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Silverado 3 link

47K views 234 replies 40 participants last post by  sterlingfire 
#1 ·




Pretty close to done. I used a d60 for the rear, and it blew a spindle in under 40 miles. Now I'm working on getting my 14 bolt ready to bolt in.
 
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#12 ·
I'll start off by saying that this is my first truck I put a suspension lift on, and the first time I will be running anything bigger than a 33" tire. Even so, this truck was a very capable vehicle in my hands. My family and I like to take long trail rides any day of the week, and my front suspension was under going more stress than it could take. Balljoints were bad, both sides, uppers and lowers. Every moving part in the front end needed to be replaced, so I talked my wife into believing I could pull off an sas for the same cost as replacing everything in the front end with high quality moog parts. Boy was I wrong, and she knows it lol! I don't care though, in my area this truck will be an absolute one of a kind. Most people around me are into mudding, I'm not so much. Mud is hard on your shit, it gets everywhere and prematurely wears out parts. We like trail riding.

This is where I began. Picked up this truck with a 3" bl and some wore out 33" tires. Had a bunch of fun in this truck, only paid $2500 8 years ago. the price was right, and was more useful than the tohoe's I was looking at purchasing. This is not my first truck though, I've had other stock trucks as well, but this one is by far my favorite. It had 230k on it, and a couple years after the initial purchase I found a rolled over 01' GMC with only 40k for $1600. Swapped out the motor, transmission and t-case immediately. Also changed out the entire interior that was in mint condition as well. After selling stuff and scrapping the rest, I had only $300 into the motor tranny tcase interior rear locker and a few other small items.

 
#13 ·
Move forward to 2012, I found this site (the devil, if you don't know that yet). I was contemplating building it into a pre runner. That idea fell out as soon as I saw a couple sfa nbs trucks. I fell in love with the look and reliability of a Dana 60.

So, I bought this for $375 at a salvage yard. After this original purchase, I began collecting parts, and changing my mind and collecting different things.

 
#15 ·
So, I was naïve, and thought I was going to fit a 4-link under this bitch without going over a 5" lift...dumbass, I already bought the 8 links required for that. Oh yeah, they are Rusty's 2 5/8" forged rod ends. very beefy, and seem pretty quality.

So this is my 4 link mock up. Waste of time unless you want about 12" of lift. My buddy works for a major metal supplier as the manager of one of the distribution hubs, which means I got laser cut brackets and cheap materials



Also found a rear Dana 60 for dirt cheap with matching gears for the front 4:10
That I found out later was a waste of money and time, I wish I would have taken pics of all the mud I pulled out of the axle tubes.

 
#16 ·
Miscellaneous parts, brakes newer leafs for the rear. Too much there to mention...



And the point which I knew this shit was going to be awesome. 12" travel 2.5" Radflo emulsion coilovers. Bought them off pirate4x4 for $400 for the pair, in new condition. From a user named "sickford". Good deal imo!

 
#20 ·
Grinding dust is not something you should inhale, I strongly suggest you wear a mask of some sort...



Custom built frame plates out of 3/16. Never got any pics of them, but I used Artec axle lower link brackets, and link brackets for the frame. I used Artec upper link mounts as well. My axle end upper link was supposed to be an Artec product as well, but I custom made my own because Artec's was going to make my up travel limited, and I wanted to keep it as low as possible.



You know, nobody ever tells you how many times you will be taking your axle out from under your truck and putting it back in there. I'll guess that I had ot have done this process at least 20 times. makes for one sore back. To mock up I used sprinkler pipe. The links were 1 1/2 schedule 40, and the tie rod, drag link, and panhard were all 1" sch 40. These would change to 2" x 1/4 wall dom for links and 1 1/2" x1/4 wall dom for the rest.
 
#24 ·
That was the point I realized the springs were too stiff. it just didn't settle out like I wanted it to. I was hoping for around 4" of shock shaft showing, There's about 6 1/2" there. Very disappointed. Got over all of that annoyance, started working on my shock hoop brace, and the bump stops. Before I burned in my shock hoops, I found that my vacuum booster was in the way, tore that junk out and went and found a hydro boost unit with the lines and the ps pump to go with for about $125 at a salvage yard. Had to remove the electronic valve off the back of the ps pump, easily replaced that with the outlet from the back of my stock ps pump. Working on this truck is so much easier without all of the ifs bull shit hanging off the bottom of the frame.

A little motivation, it seems that as we build them, we all do this at one point or another lol! At this point I was painting everything and not taking many pics.
 
#26 ·
Ahh, the light at the end of the tunnel. This was a long night, pissed wifey right off. Worked on it until about 1 am or so. Got a ton done though, very happy with my progress at this point.



Close up for good measure. At this time I had the springs I was happy with. Ended up with a 12" 300# over 12" 450#, still unsure how this is going to work on the street, but the coils don't stack when bumped out, so I'm hoping for the best.


 
#30 ·
http://www.artecindustries.com/Dana-60-Lower-Link-Axle-Brackets-pair_p_260.html

http://www.artecindustries.com/Adjustable-Link-Tower--10-Deg-Offset-single_p_248.html

http://www.artecindustries.com/Lower-Link-Frame-Bracket-single_p_251.html

http://www.artecindustries.com/Inner-Frame-Bracket-single_p_259.html

http://www.artecindustries.com/Tube-Tabs_p_337.html

http://www.artecindustries.com/Flat-Tabs_p_336.html

These are links to the brackets and tabs I bought from Artec. Very quality parts. I am very happy with the fit and finish. For the upper link frame mount, I used the passenger side option. I never did end up using the upper link bracket on the axle. I used it as template to make shorter version though.
 
#32 ·
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