Thread: Never built a prerunner, let alone a truck ever,, soo heres what i came up with soo far!

I bought this truck 100% stock (98 xlt) and like with anything i own, i cant settle for stock or anything remotely stock. Ive owned it for 2 years and did my research before i started doing anything major to it. Previously i have built numerous fast drag cars and steet bikes over the last decade, soo im mechanically inclined, have decent fab skills, have extensive paint/work experience, and an overly creative mind. Soo il start by saying, that i speak for 80% on this board that cant drop $5k on a LT kit from any big company. SOo i improvised, i bought a used camburg 5.5 kit for cheap thinking that i would stop there. wrong. Soo i get this idea that i can turn my 5.5 kit into a long travel kit over a period of 3 different stages. Reason being is my truck is my DD and i cant ride the streetbike fulltime because its still FUCKING RAINING and the car only comes out for special occasions.

First stage, built/fabbed in this order.
Literally CUT the oem ford lower A-arms in a specific area which best allows for extending. Measured out 4.5" and used 1/2" thick 4" wide flat stock as a spacer for equal widening and as a main structural supoort. After that, i boxxed up the rest with 3/16th plate, cut out the balljoint mount and welded in a 1" uniball cup. With both lower A-arms completed i was able to set the truck down on the lower A-arms on jackstands to mimic how it would sit at ride height. Keep in mind i just have 3" lift coil springs in the OEM coil bucket for "shocks/springs" at this point.
This of course sets the lower control arms at ride height being on the stands and me forcing the front end down for good measure to makre sure it was settled. I drilled out the lower tab on the 5.5 camburg spindle so a 3/4" grade 8 bolt will pass through it as well as the misalignments on the 1" uniball and double sheared it with 3/16th. Next before dismantling everything, my trusty angle finder gave me all the meausrements for castor/camber/ETC that camburg already figured out for me. and so i bolted the spindle up to the newly fabbed +4.5" OEM lower control arms. My good friend who owns/runs a fab shop laser cut me some new upper A-arm mount tabs. Soo i cut off the OEM slotted bullshit ones, made all my measurements and welded in the new tabs. The rest was simple, the camburg 5.5 upper conrtrol arm is 1.5" dia tube,, so i cut off the urethane bushing/housing to expose the 1.5" tube. My 7/8th heims for the upper control arms came with a threaded bung that accepts 1.25 tube, which wasnt in my orignial plan. (wanted 1.5" tube acceptance) Soo after welding up the new upper A-arm mount tabs, i installed the heims on 5/8th grade 8 bolts and sleeved 1.25 DOM into the burg 5.5 A-arm and trimmed it accordingly soo that i had perfect 0* camber and 1/4" of thread showing on the heims soo i could adjust things as needed in the future. YES, the 1.25 is super weak and anemic looking, hence why i ground down the heim hex bolt on the bung so i could weld a small section of 1.5" tube over it. This way, i was able to sleeve 1&3/4" over both the threaded bung portion all the way over the 1.25" tube which sleeved over the camburg 1.5" A-arm tubing by about 3/4". Overkill? maybe, but i will never doubt that upper A-arms durability, plus it was easier to do it that way in my eyes. After all the a-arms were modded, measurered, finished welded, and installed, i used a camburg heim steering clevis on the steering rack, drilled the burg 5.5 spindle out to accept the 5/8ths bolt of the 3/4 steering heim, alighned the damn thing and prayed the geometry will work!!!! and it works perfectly!
As bro fab as this is, it cycles almost 15" with the coil bucket in the way, drives straight as an arrow, and has no bump steer or any wierd driving mannerisms over the full range of suspension cycle.
-STAGE 2, i will cut the coil buckets, box the frame rails, build shock hoops, engine cage, and install the fox 8" stroke 2.5" body coilovers that im waiting to get off my roomates truck.

-STAGE 3, after i make sure eveyrthing works how it should with the coilovers installed. We will use the geometry/measurements off my extended OEM lower control arms in solid works and have the laser table cut me out everything to make a solid boxxed lower control arm and actually be legit about it!

