REAL MAN TRUCKWORKS & SURVIVAL
VEHICLES, CAMPERS, and BOATS => Build Threads => Topic started by: Flyin6 on September 22, 2014, 12:00:12 PM
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I'll bet you boneheads never knew I owned and built one of these monsters
What I would consider a slightly more capable Tahoe, it does have good angles and when I off roaded it, the thing did fairly well, although it broke parts.
It has lesser than HD parts...things like a semi floater 14 bolt but with an electric locker. Decent ground clearance, but not enough
Lots of chrome (That don't get you home)
a really comfortable interior and a fuel economy sometimes barely in the 12's
The truck badly needs a diesel and real 1 ton axles, then you'd really have something.
Never the less I took a swing at one and here all that is
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The day I bought it
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When building this truck I wanted to stay close to stock since the available lift kits really don't do much except raise the vehicle. They, for the most part do not increase suspension articulation which is exactly what an independent front suspension desperately needs more of. Consequently, I elected to go with chevy "green" 1/2 ton keys, cognito UCAs, longer bilstien shocks, and upgraded steering made by both Cognito and Fabtech. Here's what our stock key (rusty) and the 1/2 ton keys look like...
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Here's a look at the difference in the indexing of the hex...
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Here's the stock suspension before tear down...
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Here's a comparison between the stock and the Cognito UCAs. The cognito arms allow for more "droop" and correct the ball joint angle. Additionally, they allow for stock alignment specs when lifting around 3"...
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Here, the Cognito UCA is installed, which is a relatively simple procedure...
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Next the Bilstien shocks are bolted in. Notice the totally wimpy stock tie rods which are about to go bye-bye...
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Here are the stock front shocks and their replacement rear Bilstiens. Sorry, but the fronts were already bolted on, my bag...
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Here are the tie rods, stock and Fabtech. Which ones do you think are stronger???
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When bolting in the Fabtech tie rods, you will need a minimum of a 17" crecent wrench, those suckers are huge! Next comes the Cognito Idler link brace...
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Now comes the pitman arm brace...
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Here's a better pic of the idler brace. I used the stock idler, since mine is still new, however I will soon replace it with the supplied Cognito monster Idler...
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And here's all the suspension goodies installed prior to alignment which was W A Y off until after the rack. The technician was able to align to factory specs!
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Here's a shot of the new ride height
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And a shot from the rear...
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Here's the install of the complete Volant "Cold Air" intake system. It is a quality piece which is well designed, fits well, and is easy to install
Here's the engine compartment prior to removing the stock system. BTW, the stock system unlike AirAid, K&N, and others is actually a real "cold Air" system
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Here's the Volant Kit
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...The business end of the larger air plenum...
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...And the air filter element inside the box...
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Here's a view of the factory air tube and the cleaner Volant unit...
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Here's a side by side of the stock and Volant air boxes
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...And the new Volant MAF alongside the stock one...
New is in my hand
Apologies for the fuzzy picture quality
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...Engine bay with stock everything removed...
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The new air plenum mounts with two bolts and washers into factory mount points. The new MAF mounts into the air box using the factory rubber collar.
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The new air tube mounts using a supplied silicon bellows and clamps, and a rubber doughnut on the TB side.
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installed, clamps tightened, and MAF reconnected, almost done...
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View from left side, all done
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Ah, but not quite done! I added the Predator Program for 87 Octane, adjusting for firm upshifts in standard and tow/haul mode.
After a few test drives I noted:
Mileage improved from 11.4-11.7 to 12.3-12.5
The engine makes more "air" noise when acclerating (good thing)
The shifts are indeed frmer, although not as snappy as I would like
The seat of the pants feel seems a little better, but not verified by testing
Satisifaction: Hmm, well, so-so...
Worth the money: Probably not
Would I do it again: Probably, because it lays the ground work for the headers and the 4.56 gears
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Next we'll install a H2O Off Road bumper system
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Here's the stock stuff that gets removed
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...And the stripped front end...
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Next the winch bottom plate gets bolted on. There are a total of three thick winch mount plates...
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Here, the lower cover assembly is bolted in. It also includes the mounts for the DRLs...
