Russm
Active member
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- 69
- 28
- Location
- Ft. Wainwright, AK
Just finished lifting my M1009. Thought I'd share my experience.
Started with pretty much stock truck.
Bought:
16.5" rims: 4 matching and 1 spare from craigslist. $100 for the set.
5x Goodyear Wrangler radials 37x12.50x16.5 - Hummer Tires. 100dollarman.com - Picked up locally $600 for the set
Rear 14-bolt FF axle 4.10 gearing, open diff. Owner said it was from an '86 Suburban 2wd. $200
Front Dana 60 axle, 4.56 gearing from a junker M1008. $1100
4.10 gears for dana 60 axle from steel soldier classifieds. $100
Offroaddesign lift kit. Ordered it by phone. Had it pieced together just how I wanted it. ~$1350 shipped.
6-degree shims for rear axle. $35
1350-size yoke for the 14b rear axle - $100
Front and rear detroit lockers for the new-to-me axles. ~$1000 shipped from summitracing.com
Rear disk brake conversion from lugnut4x4.com
Detroit automatic lockers for front and rear diffs: 14b Full Float & Dana 60 with 4.10 and numerically lower gearing
Arranged with a local steel soldier (if he'll stop being so shy I'll mention his name
) to use his services to do my lift. I do not have the garage space myself.
Lift process began with a kit from Offroaddesign.com
- 3" HD Front Tuff Country Springs with new u bolts and spring plates
- 4" rear shackle flip.
- Rear U-Bolt Reversal kit
- Extended Steel Braided brake lines
- Tuff Country SX8000 Shocks all around.
- Rear driver side shock could not be installed right side up due to the angle of the mount on the axle. Decided to install both rear shocks upside-down to have them match. Does not affect performance afaik.
All the parts came as unpainted bare metal. So I found random cans of paint in my garage and gave them all a good coat. Its all going to get dirty anyway so why does it matter if there's red, blue and yellow colored stuff under there.
Lift install went almost without a hitch
. The rear "normal" square hitch mount someone installed on my M1009 had to be modified to fit the rear shackle flip.
Hair pulling began with the rear axle yoke / driveshaft interface. We could not determine what size the rear yoke was, even after extensive help from this website.
Decided to just replace the yoke with a 1350 sized one. The "original" u-joint on the driveshaft turned out (after excessive cursing over several days) to be a conversion u-joint: 1350/3RL(S44). 3RL aka S44 has the retaining clips between the cap and body of the joint, instead of outside the cap like on the 1350.
Rear disk conversion went well. Needed to shave the brake pads a little to get them to fit the rotor, but the install was straight-forward. The rear brakes require some adjustment. As soon as i figure out how to do that I will update here.
Installation of the lockers was done at a local shop. The lockers have a break-in period. Thought my rear locker was toast for a while there (it would not unlock for turns), but then it started working perfectly again. My guess it got caught up on a metal burr from manufacturing, but then the burr was rubbed or broken off. Why there are magnets inside the diff. Now i just have audible clicking from the rear locker when i make turns. This is how its supposed to be.
Cleaned and painted the wheels with Self-etching primer then with flat black paint.
Fenders needed to be trimmed a bit so the wheels don't rub when doing 4x4 trails. Didnt have the OD Green paint, but I had the Seafoam green so its there to prevent rust until I get the correct color.
Exhausts that were cut for the lift were extended straight back using a simple and cheap kit from the local parts store.
Added a temperature probe in place of the idiot light, also a Tinytach. I wanted a clock in the dash somewhere but after seeing that the cheapest one would be $70+ I decided on this:
Finished results below
I probably forgot some stuff, will add it when I think of it.
Started with pretty much stock truck.
Bought:
16.5" rims: 4 matching and 1 spare from craigslist. $100 for the set.
5x Goodyear Wrangler radials 37x12.50x16.5 - Hummer Tires. 100dollarman.com - Picked up locally $600 for the set
Rear 14-bolt FF axle 4.10 gearing, open diff. Owner said it was from an '86 Suburban 2wd. $200
Front Dana 60 axle, 4.56 gearing from a junker M1008. $1100
4.10 gears for dana 60 axle from steel soldier classifieds. $100
Offroaddesign lift kit. Ordered it by phone. Had it pieced together just how I wanted it. ~$1350 shipped.
6-degree shims for rear axle. $35
1350-size yoke for the 14b rear axle - $100
Front and rear detroit lockers for the new-to-me axles. ~$1000 shipped from summitracing.com
Rear disk brake conversion from lugnut4x4.com
Detroit automatic lockers for front and rear diffs: 14b Full Float & Dana 60 with 4.10 and numerically lower gearing
Arranged with a local steel soldier (if he'll stop being so shy I'll mention his name
) to use his services to do my lift. I do not have the garage space myself.Lift process began with a kit from Offroaddesign.com
- 3" HD Front Tuff Country Springs with new u bolts and spring plates
- 4" rear shackle flip.
- Rear U-Bolt Reversal kit
- Extended Steel Braided brake lines
- Tuff Country SX8000 Shocks all around.
- Rear driver side shock could not be installed right side up due to the angle of the mount on the axle. Decided to install both rear shocks upside-down to have them match. Does not affect performance afaik.
All the parts came as unpainted bare metal. So I found random cans of paint in my garage and gave them all a good coat. Its all going to get dirty anyway so why does it matter if there's red, blue and yellow colored stuff under there.
Lift install went almost without a hitch
. The rear "normal" square hitch mount someone installed on my M1009 had to be modified to fit the rear shackle flip.Hair pulling began with the rear axle yoke / driveshaft interface. We could not determine what size the rear yoke was, even after extensive help from this website.
Decided to just replace the yoke with a 1350 sized one. The "original" u-joint on the driveshaft turned out (after excessive cursing over several days) to be a conversion u-joint: 1350/3RL(S44). 3RL aka S44 has the retaining clips between the cap and body of the joint, instead of outside the cap like on the 1350.
Rear disk conversion went well. Needed to shave the brake pads a little to get them to fit the rotor, but the install was straight-forward. The rear brakes require some adjustment. As soon as i figure out how to do that I will update here.
Installation of the lockers was done at a local shop. The lockers have a break-in period. Thought my rear locker was toast for a while there (it would not unlock for turns), but then it started working perfectly again. My guess it got caught up on a metal burr from manufacturing, but then the burr was rubbed or broken off. Why there are magnets inside the diff
. Now i just have audible clicking from the rear locker when i make turns. This is how its supposed to be.Cleaned and painted the wheels with Self-etching primer then with flat black paint.
Fenders needed to be trimmed a bit so the wheels don't rub when doing 4x4 trails. Didnt have the OD Green paint, but I had the Seafoam green so its there to prevent rust until I get the correct color.
Exhausts that were cut for the lift were extended straight back using a simple and cheap kit from the local parts store.
Added a temperature probe in place of the idiot light, also a Tinytach. I wanted a clock in the dash somewhere but after seeing that the cheapest one would be $70+ I decided on this:
Finished results below
I probably forgot some stuff, will add it when I think of it.
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