Having help like him makes this much easier, even though he's never done a swap like this, it doesn't intimidate him.

I don't have an update at the moment, I got the stomach flu and have been pretty immobile, he's probably still working on it so I'll probably give him a call to see what's up

 

The end is in sight. Truck is under its own weight and the to do list is much smaller.

Needs:
-e brake
-brakes
-shock mounts
-steering
-bump stops
-limit straps
-new rear crossmember

That sounds like a lot, but it's manageable.

I've discovered that you can only run a Ballistic Fab cover on a D30 if you have high steer, or an over the knuckle conversion. Once I swap to the stock cover, the stock style steering should bolt right in.

 

Nice!

 

Such a clean setup

 

Nice man.. Is it just a clearance issue with the cover? Maybe you can ask them for something like a guard or something for the stock cover.

 

Yea, the cover is too tall. I'm going to message Ballistic to see if they knew about this already.

Once the tie rod is in I'll see if a guard would fit

 

Is that gonna be the ride height?

 

Just noticed that.. doesn't look to be too much taller than superlift ride height.

 

Yea, that's the ride height.

It's sitting 2.5" higher than it was with the Superlift.

I didn't want to go too much higher until I had a chance to drive it to understand how it behaves on the road.

 

I didn't like the Ballistic Fab spring retainers they sent with my buckets so we made these, also the bucket is fully installed with all the bolts.

I'm using all these bolts to keep the threads clean on the nuts

 

looks like its coming along nicely

 

very nice Glad you posted this build thread I wanted to do this but after see what is involved, NO WAY

 

It is, I'm getting anxious to drive it though lol

I understand what you mean, I've studied build threads for years leading up to this and I think I underestimated how many things there are to do when you actually do this swap.

The basic list is pretty easy to get, but it's all the little things that drive you nuts.

It helps to have a guy who's done this a dozen times before, he isn't intimidated by anything on my truck. It puts my mind at ease because I would probably make a bigger deal about some of the things that have come up during my build.

 

You gonna go to a 35"?

 

Yea, I'm still deciding if I want new wheels also.

That's the only thing keeping me from ordering them.

 

Grabbed a few more pics after the steering got put together. You can see my shock mounts and how we're keeping the steering shaft from going anywhere.

 

Top notch work! I hope it drives as good as it looks!

 

Seriously that has turned out pretty damn clean. Looks stock almost.

 

That looks awesome. When's the test drive?

 

Is the track bar mount integrated into the coil bucket, and is it finished? Pretty cool idea but a little hard to see in the pics.

 

Thanks. I hope so too.

When we planned this out we kept telling ourselves that it needs to look like it could have came from the factory. Obviously no one will look at my truck and think it's stock, but we wanted it to have a clean look. Nothing that jumped out as being unfit to be on the truck.

Hopefully Saturday, he had to make a drag link since no shop around here would do it.

It looks like it in those latest pics, but it isn't the bracket is welded on the inside of the frame

 

Test drive successful.

Just needs a steering stabilizer, 35's, and Expo leaf springs

 

Looks good, even with the 33's

 

Looks great. Why then need for the stabilizer? Any plans for a sway bar?

 

It's very squirrely on the road with out.

I don't plan on a sway bar until I see how the stabilizer helps.

I'm planning on getting there to fix my dead spot The Cure