Suspension
To my delight this thing had some pretty good factory
equipment. With a Dana 44 in the front and a GM 14-Bolt in the back we couldn't
ask for much stronger stock axels. Yeah, yeah a Dana 60 in the front would have
been better. But the Dana 44 should do fine with a Warn axel upgrade. The truck
came with the 4.10 gears so we shouldn't have to do anything with gears as
long as we don't get too crazy.
Other than being really dirty from ranch use and the
general wear and tear of 23 years and 130,000 miles it really is not in that bad
of condition. Almost everything is going to get replaced anyway, bushings, shocks, springs,
body mounts, etc.
The nasty original front end.
Shocks
The
stock original, yes I said original Delco shocks were replaced with some
Explorer Pro Comp ES9000 shocks. That one change made a huge difference in the ride quality. The
original shocks were totally wasted. I've never seen or felt shocks in such poor
condition. Not one of the shocks would rebound in the slightest and all of them
would compress, more like collapse, by simply holding them upright.
Front
Shackles 
The front shackles were in sorry condition. They were so badly bent that the entire front end was
shifted to the passenger side about three inches. As bad as that sounds
though, you could not even tell though unless your really looked at it. As bad as
the stock shackles look in these pictures, they looked much worse on the truck. The new shackles you see next to old ones were my first attempt and were not
used on the truck. I somehow managed to get the holes drilled a little off
center and had to toss them. As you can see I did make them a little (½")
longer than the stock shackles. I did this based on information I found on the
Off Road Design website. The shackles were made from cold rolled plate steel and will likely
outlast the rest of the truck and will certainly never bend.
The new shackles and bushings took a full two inches of the shift out of the
front end. The remaining shift was being caused by some distortion in the leaf
spring packs. The new BDS springs remedied that situation. The
truck is much smoother and more comfortable to drive with the new shackles than it was before. *NOTE:
Never use a radial arm saw designed for wood to cut steel. I
totally destroyed our saw doing this little project. They just are not made for
cutting steel. Get a real chop saw or use a hacksaw to cut steel.
Off-Road Design 4" Reverse Shackle Kit (5/2001)
This was not nearly as hard to put on the truck as we thought it would
be. Grind off the old shackle mount rivets with an angle grinder and bolt
on the new ones. The actual lift we got from this was 3.25" on the right and
3.5" on the left measuring from the ground to the top of the outer wheel
well.
Big Dicks Suspension
4" Front Lift (5/2001)
Uh . . . headers make it hard to get at the brake lines mounted on the frame
rail. I spent hours getting the brake line drop brackets installed. More time
than it took to install the actual springs. I would have been no better off
going with longer brake lines as either way you have to get at the fittings on
the back of the frame rail. At least now if I want to install longer brake lines
I have the drop brackets in place already.
The springs and steering arm were a piece of cake to install compared to the
brake lines. Now the truck actually sits straight for the first time since we've
owned it. The actual lift from these springs was 4.75" on each side. The
stock springs were totally shot and sagging so this is actually a little less
than I was expecting.
Energy Suspension Bushings and Body Mounts (5/2001)
Cutting the rear body mount "post" was the
hardest part here. It's hardened steel and it managed to chew right through two saw
blades before I gave up and ground it off with my angle grinder. I would
suggest careful use of a sawzall
to hack out the bushing sleeves on the leaf springs.
Wagoneer Machine Shop 14-Bolt Differential Cover
After hitting the only rock in huge field with the rear differential cover
and poking a hole in it we got this killer WMS differential cover for the
14-Bolt. You can still see the shock that got bashed at the same time I have yet
to replace on the left.
Steering
The steering on this truck was and still is awful. Almost every steering
related component has been replaced. The only parts remaining are the steering
wheel and the pump reservoir. An AGR pump and box were the big upgrades.
Future
plans
The things we have in mind for the trucks suspension include:
- ORD Sway Bar Disconnect
- Mile Marker Winch
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