Dropped my V Max
02-09-2011, 09:32 PM
#1
I hate my cats
Thread Starter
iTrader: (16)
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan
Posts: 1,033
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Dropped my V Max
I bought an 08 V Max, and I love the extra power, and the 200 thousand fewer miles it has on it! My wife actually picked it out cause it was purple. It was WAY too tall though, so I spent more money and bought drop parts. Here's how it looked before.
I used coil relocators and Belltech drop spindles in the front. I found a few things though. If I were to ever do this again, I'd go to the parts store and borrow a strut compressor tool. I did it the farmer way, with a bottle jack and a crowbar, and I had the truck fall off the jackstands once. It was scary, but nothing got damaged.
I found out that the top bolt in the hub has to be through the spindle and threaded into the hub before you tighten up the upper ball joint, cause the ball joint threads drop right down in front of the upper hub bolt.
I also found that without any of the spacer rings on the relocator, the UCA ball joint was digging into the CV axles. I snipped the bottom threads off the ball joint and used both the spacer rings. Maybe I could have gotten away with just one spacer ring, but it's nice to have a half inch of clearance. And even with the thin lower ball joint nuts that Bell Tech supplies, my 17s were touching when I'd make tighter turns. They had to be ground down.
In the back I pulled out the lift blocks and swapped in drop shackles. I bought Bell Tech drop shackles, and just for kicks compared them to the old no name drop shackles I'd bought but never installed on my 99. Turns out they're interchangeable! The old no names seemed a bit heavier, and the bushings were way beefier, and I can go a wee bit lower with them overall if I want. The no names are the gray ones. Here they are compared to the stockers, and the Bell Techs.
The whole job goes easier with the spare out. That sumbitch ain't going back in... And if you have a hitch that has to come off to pull the shackle bolts out of the spring eyes. It also would have been way easier if I'd unbolted and lifted the back half of the box, cause a seem in the underside of the bed floor limits how much the spring can be lifted up, and there really isn't enough room to get the bolt in or out. Other than that, it wasn't too bad. Here it is all dropped down.
It turned out to be about 3 inches in the front and 4 or 5 in the back, I never measured back there. It's way easier to get in now, so hopefully The Girl will let me peel those stupid step rails. I need to find some better mirrors now too. In all, I'm very happy with the outcome. And since I know I'm gonna get asked, the truck was sharing shop space with...
The Bueller!
Daddio's last hot rod, a 48 International KB2 with a smogger 440, 727, 8 3/4", and an AMC Pacer front suspension.
Now it's time to install the DVD deck, cause not having Sirius SUCKS, and my wideband so I can finally start to understand HPTuners. Tell me what you think!
I used coil relocators and Belltech drop spindles in the front. I found a few things though. If I were to ever do this again, I'd go to the parts store and borrow a strut compressor tool. I did it the farmer way, with a bottle jack and a crowbar, and I had the truck fall off the jackstands once. It was scary, but nothing got damaged.
I found out that the top bolt in the hub has to be through the spindle and threaded into the hub before you tighten up the upper ball joint, cause the ball joint threads drop right down in front of the upper hub bolt.
I also found that without any of the spacer rings on the relocator, the UCA ball joint was digging into the CV axles. I snipped the bottom threads off the ball joint and used both the spacer rings. Maybe I could have gotten away with just one spacer ring, but it's nice to have a half inch of clearance. And even with the thin lower ball joint nuts that Bell Tech supplies, my 17s were touching when I'd make tighter turns. They had to be ground down.
In the back I pulled out the lift blocks and swapped in drop shackles. I bought Bell Tech drop shackles, and just for kicks compared them to the old no name drop shackles I'd bought but never installed on my 99. Turns out they're interchangeable! The old no names seemed a bit heavier, and the bushings were way beefier, and I can go a wee bit lower with them overall if I want. The no names are the gray ones. Here they are compared to the stockers, and the Bell Techs.
The whole job goes easier with the spare out. That sumbitch ain't going back in... And if you have a hitch that has to come off to pull the shackle bolts out of the spring eyes. It also would have been way easier if I'd unbolted and lifted the back half of the box, cause a seem in the underside of the bed floor limits how much the spring can be lifted up, and there really isn't enough room to get the bolt in or out. Other than that, it wasn't too bad. Here it is all dropped down.
It turned out to be about 3 inches in the front and 4 or 5 in the back, I never measured back there. It's way easier to get in now, so hopefully The Girl will let me peel those stupid step rails. I need to find some better mirrors now too. In all, I'm very happy with the outcome. And since I know I'm gonna get asked, the truck was sharing shop space with...
The Bueller!
Daddio's last hot rod, a 48 International KB2 with a smogger 440, 727, 8 3/4", and an AMC Pacer front suspension.
Now it's time to install the DVD deck, cause not having Sirius SUCKS, and my wideband so I can finally start to understand HPTuners. Tell me what you think!
02-09-2011, 09:37 PM
#4
I hate my cats
Thread Starter
iTrader: (16)
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan
Posts: 1,033
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ya, the 4x4 decals have to get peeled, not sure if I wanna pull the Vortec Max badges though. Undecided on that. If I ever sell any of the other project cars it's getting a TVS 2300! And that 440 is NOT torquey, it's a 74, low compression, 210 horse boat anchor. I couldn't keep up to a Z24 Cavalier with that pig back in the days it used to run. In the past 6 years it's moved from in front of the shop, to into the shop. That's it
hahaha
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
gaps
GMT 800 & Older GM General Discussion
10
10-15-2015 02:53 PM
