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Lifting and 53's

hdmax

hdmax

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Huge pain! (To the tune of a broken arm, and many, too many cuts scrapes and bruises.)

I have not been on here in a while, between work vacation, travels, normal home owners upkeep and lifting a boobed deuce, and modifying hemtt wheels, I have been a little busy.

The tires mounted on modified hemtt wheels and adapter plate weigh in at a staggering 486# each.

I started this lat June, just when it was heating to the low to mid 90's with humidity in the 60-80% for weeks on end. My weather station recorded a heat index above 110* (Topping out at 130* one afternoon) every day that I had a chance to work on the truck. I am not yet finished but have been driving it for the past 2 weeks.
 

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Dave08

Dave08

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Here in Florida we know about the heat and humidity. However, significant progress; great pics. I am in the process of CNCing my rims as well. Mine will be bolt in from the back side of the rim. I would like to know about the jig you are using in the one picture for the plasma cutter to cut the circle....is this something you made or purchased? Would like to have one for my plasma cutter.
Dave08
 
hdmax

hdmax

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My Plasma cutter is an Lincoln Pro Cut 55, and easily cut through on layer of the HEMTT wheels, but had nothing to do with both layers. So each wheel had to be broken down and cut, 4 wheels equal 8 circles to be cut. I went through about $30 worth of cutter tip parts. Overall I am happy with the cutting performance of the Plasma cutter.
I fabed up a cutter guide after looking at the one ridgerunner used when he did his truck. Worked great! The wheels took maybe 10 hours in all getting them modified. (Grinding was required!)

Mounting the tires on the wheels was a chore to say the least. 2 of them had to be broke down and remounted due to a cracked valve stem on one, and a missing needle valve on another. Standing up and flipping tire/wheel combos that weigh nearly 500# is a tough job for a 52 year old the is 6'3" and just 185# then throw in a broken arm for the last 3 and it is less fun.

The lift brackets that ridgerunner fabricated for me are 1st class all the way. I recommend him to anyone thinking about doing this, but only after you get your freaking head examined by at least two shrinks. As you can see from the pictures, all but cutting the wheels had to be done outside.

If you decide to do this check with me on new curse words, because I have a few new ones you may want.

I had about about 35-40 rivets that needs to be removed, grinding alone is not enough, everyone of them had to be drilled out then punched. All those holes needed over sized for the 1/2" or 5/8" grade 8 bolts I was using.
 

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hdmax

hdmax

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Most days I forgot all about documenting this job with pictures. Sorry everyone.
I cut a piece of rain gutter to use as a bolt pattern jig, it worked great. When doing the front rivets, I reattached the springs with the bolts so I could continue driving the deuce.
Drill bit were very expensive by the time the drilling was finished. I have a Drill Doctor 750 pro and used the heck out of it, but bits breaking to short to resharpen happened too many time. I broke four 5/8", nine 1/2", and maybe a dozen smaller bits used to drill pilot holes. In all maybe $225 worth of bits.

I purchased all my grade 8 hardware on line that alone cost $247 more then 70% less then local hardware stores wanted.

Ridgerunner fabed up a steering arm for the 4" lift, great job and looks as strong as anything on the truck.
Most of the time you buy something like 2x4's you get less then you pay for like 1 1/2x 3 1/2 not 2x4. The lift turned out to be 4 3/16" so I got more. With that said, anyone looking at doing this mod should go with either a 6 or 8 inch lift. (4 3/16" is pushing it for clearance.)
 
Dave08

Dave08

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I certainly understand but it looks great. I am also 52 years young....is it a requirement to break your arm first? Just joking. What did you give ridgerunner for the lift blocks? Blackrock has lift blocks as well and I too want to know how much you lifted the vehicle? I am using a 4 link air bag in the rear and will need to lift the front to match unless I go with complete air bags at all four corners. Love the pictures as it really helps others to understand what they are up against.
Dave08
 
