Better?





I trimmed them the best I could with the tools I had on hand. I still have some grinding to do.

Here's the light that's included with the roll pan. I'm considering taking it apart and soldering in an LED light instead. I'm thinking the LED would last longer.

 

Howdy! I LOVE the thread, and I really dig the look of your truck - it's obvious the effort you're putting into it. Thank you for putting it together with such detail. I showed up here and found this thread after Atomic was talking about your stud-upper shock installs using his kit over on tahoeyukonform.com. I've got a 2004 Tahoe that I'm very anxious to install Atomic's kit on along with some QA1's like yours. I was researching shocks and I talked to a guy at QA1 about the stud uppers and his biggest concern was how the weight would impact the upper bushings...unfortunately he was right, as your results show. I'm VERY anxious to hear how the combination of washers and poly upper bushings work out for you because I want to do the same thing. The fender washers don't look to be hardened...if the fender washers don't work out then maybe you could try some hardened washers? Keep up the great work and detailed updates.

 

I haven't driven it since I've converted over. I know that from the little I have driven it, it feels good. Adding the airbags in the rear lets me keep the back exactly level, which is nice. Having a little air pressure in the bags seems I help the rear a bit.

With the holidays and work, I haven't been able to get in and get an alignment. Hopefully next week.

I only put those washers in because I happened to have them. I also put in two instead of one hoping it would be stronger. If they fail I'll build a spacer or try hardened washers.

I'm wondering if going the bushing route was a mistake.

If you need any help or anything please ask.

 

Are you keeping that exhaust? Great job on the roll pan

 

if you havent yet invested in coil overs i would suggest ridetech over qa1. the adjustment **** is easier to get to and it doesn't use a rubber bushing they use a delrin (plastic) ball system which holds up really really well. ive only got about 35 miles on my set up but that havent deformed in the least. if you already have qa1s i would suggest making a delrin spacer to the same specs as your rubber one and try that.

 

Awesome thread and great detailing the progress you have made especially on the coil overs. I wonder if you have drove the truck around since you last added the washers for the stud mount. This is my debate at the time, either go stud mount or pro comp mount.

 

This is about 20 miles on them.



I don't think they're going to last. I think it's just too much weight for the bushings. It may be time to take the bushings out and replace them with solid bushings. I'll have to source a solid bushing of some sort. Perhaps I could weld a stack of washers together?

I received my 194 LED lights from amazon, so I tore apart my license plate light housing.



I soldered in the LED replacement.



Then I used a hot glue gun to hold everything in place.



We happened to have some reflective tape around so I put some in the housing. I was planning on wrapping electrical tap around the housing anyways. I didn't want scattered light from the housing after it was installed.




I started installing my tailgate handle flip kit. It came as a package deal with my eBay roll pan. There were no instructions so I kind of winged it.

I traced an out line based on the bracket. I measured from the edge of the tailgate to get it as centered as possible. Then I marked where to cut with masking tape.



The bolts that the factory used seemed to rub on the tailgate skin when I was test fitting. So I ran down to the hardware store and got some Allen headed bolts.



All done. Pretty straightforward really.



The kit came with a filler plate. Although, it's not the correct size. I'll have to trim it to size and weld it in.

You can see where the previous owner used wire to hold the tailgate rods in place. The green clip is broken. It was working so I decided not to order replacement clips.

 

Going to look good shaved like that.



Man I need to learn to weld.....

 

Trucks coming along nice man, looks good. Curious about the ride on the coil over setup? Considering doing the swap to my DD. As someone mentioned before look into derlin for solid bushing material it's good stuff. Just wondering when you tightened the top bushing down did you crank it tight like that or is that the truck compressing it? Just wondering thanks man.
Billy

 

they compress like that just from the weight. go with ridetech coilovers. they come with delrin instead of rubber and the shocks are actually made by fox. way better quality than qa1s.