Shlbyntro
Ultra Conservative
- Joined
- May 27, 2018
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So I have been pretty quiet on this subject as I've been figuring it out but I think im at a point now where I can share.
As some of you know I put a 6 inch lift on my Excursion a little over 2 years ago and shortly there after, I came across a young kid parting his farm truck out and I snagged up everything I needed to do a 4wd conversion on old Gertrude.
Little did I know what a can of worms I had opened by deciding to do this. I had opted to go 4 wheel leaf when did the axle swap and ordered all the 6" lift components to go with the new front end going under the truck. Well due to some funny measuring going on at procomp, my front end ended up being about 2.5" taller than the back of the truck. It was stupid, but I wasn't about to take off the front end I had just installed, it was a bitch and a half. Theres alot more than you would expect to this simple "conversion" especially when going from coil over track beams to a leafed solid axle.. I ended up buying the components I needed to pick up the back end of the truck to meet the front.
I was truly happy running 35s on my stock 16" 5spoke superduty wheels. But my 6" lift had turned into an 8" lift and now the truck looked like it had missed leg day. Sadly 35s are the biggest tires you can get for a 16 so not only did I need new bigger 37 inch tires, I also needed new wheels. Well damn. I bought a set of new Icon 17" wheels and some 37s to go on them. At this time, I also rebuilt the front end: new ball joints, new hub bearing assemblies, a new dual shock steering stabilizer, new ujoints even.
All was good for a bit, but then I finally got around to installing my rooftop tent and canopy. After the install the truck had become very road crazy. It would dig into turns, lean horribly, couldn't drive a straight line above 40 to save my life. And I had it realigned twice after the initial alignment to no avail.
Well I was dealing with it, making small changes trying to get it driving better. THEN MY BRAND NEW LEFT REAR WHEEL AND TIRE FELL OFF THE THE TRUCK with less than 1,000 miles on it and I damn near rolled the truck wrestling it to a stop on the side of the road with only 3 wheels on it. Somehow miraculously it didn't damage anything save for the wheel and tire and it was all mostly superficial. How my quarter panel didn't get destroyed, I dont know. After some polite wrestling I bought a new wheel and the tire shop provided me with a new 37" tire for free, mounted and balanced and I now have a full size 37" matching spare. A pretty fair turn out after something that could have been very bad. I put the wheel on the truck myself this time and I made a point to torque all 64 lug nuts and with red lock tite too. No fucking chances this time around.
My truck was still driving a little crazy though. Well the drag links are off of an old farm truck with God knows how many miles romping through the mud on them, so I bought a MOOG problem solver front end kit, absolutely everything between the knuckles and up to the pitman arm got replaced with new heavier duty components. Well while I was down there, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing.
As it turns out, the tire shop when they first installed my wheels and tires and did the initial alignment REMOVED MY TRACK BAR because "it was messing with the alignment" and "a leaf spring truck doesn't need one"
Ya there was some disagreement there as I was trying to describe to them the road craziness as well as the roll over sensation I have been fighting ever since they touched it. Fortunately I still had the one that came with my front end initially and I installed a track bar on the truck AGAIN.
I've been driving it for close to 2 weeks now with its current setup. And it feel much safer. I'm slowly beginning to trust the truck again but every time the weight shifts in a turn im still holding my breath because I dont fully trust it again yet. People keep telling me the problem is between my ears and they may be right, because my legitimate fear of a roll over is still somewhere there after the near miss I had just before Thanksgiving.
So to help build my trust further im doing some more upgrades to the suspension. (Dont worry, I'm not going taller!) I currently have a dual front shock setup on order for the front end as well as some add-a-leafs for the rear to help with the extra weight of the rack, tent, canopy, and full size spare that now sit over the rear axle. I estimate in the neighborhood of about 300 lbs. Almost all of that sitting on top of the truck adding to my fear of a roll over. And I still need to do the transmission swap.
If I had to do it all over again.....
As some of you know I put a 6 inch lift on my Excursion a little over 2 years ago and shortly there after, I came across a young kid parting his farm truck out and I snagged up everything I needed to do a 4wd conversion on old Gertrude.
Little did I know what a can of worms I had opened by deciding to do this. I had opted to go 4 wheel leaf when did the axle swap and ordered all the 6" lift components to go with the new front end going under the truck. Well due to some funny measuring going on at procomp, my front end ended up being about 2.5" taller than the back of the truck. It was stupid, but I wasn't about to take off the front end I had just installed, it was a bitch and a half. Theres alot more than you would expect to this simple "conversion" especially when going from coil over track beams to a leafed solid axle.. I ended up buying the components I needed to pick up the back end of the truck to meet the front.
I was truly happy running 35s on my stock 16" 5spoke superduty wheels. But my 6" lift had turned into an 8" lift and now the truck looked like it had missed leg day. Sadly 35s are the biggest tires you can get for a 16 so not only did I need new bigger 37 inch tires, I also needed new wheels. Well damn. I bought a set of new Icon 17" wheels and some 37s to go on them. At this time, I also rebuilt the front end: new ball joints, new hub bearing assemblies, a new dual shock steering stabilizer, new ujoints even.
All was good for a bit, but then I finally got around to installing my rooftop tent and canopy. After the install the truck had become very road crazy. It would dig into turns, lean horribly, couldn't drive a straight line above 40 to save my life. And I had it realigned twice after the initial alignment to no avail.
Well I was dealing with it, making small changes trying to get it driving better. THEN MY BRAND NEW LEFT REAR WHEEL AND TIRE FELL OFF THE THE TRUCK with less than 1,000 miles on it and I damn near rolled the truck wrestling it to a stop on the side of the road with only 3 wheels on it. Somehow miraculously it didn't damage anything save for the wheel and tire and it was all mostly superficial. How my quarter panel didn't get destroyed, I dont know. After some polite wrestling I bought a new wheel and the tire shop provided me with a new 37" tire for free, mounted and balanced and I now have a full size 37" matching spare. A pretty fair turn out after something that could have been very bad. I put the wheel on the truck myself this time and I made a point to torque all 64 lug nuts and with red lock tite too. No fucking chances this time around.
My truck was still driving a little crazy though. Well the drag links are off of an old farm truck with God knows how many miles romping through the mud on them, so I bought a MOOG problem solver front end kit, absolutely everything between the knuckles and up to the pitman arm got replaced with new heavier duty components. Well while I was down there, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing.
As it turns out, the tire shop when they first installed my wheels and tires and did the initial alignment REMOVED MY TRACK BAR because "it was messing with the alignment" and "a leaf spring truck doesn't need one"
Ya there was some disagreement there as I was trying to describe to them the road craziness as well as the roll over sensation I have been fighting ever since they touched it. Fortunately I still had the one that came with my front end initially and I installed a track bar on the truck AGAIN.
I've been driving it for close to 2 weeks now with its current setup. And it feel much safer. I'm slowly beginning to trust the truck again but every time the weight shifts in a turn im still holding my breath because I dont fully trust it again yet. People keep telling me the problem is between my ears and they may be right, because my legitimate fear of a roll over is still somewhere there after the near miss I had just before Thanksgiving.
So to help build my trust further im doing some more upgrades to the suspension. (Dont worry, I'm not going taller!) I currently have a dual front shock setup on order for the front end as well as some add-a-leafs for the rear to help with the extra weight of the rack, tent, canopy, and full size spare that now sit over the rear axle. I estimate in the neighborhood of about 300 lbs. Almost all of that sitting on top of the truck adding to my fear of a roll over. And I still need to do the transmission swap.
If I had to do it all over again.....
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