My 1989 Build Thread

2" spacers

So my tires were so wide that they were rubbing my sway bar when i took turns. I figured that wasn't exactly a good thing so i found some 2" billet aluminum wheel spacers on ebay, all 4 for $139 with free shipping. There were really easy to put on obviously, and i just used the blue loctite on the inner lugs to keep them, well, tight. Only problem was lifting my BIG ASS tires back on! haha. Here's some pics
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BEFORE
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AFTER
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And I have mixed feelings about how they look. They give it a wider stance, but it looks a lot smaller :( boooo. But as far as functionality, they work just great!
 
Trac Bar

So why did I need a traction bar?

First problem, 5' lift blocks and an ad-a-leaf pack. The separation between the axle and the leafs was scary and quite destructive.

The wrap was catastrophic to multiple seals including both of my oil seals for the driveshaft and my pinion seal. lets just say a slab of cardboard became my best friend.

The force of my driveshaft moving around also weakened my U-bolts which surprisingly held up pretty well.

While flexing out on the trails, my driveshaft actually rubbed against my gas tank because it moved around so freely... causing my rear transfer pinion bearing to blow out (FML)

And lastly, what I noticed the most, was the actual force of the driveshaft clanking and clunking around whenever I accelerated or let of the gas. I could feel it jerking around my shifter it was so bad.

So for some odd reason, I decided to build myself a trac bar with my friend justin, and it's perfect!

We decided to make a single bar design because of the gas tank on the other side. We measured everything out and decided to do a slip-in design where a 1/4" thick steel tube would slide into a 1/8" thick tubing that was a little bit bigger for the perfect fit. This design would allow the axle to move a smidgen forward, up and down at the same time, and individually up and down (Flexing/articulating). But it did not allow it to twist underneath itself and cause wrap. We used rubber bushings I got from Summit Racing and slipped those into the custom 1/4" steel plated mounts that we put on the top and bottom of the axle, and also on the crossmember. The only issue we had (which sucked) was when we welded the top bar to the bottom one, we accidentally warped the inside of the tube, and the other one didn't slide in and got stuck! So we had to take it to a machine shop and shave the inside of the big tube and shave a couple thousandths off of the little one. 5 hours later, and success. Oh, and of course it's orange.
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Still running those blocks? I feel like you're slapping a bandaid on a bandaid, here.

It looks good, though. :)

With the traction bar it works perfectly believe it or not, absolutely no wrap at all. Leafs aren't really necessary for me anyways at the moment. But thanks tho! love the upgrade
 
Because pumpkin.

Duh.

Oh damn of course. Well I have to do community hours for one of my classes here at college. So I'm doing this thing called trunk or treat where you decorate our cars and give candy to underprivileged kids on halloween. My theme is gunna be charlie brown and the great pumpkin.... no big deal, we're gunna win best decorated car.

Wow i'm a loser
 
Thats is awesome! Haha. Need a pic of you in the yellow shirt with black wiggly stripe infront of "the great pumpkin" :witch:
 
Oh damn of course. Well I have to do community hours for one of my classes here at college. So I'm doing this thing called trunk or treat where you decorate our cars and give candy to underprivileged kids on halloween. My theme is gunna be charlie brown and the great pumpkin.... no big deal, we're gunna win best decorated car.

Wow i'm a loser

Not a loser; that's great !

Nice rig !
 
Well, it it sad to hear that we will not be using my truck tonight for candy because it's going to be 32 degrees with a chance of snow :(

Sorry for the hype guys, and SCREW YOU SANDY
 
I can't pin-point exactly what it is I like so much about your truck.. but that thing is just freaking awsome! nice job!
 
Well thanks for the comments guys I really appreciate it! Yea my truck is very dear to me. I've spent endless blood sweat and tears on the pumpkin and my build thread shows about 1% of it all!
 

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