Update...

[Lucy]

Well Lucy is pretty much done now , and I have some pic of what we have done so I though I would give an update.
We got the body lift done a couple weeks ago. Depot cut out the old body mount studs and replaced them with larger bolts welded on to steel plates which he then welded into the body, works very nicely and I like the idea of the body being reinforced where the body mounts sit. Had to lengthen the fuel tank filler hose, some brake lines ,the steering , which Depot did an excellent job exteneding , if you didn't know it had been extended you wouldn't know to look at it. ( I don't have a pic of the steering but will get one an post it later) , also have to extend the tranny and t-case shifters which is still in process and pretty much the last major thing that she need to be finished.

Her rear brakes were shot so instead of fixing the drums we opted for a rear disc convertion. Depot modified some sammy adapter plates for my kick axle .........

[Lucy]

here's a pic of the modified plate ...

[Lucy]

we had the machinist cut out the center of the drums.......

[Lucy]

The modified bracket mounted to the axle

[Lucy]

and...

[Lucy]

with the drum centers installed

[Lucy]

with caliper and rotor

[Lucy]

another pic with the caliper and rotor installed ,from a different angle so you can see the adapter plate and Depot expressing himself

[Lucy]

well kinda got distracted while posting last night , so here is the rest of it....

we used a brake line out of a toy to extend the line to the rear axle, and a splitter out of a toy for the new lines for the calipers

[Lucy]

Then Depot creatively ran the new lines across the axle

[Lucy]

and

[Lucy]

To solve the problem with the front suspension we were looking at replacing the springs that came with the lift kit with a coil the same length that has a softer spring rate that would be closer to the stock rate, but we desided to just build some 3" coil spacers and put the stock springs back in. Once again I have to thank Depot for his fabricating talents.

he built the spacers with 3" 1/4 wall pipe that fits nice and snug over the front bump stops , then sleaved it with 3 1/2" pipe and then sleaved the bottom of the spacer with 4" pipe about an 1" high to make a nice wide seat for the coil, we also move the original rubber mount for the coil to sit between the spacer and the top of the coil.

[Lucy]

the finished spacers

[Lucy]

spacer mounted on the bump stop

[Lucy]

with spring installed

[Lucy]

I reinstalled the front suspension last monday , the angles are much more resonable now and my camber is alot closer to were it should be. So I am alot happier with how she sits now. The angles on the steering are still pretty bad , we looked at lower the steering ,but unfortunatly we cant do it with the way she sits right now as the a-arm mounts are in the way. Atleast it is better then it was , so I'm happy. So the only major thing left to do is finish lengthening the tranny and t-case shifters, and reinstall them. then it's just little stuff like trim the fenders ,clip up some brakelines, install the soft top ect...

I will post a couple pics of her when she's all done ,and I will be chomping at the bit to take her out and get dirty very very soon!

[admin]

Done a lot of work lately! Now get busy on the body and show it off too! :D and btw... I like the subtle Depot-style commentary in the caliper/rotor installation pic!

[vanbdan]

Looks great,nice work,and a great write up.Hope to see the finsh product soon,and hope to see both of you on ythe trail soon.:beer:

[MLC]

can't wait to see it in may