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Amber and Jeremy Liscum of Bandera, Texas contacted Brutal Off-Road about transforming their 2004 Chevrolet 2500 H.D. from a problematic street cruiser into a
fully operational but show winning truck.
After days of discussion with the owners, we planned the truck’s build using a combination of leading edge rockcrawling designs used here at Brutal Off-Road and
up to the minute bling used by national show competition cars, trucks, boats and bikes.
Our plan was to re-create the truck’s theme, going higher, wider and stronger, yet having a fully functional truck that could be driven safely and legally.
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After positioning the truck in the shop we discovered a few possible problems that may have been causing the owner’s driveability complaints…
At some point in time the upper control arm lost it’s setting and allowed the 44â€ÂTSL to contact the added dual shocks.
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It also had conflicting geometry with the O.E.M. shock and added upper shock mount….
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The upper shock mount was right out of the bottle-jack bender
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The passenger side front drive axle had blown it’s inner boot due to improper front differential lateral angles,
caused by a missing bolt for the upper drop bracket.
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The entire front drop cradle is designed to be stabilized by the lateral compression arms attached to the torsion bar cradle, located near the center of the truck. In this truck’s case, the entire cradle was moving fore and aft over .250†each direction. That’s a half inch total! The center steering link was actually scraping the front drop cradle during braking, due to the instability of the entire front drop system.
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Here you can see the still stock rear driveshaft pulled out two inches, having not been lengthened
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Here is the “Oh my god, they didn’t!†dual rear shock mounts. Single shear at it’s finest.
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The upper ends of the Pro-Comp shocks rubbed against the factory cross member in the at rest position.
U-bolts were not quite long enough to do a serious job of clamping the spring/block combo to the axle.
Especially with the torque of the Duramax turning the 44â€Âs.
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In Brutal Off-Road’s opinion, the only legitimate way to build a truck this high,
is to replace the IFS front suspension with a solid axle and build current technology steering to keep it as safe as possible with a truck this tall.
So, after a decision was made with the owners to go four link with the spring/suspension set-up.
The after-market and original IFS bracketry began to disappear.
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As you can see, there was quite a pile of parts ready for recycling, with more original brackets left to cut off the frame.
But first, we fabricated two simple cross members to support the frame dimensions, before we began removing the primary IFS cross-members.
This keeps the frame from spreading. Out came the plasma cutter, and parts started hitting the floor.
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The long and tedious job of stripping the frame of all it’s corrosion resistant coating was started.
Since the truck was also going to placed in competition shows, we decided to remove ALL bracketry except for the cab and body mounts,
as well as fill and smooth every un-needed hole in the frame, to prepare for the base coat/clear coat paint.
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Due to the decision the use 3.0†King coils and dual Bilstein reservoir shocks, a tough base was needed to mount the suspension components to.
Here you can see the cardboard template at it’s beginning.
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After the initial template was formed, transferred to mild 3/8â€Âsheet steel then cut out, it was fitted to the frame.
After fitting and shaping the filler sheet, it was welded into place. Also visible are a few un-needed holes that were welded closed.
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Before the front axle could be built, we needed to get a realistic look at how the truck’s stance and overall attitude would appear.
Using a spare Ford Dana 60 for mock-up, we centered it, then rolled the 21â€Â-49â€ÂX 17†IROK Swampers into position.
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fully operational but show winning truck.
After days of discussion with the owners, we planned the truck’s build using a combination of leading edge rockcrawling designs used here at Brutal Off-Road and
up to the minute bling used by national show competition cars, trucks, boats and bikes.
Our plan was to re-create the truck’s theme, going higher, wider and stronger, yet having a fully functional truck that could be driven safely and legally.
After positioning the truck in the shop we discovered a few possible problems that may have been causing the owner’s driveability complaints…
At some point in time the upper control arm lost it’s setting and allowed the 44â€ÂTSL to contact the added dual shocks.
Here you can see the solution to the caster problems…..
It also had conflicting geometry with the O.E.M. shock and added upper shock mount….
The upper shock mount was right out of the bottle-jack bender
The passenger side front drive axle had blown it’s inner boot due to improper front differential lateral angles,
caused by a missing bolt for the upper drop bracket.
The entire front drop cradle is designed to be stabilized by the lateral compression arms attached to the torsion bar cradle, located near the center of the truck. In this truck’s case, the entire cradle was moving fore and aft over .250†each direction. That’s a half inch total! The center steering link was actually scraping the front drop cradle during braking, due to the instability of the entire front drop system.
Here you can see the still stock rear driveshaft pulled out two inches, having not been lengthened
This is a look at the rear set up. Notice the factory rubber brake line stretched to the max at ride height!
Check out the cool ladder bars made out of PIPE!Here is the “Oh my god, they didn’t!†dual rear shock mounts. Single shear at it’s finest.
The upper ends of the Pro-Comp shocks rubbed against the factory cross member in the at rest position.
U-bolts were not quite long enough to do a serious job of clamping the spring/block combo to the axle.
Especially with the torque of the Duramax turning the 44â€Âs.
In Brutal Off-Road’s opinion, the only legitimate way to build a truck this high,
is to replace the IFS front suspension with a solid axle and build current technology steering to keep it as safe as possible with a truck this tall.
So, after a decision was made with the owners to go four link with the spring/suspension set-up.
The after-market and original IFS bracketry began to disappear.
As you can see, there was quite a pile of parts ready for recycling, with more original brackets left to cut off the frame.
But first, we fabricated two simple cross members to support the frame dimensions, before we began removing the primary IFS cross-members.
This keeps the frame from spreading. Out came the plasma cutter, and parts started hitting the floor.
The long and tedious job of stripping the frame of all it’s corrosion resistant coating was started.
Since the truck was also going to placed in competition shows, we decided to remove ALL bracketry except for the cab and body mounts,
as well as fill and smooth every un-needed hole in the frame, to prepare for the base coat/clear coat paint.
Due to the decision the use 3.0†King coils and dual Bilstein reservoir shocks, a tough base was needed to mount the suspension components to.
Here you can see the cardboard template at it’s beginning.
After the initial template was formed, transferred to mild 3/8â€Âsheet steel then cut out, it was fitted to the frame.
After fitting and shaping the filler sheet, it was welded into place. Also visible are a few un-needed holes that were welded closed.
Before the front axle could be built, we needed to get a realistic look at how the truck’s stance and overall attitude would appear.
Using a spare Ford Dana 60 for mock-up, we centered it, then rolled the 21â€Â-49â€ÂX 17†IROK Swampers into position.
Dimensonally, the truck will be 100†wide at the outer-most edges of the sidewall, with 8†of useable wheel travel both up and down.
Headlights will be another story, as 52†(Legal headlight height) is about the center of the original frame box ends. The roof of the cab stands at 9’-2â€Â.
