Another Retrospective: The History of 1badgmc

[Chris Rogers]

Ask away...

Ok here goes:

Truck is an 88 stepside 350/700R4 combination. Assumption is 3.73 posi though I'm not entirely sure on that.

Reason for an 88 and not later is due to import rules here. After 89 the wheel has to swap sides. Not a fan of it as it totally screws the truck up electrically and mechanically. 88 predates this rule.

Question time


Drop spindles and rear shackles - what did you use?

Looking at going low but NOT notching the frame (this requires an engineers sign off here)

So as low as possible (5/8" would be my goal) whiles retaining 4-5" of clearance on the lowest point of the truck

Brakes - read somewhere I can fit larger items off the next gen truck by swapping bits.
Always been a fan of having more stop than go available.

What swaps and what is required?


Front fenders - originals seen to have holes for the flares whilst the copies don't have holes. Did you have yours welded or are these the ones without the holes?

The rest I assume is original or can I buy copies of those items as well?

( I can buy the panels from china if this is the case)

Front bumper - you mentioned yours is a cut down Denali version. Can you elaborate at all?

Electrics , assumption is nothing changed and the new lights simply plug in. ( Denali was released after I left so I do not know the truck in that form hence the question)


From memory the stepside bed was fiberglass on the wheel tubs and steel for the rest.

Been a while but I seem to remember being able to buy steel roll pans for these with the hidden tow hitch ( this truck will tow a trailer )

When you cut the rear steps off how did you fill the area? Glass ? Steel?

With your wheel sizing how far off is the speedometer ? I have to change mine to Canada spec (metric) as part of the import process and intention was to have the wheels on the truck when it left the country.

Rear lighting I cannot do like yours legally here. Going to use the export suburban tail lights ( orange turn signal) simple because I have to.

Disc brake rear - was this an option with that rear axle on any of the later GMT400 platform?

If so which one?


There are probably more questions but this is what comes to mind now
( I lived in TXK from 89-97 btw)

 

[1badgmc]

Ok here goes:

Truck is an 88 stepside 350/700R4 combination. Assumption is 3.73 posi though I'm not entirely sure on that.

Reason for an 88 and not later is due to import rules here. After 89 the wheel has to swap sides. Not a fan of it as it totally screws the truck up electrically and mechanically. 88 predates this rule.

Question time


Drop spindles and rear shackles - what did you use?

Looking at going low but NOT notching the frame (this requires an engineers sign off here)

So as low as possible (5/8" would be my goal) whiles retaining 4-5" of clearance on the lowest point of the truck

Anything more than 4" drop in the rear will need a c-notch. 5" + and you'll be bottoming. A lot. When I had my 2/4 drop, it wasn't hard to bottom it. If you dropped it 8" with no notch, the frame would be sitting on the axle.

My first drop was a 2/4 using Eibach 2" coils in front and 4" BellTech leafs in rear.
I next went to a 5/8 by adding 3" DJM lower control arms in front with shackles and a c-notch in the rear. That wasn't enough, so I added 2" hangers to finish off the 5/8. I drove it like that for several years and tons of miles. I will say that as much as I loved the way the setup rode and handled, I will never recommend anyone use lower control arms with drop springs on these trucks. The lower control arms are only meant to be used with stock springs. Drop springs put the balljoints in a bind and cause excessive wear. I got lucky and never had any issues, but everyone else I know that ran drop arms and drop springs had balljoint failures. Some of them had the failures while driving.

Currently the truck is on air. I have 2" DJM spindles and RideTech ShockWaves in front and in the rear I have a KP Components 4-link with bags on the axle.

Front fenders - originals seen to have holes for the flares whilst the copies don't have holes. Did you have yours welded or are these the ones without the holes?

The rest I assume is original or can I buy copies of those items as well?

( I can buy the panels from china if this is the case)

OEM Escalade/Denali fenders do come with the holes pre-punched for the flares to clip into. Mine are OEM pieces and yes, the holes were welded up. Aftermarket pieces don't have the holes. I understand that being on the other side of the planet on a giant island makes things more expensive, but I recommend sticking with OEM parts for the Escalade swap, if that's what you want to do, and not the Chinese knock-off junk. If anything, at least for the fenders and the hood...the sheetmetal parts. I know a guy who used the aftermarket parts and they were junk. The metal was super-thin. He ended up swapping it all for OEM.

Front bumper - you mentioned yours is a cut down Denali version. Can you elaborate at all?

