Street Truck

[JeremyJ]

I've always loved roll pans and I've been pretty excited to put one on this truck. I ordered one last week and I got to install it tonight. I chose a steel pan because it looked better to me than any of the plastic/fiberglass ones that are available. It weighs 8.5 pounds. The bumper and brackets weighed 42.5 pounds. That's a healthy weight loss. Too bad it's on the wrong end.

Here's what the rear originally looked like. Mismatched tailgate and bumper from an accident with a trailer.


Here it is with the bumper removed.


And without the tailgate (plus one of my helpers).


And finally...




As far as aesthetics are concerned, I'm going to look into having the roll pan and tailgate painted next. So far, I think it looks great. I need to lift the left side up about an eighth of an inch, but other than that, the fit is really good. I'm excited to see it all one color. It came with an LED plate light that I will wire up tomorrow.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

coming together nicely. I am sure with a drop it will compliment that rear setup. Not sure on the license plate how it hangs off probably due to the factory ride height

[JeremyJ]

There are some roll pans that dip down so the plate doesn't hang off, but I think they look goofy. When you look at the side of the truck, those pans dip down low and create a droopy look in the butt and it just doesn't look right to me. The plate doesn't bother me as it sits.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

ahhh yeah that makes sense. dirty diaper butt, you don't want that haha. I remember seeing the plate on the tail gate itself on low rider street trucks. Usually a custom plate. Hope to see it lowered soon and the tail gate painted to match

[JeremyJ]

I made an appointment to drop my truck off next week for paint. The tailgate and roll pan will finally match. I wish I could afford to paint the rest of it, but that won't happen for a while. I'm excited to have the rear end match the rest of the truck, though.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

Sweet! I bet you are excited!

[JeremyJ]

The drop kit finally showed up. You can see the hangers and one of the control arms here. The arms are super beefy. After the truck gets painted, I'm going to tackle the lowering kit. It's all coming together nicely.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

nice i wonder if there are other suspension components you can replace "while you are in there"

[JeremyJ]

I should probably replace the tie rod ends and/or sway bar bushings while I have it apart, but I'm too impatient to wait for them to get here in time. They're pretty easy to change anyway. I dropped the truck off at the body shop today and I'm supposed to get it back by Friday. I'm hoping to have the drop installed over the weekend.

[JeremyJ]

I put about about eighteen hours into the truck this weekend and the drop kit is still not installed. It is rough. The front went together alright, but the rear...the rear is being extra special. There are sixteen rivets that hold the spring hangers to the frame. They're huge rivets. They all have to be ground/chiseled off and then pushed through the frame. The problem is that they're tucked behind the creases in the brackets themselves and sometimes behind things like parking brake cables, which make some of them almost impossible to get a grinder on. So I hit the heads as best I could with a cutting disc and then went to work on them with a chisel. It takes a very long time to chisel these things off. So far I have two of the brackets completely off and two more that need some more attention with a BFH. Then I have to push the rivets through the frame, then I can bolt the new brackets in their place, then I can hang the leafs and be done. I still have another evening or four left until it's finished and then it needs an immediate alignment. The toe is comically out in the front, which will make it almost undriveable.

On a positive note, check out how nice the rear end looks after paint:



Random parts comparisons:

Shocks



Control arms



Stock front springs with half a coil cut off, for an extra inch in the front (4" total drop).



Overall I made a ton of progress. I hope I can get it wrapped up before the weekend.

[occasional demons]

Those rivets can be tough, especially with parts near them you don't want to destroy with accidental grinding wheel contact, or if using a heat wrench, melting something.

On my Ramcharger years ago,when I was removing brackets to sandblast everything, I heated the rivets red hot and drove them through while they were still "plastic". But the entire body was off the frame at that point.

[JeremyJ]

Yeah, ideally I'd have removed the bed to do the work, but I don't have the resources to do that now. I did manage to get the hangers off the frame last night, but I still have a bunch of the rivets stuck in the holes. I'm going to grind on them some more tonight and then try to punch them out. Once they're out, I just have to bolt everything back together. The hanger that's in front of the gas tank will be tough, but the other three will be a breeze. I'm hoping I don't have to drop the tank.

[JeremyJ]

I managed to get the last of the lowering kit installed last night. That last spring hanger in front of the gas tank was a real pain in the ass. There was almost no way to get a wrench on the bolts with the tank in the way. I ended up putting a jack on the tank and bending it up just enough to reach behind it. It was sketchy as hell, but it worked. Lots of extensions and long wrenches. I ran out of daylight to put the rear shocks on. That's the final step. I plan to wrap it up completely tonight and then post some pics. So close.

[occasional demons]

Sometimes sketchy pays dividends...

[JeremyJ]

Here it is. 4/5 drop with new all new shocks.







It rides pretty stiff, but not terrible. No hitting the bumpstops yet, which is good. I really like the way it turned out. I'd prefer it be another inch or two lower in the rear, but then the frame would be almost on the axle and that'd be no fun. Next on the list is 3" exhaust. The louder the better.