Dave08

Dave08

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Titusville Florida
**** I typed out a whole message and lost the **** thing. Here it is again. I think that the pictures are great as it gives us a better perspective. I am 52 years young as well and need to know if a broken arm is a prerequisite...just joking. Blackrock makes a lift block as well and I also was wondering how much lift you are doing and how much ridgrunner charges for the lifting blocks. I am using a 4 link and air bag on the rear but will still need to lift the front which presents steering issues. What are you doing for the front?
Dave08
 
hdmax

hdmax

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This lift is drop brackets, not lift blocks. I do not recommend blocks at all. And for on road use they are not legal on the front as far as I know. And not at all safe. Many use blocks on the back of trucks, Ford did for many, many years, and may still do so, not sure.
As for the broken arm, yes if you do the job correctly the broken arm is in the price. It slowed me up but did not stop me. I finished out the day with a broken arm, then 3 weeks ago (2 weeks after I first broke it) I re-broke it because the cast was not far enough past the break. So I got another cast that hopefully will come off in two weeks. I have not missed any work due to this either, and I unload tractor trailers (Boxes that weigh anywhere from 15# up to 135# on a typical night I unload 3500-4000 boxes.) for 10-12 hours a night 4-5 days a week. So even though I am getting old, I am in very good shape.
 
hdmax

hdmax

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I made two trips to Michigan to visit Paul (AKA ridgerunner) 1st was to pick up the lift and bolt in adapter plates (Got those from Mike AKA tm america) very nice work from him. They are made from 1/2" steel.
I was not expecting to buy 53" tires on my 1st trip so the bed cover was on the truck. just one tire fit, with a whole of persuasion. So made a 2nd trip to get the remaining 3 tires.
(If you are ever in the Holland, Michigan area you owe it to yourself to make a point to meet Paul, he has some really cool stuff.

I did not need to extend the drive shafts, as the rear pulled out just 1/2" over stock, while the front pulled out almost 3/4"
The 1st picture is of my weather station display set to show some of July's extremes up til the 20th. The rain rate was during a strong storm we received almost 2 1/2" in like 15 minutes. It shows a moment when if it rained that hard for the entire hour it would have rained more then 33"
 

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hdmax

hdmax

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Location
new Lexington, Ohio
The Silverado in the pictures is my 2002 2500HD Duramax Diesel 4x4 pickup with 2" lift and 35" tires.

I took advantage of having an big commercial air compressor and used 1/2" and 1" impacts, as well as air jacks. The two extra HEMTT wheels came in handy as blocks for the 6 and 12 ton jack stands. I found out that you can not have too many jacks or jack stands.

When Paul made the drop brackets for the lift he drilled all the holes for me, but I used larger bolts, so they all needed over sized. In all I ended up drilling and or over sizing something like 140 holes, But that is not the full picture. When drilling for a drop bracket it needs holes drilled/over sized for the bracket, the spring shackle and the frame. Making for a lot of drilling. Nearly 300 total holes of 1/2" or bigger. This was a whole lot more work then bobbing a deuce.
 
Dave08

Dave08

Member
167
6
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Location
Titusville Florida
hdmax said:
This lift is drop brackets, not lift blocks. I do not recommend blocks at all. And for on road use they are not legal on the front as far as I know. And not at all safe. Many use blocks on the back of trucks, Ford did for many, many years, and may still do so, not sure.
As for the broken arm, yes if you do the job correctly the broken arm is in the price. It slowed me up but did not stop me. I finished out the day with a broken arm, then 3 weeks ago (2 weeks after I first broke it) I re-broke it because the cast was not far enough past the break. So I got another cast that hopefully will come off in two weeks. I have not missed any work due to this either, and I unload tractor trailers (Boxes that weigh anywhere from 15# up to 135# on a typical night I unload 3500-4000 boxes.) for 10-12 hours a night 4-5 days a week. So even though I am getting old, I am in very good shape.
Click to expand...
I hope that the healing process goes fast as I know it will. Remember that you are only as old as you want to be. Me, myself, after 26 years in the USMC, I am getting old but I am not growing up. Sorry that I used the wrong terminology and stated lift blocks. I agree with you and I would not use blocks between the axle and spring perch. The brackets look sweet and Blackrock has a design as well as I stated previously. Your deuce is fantastic and I enjoy seeing the pictures and it helps all of us with our projects. I will be sure to post pictures when I start my project. I too, am waiting for it to cool down a little more here before I start and I am using the time to get my plan together and locate parts. Keep up the good work and here is to your health!
Dave08
 
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