1994 K3500 extended cab dually

[n8in8or]

Last night I got the chassis back down on all fours again.



I reinstalled all crossmembers and brackets that had been preciously riveted with grade 8 7/16-14 bolts and distorted thread locknuts plus red Loctite.

I had a heck of a time getting the torsion bar crossmember reinstalled on Saturday. I even undid the upper ball joint so the lower arm could droop further, which did allow me to finally get the torsion bars to slide into the lowers with some hammer persuasion, but then there wasn’t enough weight on the chassis to get it to lift up enough to reassemble. I finally gave in and purchased a torsion bar unloading tool. $20. So dumb I hadn’t purchased that years ago, it made the task so much easier, and I wouldn’t have had to take any of my previous work apart.

 

[n8in8or]

The Gabriel Max Control shocks I installed when I got the truck together rode nice, and were still working well, but they were already rusting……and I just couldn’t put rusty shocks on this chassis. I decided to go full gooch and put Bilstein shocks on this time. I know they’ll work well, but I also hope they hold up to the elements better. I’m not going to drive this truck in the winter a lot, but the point of this truck is to be the capable truck to use when I need it, so winter driving will certainly happen some.