Well gang, finally got the Western kit installed on my '98 DAK. I opted
for a 3/5 drop(more like 3.5" in front). There are some issues with
dropping the truck this low. None are insurmountable. I had a shop due
the tough work of cutting the rivets off the stock stuff and installing
the hangers/shackles/A arms/coils. I'll take it from here and tweak some
clearance issues. I like the look as it is, but the stock tires rub in
the front, the sway bar links have yet to be shortened in the back and
at 5" the tailpipe ends up resting right on the rear sway bar bracket on
the rear end housing. Also, even with shortened snubbers, I have only
about an inch of travel in the rear before it bottoms.
You can see an image of the finished job at:
http://www.dnai.com/~bobm/images/lowered.jpg
Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but I don't see many lowered late
model DAKs even out here in drop crazy Calif. With some trick 17" billet
wheels, steam roller tires and a few other cosmetics, I'll have
something to enjoy.
Already I've swapped the stock front tires for a couple of shorter used
ones. This will hold me over until the 17" tire/wheel combo comes
together. This has eliminated the tire rub in front. At 3.5" in the
front I think the truck is technically illegal(and a little dangerous).
I'll have to measure tonight, but it looks like the new A arms extend
below the lower edge of the stock 15" rim. I'm sure the 17" pieces will
bring this back in line.
WARNING!! I learned the hard way with this one. At a 3.5" drop the
passenger side upper A arm swings up and gets very close to the new JBAs
that I installed a couple weeks ago. When they had the wheels off
installing the used tires, I peered through the wheel wells and noticed
damage to the header where something had hit it. I was immediately going
to jump on the install shop, but after the truck was back on the ground,
it appears the A arm could have done the damage during normal driving.
I'm none too pleased to see my new headers with a big dimple and scrape
on that side, so beware if anyone is attempting this extreme a drop job.
The problem can be avoided by removing the upper A arm and grinding off
some of the material where the stamping curls up.
I think with an even shorter rear snubber and bringing the truck back up
1/2" in the rear, I'll be good to go there. The cat back system may
become a necessity sooner rather than later due to the clearance there,
but I can live with that.
Obviously ride quality is hard to judge at this point due to the issues
I'm still working on, but I think is going to be pretty good. Slightly
stiffer all around, but not obnoxiously so.
Bob
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:09:45 EDT
