But now it looks like this. I swapped it back down sized since I didn't need it to haul the trailer anymore.

 

I'm such a suckered for the lightning wheels....

 

I do have a RSK kit from Sky’s for SD springs with the frame boxes.
I love the look of your truck! What was your set up? RSK? What size? And what springs?

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https://www.skysoffroaddesign.com/co...350-conversion

https://www.skysoffroaddesign.com/co...13845239365698

 

Mine was stock. I used the frame from the truck on the trailer. Swapped cab's and bed over. New bushings and cab mounts. Found a deal on new rotor's and hub's and swapped the rearend over. I'm swapping it over now to a blue that was a 2wd truck.

 

Oh and that crapped out red truck looks like this now. It's really easy to swap cab's is what I'm trying to say.

 

Even without a lift? I know I’d need an engine hoist to get the engine out, I could leave the transmission and T-case of course
Im slowly sliding that way…

Continue to page #97

 

So if I am doing a RSK, with new front and rear shackles, and already have the frame boxes for the front, the main benefit will be a stronger frame?

The current 2wd has 1 main point of contact with coil springs on C channel, but boxing the front of the frame and going to leafs, you would then have 2 main points of contact, one of which is on a boxed frame, theoretically stronger than the current setup.

I surly don’t want to shortchange myself after doing all this work, I can postpone the swap to do it right if need be.
The truck currently needs all new steering ball joints and tires. I was trying to swap it over before having to put time and money into something I am going to end up throwing away.

Long term, I would ideally swap frames at a time I can overhaul the engine and do other needed maintenance on the truck.

I’m not trying to fight my position, I just want to make sure it’s definitely worth doing before I change plans.


(Continue to page 97)

 

To be honest I pulled my cab on the floor by myself at home..
wish I had a lift but all I got is this thing on my shoulders..

If it were me i would have the new frame painted and ready so it would be just slamming parts off yours over.

 

Alright, sister got married the whole family got sick took a trip but I’m back on track now!

I have all my Sky parts primed and painted, I also took off everything I will need from the donor truck, u bolts sway bars and mounts etc etc and have sanded and painted them as well!

I’ll put together a comprehensive list of do-dads and what-nots you’ll need from the donor truck here shortly!

I used rust oleum instead of powder coat because powder coat is only good in a rusty environment for 10 years and then it gets a chip and rusts from the inside out at which point the entire product needs to be sandblasted down to bare metal to be painted again where as rust oleum can be sanded with a wire brush and re painted right where it’s at!

 

I started tearing off all the twin I beam stuff, shocks, axles, springs and steering it all came off in 30 min by myself.

Removing the rivets was a chore but not as bad as I thought it would be, all that needs to happen is to grind/cut the head off and pound it out with a drift.
My two brother-in-laws and I removed both TIB brackets, coil buckets, pitman arm, brake lines, control arm brackets and steering stabilizer in 2 hours. The easiest way was to use a cut off wheel and metal grinding wheel to cut off the heads and pound it out with a drift but we did use a torch on a few of them but all that did was get the rivet hot enough it kinda welded it to the frame and was much harder to pound out.
The pitman arm was a pistol! Good grief! Gear pullers slipped off, got an actual pitman arm puller and it bent it open even while I beat the tar out of it with a hammer as I pulled! Finally made two relief cuts with a cut wheel and it dropped right off!

This afternoon I’ll strip the frame and paint it, should be adding the new parts by the weekend!

 

Got the frame cleaned up and ready! I started installing the front frame boxes.

Instructions say to drill the one 5/8” hole on each frame horn, mount the front RSK then measure to the rear bracket and pivot the front RSK until you find your exact distance, which is the length of the leaf spring, and at which point you mark the rest of the holes and then drill.

But being I have no rear bracket holes to measure to I drilled and mounted the front bracket where it sat flush and then I will measure back to the rear bracket minus one & a half inch (1.5”) less than the length of the leaf spring (while under weight)

When drilling the holes, you use the template that comes with the kit to find the location of the one 5/8” hole and drill it using the template. Then put the frame box in place and snug up the 5/8” bolt to secure the frame box in place. Then come from inside the frame and drill the rest of the 1/2” holes using the frame box as your guide. The template didn’t always align correctly with where the frame box sat.

Do yourself a favor and buy some fresh drill bits. I used Bosch 1/2” bits and a dewalt step bit which made the job easy easy…. and don’t forget to add liberal amounts of oil!

Sky’s said to tack weld the frame box once the first 5/8” hole was drilled but the 5/8” bolt held just fine as there wasn’t any room for it to shift anyway. After the first 1/2” hole I also put a 1/2” bolt thru and snugged that up as well just for good measure.

I need to check if the spring measurements are taken under load or relaxed? But I’ll figure that out and post back!

 

You got this mang! Some take years to get stuff done and **** and moan about it, while others get after it and take a few months. Nice work!

 

Thanks a lot! It’s sure been fun so far and I don’t even have the new parts on yet!

Tho in some ways it’s taken me years… I’ve been reading and studying how to do this for a while now! So happy I’m finally going for it! I believe a job can be done so much easier if you have the knowledge of how it works beforehand so you don’t do double work learning/fixing in the moment, or at least not as much double work lol

 

Yeah, I had to do a little of this myself back in the early years of owning an OBS because they were my DD, but I won't make that mistake again. So I understand it. Now I have my Superduty, which is built like I want it, and my K2500 GMC Suburban....so if one breaks, I have the other. I pretty much drive the Burban everywhere as it is storage for all of my comp stuff and a better daily. The option and stress relief is worth the 2nd vehicle.