The reason i have to do it like this is as mentioned before, i cant have the truck down for extended periods of time. For what it is being backyard (literally) built this truck should turn out quite nice as a super budget build! I took me 2 solid weekends to knock this out, during the week and i am useless after working 10-12hrs a day @ my job. I have a fair ammount of tools to make it all possible, welder, plasma cutter, tube bender, and some help of friends who have shops for some misc odds n ends.

Soo go on, flame me, point and laugh. do what you want, i always think outside the box and even though i make good $, i just cant see dropping $4-5k on a LT kit new or used. i paid $800 for the used camburg 5.5 kit and have an additional $600ish for the LT conversion, which $200 of that is the camburg heim steering clevis/kit. Im doing the bodywork/paint on my roomates 07 silverado glass bedsides in trade for his fox coilovers. SOo like i said, super budget build!

rear end to be continued.
-giant 64 link killler
-full bedcage
-3" 3 tube 16" king bypasses
-trussed f150 8.8 w/ posi 4.56s
-Ls1/4l60e

Some pics for those not weak at heart...


I dont have any pics of the lowers completed on my camera. But as a direct quote from Jason Voss (yea we friends) "those could pass for a real boxxed lower control arm!" As embarassed as i was upon him see what i created considering he owns/drives his own trophy truck team, he was pumped on it! hahaha.

Soo the camburg 5.5 kit widens the truck 1.5" each side via the spindle and with my 4.5" extension and the 1/2 extra each side the uniballs added, the truck comes out to 88" end of tire to end of tire. Those are fiberwerx +10 fenders, BFG baja TA 35/12.5-15s. I will raise the truck up a little with the coilovers, which will pull the tires under the fenders a little bit when at ride height. Gotta keep the fuzz happy considering i take up the entire lane.

PS, excuse the rust, the truck is from chicago where it snows and they use salt to melt the snow and body panels off your vehicles for no extra charge.

I think its cool but is it safe??

i wouldn't worry about the plated part giving up in the rough.

it looks good to me. yea its not gonna be approved by score and what not but perfect for a toy. just thinking though you want to run 3.0 3 tube bypasses dont you think thats a bit big? i mean for a fullsize sure but i would think 2.5s would be plenty. and im sure cheaper too. either way props on the fab and keep it up man!
just wanted to add i would love to see some pics of your ls1 rx7 sounds bad ass

Can you get more pics and maybe a video?

It's looking good. I will be following this thread!

Once i get the coilovers installed, testing will commence! I plan to really beat the shit out of it before we make the nice boxxed lowers just for the hell of it.

Originally Posted by 5.0Ranger619

it looks good to me. yea its not gonna be approved by score and what not but perfect for a toy. just thinking though you want to run 3.0 3 tube bypasses dont you think thats a bit big? i mean for a fullsize sure but i would think 2.5s would be plenty. and im sure cheaper too. either way props on the fab and keep it up man!
just wanted to add i would love to see some pics of your ls1 rx7 sounds bad ass

yea this is just a play toy/truck for me, nothing serious other than an agressive daily driver that i can beat the shit out of. I bought my giant 64 kit and the 3" kings for $2400 total brand new, the price was very right, soo why not? As for the Rx7, i have some posted up in my album on here. thanks!

Originally Posted by arxcis

Can you get more pics and maybe a video?

been raining like crazy here, i will try to get something soon. As for videos, i just street drive it to work and back, its not offroad worthy untill i get the coilovers on it. Those lift coils are struggling as it is on the street, kinda springy and rides like an old school caddy. the full range of travel is perfect, soo im happy with that aspect. No bump steer or wierd shit.

not worried about coilbind?

dude this is exactally what im looking into doing on my yota cause i have an even tighter budget! im trying to pick up 2 more stock arms however because i can only have my truck down for about 4 to 5 days at a time. what did you do about steering???

Originally Posted by beandiggity-o

not worried about coilbind?

i street drive it, should be installed the fox coilovers in two weeks hopefully. Not worried, it drives fine enough for the pavement.

