Finally decided to do one of these. I dont have a lot of before and after pics. Some of its a little ghetto, but it works
Updating this to include stuff a list of whats done
Upper control arms
3 leaf AAL
Revolver shackles
Low profile upper bumpstops
Low profile lower bumpstops
Bilstein HD shocks front and rear
Front recovery points
Rear recover points
White knuckle sliders
Custom winch plate
12k Badlands winch
US wheels 15x8 soft 8 style wheels
33x12.50 Goodyear mtr's
Hi lift mounted in the back
Volant intake
Custom fiberglass snorkel adapter
pvc snorkel
on board air (no tank yet)
Lokka front diff locker (ordered)
AC Idler arm brace
Bilstein steering stabilizer
Calmini Gas tank skid
Clear lens headlights
Led fogs in factory location
4" round led's on the front bumper
Cobra 19wxstii cb
3' firestik ii
Corbeau Seat brackets
BOMZ seats (not great but I got them for almost nothing)
probably forgot something but thats the basics
I'll start with some pics of my Hi lift and how i mounted it.
I pulled out the the rear hooks, cut some 1/8" steel plate I had laying around and drilled holes for the original screw locations and a 3/8 hole for a bolt. used a 4 inch bolt on the passenger side, and 6 inch on the drivers.
I used a couple of 3/8 metal tubing I had laying around and some rubber stoppers I got from home depot. drilled a hole in the stopper and slid it over the tube and dropped it on the bolt. Drivers side required two rubber stoppers to get enough height
moved the loop part on the end of the hi lift down a bit so it would all fit in the back and it dropped right in on top of the bolts. Used some 3/8 rubber washers, topped with 3/8 metal washers and a thumb screw to hold it in snug.
here is the finished product
Next thing I did was to keep some bump in the ride when I needed extra space in the back. just a pic of the final product here, but the job was long and tedious and I dont recommend anybody do it.
I cut out the sheet metal in the back where the 6x9 were. started about 1/4 inch up from the bottom and went up along the wheel well. basically a 10x19 area was removed. used some 1/8 inch sheet metal and cut holes for the 6x9 and some 8" subs and put it back in. I had 2 8" kickers I was going to put in there, but one of them turned out to be blown so I threw in one from an old bazooka tube. still looking for another matching 8, but I have had them since 1996 so I'm not sure I will ever find another. back on track, I tack welded it every 2 inches around and then sealed it with some black caulk. same stuff you would use to patch holes in your roof. goes on gooey and dries hard as a rock. had some off brand dynamat stuff laying around from an old install that I had to use to space the speakers out a bit to keep it from hitting the body of the truck and bottoming out. I did this on both sides. Also pulled out the baffle that is in the rear passengers side fender and welded a piece of sheet metal in there to keep the sound in and water out. Still need to get some kind of mesh to cover up the hole you can see the sub through. Normally I run my JL 13w6, but when i need room, I still have a little bump. Originally did this to get the sub out of the car out of fear of it killing my son in a car wreck when his car seat was rear facing. Now that I drive my g35 most of the time the sub pretty much stays in there.
next mod was for hi lift points. after the lift the truck was too high to reach anything but the bottom of the rear axle. bought a hi lift and realized on a stock truck there is no where to put the thing.
I bought some 2" hitch adapters and welded them onto the bottom of the frame in the rear. this gives me just enough height to get the rear wheels off the ground. I have one on each side, and have a tow hook attached to the one on the other side for a recovery point in the rear. Had to notch the rear bumber to get it all back together. You can also see my exhaust coming out the rear. Maybe I will get some pics of the exhaust later. its been through about 3 incarnations over the last 2 years, but i am pretty happy with it now.
Bedlined the spot where the front plastic mudflap used to be
You can sort of see where i cut the fenders to fit the 33's
hacked the front bumper up a bit
next thing I wish I had taken more pics of while I was doing it, but alas after pics only. This is my winch install.
I picked up one of the 12,000 lb harbor freight winches when they were on sale for $299. Got one of there mounting plates and some 1/4 steel plate and started scratching my head to figure out how to get it all to work. I already had a piece of 1/4 angle iron welded on across the frame horns, and a couple pieces of angle welded ontop of the frame that stuck out the front of the truck that I had used to mount the brush guard i had on the truck. Bought the brush guard from a scrap yard for $20 not knowing what kind of truck it was meant for, but made it work. I left the angle iron protruding out the front to give me some hi lift points in the front. But that had to go for the winch to mount. I cut the angle iron back to about 6" total length and cut the 1/4 plate and welded it to the existing angle iron. I originally planned on just cutting the mounting plate to that width and welding it in, but opted for for a bolt on application. I took the pieces I cut of the side of the mounting plate and cut and notched them so the would sit upright on the edges of the mounting plate and proceeded to weld the crap out of it. Drilled some holes and mounted it up. All of this was done with a crappy old stick welder so it was messy. after about 6 hours of grinding to clean it up my grinder died and I decided it was good enough. a few days later I bought a new grinder and cleaned it up a bit more and shaped the 1/4 plate to match the curve of the bumper. Then it was time to hack up the bumper some more paint it all and see how it looked all together.
here is a pic from the side from the day I got the tires and wheels installed.
Still had the nerf bars and brush guard on in the pic. those are gone now, but I am still planning on trying to make the brush guard work with the winch up front. But thats for another day.
