Front/ Rear Suspension

Once the old axle was out of the way, there were all sorts of ways to go,  Keep leaf springs, convert to coil overs,  triangulated 4 link, etc.  After stopping by Midnight4x4, www.Midnight4x4.com and talking with them, I concluded to begin doing a 3-Link setup with a Pan-hard bar from stability and Coilover shocks.  It wa A lof of work and took a lot of moving and fitment here at there.  Below ill walk you through the steps.

Placing the axle under the truck to begin placing mounts and Tubes

See the upper link.  I ended moving that a few times before it was correct.

A side view of the upper and lower mounts on the passenger side

Drivers side.  Notice how close it is to the differential.

 I had to wait about a month before my shocks showed up, Once they did though, I was Super excited to get the shock hoops installed and the links to begin flexing the suspension and make sure everything fit from full compression to full drop out. 

After reassembly multiple times, it was time for paint and final assembly.

See how well the shocks look  once everything is all prettied up.

Got the axle assembled with new brakes and coil springs

Close up of the axles, bump stops, coil-over springs and limit straps.

  Don't forget the limit straps and bump stops.

  They keep things from hitting or bottoming out.

Drivers side all ready to go.

Ooh Pretty.  But notice no Steering.  

That will come soon enough.

The Rear End:

 Though providing its own challenges. The Rear was much easier, thus not many pictures.

The Rear axle involved Removing the original axle perches and installing new one to accommodate the difference in frame widths between the 99' Super Duty and the 86' K10.  

About 2" different really.  

Everything turned out pretty well. 

Though I did have to get new U Bolts to fit the larger tube diameter.

Final assembly of the Front suspension with the truck sitting on all 4 wheels.  It has about a 4-6 inch lift with roughly 10-14" of travel.  Should make for one sweet ride.

I will say that this part was the most time consuming as well as the most rewarding.  I went through a lot of blogs and posts a well as visiting the 4x4 shop time after-time to get parts and advice on how to build things as well as figure out how to make it all fit. 

Things went pretty well, and I couldn't be happier. I've learned to to weld, assemble axles, how 3 and 4 link suspensions work, and countless other skills and information for the next time i decided to do something like this. 

 After this comes the more challenging part of  Electrical and Steering. Among other things. Stay Tuned...