4x4 Parts Shop, Colorado Springs, CO 80915

[threecol_two]With the front suspension in place we threw on the front tires and leveled P3 out. Then we took a look at how and where we were going to stick the new coil-over-shocks. Remembering that these bad boy shocks are over 40″ tall, we knew that the upper shock mounts would be difficult, we just didn’t know how difficult.

After looking at it for a while, it was clear that the only way to mount these shocks was to put the tops of them up near the hood. Obviously the stock inner fenders won’t allow this, so they were the next thing to go. We’re telling ya, don’t these parts know that we will not let them get in the way? Guess not.

Since the plasma cutter throws some serious sparks, the front axle and suspension was removed and put to the side to keep the joints form inheriting any slag. Then we took some measurements and started in on the inner fenders.

Finally the tube work was going in and everything was taking shape. That’s when we realized that our bender didn’t have a tight enough radius to make a nice clean hoop for the shock mount. What to do? What to do?!?

That’s when Chris got a great idea. We knew we needed to attach these shocks to the frame, and currently the tube work only attached to the body. We were going to run legs to the frame (in the front and back) to insure proper strength, but then Chris thought of twin legs, right at the shock. This worked beautifully and gave use the strength we needed right where it was needed the most. At the point of stress. So with a little more tube and the bender humming along, four identical bars were made and fitted in.

Now that the front suspension was figured out, it was time to clean up and paint. Needless to say the amount of work left more than a fair bit of dust and dirt on the axle, it was time to take it to the pressure washed! The only problem is that this axle weighs in at about 600+ pounds, and that’s not an easy thing to lift! So we loaded up the forklift and caravan’d to the self-serve car wash! Later, a fresh coat of gloss black paint was added to give the axle its ‘new’ look back.

With the axle painted and drying, it was time to clean up the new frame sections. We didn’t change anything on the stock frame, but we did beef it up a ton. In short, we plated around the steering box and track-bar locations. We also took some time to strengthen a fair bit of frame behind them with some angle iron. This provided ample support, but it needed cleaned an painted.

Last the axle and suspension system was placed and reassembled and we got ready for a test drive.

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