---------- Post added at 10:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Live...Ride...

dude this is exactally what im looking into doing on my yota cause i have an even tighter budget! im trying to pick up 2 more stock arms however because i can only have my truck down for about 4 to 5 days at a time. what did you do about steering???

I bought the Camburg Heim steering clevis kit just for simplicities sake and i value my steering, soo i wanted something very strong.

I Don't know how i feel about the uppers, but i have seen plenty of stock extended kits work just fine. So just go mob on it make sure it doesn't break and no welds are cracking, and i would call it safe for street driving.

Hey great job man I think it'll hold up just fine.

any updates

Good thinkin' man, love it!

Updates?

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

Finally getting my roomates 8" fox coilovers in a week or two, this time for real. I need to get my hayabusa street legal and then i can tear apart the truck and actually be legit about it. Probably start the coilover install and giant 64 kit at the beginning of June.

the head on picture is sex. looks really good. i wish i had another DD to try this on my yota

Do you have more pictures of the lower control arm. I might attempt this soon.

you guys are gonna shit your pants, finally an update!! I FINALLY have the fox c/o's and i am installing them/fabbin the shock hoops/etc this week/weekend! 8 or so months behind schedule. Im not confident enough to go back in the thread and see when i hoped/dreamed when i should have got them based on older posts. lol. Its been too long.

Plus i sprayed my front end.

-also i have bought a giant 64 leaf kit, the rear end build will be posted more than likely a few months from now, haha.





more pics will follow now to sunday on the build/install!

Looks fun man! That's about the stance I'm shooting for on my upcoming.

I was goingto say why didn't you just find a spare stock lower and use it to make a fixture for some boxed lowers BUT then I read more and you are right on track! Looks fun, keep up the good work.

heck yeah man! great lookin rig.

pass side completed!

damn looks good! ive been checking back for updates, finally!! how does it cycle?

I want to do the same stock extension on my yoda. I just haven't found any lowers for less than $100 yet. I'm also a little worried about coil bind and how much softer it would be with the extra leverage on the spring.

looks awsome man, shouldnt the heim on the spindle be double sheered though? either way looks badass

Originally Posted by ovrebo1

I want to do the same stock extension on my yoda. I just haven't found any lowers for less than $100 yet. I'm also a little worried about coil bind and how much softer it would be with the extra leverage on the spring.

i have stock lowers off my 95 im trying to get rid of (its 2wd). pm me and i can give you a pretty cheap price

Originally Posted by the bodj

i have stock lowers off my 95 im trying to get rid of (its 2wd). pm me and i can give you a pretty cheap price

Thanks, but mines a 06 4x4

whats the front trackwidth on this beast? and what front fenders are those? finding front fenders that i ACTUALLY like for my 87" and some change trackwidth to tuck tire at bump is a bitch. truck looks good though man!

Passenger side is done fab wise, still need to finish weld a few things and paint it up!
Turns out i need 10" c/o's to take advantage of the full cycle. I have a legit 16" of wheel travel assuming i had 10" c/o's. With the 8" fox's i have on now, its like 12ish i think. I also did a F150 master cylinder upgrade and explorer 11" rotors. Stoked!

Originally Posted by 5.0Ranger619

looks awsome man, shouldnt the heim on the spindle be double sheered though? either way looks badass

Thanks! Yes it shouldve been, but i changed it up in order to get more travel. check the new pic i just posted. It doesnt affect steering at all either, i still have full turning range throughout all 16" of travel, the heim doesnt even get tight!

love the stance on this thing!

Originally Posted by haulinazz1968

damn looks good! ive been checking back for updates, finally!! how does it cycle?

Really well, not much change in toe at full bump or fully drooped. With a 10" C/o it will do 16" no worries, its at 12ish right now with the 8" foxes.

This is awesome. Good job

Sweet! Your projects look clean.

I want this truck!!!

Id drive it. Looks good.

thanks guys! Heres an updated thread with some droop pics!

-delete thread-