well I have these laying around the house and would like to get them on maybe this weekend or next but before el dorado. anyone want to help out even though it shouldn't be hard.

i'm available all weekend buddy. You let me know and i'm there.

ewww rivets!

shouldn't we have the rivets down to a scienc by now, lol

yours are REALLY easy to get to.

I gotta talk to the wife and make sure she doesn't have surprise plans for my birthday set for sunday. If not I will try and do it sunday if she does maybe next weekend. I'll let you know.

on a side note my fron u-bolt flip kit arrived today so I will try to do both.

damn, wish i could go but ill be at the lake.


Stans just afraid of rivets because he didnt actually take any out

wooo hooo look what came in the mail yesterday.

front u-bolt flip.

ok as for doning the work it has to move to the next weekend. this weekend has been pretty much planned for me
saturday is a dentist appointment for the wife and I in santa clara at 11am and then to Dave and Busters in the great mall for a while. Sunday afternoon a bunch of the neighbors are comming over for a small b-day party for me.

so after richs bbq on friday who wants to come by and help on sunday.

Maybe. I'm not sure what the wife is going to want to do with me since she's gone all this weekend and most of next weekend is toast. Maybe we can start tomorrow night?

Damn, i would love to, but its mine and Larissa's first anniversary, so im booked.

The first step is admitting you have a problem... I can't help it if there are parts I must put them on. I'm a wrenchaholic
but on the bright side this is cool
right side was pretty easy I just cut a 5/8" slot between the existing u-bolt holes for the bottom

Then for the top plates I cut off the shock mount tab and welded it to the new plate. Not my best welding but it should hold

left side is a little harder. I had to break out the silver and Deming bits to make a 11/16 hole in the webbing. I then had to bevel out the hole a little, drop the tie rod and stretch the u-bolt open a little bit so I could hook it from the back side and swing it up to the correct position. now I know why most people just cut a big slot in it.


Now I have to pinch the u-bolt back in enough to get the plate over it and pray I never have to take it out again. lol

I also plan on getting some nylock nuts to put over the heavy ones just to make sure they don't back off. Then I will cut off the excess u-bolt just enough to keep it from hitting anything.

Looks good Dave! Thats a crappy design on the drivers side... I cant blame you for not wanting to cut out all that material in the housing though, seems like drilling that hole is a better move. I bet drilling through that was fun!

still forgot to take front pictures but I couldn't help myself to get started on the rear.
Pre-flip measurements. hoping it doesn't get any higher.


good bye block

4 rivets gone

Oh crap, now I'm going to have to mess with the front mount too, thank god thier bolted on. tire moved a good 3" forward at near full droop.

rear hanger in the most forward choice of the two sets of holes. guessing this would not have a good shackle angle.


So I have been looking up shackle angle and thinking about it and I want the second third and forth opinions
the ideal shackle angle seems to be just under 90* with the axle at full droop. this gives the full spring rate when it needs it and takes away spring rate as it compresses. The problem I see so far is this. my springs are about 52.5" eye to eye when they are full droop and about 59" flat. brings me to a 6.5" change. here comes the bad part. I only have a 4" shackle so to get 6.5" of travel I will have to let it go negative when it droops. anyone we know have this setup on a working rig.

Brendans rear shackle at ride height, with the weight of the truck on it sits at about 45* kicked backwards. IE like this \ from the drivers side. Unfortunately he has no pics of it and never comes on the board. It flexes great and seems to work well on the street.

I can tell you my shackle angle sucks! Its straight up and down at ride height so the shackle has no droop in it! Kinda defeats the purpose.

so when you go to full droop your shackle goes forward (negative) I am kind of worried that it will invert on me if I go negative and then when the weight comes back down on it the shackle will continue going negative and bind up the spring