes first,then roll pan.
Who made your grill inserts?I think I may go that way instead of painting my grill body color.
My 03 is a daily,I wax my inner fenderwells every weekend or after a bath,I then spray on some tire dressing on the rubber sheild in the front.
I think I'll keep my undercoating though,dont plan on showing my truck,just driving it from day too day Etc.
Since I live in IL as you do you know how salt can be on a daily driver frame and any rock chips you get in the frame.
Again nice truck,totally sweet!

Thanks. The grill inserts are made by Street Scene. I think they are called Speed Grilles or something like that. I bought them from Stylin Concepts.

I wax my rear fenderwells every so often. It helps to keep things from sticking to them. Now that you mention it, I'll have to do my fronts to. They seem to get dirty a lot easier.

 

nice job i love you truck, total hot rod thing going on.

 

No, that was just an air-powered cut-off wheel. I'm hoping to buy a plasma cutter this winter.

------------------

I decided to build another crossmember for the very rear of the frame. I'm hoping this will reduce flex in the chassis under hard cornering. I figured since its all the way on the end it would have the most dramatic effect.

Started out with 2 pieces of angle that I had laying around. Cut them lengthwise to fit and drilled 2 holes for each side in the brackets and frame. Fitted the lower bar.

The upper bar had to be notched to clear the spare tire lowering rod. I boxed it back in to help strengthen it back up. It eventually got ground and filed smooth.

Welded in 3 braces to give it some more strength.

The final product painted. Now I need to find a good road and test it.

I got the bed back on lastnight, so now its just a matter of putting the few final pieces on and going for a drive.

This might interest you.
http://www.bfg.textamerica.com/
You probably have a good chance of winning something.

 

this thing is sick

 

This might interest you.
http://www.bfg.textamerica.com/
You probably have a good chance of winning something.

Thanks a lot! I'm going to give it a shot. Just need to get a really good picture. Might have to hit the skidpad.

 

well, i know im bringing up the dead here, but i just came across this thread, and all i can say is HOLY CRAP! i was at s series nats this summer, and i really wish i wouldve taken a closer look at your truck and talked to you some. it was definately one of my favorite trucks there this year, but now that i see all this detail work, and the mods on the headlights, its just amazing! you should display pictures of all this stuff and put them in a big frame to take with you to truck shows. i thought the truck was damn clean when i saw it, but damn dude. love it, just love it.

 

well, i know im bringing up the dead here, but i just came across this thread, and all i can say is HOLY CRAP! i was at s series nats this summer, and i really wish i wouldve taken a closer look at your truck and talked to you some. it was definately one of my favorite trucks there this year, but now that i see all this detail work, and the mods on the headlights, its just amazing! you should display pictures of all this stuff and put them in a big frame to take with you to truck shows. i thought the truck was damn clean when i saw it, but damn dude. love it, just love it.

Thanks. I plan on being there again this year, so stop by and say hi.

Hopefully in about another month I'm going to start on the mini-notch. Be glad to have a smoother ride again.

 

Thanks. I plan on being there again this year, so stop by and say hi.

Hopefully in about another month I'm going to start on the mini-notch. Be glad to have a smoother ride again.

Make sure you start another thread like this one when you do the notch.

 

Make sure you start another thread like this one when you do the notch.

Will do. It's going to be a long notch because of the rear brake calipers, they sit underneath the frame and would bottom out on a bolt-in notch. I talked to a friend of mine about how to go about it and he gave me a lot of tips to keep the strength in that area, so hopefully all will go well.

 

Will do. It's going to be a long notch because of the rear brake calipers, they sit underneath the frame and would bottom out on a bolt-in notch. I talked to a friend of mine about how to go about it and he gave me a lot of tips to keep the strength in that area, so hopefully all will go well.

Sounds good. Put a link to the new post in this post in case some of us don't find the new one.

 

man i remember following your progress but i never said how good it looked. so, turned out awesome man some great attention to detail and keep us updated when you start that notch

 

wow you did such a great job i started mine too please come look...

 

wow you did such a great job i started mine too please come look...

Got a link?

 

its new post at the members projects

 

S10cyncrvr,

Did you ever do the notch? Got a link?

 

its new post at the members projects

Got a link? :finger:

 

S10cyncrvr,

Did you ever do the notch? Got a link?

Well, that simple notch project has sorta evolved into an entire suspension redo. It's one of those things where you say, "while I'm doing this, I might as well do that", and so on and so forth. I'm going to a show in a couple weeks and then after that it's getting parked and I'll probably start working on it. It's going to be a sport/performance bag set-up, redoing a lot of things done in this thread. Should be able to finally get the truck to ride and drive the way I originally wanted it to.