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...Next in go the heavy duty "mini-grill" pivot points which also serve as the mounts for the new front tow loops...
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...The next step is to bolt in the winch with it's new trick locking plate which tightens from below making it a difficult procedure for a potential thief to steal your winch...
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The hause was already installed, but here is a better pic of what it looks like up close...
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...Next the "mini-grill" gets attached...
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...The tow loops which are the same as the ones in the rear were bolted in place with the mini grill, here's a close-up...
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...HereI had to do a custom bracket to install the T-Max control box which I created from 1/8" plate steel and bolted it to the two chrome steel rods above the drum. Here it is installed. Yep, it's tight, but it fits fine after trimming the lower edge of the stock grill...
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...And here it is all installed...
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I wanted to reinstall the stock double brush guard, so I started by cutting off all the stock mounting points, then creating my own angle brackets which I welded to the brush guard, then drilled and bolted all that to the H20 mini grill...
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Here's the front tab...
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...And the rear which made it very strong...
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...And here's the finished product with the cognito/fabtech/bilstien and other parts installed!
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I was tired of lugging that monster of a stock muffler around, so the last time I was home I procurred a MagnaFlow stainless muffler with a straight through design and 3" inlet and outlet.
At first I was reluctant to use 3", since my H2 has factory 3.25" piping, however upon further inspection, I noticed the outlet of the muffler actually necked down to 3" from the factory, so with that in mind I did it anyway.
The new muffler sounds awsome! It has a low note and a rumble, zero resonance, and will sond off with throttle application. I do not believe it made any appreciable power increase, but it does sit much higher up in to the body. All in all, for $150, I think it was a worthwhile mod
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Next, in the search of some power and mileage, I'll install some Dynatech long tube headers
Note: All these posts are a condensed version of this build all consolidated here for convenience. All the chat with other members has been removed so that this reads as a pure build thread
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Tear down begins. You have to remove the inner fender liners which is actually fairly easy, then getting to the manifolds and other things is pretty easy
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Here's some of the stuff that has to be removed:
UCP, spark plug wires, O2 sensors (4), front wheels, cross member and other cool parts
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07-08 style old and new Y-Pipes
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Stock manifolds and LT headers
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Here's all the Dyna-Tech pieces/parts you get with the headers and Y-Pipe
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Right side header installed viewed through the fender well
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New Y-Pipe is tucked up as far as it will go, but still hangs down enough to require spacing of UCP
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UCP spacers were 1" long and required new longer bolts which were not supplied with the "kit"
After looking at the way it all fits, and the flimsly stock UCP, in the near future I will create a new skip plate out of 1/8" and 3/16" plate steel with topside reinforcements
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Drivers side header viewed from above
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Passenger side header viewed from above and looking under the Volant air tube
Overall impressions are:
1. This is a quality product that has been thourghly designed and thought out
2. Installation was easy only taking about a day working by myself and not rushing.
3. I noticed an immediate seat of the pants difference with regard to accleration.
4. Fuel economy improved. I now get a combined city highway, country road (with plenty of hills) mileage of 12.5-12.7
5. The only down side if you would consider it as such was that the Y-Pipe hangs down too low and should be bent to tuck up an inch or so higher. It really isn't much of a concern, but that would have made this product a solid 10 instead of a 9 point something.
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OK, moving right along
Now the big horsepower sucking factory fan will be replaced with Silverado heady duty electric fans
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I finally had the time and the courage to tackle the conversion from the huge mechical fan to the later electric fans. Here are the before and after photos...
Sorry for the blurry shot of stock, but who cares, everyone already knows what the stocker looks like!
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First, everything comes out. More easily said than done! The 36mm nut on the pressed on water pump pulley requires enormous force to remove, and mine came off in a normal fashion, not opposite thread like I would have thought. It required a special spanner wrench for the H2O pump pulley
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Here's a comparo of the various fan shrouds. Pictured is the factory fan and shroud, the shroud for the 2500HD truck, and a shroud for the 2008 H2, which I did not use. The H2 shroud has a plastic shield behind the electric motors and in my case improperly indexes the factory 2500 HD electric motors.
