Long Travel & Wide body build

[Mike Edwards]

I'm going to start the long travel and wide body conversion on my truck this weekend. Here's what got me to this point.

Recap on my truck. 2020 Northsky blue LT 5.3. I leveled it with Bilstein control arms, shocks and deaver mini pack springs. Did a DFM delete with an L8T cam and LS7 lifters. Then added a Magnuson 2650, LT4 injectors and high pressure fuel pump, escalade v low side fuel pump, flex fuel sensor and mahle power pak forged pistons. It currently makes ~700 crank hp on e85 tuned with HP tuners by me. Then I swapped bilsteins for fox 2.5 shocks. Recently I added a Boral S-type dual exhaust kit (yes, the kit that's for a 6.2 fits the 5.3 trucks). Then I added Dirt king front and rear bumpers and hitch. That necessitated re working the rear of the exhaust so it didn't hang so low. It was loud, so I added two resonators back there also. It sound great now.

A few months ago I picked up a "Dirt King" long travel kit from a guy in MO. It was built by dirt king and branded for Starwood Performance. There are some differences between it and a current DK kit. It has no provision for a bypass shock, is only 3" over per side and has a tubular upper with heim joints vs boxed with bushings. To make the kit usefull, I had to build up the axles from just shafts. There are 3 different axles availalbe in our trucks and DK wouldn't tell me which ones my shafts were for, just offered to build me axles at ~$900 if I sent them the shafts. I determined the stock axles in my truck weren't correct. That narrowed it down to 2 choices. From pictures I was able to figure out which one it likely wasn't. So I ordered a used axle off ebay and it was correct. I ordered another and some empi boots and built them up. I machined the inner cup for more angle also.

The DK kit uses their own spec 8" stroke shock. While I'll eventually get them, for now to save money I am going to use my current OEM travel fox 2.5's. I needed to make new lower mount misalignment spacers and to get the ride height where I want it, I made new upper bucket mounts with about 1/2" of more height. We'll see how good my math was when I try it.

 

[Mike Edwards]

That gets the front suspension ready to go. I ordered BORA spacers to widen the rear. They probably won't be here for another week. And a little over a month ago, ordered fenders and bedsides from Fiberwerx. Those showed up yesterday.

 

[PistolsFiring]

I wish I had your know how. Keep us updated.

 

[Jmzvet]

Looking fwd to your future posts

 

[GETGONE]

Going to end up being similar to the Team Blacklake XT1 truck but MUCH less expensive. They are the only place I've seen so far that offers a re-gear for the front diff up to a 3.73 from the stock 3.23 ratio. They're widebody bumpers are cool too. Only thing I'll probably ever order is the alignment lock cams they sell.

HOME - Blacklake Research & Development

For those who demand the future today, BLACKLAKE is your partner on the road ahead.

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[Stormin08]

their alignment cams seem odd to me, why leave the factory adjuster ? i dont see the reason for that, i have a set of DK alignment cams...they replace the stockers, but with a pinned set up rather than slotted.

i do agree, the Blacklake appear to LOCK the cam in a better fashion...just not sure why they choose to keep the stock plate behind it.

 

[Stormin08]

Mike, did you notice a spline count variation between axles > or any identifying tell tale ?

i looked at RCV, but they offer 1 axle and not for these trucks...curious what the differences are in the GM, besides a shaft length for TB or Zr2

 

[Mike Edwards]

Mike, did you notice a spline count variation between axles > or any identifying tell tale ?

i looked at RCV, but they offer 1 axle and not for these trucks...curious what the differences are in the GM, besides a shaft length for TB or Zr2

The differences are internal to the CV's so it's only an issue if you are adding longer shafts inside stock cv's. The input from the diff and output to the hub bearing are the same for all of them. The overall length in service should be the same as well. They do have different travel in the inner cv, but I don't think it matters much

My trail boss has part number 84793824 axles. The second pair I bought to fit the shafts were part number 84759929. The outer CV was the same between both. The inner however is larger for the 3824 than the 9929 (1.150" OD internal shaft splines vs 1.040" and physically larger OD cups) The 3824 appears to have more travel available, but from the wear pattern, very little of it appears to be used.


As best as I can tell, here are the three groupings of part numbers (current and superseded part numbers).
1. 85587221, 84437105, 84437106, 84759929, 84759930, 84987260, 87862068 (what I ended up using)
2. 84793824, 85838008, 85587219, 84051351, 84437107, 84437108, 84554912, 84554913, 84759932, 84793824, 85134026, 87862071 (what's in my TB from the factory)
3. 87863488, 84477199, 84477200, 84754391
My wifes 24 tahoe has the part number axles in row 3, but she would have killed me if I had pulled one out and disassembled it. But it's physically different externally on the shaft, there is a step in the diameter between the boots.

These appear to be stock length 19+

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www.polyperformance.com

These are the baja kits +3" axles. Notice the minor change at the end of the part numbers.

RCV Ultimate | Front Long Travel CV Axles | 3.5" Over Stock | 19-25 Chevy Silverado | GMC Sierra 1500 4WD

Upgrade your 2019+ Chevy Silverado or GMC Sierra 1500 with RCV Ultimate CV Axles. 4340 chromoly, 3.5 inches over stock for long travel, high-angle performance, and a Race It or Chase It limited lifetime warranty.

www.bajakits.com

 

[Stormin08]

i almost forgot about PP...i have seen the DK version but longer than i am intending on going now.
now that i see them, you have to dig on RCV's site to get to them.

 

[Mike Edwards]

The old front suspension is out.

 

[Mike Edwards]

Front suspension is in and sitting right where I want it. I’ll work on roughing in the alignment tomorrow and lower the rear to match.

 

[Stormin08]

have side angle shots showing added width ?
how much of an increase ? 3" per side ?

 

[Mike Edwards]

3” per side. OE trail boss 18 with 3/8 spacer. 295/70/18

 

[Stormin08]

that is on the stock spec's Fox 2.5" ?

i thought that either DK or BK stated that their arms would work with that set up. i need to revisit my steps...been on the back burner to long.

 

[Mike Edwards]

Yes, OEM travel fox 2.5’s. But I made a new upper mount that adds about 1/2” of height. It’s still about 3/4” lower than it was with stock lowers. I have the deaver mini pack with one .4” spacer in it to sit level. I also had to remove the t-bar mounts and make lower misalignment spacers.

Baja Kits and Mazzulla both use OE shocks standard. Dirt king says they don’t recommend them. I didn’t actually pick up any travel. I modeled it and have about 9.8” of travel with this setup. But the spring rate (550) is right on. I drives just like before.