Mine came on the shoes. Don't know if they can be added.

 

Today I was able to get the front and rear suspension in. I still need to take the tie rods off and paint them before final assembly but getting close to done with suspension. Hopefully will have some time in the next few days to do the brake lines and parking brake setup. Also got news that the cab and bed parts are blasted and ready for pickup so should be switching to body work over the next little while!

 

We're going to run out of accolades pretty soon, brother. When we had TV, I loved that show "How It's Made", and this is even better. Simply superb. I'm sure everyone here is riveted to this thread.

 

My drool cup runneth over!

 

I love it! However, I'm afraid I don't like the core support perches. They've rusted badly and need to be repaired.

 

I was able to get the brake lines and parking break installed. Also got the bed pieces back from the sand blaster so I'll start cutting, grinding, welding, etc!! I also need to get some wheels ordered. I'm thinking the American Racing Outlaw ii. Do most people go with the 8" wheels?

 

Man this kills me! Haha (Join date: March 2015; Posts:11, Progress: More than 90 percent of FTE members!)

Jki4405, I know I'm running 5X5.5 X7 it's a hard size to shop for but I finally found some last week, I still have to wait to buy them, price is always an issue. I would like to know what 8 inch would look like with stock suspension. Will you keep stock suspension?

 

Amen! He's a whirlwind! Makes me dizzy.

On the wheels, I'd go with 8" wide ones to allow me to put more meat on them. Or, look at 16's or larger.

 

I'm just about out of accolades, so I'll just sit here and drool.

This thread needs to become a sticky. "How everything looks, from the ground up, bolt by bolt".

 

In your opinion what are the dis/advantages of going wider as opposed to larger? What about clearances?

 

Wider wheels spread the footprint of the tire. But, you have to ensure the tires you pick are the right size for the wheel, and vice versa. Go to tirerack.com and pull up a size of tire you are considering and it'll tell you the range of wheel widths each tire is supposed to be on. And the bigger the tire the wider the wheel to get the tire to put all of its tread flat on the ground.

For example, the 30 x 9.5 tires I'm running on Rusty are supposed to have a wheel from 6.5 to 8.5" wide. But the other tires I have for Rusty, which are 31 x 10.5, are supposed to have wheels from 7 - 9" wide. And those tires are next to each other, if you will, in the progression to larger tires. But, the 31 x 10.5's are about the largest you can run on these trucks w/o significant rubbing, and even then they will rub at full lock - and sometimes well before depending on the tire.

As an example of what can happen with too large of a tire on a relatively narrow wheel, my brother recently bought an FJ Cruiser with large tires on it. When I drove it I noticed how poorly it drove, as it followed every crack in the road and darted all over the place. So we checked the tires against the wheels and the wheels were much too narrow for the tires. He replaced the tires with some still quite big compared to stock, but matched to the wheels, and it now drives like a new vehicle.

Considering larger diameter wheels, some people think they look better. But, you will want to think about your effective gearing as going with a larger diameter tire means you are higher/taller geared. So, to keep the effective gearing the same you have to go to smaller sidewalls on larger diameter tires. Maybe a tire with a 60 or even 55 series sidewall reduces the overall diameter of the tire. However, larger wheels and tires with smaller sidewalls are heavier than smaller wheels and larger sidewalls. So you may impact the handling and ride of the vehicle.

 

Does anyone know which gauge steel I should use to patch my bed parts? My micrometers have came up missing and have no way to measure! Thanks

 

Got the wheels and tires on so she's a roller again! Just working on bed and cab parts now. Day job is super busy right now so body work will be a little slow but hopefully will be painted in a few months!

 

Love the wheels!

 

He's not only very fast, but from the number of new parts I'm seeing, he must be really rich.