2000 GMC C/3500 Crew Cab Dually 5/7 on 22's

[dragoz2020]

So this is the beginning of this journey..... Picked up a 2000 GMC C3500 in Utah. Blown motor 178K on the odometer, hope the tranny is good?! Was a sale from a freeway recovery a couple years ago. The prior owner either let it go or sold it to the tow yard, I am not sure. But it was picked up by a guy in Hurricane UT who was gonna do the whole deal, but had too many other C1500 projects nd not enough time. I found the 3500 on CL, had been looking for a while, many trips allover the place looking at some beat up and butchered duallys. This old lady looks like she was really well taken car of. The interior was clean, grey leather, worn as usual in the driver seat, but definitely had a seat cover and never had been smoked in or spilled allover. I know what it looks like, I have kids. It was a vet's car, air force, by the front plate. I'm guessing an old guy.... So the reason it sat was because it was in Utah and it had a blown motor. I went to pick it up with a regular car hauler trailer and it sagged the rear axles to the ground, the rear of the trailer was dragging on the ground!! The ass of the 3500 was hanging off the trailer and the front wheels were all the way to the front of the trailer. This was NOT going to work!

 

[1ton-o-fun]

Sweeet!

 

[618 Syndicate]

Nice!
Keep in mind that 22's (except Townasty's) will not tuck into the factory flares. You will need to widen the existing ones, replace them with wider ones, or swap to a cab and chassis rear end if you want to 5/7 it.

 

[dragoz2020]

Nice!
Keep in mind that 22's (except Townasty's) will not tuck into the factory flares. You will need to widen the existing ones, replace them with wider ones, or swap to a cab and chassis rear end if you want to 5/7 it.

YES! I plan on getting the ECLIPSE TUCK FENDERS from 323 dually sportz. They have a couple different sizes, so I am not sure which I will be going with yet. They also have a 8 lug / fake 10 lug direct bolt on wheel option that allows you to tuck their 22"s under the stock fenders. These pics aren't my ride, but they are examples I found on the web.

 

[dragoz2020]

Just got my helper bags delivered! Looks pretty straight forward, Airlift bags look solid and heavy duty. These have an internal bumpstop. I got the double bellows bags and might have to modify or make custom bag mounts for the lowered ride I want, but that is OK. I will be using this truck as a tow pig so I need the extra support these will give me. Airlift has a single bellows option, looks like the bags used in an RV or semi truck, but smaller diameter. Both say 5000# assist, but I decided to go with the larger dual bellows bags so that they can have more travel and can run at lower air pressure. I will let you know how difficult the install is and any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[618 Syndicate]

I don't like the look of the fake 10 lug wheels, something about the faces looks.....weird. 323 have a good selection of fender choices, but they're proud of em....

If you are running a pressure switch on your bags with an onboard compressor (highly recommend this) be sure and wire it to a keyed power source. That way it can't kill your battery by running constantly. In cold weather I find the helpers on my daily lose a little air, and my dually will drain the tanks overnight if it's below 40°

 

[dragoz2020]

So I received the 3 boxes containing the BELLTECH kit 717SP. This is the drop of 5/7, with spindles and C-notch, along with new springs, shocks and goodies for the flip of the leaf springs under the rear axle. I must admit, the BELLTECH kit is solid - all the metal is beefy and the C-notch is coming in at 5/16" = a hefty piece of metal. Also, the front drop springs are beefy and everything has a good powder finish (except the spindles) and are stamped with Belltech part #'s or even laser etched. That is nice, I know I am getting true BT parts.. I shopped looking for the parts IN STOCK and found them!! The ship ping was fast - with hte Summit delivery in 3 days on the AIRLIFT helper bags and 5 days from LM Performance on the Belltech 717SP kit. Both were free shipping and LM Performance had no sales tax on the 717SP, which saved me about $100!!!

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[dragoz2020]

Well, the drop kit is installed. I will post pics this week. BUT>>>>> here is the problem! In the Belltech kit I received 4 FRONT SHOCKS!!! So, I do NOT have REAR shocks!!!! This should have been apparent when I went through the parts, but I did NOT take the shocks out of the boxes to inspect them. Now, after opening everything as part of the install, the obvious error was found out! I should have seen that al 4 shock boxes were the same size, I am pretty sure the rear shocks have a longer box, but I am not sure!!! I sent an e-mail to LM PERFORMANCE today and they sent a response saying the "wholesaler will get back to me" but nothing after that. I will let you know what happens!!!

 

[Aeroscream]

Looks like a great find, and a great start to your project.
Love them all, but lowered Dulley's have a certain cool factor.

 

[dragoz2020]

Well, the drop kit is installed. I will post pics this week. BUT>>>>> here is the problem! In the Belltech kit I received 4 FRONT SHOCKS!!! So, I do NOT have REAR shocks!!!! This should have been apparent when I went through the parts, but I did NOT take the shocks out of the boxes to inspect them. Now, after opening everything as part of the install, the obvious error was found out! I should have seen that al 4 shock boxes were the same size, I am pretty sure the rear shocks have a longer box, but I am not sure!!! I sent an e-mail to LM PERFORMANCE today and they sent a response saying the "wholesaler will get back to me" but nothing after that. I will let you know what happens!!!

This is the follow up to the 4 FRONT SHOCKS problem. I will say straight out, that LM PERFORMANCE came through quickly and without any fuss or delays. THEY SENT THE 2 REAR SHOCKS FEDEX AND HANDLED IT LIKE A PRO!!!! I give them full credit for taking my info quickly and resolving the issue with NO EXTRA COST TO ME! THANK YOU LM PERFORMANCE. I am not a fan boy or paid in any way for this. I paid full retail for my BELLTECH lowering kit, they had it in stock and the price was best on the internet! I took a lot of pics of all my stuff when it came in to document my parts and I think this helped a lot because I had pics of the four boxes of NITRO DROP shocks, which were not obviously incorrect. I didn't open the boxes because they were new Belltech parts, but this showed that my order included the wrong parts looking at close ups of the part #'s on the boxes.

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