Updating this to include stuff a list of whats done
Upper control arms
3 leaf AAL
Revolver shackles
Low profile upper bumpstops
Low profile lower bumpstops
Bilstein HD shocks front and rear
Front recovery points
Rear recover points
White knuckle sliders
Custom winch plate
12k Badlands winch
US wheels 15x8 soft 8 style wheels
33x12.50 Goodyear mtr's
Hi lift mounted in the back
Volant intake
Custom fiberglass snorkel adapter
pvc snorkel
on board air (no tank yet)
Lokka front diff locker (ordered)
AC Idler arm brace
Bilstein steering stabilizer
Calmini Gas tank skid
Clear lens headlights
Led fogs in factory location
4" round led's on the front bumper
Cobra 19wxstii cb
3' firestik ii
Corbeau Seat brackets
BOMZ seats (not great but I got them for almost nothing)
probably forgot something but thats the basics
I'll start with some pics of my Hi lift and how i mounted it.
I pulled out the the rear hooks, cut some 1/8" steel plate I had laying around and drilled holes for the original screw locations and a 3/8 hole for a bolt. used a 4 inch bolt on the passenger side, and 6 inch on the drivers.
I used a couple of 3/8 metal tubing I had laying around and some rubber stoppers I got from home depot. drilled a hole in the stopper and slid it over the tube and dropped it on the bolt. Drivers side required two rubber stoppers to get enough height
moved the loop part on the end of the hi lift down a bit so it would all fit in the back and it dropped right in on top of the bolts. Used some 3/8 rubber washers, topped with 3/8 metal washers and a thumb screw to hold it in snug.
here is the finished product
Next thing I did was to keep some bump in the ride when I needed extra space in the back. just a pic of the final product here, but the job was long and tedious and I dont recommend anybody do it.
I cut out the sheet metal in the back where the 6x9 were. started about 1/4 inch up from the bottom and went up along the wheel well. basically a 10x19 area was removed. used some 1/8 inch sheet metal and cut holes for the 6x9 and some 8" subs and put it back in. I had 2 8" kickers I was going to put in there, but one of them turned out to be blown so I threw in one from an old bazooka tube. still looking for another matching 8, but I have had them since 1996 so I'm not sure I will ever find another. back on track, I tack welded it every 2 inches around and then sealed it with some black caulk. same stuff you would use to patch holes in your roof. goes on gooey and dries hard as a rock. had some off brand dynamat stuff laying around from an old install that I had to use to space the speakers out a bit to keep it from hitting the body of the truck and bottoming out. I did this on both sides. Also pulled out the baffle that is in the rear passengers side fender and welded a piece of sheet metal in there to keep the sound in and water out. Still need to get some kind of mesh to cover up the hole you can see the sub through. Normally I run my JL 13w6, but when i need room, I still have a little bump. Originally did this to get the sub out of the car out of fear of it killing my son in a car wreck when his car seat was rear facing. Now that I drive my g35 most of the time the sub pretty much stays in there.
next mod was for hi lift points. after the lift the truck was too high to reach anything but the bottom of the rear axle. bought a hi lift and realized on a stock truck there is no where to put the thing.
I bought some 2" hitch adapters and welded them onto the bottom of the frame in the rear. this gives me just enough height to get the rear wheels off the ground. I have one on each side, and have a tow hook attached to the one on the other side for a recovery point in the rear. Had to notch the rear bumber to get it all back together. You can also see my exhaust coming out the rear. Maybe I will get some pics of the exhaust later. its been through about 3 incarnations over the last 2 years, but i am pretty happy with it now.
Bedlined the spot where the front plastic mudflap used to be
You can sort of see where i cut the fenders to fit the 33's
hacked the front bumper up a bit
next thing I wish I had taken more pics of while I was doing it, but alas after pics only. This is my winch install.
I picked up one of the 12,000 lb harbor freight winches when they were on sale for $299. Got one of there mounting plates and some 1/4 steel plate and started scratching my head to figure out how to get it all to work. I already had a piece of 1/4 angle iron welded on across the frame horns, and a couple pieces of angle welded ontop of the frame that stuck out the front of the truck that I had used to mount the brush guard i had on the truck. Bought the brush guard from a scrap yard for $20 not knowing what kind of truck it was meant for, but made it work. I left the angle iron protruding out the front to give me some hi lift points in the front. But that had to go for the winch to mount. I cut the angle iron back to about 6" total length and cut the 1/4 plate and welded it to the existing angle iron. I originally planned on just cutting the mounting plate to that width and welding it in, but opted for for a bolt on application. I took the pieces I cut of the side of the mounting plate and cut and notched them so the would sit upright on the edges of the mounting plate and proceeded to weld the crap out of it. Drilled some holes and mounted it up. All of this was done with a crappy old stick welder so it was messy. after about 6 hours of grinding to clean it up my grinder died and I decided it was good enough. a few days later I bought a new grinder and cleaned it up a bit more and shaped the 1/4 plate to match the curve of the bumper. Then it was time to hack up the bumper some more paint it all and see how it looked all together.
here is a pic from the side from the day I got the tires and wheels installed.
Still had the nerf bars and brush guard on in the pic. those are gone now, but I am still planning on trying to make the brush guard work with the winch up front. But thats for another day.