[Midnight_Rider]

Looking good!

[JeremyJ]

Thank you. It was a ton of work. The picture below shows the original spring hangers. You can see how much of a beating they took with the grinder and chisel. Hours and hours of work went into removing these stubborn bastards. Never again.

[occasional demons]

Hours and hours of work went into removing these stubborn bastards. Never again.

Old age creeping in.

10 years ago, it would like meh...

[MyNeonSaysHi]

Awesome, looking real good!

[JeremyJ]

I drove the truck to work on Friday and it went really well. No issues and the truck stayed off the bump stops. I took it out again to pick up dinner that night and the transmission shit the bed as I pulled back into my driveway. Clutch pedal to the floor, no pressure, and no more shifting. I pushed it into the driveway and saw a puddle of fluid under it. After a brief inspection, it looks like that two-month-old master/slave cylinder gave out. The fluid is leaking like crazy from the slave cylinder and the pedal no longer has any pressure. What are the odds that a practically brand new Dorman slave cylinder is going to crap out after less than a hundred miles? So disappointing.

I'm going to crawl under it this week, pull the slave, and inspect for damage. If that's the only problem, it's a relatively cheap fix. Just not a fun job, since the master has to come out with it. I'm definitely going with a different brand this time.

[occasional demons]

Damn, that's frustrating, and not encouraging, as Mopar options for the older stuff are becoming scarce.

I have been debating replacing the clutch hydraulics with something newer in my 2000, but maybe I should just stick with the 210,000 mile master/slave I have. :/

[JeremyJ]

It's very frustrating.

I pulled the slave out yesterday and it just fell apart in my hands. I was fortunate enough to get all the pieces out of the bell housing without dropping any of them down in there.





What a piece of shit. I'm going to try a Luk unit this time. The Luk master/slave combo comes with a Chrysler logo on it, so I think it's what they use for OEM replacement these days. It has to be better than the sub-100-mile Dorman that just exploded.

[JeremyJ]

The master/reservoir setup came out in less than fifteen minutes. Let's hope that the reinstall process goes as smoothly. The new unit will be here on Friday and the weather might cooperate on Sunday. Fingers crossed. I really just want to drive it some more.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

weird your slave went out. I don't even see dorman on rockauto for your truck which is odd:

I know you already ordered one but looks like the exedy has a "heart" next to it. Usually those are close to OEM and good quality.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dod ... inder,2044

12k/12 month warranty. Hopefully your dorman had a warranty so you can get some money back.

[JeremyJ]

Here's the menu with the appropriate parts:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dod ... mbly,10290

The Dorman has some sort of lifetime warranty on it. I'm looking into getting a refund for it.

[JeremyJ]

Turns out the lifetime warranty is only good for exchanges, meaning they will send me a new one for free. No thanks. I don't ever want to install another one of their garbage setups again. I guess I'm just out the roughly $150 I paid for it. It sucks, but whatever.

[occasional demons]

Yeah, it's like the old Parts America starters with a lifetime warranty: You got a free replacement starter that you had to change every 3 to 12 months.

If it wouldn't be for it leaving you stranded occasionally, it was almost worth it.

[JeremyJ]

I was supposed to receive the new Luk master/slave setup last Friday, April 30th. There was a delay in shipping and it ended up coming yesterday, May 4th. I opened the box, pulled it out, and... it was a Dorman setup in a Luk box. It was identical to the Dorman unit that blew apart. I even kept it around for comparison:





All the part numbers, markings, and castings were identical. It looks very different than the Luk unit. If I wanted another Dorman replacement, I could have gotten one for free by using their warranty. Instead, I paid for a better one and received more of this crap. Needless to say, I'm not super happy with RockAuto right now. I'm sending it back today. I called around to the local parts places in search of one in stock somewhere. O'Reilly doesn't even carry this setup at all. Autozone sells a Duralast unit that is supposed to be absolute garbage, that blows out as often as the Dorman and I believe it. Napa can get me the Luk unit, but it would take more than a week and it would cost more than twice what I paid at RockAuto for the same part. Eventually, I did manage to find the Luk unit in stock at Parts Geek, for only a couple dollars more than RockAuto. I ordered it from them and should see it in a week or less.

Let's hope this new piece is worth the wait.

[occasional demons]

I haven't ordered from Rock Auto for quite some time. By the time you pay for shipping, it isn't any cheaper than the local parts store, and I have to wait longer. Most I have to wait buying local is the next day if it isn't in stock, or most times I can drive an extra 15 miles and get it.

The only time I have saved anything from RA is if I buy a lot of stuff, and it is available from the closest warehouse, so the shipping isn't a killer.

90% of the time, eBay wins out for cost, if you can find what you want. Might or might not have a longer ship time though.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

Here's the menu with the appropriate parts:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dod ... mbly,10290

The Dorman has some sort of lifetime warranty on it. I'm looking into getting a refund for it.

Thats an entire assembly with the master. The link I provided was just for a slave, that is what went bad, why would you need a whole kit? Just replace the slave.