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Here's some of the parts you will need:
You need a 2500 HD shroud, 2ea motors and 2ea fans
OR
2008 Hummer H2 shroud, the two different H2 fans, and the two different H2 fans
Plus
Nelson Performance wiring harness
Zip Ties
2 feet of 1/2" I.D. Flexible oil line
8 ea 1/2" hose clamps
Oh, did I mention the water pump pulley special tool?????
You do not need the two pictured GM connectors. They are included on the Nelson Perf harness
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Next. carefully cut the factory oil lines and install the 12" flexible hose between the cut ends. I cut just prior to the bends where the line exits the radiator. Install 2ea hose clamps on each end and tighten
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Next install the fan shroud with the new isolators with the fan motors and fans assembled. I used #10 X 24 X 1.5" Stainless hardware to install the motors. It takes six screws.
Drill through the shroud to connect to the factory H2 mounts, then drill two new holes into the radiator mount to line up with the new shroud holes. Use the rubber isolator as a quide. Use 5/16" X 1/5" bolts to secure the latter
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Next install the N-P wiring harness. Connect the power leads under the 17mm nut on the positive cable. Attach the 2ea ground wires to the cable bracket 100mm bolt. Next expose the largish wiring harness next to the power cable and li=ocate the green wires. One is a dark green. Disregrard that one. The two remaining lime green wires are your target wires. Expose the wire and test each for 12VDC with the ignition on and the AC selected on. I got 11.42VDC on one, and 12.07VDC on the other. Go for the 12VDC lead. Tis is very important.
Connect or splice the harness lead to that wire.
Finally remove the plastic cover from the PCM, and remove the blue, 80 pin connector. Fnd slot #42 and insert the N-P pin through that hole and button the thing back up.
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Now you are at a crossroads. If you have a Diablo Predator Programmer, then you can call them to get them to turn on pin #42 with their programmer.
Or
You can chat with the folks at Nelson Performance and they will send you a new reprogrammed PCM which will do all that for you. Since my Diablo has been problamatic, I have opted for door #2. The N-P tune nets you an additional 30RWHP and some needed mileage increases.
On the latter front, after a lot of tweaking, driving on 35's and holding my speed at 65, I get 13.5 with my H2. I am looking for more and will report on what I get out of the new tune..
Good Luck if you try this one, and have fun!
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Next I found the spare tire carrier lacking. It is weak and at a bad angle
The spare tire needs to sit a bit higher and tilt inward to help departure angle, like pulling down a ditch, then immediately back up a hill.
I was off roading the H2 at the time and along with finding out how great those BFG tires worked, I was discovering lots of shortcomings with the H2.
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After modifying the stock carrier twice in the past, and finally getting it to the point where 1. It was weaker than stock, and 2. I couldn't open the tailgate, I finally think I got it right.
I uprated the tubing brom the stock .063 wall up to 3/16" steel. The spare is raised around 6" above stock, and it has an integrated hi-lift jack carrier
Here's some pics:
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Here's the difference in wall thickness:
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Showing the back side where the hi-lift base is stored...
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Spare side w/o spare and jack
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W/O spare, Hi-Lift mounted
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Spare is angled in toward the body to improve departure angle even more and get the weight closer to the arm centerline...
Results are good. Even though the spare tire sits higher, it does not wobble around anymore. The stiffer tubing makes a big difference. I ended up cutting the latch pin side off the stocker, then fitting in a section of the stronger tubing in place of the weaker stuff
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With the spare taken care of, the factory rock rails are poorly positioned, so I thought I'd do something about all that
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Just modified my stock rock rails. I had been using the 1.5" spacers with the 90mm bolts, but in my opinion, the rails were not positioned outboard far enough. On my other truck, I have them a good 2.5" from the rocker and clocked upward to a position just under the door. So I decided to do the same with my H2 stockers.
I already posted a similiar thread in another Hummer Forum so sorry if you're seeing this for the second time, but I wanted to make sure members over here got the information also.
So here are the stock rails removed and cut apart:
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Here the new 2.5" longer spacers (2 ea) are mocked up for measurement.
The new spacers are 2" box tubing, 3/16" thick mild steel and are fish mouth cut for a good fit
The stock tube is 2" O.D.