No, it's not an Escalade/Denali bumper. It's a '99-'02 Sierra bumper from the next generation of trucks. I don't know the exact numbers, but around 5" of width was taken out. It was cut on either side below the headlights and then the front edges of the fender skins were trimmed up and capped to allow the bumper to sit in below them.

Electrics , assumption is nothing changed and the new lights simply plug in. ( Denali was released after I left so I do not know the truck in that form hence the question)

Light sockets are the same, but splicing in a couple extra inches into the light harnesses at the ends helps.

From memory the stepside bed was fiberglass on the wheel tubs and steel for the rest.

The bed rails and inner bed are steel, but the sides are fiberglass from the top bodyline down.

When you cut the rear steps off how did you fill the area? Glass ? Steel?

Fiberglass. It was a 3-piece kit that came with the 2 new side pieces to replace the steps and a rollpan. They're really hard to come by these days. I see them on eBay from time-to-time, but it's been some time since I've even seen them there.

With your wheel sizing how far off is the speedometer ? I have to change mine to Canada spec (metric) as part of the import process and intention was to have the wheels on the truck when it left the country.

My rear tires are about 3" shorter than stock, so the speedometer reads considerably fast. I'll grab my Garmin GPS and throw it in there if I really want a good speedo these days.

Rear lighting I cannot do like yours legally here. Going to use the export suburban tail lights ( orange turn signal) simple because I have to.

Yeah, they're barely within the law here.

Disc brake rear - was this an option with that rear axle on any of the later GMT400 platform?

Nope.

 

[Chris Rogers]

Thanks for that.
Yes I intend to swap the front. I realize it's a overdone thing there (according to a friend of mine in Texarkana ) but here I see it as unique and personally I like it.

The china parts thing sounds familiar as we get the same issue here ( looks the same but is paper thin.) by the sound of it.

I can buy the parts OEM anyway. I have someone that works for a GM dealer in Texarkana so parts prices won't be that bad.

If time permits I may toss some more stuff in a container and ship it off.

At the very least I spend a few days assembling the truck before shipping it out (I make the trip yearly to Texarkana for work) and from there get shipping underway.

Was trying to avoid bags (engineer sign off again) but they are doable here and if the front end geometry can handle it then it's a consideration. Here air systems have to be self levelling to be legal.


Roll pan - so I can still buy this ?

Rear sides I have a friend here that does glass for a living so we can make those bits if I cannot find the original manufacturer of the kit you have (who made it if you remember?)

Front bumper - my bad. I misread a post. So there is a glass cap on yours covering the bumper or is the bumper actually showing?

Tires - I can probably dial out the speed difference by playing with tire size. Staggered wheels are a definite.

Rear axle is annoying but not the end of the world.

Thanks for the help

 

[1badgmc]

Thanks for that.
Yes I intend to swap the front. I realize it's a overdone thing there (according to a friend of mine in Texarkana ) but here I see it as unique and personally I like it.

People were calling the Denali/Escalade swaps played out when I did mine in 2001 and they were still fresh, really. I didn't care because I wanted to do the swap from the first time I saw a picture of a Denali in a magazine before they even hit the lots. They may be common at shows and in the scene, but you don't see them everyday on the streets here and you definitely won't see them everyday in Oz.

Was trying to avoid bags (engineer sign off again) but they are doable here and if the front end geometry can handle it then it's a consideration. Here air systems have to be self levelling to be legal.

Accuair makes self-leveling systems for airbag setups. You can have several pre-set heights that the system can be inflated (or deflated) to at the push of a button. http://accuair.com/late-model

Roll pan - so I can still buy this ?

Any rollpan can be made to work with a hidden hitch. If it's not already there, you can just cut a hole for the receiver behind the plate and get a flip-down plate bracket.

Rear sides I have a friend here that does glass for a living so we can make those bits if I cannot find the original manufacturer of the kit you have (who made it if you remember?)

East Coast Customs was the original maker. I contacted them several years ago to inquire about the kit for someone else, but they quit making them looooong ago.

Front bumper - my bad. I misread a post. So there is a glass cap on yours covering the bumper or is the bumper actually showing?

It has a plastic top cap that was also cut and narrowed below the headlights. The bumper is 3 pieces: main bumper, top cap and airdam.

Thanks for the help

You're welcome.

 

[Chris Rogers]

You must be registered for see images attach

Should look familiar.

 

[1badgmc]

Yeah, mine looked similar back in the day.

 

[Chris Rogers]

You must be registered for see images attach

This is mine. Thanks for the inspiration
Build image in sig.