fender work started for new tires.

[richingalveston]

I finally got a little time for the truck. Put the tires and rims together and got them mounted on the truck.
Michelin 39X11 R16 on Hutchinson aluminum GM bead locks. The tires are old but brand new, in brand new condition so I hope the hold
up for a while. I have a second set of brand new ones, been collecting them for a while. Put the tires together last week and after 7 days they are holding steady at 42 Lbs. I put 12 O.Z of the balance beads and will also run the centramatics
Pic of truck with new tires no fender work:

Got started with fender work, I cut the fender so that it keeps the inner fender and overlap the cut piece over the fender. The result will give it 4 inches additional clearance from stock, and flare the fender out 1 1/2 inches. It is screwed in place for now but will be welded and then sculpted with some body filler. The inner frame of the fender needs a little metal filler and welding. The fender well will also take a lot of modification but I will wait until the turbo is installed.

It is getting to be close to the time of year I get to work on my truck, I have purchased a banks turbo,(just sent payment)
And I am about to purchase the Optishift trans controller.
The piece of crap TCI controller is coming out next week along with the 4l80E trans. The trans is going to a new shop to have it gone through and the Torque converter is going to a custom rebuilder.

I plan to get the turbo installed while I wait for the trans. Then I will work on the inner fenders. There will be some minor work to the rear fenders. I am contemplating wheel spacers to correct the track difference. If I do the spacers more work will be needed on the rear than without spacers.

Hopefully it will be running by Christmas.

 

[Skinny]

Good looking truck, keep up the posts!

 

[nyoffroad]

Nice truck, I look forward to seeing pic's when done.
I'm not 100% positive but I believe i remember some kind of warning not to use balancing beads AND Centramatics together, could've just been a sales ploy or bad juju I don't know.

 

[Stonepicker1]

Looks good.

i have 4 Hutchinson Aluminum GM beadlock rims also. They have 39.5X13.50X16LT IROK Super Swamper tires on them.

i will have to sell the tires as they are just to big. I'm going to keep the rims for my LSSV. These GM rims are hard to come by.

 

[richingalveston]

I picked up my centramatics at their factory south of Ft. Worth. I actually went twice since the first set I bought did not fit. I told them what it was going on and that I plan to run balance beads also and they said I may need the balance beads also due to the weight of the tires I am running. The Centramatic manufacturer does not have a problem with it and I cannot see any logical connection between the two. They have some really cool balancers there for motorcycles and pretty much anything else. I will definitely let everyone here know if I run into any problems running them together.

I like the rims, I had them powder coated. I am trying to find a spare. I bought new O-rings and reconditioned all of the hardware. They have been together for about 10 days and have not lost any air so it looks good for now. They wanted an arm and leg for the nuts and bolts that put the two half's together. I used a dremel with wire wheel and nocked off all of the rust then treated them and painted them. Took some time but saved $14 per set X 16 per wheel X 4 wheels = lot of money for some nuts and bolts. The O- rings were $17 each. I like these tires because they are only 11 wide which makes them fit the wheel wells.

You can make those Iroc's fit if you do not mind some cutting. The back of the front fender well has a lot of room if you open it up. I have zero rates and moved my axle 1 inch forward but need to move it back because in extreme situations the High cross over I have will hit the steering arm. I am going to have the zero rates machined so that they incorporate 10 to 12 degrees of shim for my front axle and allow the axle to only be 1/2 inch forward. I only have 4 inches of lift plus the zero rate for 5 inches and these tires are a true 39 inch tall and I have no problems. With what I did to the front fenders and some custom fender wells you can make them fit.

 

[del la rey]

Keep up the excellent work, please continue to post your progress with pics.truck looks great.

 

[86m1028]

Rich, are you running the internal double bead locks with those wheels ?

Where did you get the new o-rings ?

 

[richingalveston]

yes I have the inner bead locks installed, I went online to Hutchinson and requested a dealer near me and a shop out of Oklahoma was able to process the order and get me the new orings. they were $17 each. I got two spare for 6 total and it was around $100. getting close to two weeks and still holding same pressure. I just slightly lubed the o-ring with vasaline, not much but just enough to have a light coating.
The hard part is getting these tires apart when you need to. I put one together with the old o-ring and it did not hold pressure. It was a B**** to get the face of the rim out of the tire. I am going to have to make a tool that will do this. I had to use 4 - four foot 2x4's to lay on top of the tire in a square, two hydraulic bottle jacks and a piece of 2x2 box tubing over the top of them. I used some low stretch nylon cord to go around the tubing and through each lug hole in the rim so that it would pull on the rim evenly. I jacked the jacks all the way up and still had to pry the face out of the tire with a crow bar.

need a ring to go around the tire with a piece of all thread that attaches to a plate behind the face of the rim so you can screw the rim out of the tire.
got some ideas on how to build a tool to do this and that can stow easily.

If the Hutchinson website does not get you a dealer near you that can help with the O-rings, I will dig up my receipt and send you the info.