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Showing the stock and modified differences
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Here's the spacers. Actually I used 1" X 2" for the two center mounts that span the body mount since they were so close together
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Welding and grinding in process
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Ground welds and first coat of primer
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After spraying two coats of red primer and two coats of Duplicolor truck bed liner. It will take two cans to do both rails. I did not spray over the body mount parts as they were showing no signs of rust and were still holding up well.
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The other side...
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Left side mounted...
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And the right...
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Since I wanted the rails to double as steps I toped them with some 3M no-slip tape.
BTW, watch out dragging your calf over the rails after the tape is applied. Everyone in my family is now sporting some nice rasberries on the back of their legs!
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Here's the front access
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Rear door...
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And both...
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The bars were "clocked" upward to give more ground clearance at the rocker. Here's a view from underneath
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Change gears...Suspension:
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I don't know if anyone has tried this or not, but I just did.
We all have the sagging rear spring problem with the non air bag H2's. They either are sagging or are getting ready to. Earlier (last year) I installed air bags inside the coil springs to stiffen the ride slightly and keep the height constant. Well, the springs sagged anyway. The poly bags are not long enough to reach all the way to the botom of the spring so what they really do is inflate against the coils themselves and add some rate to the cycling of the springs.
I took the two large yellow/brown snubbers from the rear, and reinstalled them inside the bottom of the coils and then reinstalled the springs with the airbags deflated.Upon airing the bags, they expand nicely downward and "encompass" the rubber snubbers and raise the vehicle nicely. About 15 lbs of air pressure raises my truck about 2".
I see this as a cost effective alternative to new or replacement springs and you have an inexpensive rear height adjustment mechanism.
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Re: Adjustable height rear suspension
Postby tomp ยป Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:36 am
F6....Here is what I found with my coil springs
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I've begun a redesign of the rear suspension. I think I can find a bunch more travel back there for off road. So far I'm seeing only 5-6" of rear axle movement using jacks but believe there is more off road. But it seems to be very limited and bound up due to that rear sway bar and limited shock travel.
The plan is first to relocate the lower shock mount 4" higher, then remove the old mount to increase ground clearance, replace the rear springs, relocate the rear sway bar, and construct control arms with Johnny joints to remove the binding from the rubber bushings. I plan to do it in stages then document the results.
So far, I am recording a compressed spring height of 13" and an extended length of 18". So, at the spring I'm getting a pitiful 5" travel. Compare that to the 14" travel I get at the spring on my crawler, this H2 has a long way to go.
I selected Air Ride Technologies air spring as the starting point for the spring. Selling at $200 ea and as durable as a tire. I am taking a chance with a air spring, but I like the adjustability. Here's the spring I'm using:
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First I had to design all the parts to actually mount the air springs over top the factory coil spring mounts
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And that was fitted fairly easily
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I never liked how GM and other manufacturers allow the shock mounts to hang so low
On off road vehicles that just hangs up on things, so I decided to cut off the mounts and tuck them up higher
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I made some new mounts out of shock tabs
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Then I hardened that up with a skid plate
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Same thing with the sway bar
GM mounts it under the axle so you can find all the wait a minute vines
I removed it, moved it aft and up
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That required shorter sway bar arms, so I decided to make them disconnectable
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The new links actually store right onto the sway bar when disconnected for off roading
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The arrangement worked quite well
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This all cleaned up the underside of the truck considerably
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Some off roading pics in the SUT:
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Some more
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A few more
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Finished building a roof rack recently. Thought I'd post how I did it in case anyone thought of attempting to build their own.
I already posted this on another site, apologies if you're seeing it again!
The materisls include:
1/2" expanded steel sheet
3/4" square tubing .65 wall
3/4" mild steel pipe (bends in a 1" tube die just fine!)
2" strap
Primer
Duplicolor spray bed coating (3 cans)
1/2" stainless bolts and wing nuts for tool attachment if desired
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I rose welded the ends together after inserting some 1/2" solid stock
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Idesigned it to fit the stock cross bars spanning side to side from just aft of the sunroof to just forward of the rear roof clearance lights. The sub frame is constructed from the 3/4" square tube
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I skip welded the mesh to the frame.
