Installed Caltracs today.
Had a bad start prior to even installing them.
The wife back out of drive and took her mirror across the front right fender. Thought it was just surface paint, but found that it creased the fender.
Pic:

She just found out what she's getting me for Christmas at the same time. A Goodmark hood and a fender repair at the same time.
Anyways, the install went ok. I ended up leaving the leaf springs on the truck (the hard way I found). Well, I had to run the center steel insert out of the rubber first. Used a manual balljoint press for that. Took some time. Then I used a air chisel to begin running out the metal sleeve and rubber. That took some time as well. The rest went pretty easy and straight forward.
I also installed the 2* shim as well. I think I installed it the wrong way. fat end facing the front of truck. I think it should go the other way. Vibration is a bit worse now. There's now a slight hum as well. The angle finder I had was a piece of crap. It helped me none.
This top off my day though, when all was tightened down, I let the truck down. I bounced on the rear suspension to settle the suspension before setting the Caltrac's preload on the leaf springs.
Well after several jounces to the rear, I went under truck and found fluid pouring out from the right rear area.....the damn new Belltech shock was taking a ****! I couldn't believe it! Well, I already have another on order from 4-Wheel Parts.
Pic:

I set the preload a little and went for a spin. I could tell a difference, but not like I had planned. I still spun, but the truck felt like it wanted to try and plant the tires. I guess I will have to place more preload on the leafs. I didn't feel like messing with it anymore for the day.
The truck does ride a bit different. I like it. I rides more solid and tighter. It has potential. Wouldn't want the preload set much higher for everyday driving though. The tires too just won't hold. The Eagle LS's aren't that great for dry traction. A better tire and more preload....I can see some great launches happening.

Tips:
-Buy you a foot of 3/4" heater hose. Cut it 2-1/2" to 3" long. Place some grease in the inside of the hose. When installing the bolt that goes on top of the leaf spring, install it through the piece of hose. No noise what so ever from the preload bolt hitting the top of leaf spring.
Here are few install pics:






-Grease the hell out of the inner sleeve that goes through the solid mount aluminum leaf spring bushing. Place a lot of grease on the sides as well. I have no noises from the Caltracs as of yet.

-Remove the leaf spring completely from truck when removing the factory bushing. It will be a lot easier. I can vouch for that.
Getting the bushings out will be a bit tough. There are a few ways to do it. One is a hydraulic press, another is burning the rubber bushing out then air chisel the sleeve out, and the other way is drilling out the rubber with a small drill bit, then air chisel the sleeve out.

-Installing the new aluminum bushings can be done either with a press, balljoint press, or big hammer and a few pieces of 2x4's.

Hope this helps some of you in the future.

Jim

 

looks like a clean install, sorry about the bad luck but enjoy the traction!

 

Which way is the 2* shim supposed to go in? Fat side towards back or front????

Jim

 

Fat back

 

Congrats on the Caltrac install. Get those shims turned around and tune the Caltracs up a bit and enjoy the improved traction.

Do a little work, make a little work.

Too bad about the crease in the fender. A Goodmark hood seems like nice compensation.

You and grippy both installing parts at the same time. Priceless!

 

 

Jim,

The heater hose deal works pretty good until the hose gets worn out from the friction against the leaf spring. I got tired of replacing the heat hose every few weeks myself so I just tightened the bolt over top of the spring just enough so that the pivot plates were snug against the sides of the spring pack. No rattles or squeeks so far for me...

I dunno if that will work for you though if you drive your truck with some preload on the bars all the time...I back mine off a turn when Im not racing which would allow them to rattle over bumps and what not until I tightened up the bolt like I mentioned.

Might be worth a try if the heater hose deal doesnt work out or becomes a PIA.

Dave

 

That scratch sux Jim! I got your fix, a new silver birch goodmark hood in the box if your interested, i'll pm ya.

 

My apologies.

Tim - nice truck! Looking forward to hearing about your DMax exploits.

 

Thanks mort, Im waiting on more tuning options to come out, so a real lull in the action now, but the hypertech has given me a low 14 sec 7000lb truck!