Hobbs 96 Z71 Build

[Jay33089]

Somehow I missed this thread til now! Awesome truck! Great work!

 

[JCribb]

Questions about your new rear springs:

Was the install difficult to do? I would imagine that you do one side at a time, am I correct? Also, how is the ride quality after the spring upgrade? Did you require longer u-bolts? Did you use the add a leaf to the rear springs?

I have the SF 14 bolt in mine as an upgrade, and I installed my axle at the very end of 2016, so my u-bolts aren't very old. Would you buy new u-bolts when doing this as a safety precaution?

My truck is a 100% southern truck (Oklahoma all it's life), the only rust is just your average scale from over the years, so it shouldn't be difficult to remove leaf spring bolts and such.

 

[JCribb]

Thanks!

I like the billet look, but would rather do a mesh insert or a custom one made by Tindust Custom Grilles (see pic below).

If I had to do this again, and because I am OCD about these kinds of things, I'd find a donor chassis and do the suspension parts, paint everything, then swap the cab, fenders, and bed over.

I still might do that at some point. It has not been fun crawling in and out and constantly being covered in grime and crud. I am hopeful that once I get the lift done I'll be able to pressure wash the underside a bit easier.

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They make a black billet grill, it looks really sharp. I had one on mine when I used the GMC shell. Personal opinion on the signal lights, they make black ones that go real well with the black paint.

It's on page one of my thread: http://www.gmt400.com/threads/94-z71.34945/

 

[Z71Hobbs]

Questions about your new rear springs:

Was the install difficult to do? I would imagine that you do one side at a time, am I correct? Also, how is the ride quality after the spring upgrade? Did you require longer u-bolts? Did you use the add a leaf to the rear springs?

I have the SF 14 bolt in mine as an upgrade, and I installed my axle at the very end of 2016, so my u-bolts aren't very old. Would you buy new u-bolts when doing this as a safety precaution?

My truck is a 100% southern truck (Oklahoma all it's life), the only rust is just your average scale from over the years, so it shouldn't be difficult to remove leaf spring bolts and such.

The rear leaf springs weren’t real easy but not real difficult. A second set of hands would have made it go a lot faster.

The only issue I had was at the back on the passsenger wise involving the spring from the shackle..I ended up taking off the entire shackle I think.

I did one side at a time. The ride of the truck is a little bumpier than before, but that’s mostly due to the lift.

My springs are a 3/4 Ton setup, so similar to an add a leaf to a half ton setup. I suspected my leaves had seen better days, so I just ordered new.

I used the new u bolts that came with my lift kit..so no issues there. Although yours are fairly new, depending upon how many miles are on them, I might consider replacing them. They are cheap compared to a bolt breaking at 70 mph.

Mine truck is also a southern truck-minor surface rust on some suspension parts. Came apart pretty easy. I recommend new shackle bushings at the same time.

Here is a pic of my stock ubolts after taking them off.

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[Z71Hobbs]

They make a black billet grill, it looks really sharp. I had one on mine when I used the GMC shell. Personal opinion on the signal lights, they make black ones that go real well with the black paint.

It's on page one of my thread: http://www.gmt400.com/threads/94-z71.34945/

That black billet looks sharp!

 

[JCribb]

The rear leaf springs weren’t real easy but not real difficult. A second set of hands would have made it go a lot faster.

The only issue I had was at the back on the passsenger wise involving the spring from the shackle..I ended up taking off the entire shackle I think.

I did one side at a time. The ride of the truck is a little bumpier than before, but that’s mostly due to the lift.

My springs are a 3/4 Ton setup, so similar to an add a leaf to a half ton setup. I suspected my leaves had seen better days, so I just ordered new.

I used the new u bolts that came with my lift kit..so no issues there. Although yours are fairly new, depending upon how many miles are on them, I might consider replacing them. They are cheap compared to a bolt breaking at 70 mph.

Mine truck is also a southern truck-minor surface rust on some suspension parts. Came apart pretty easy. I recommend new shackle bushings at the same time.

Here is a pic of my stock ubolts after taking them off.

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That black billet looks sharp!

Ok thanks. I looked up the site you used, that’s pretty reasonable for new springs. You think the five leaf is very adequate for a daily, as opposed to the seven leaf in the one tons?

The black billet was an eBay special, and I wanna say is was less than $60 shipped.

 

[Z71Hobbs]

Ok thanks. I looked up the site you used, that’s pretty reasonable for new springs. You think the five leaf is very adequate for a daily, as opposed to the seven leaf in the one tons?

The black billet was an eBay special, and I wanna say is was less than $60 shipped.

I’m happy with my current setup-but it is a half ton and I don’t tow.

 

[Z71Hobbs]

Well it’s been a while since I had any updates..mostly been hitting the junkyards to find parts to sell to fund the project. Finally saved up enough to get some paint work done.

My roof paint is shot, and the hood never got painted. Original plan was to paint the top of the truck from the top of the silver up since I have a factory vinyl pinstripe there to cover the clear coat line (Two tone truck thing).

However, when I went to pull the shot body side moldings, it pulled some isolated areas of clear and paint up with it. I went slow, used a heat gun, and an eraser wheel. Took me right around 4 hours and my 3M eraser wheel is nearly gone!

Minor updates...fixed a temp sensor issue for my dual display rear view mirror, it would read fine then negative 140. Swapped to a different sensor and it appears to be fixed.

Also scored some goodies for my parts stash. A decent diesel bumper...keeping for in case a deer decides to suicide into my truck. I’ve looked for 5 years and could not ever find a straight diesel bumper with good chrome. I picked up a core last year and had it rechromed-that will go on after paintwork.

I also finally got a decent lid for my gmt800 console. I installed that at also put a cig lighter port in the bucket-that will go in when I do the dash swap.

Anyways here are some pics.

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[Z71Hobbs]

More pics..

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[98chevy2500SS]

Truck looks a 1000 times better without that molding. Is that bumper a smoothie diesel bumper? New or used?