Next the second hoop was attached with 3" pieces of the 2" strap. I did the lightening (appearance) holes just to make more work for myself!
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I added a mount for my shovel. I placed 2ea 1/2" stainless studs onto the rack, drilled holes in the shovel, and secured it all with thumb screws
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Next I ground over some of the welds, wire brushed the whole thing, washed it with laquer thinner a couple of times, then started coating it.
First was two coats of red oxide primer
I finished with three cans of Duplicolor bed liner spray which allowed for a liberal coating of all surfaces
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I positioned it on the stock crossbars which are pretty stout and secured with 4 ea 5/16" X 2.5" grade 8 bolts.
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The truck has yet to see chassis ripping wheeling yet, I'm just still too nervous, but I take it down trails and forest breaks often. I got into the woods as soon as I finished it. Works fine in catching the vines and branches just like I thought it would!
After a couple years of putting off purchasing a GGobi, which is undoubtly better than mine, I threw in the towel and built this. My total cost was a fifth the cost of the Gobi and the weight of mine is considerably less. I didn't weigh it, but my best gestimate is no more than 80 lbs in it's current state with the accessories.
I even salvaged enough steel to almost complete the bed rack which I built the following week. Will post a thread on that build later.
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Scarsman wrote:
Looks great! I am also going to make my own rack. Because I can, and because I just can't spend 2 grand on a rack!
Just a question, why did you leave the ends of the square tubing open? I always plug/weld them shut so they are all sealed up and there are no edges for rust to be able to get a foothold under the paint/coating.
I like it. Good job.
I have always left the ends of the tubing open but welding them closed is fine too. I prime and spray whatever finish I use onto the inside and it has worked fine for me over the years. I left the ends open on the rack I built for my Tundra. It is still doing fine 6 years later.
Best of luck to you, it's a fun project!
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Next up is the rear rack
First the bottom is constructed same as the top rack
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Then the top loop
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Two bars will bolt to the deck lid and secure the rack
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Then the reinforcing of the floor with square tubing from beneath
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Further reinforcing, then the feet are welded in
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Then the thing was welded up
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Then fit checked
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Then the prep and painting process began
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Then the final bed liner coatings, two coats
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Then mounted
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Where did this rig end up don ?
Raising boys into RealMen!!
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Where did this rig end up don ?
Raising boys into RealMen!!
A rich guy bought it from me for his wife. We ran it through the local Caddy dealership (Which was a mistake)
The Caddy store removed the headers and clogged it all back up with manifolds and cats!
All in all, it was an OK 4 wheeler. Make it a 5.5 or a 6.0 er on the 1-10 scale.
If I went ahead and bolted in a Duramax for mileage, a D-60 on radius arms up front and a "real" 14 bolt in the rear, it would have been a pretty good off roader.
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You had talked about that route for the front end of the cmax but decided it wasn't cost affective?
Raising boys into RealMen!!
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You had talked about that route for the front end of the cmax but decided it wasn't cost affective?
Raising boys into RealMen!!
It isn't.
But there is a larger issue: Braking and anti lock braking soft ware logic.
We tried to figure out how to keep the anti lock braking working with the solid axle. Closest I could come was using the big Dodge rotor with a reluctor ring. But it was a different size and "puck-count" than the chebby, so the software would have checked out of the net. Meaning: Constant fault codes and a malfunctioning (Dangerous??) antt lock or traction control system.
Some Einstien needs to crack that code and build a rotor, then the swap would be easy. Well that and the 180mm bolt circle on the rear, 6.5" front would mess things up some as well
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I was thinking the Dyna Trac brake tone sensors should work on a IFS swap Chebbie. You'd have to do some voodoo, but doable. Just thinking out loud.
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I was thinking the Dyna Trac brake tone sensors should work on a IFS swap Chebbie. You'd have to do some voodoo, but doable. Just thinking out loud.
I had Beau over at WFO Concepts working on it, but after machining the hubs to fit the tone rings and trying to fit an acceptable rotor, he threw in the towel, and the project died.
I still have $2,500 worth of brackets, joints, radius arms, and whatevers in the box rusting in the garage!