HMMWV tires

[M1075]

Great, thanks. I'll look into it.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

No problem.

One thing others have done is to drill a new hole in their spring packs 1-1.5" forwards of the current centerpin hole. This is an option if you don't want to gain an inch of lift.

Keep in mind whatever you do make sure you have a good alignment place if you have are keeping the stock steering setup. The kids at Sears or the ones who only know how to align 96+ IFS vehicles might be confused...

 

[kingsley]

backspacing

I am looking at the HMMWV rims and wranglers rt/II's. Has anyone had the back spacing changed on these rims? If so what worked?

 

[CCATLETT1984]

you will have to drill a new hole in the spring plate for the centering pin, but thats easy. It will help with the rubbing if you dont want to lift the truck. although you might consider getting some new stock front springs, that would help a lot.

 

[1956_4x4]

One inch of lift would likely only help put the front springs closer to where they sat when new. 20 years of holding up a 950lb diesel have made most of these sag.

Use the zero rate to space the axle forwards an inch. The front axles in 73-87(91) GM fullsizes are actually about an inch towards the rear of the wheel wells. Centering them can eliminate a LOT of rubbing/trimming.

Does moving the axle forward with the zero rates require any modification to the steering linkage?

Smitty

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I talked to the owner at ORD and he says no. You'll obviously need a new alignment and to make sure the place doing it actually knows what they are doing, not just what their computer/book says. It's still the crappy push/pull steering but it should work.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

you dont have to modify anything with the steering when move the axle forward 1", any further and you can start to have issues with the stock steering.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

You will have to adjust the stock steering's various components within their ranges but there shouldn't be any cutting, welding, part replacing, etc going on.


Just wanted to clarify what I said earlier.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

moving the axle more than 1" forward could result in having a drag-link that would not be short enough. that comon remedy for this is to go to corss-over steering, but you can't do that with a stick height truck. At least 4" of lift is needed to give enough room for the long drag link that attaches to the pass. side knuckle. Also on a 10bolt you need to have the knuckle machined to accept the steering arm for the cross over kit.
I will post pics of my setup once its installed, parts came in on friday and am currently in the process of installing.

 

[rizzo]

I will post pics of my setup once its installed, parts came in on friday and am currently in the process of installing.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

thanks for the encouragement, I WILL be at your bog, so help me!!!!!

 

[IRWFO]

The first time I heard of this kit I thought it was great and was going to order it right away. Then I read this on there site [On front applications with crossover steering be aware that you will be losing clearance between the draglink and your RH spring. The full 1" from the offset Zero Rates™ could cause you problems there, make sure to check it out.] and it got me nervous.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

The first time I heard of this kit I thought it was great and was going to order it right away. Then I read this on there site [On front applications with crossover steering be aware that you will be losing clearance between the draglink and your RH spring. The full 1" from the offset Zero Rates™ could cause you problems there, make sure to check it out.] and it got me nervous.

That's only if you lift it and go to crossover steering.

I'm currently unemployed and broke so the following is just "wishes" but my plan includes:
-ORD's zero rates and shove the front axle forwards an inch
-ORD's front shackle kit
-maybe ORD's shackle hanger kit
-2" steering correction via draglink or pitman arm


CC said something earlier about new front springs...any idea where a guy could get a set of new front springs?

 

[CCATLETT1984]

any local spring shop can make you up a set, for the stockers they may be able to re-arc your springs and add a leaf to fix the sag. As long as none of the leaves are messed up.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Eh, I'm not a fan of rearching...obsolete techniques that don't last.

 

[FobyFo247]

about how much does it costs to have springs rearched and have an add-a-leaf added? theres a spring shop down the road from me and i was thinking of doing this.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Give them a call and ask. It can vary a lot.

The problem is that your springs have sagged. You can't just "rearch" springs so that they're good as new. All you really end up with is a diminished capacity set of springs that have been forced into a more "upright" position that will sag rather quickly due to the original leaves having lost their original arc. The leaf pack is also now less flexible due to being forced into this new "shape" so your road ride and offroad flex will suffer.
All the add-a-leaf does is add some more capacity to the diminished pack and force the leaves above it into an arc shape.

If you do get an aal the best ones are the longer ones. Less stress on the pack and less ride harshness.

New springs are a better solution. I found that JCWhitney offers replacement stock height packs. Might investigate them further. A good spring shop could also probably make you a new pack...but most wouldn't want to do it or do it for a good price. I'd bet they could tell you where to get a new spring pack though.

 

[hypgnostic]

I'm using HMMWV tires on my 1028. The guy who owned the truck before me got them for a steal. The military here at GTMO ordered a ton of them, then realized they were about 1/2 inch or something wrong size, and sold the lot of them to our GTMO tire shop. I really love 'em, and they really make a big difference in the look of the truck. Having said that, some modification to the wheel well was needed, as the tire rubbed in sharp turns. The rear of the well needed to be cut out slightly...

 

[M1075]

I'm using HMMWV tires on my 1028. The guy who owned the truck before me got them for a steal. The military here at GTMO ordered a ton of them, then realized they were about 1/2 inch or something wrong size, and sold the lot of them to our GTMO tire shop. I really love 'em, and they really make a big difference in the look of the truck. Having said that, some modification to the wheel well was needed, as the tire rubbed in sharp turns. The rear of the well needed to be cut out slightly...

Thanks for the info. Got any pics?

I see a lot of great stuff coming out of GTMO through GL (there is a nice 5 ton there now). Do you bid on any of that stuff?

 

[hypgnostic]

I'm using HMMWV tires on my 1028. The guy who owned the truck before me got them for a steal. The military here at GTMO ordered a ton of them, then realized they were about 1/2 inch or something wrong size, and sold the lot of them to our GTMO tire shop. I really love 'em, and they really make a big difference in the look of the truck. Having said that, some modification to the wheel well was needed, as the tire rubbed in sharp turns. The rear of the well needed to be cut out slightly...

Thanks for the info. Got any pics?

I see a lot of great stuff coming out of GTMO through GL (there is a nice 5 ton there now). Do you bid on any of that stuff?

There's quite a good handful of CUCV's down here, and folks are always clammering for them. I really had to put the heat on the guy to get my 1028. I think there's probably more 1009's than anything else though. As for 5-tons and the bigger vehicles, I haven't seen too many, though I haven't really looked. It's incredibly difficult to get vehicles off of GTMO, so I generally don't bother looking at bigger ones.

Attached is the pic of my truck. This is pretty much right after I bought it. I haven't started the body work yet, but have done alot to the interior, including re-upholstering the seat (JC Whitney has really good OEM repro upholstery sets that work great). That leads me to another topic though, and I think I'll make a post for it...