2004 LB7 Evolution

[Shaunlyo]

Truss all welded up. Driver side through cab frame tie in complete as well. I will recreate the passenger side tomorrow and then pull the main hoop off to weld solid. Then put back in place and weld solid to the frame and weld the through cab tie in.

 

[Shaunlyo]

 

[Shaunlyo]

 

[wvracer821]

The cage looks awesome. I wanna try to do something similar with mine when I get to that point.

 

[Tagjeep]

I would love to do that to mine.
Work,family,fixing old house are my excuses.

 

[Shaunlyo]

I sold the house and dedicated time and money to my son and the truck, so we could do more together. One day I'll grow up and get a house again...

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

Progress is looking good man! Not sure why I'm not getting email notifications, but I've been following along closely on IG.

 

[Shaunlyo]

I have been stealing little things from yours too. Sharing lessons learned more than anything. Congrats on UA! I’m stoked to see that truck perform. If it brings you to this coast and you need anything don’t hesitate to hit me up!

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

I have been stealing little things from yours too. Sharing lessons learned more than anything. Congrats on UA! I’m stoked to see that truck perform. If it brings you to this coast and you need anything don’t hesitate to hit me up!

I can neither confirm nor deny the location, but I will take you up on that offer if indeed the opportunity presents itself.

 

[wvracer821]

I saw the recent IG pics, was that a suburban tank in the one pic? are you setup like Dman's fuel system or are you doing a fuel cell?

 

[Shaunlyo]

It was a 42 gallon Diesel Suburban tank. I am unsure if I want to run that tank. I want a custom fuel cell but it’s not in the budget right now. I will have to check out Dman’s as I never paid attention to what he did.

 

[wvracer821]

Here are a couple pics, Im sure Dman will chime in here if hes not too busy with his UA prep work

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

It was a 42 gallon Diesel Suburban tank. I am unsure if I want to run that tank. I want a custom fuel cell but it’s not in the budget right now. I will have to check out Dman’s as I never paid attention to what he did.

Mine is a 31 gallon K5 tank. I ended up having to modify mine for diff clearance and to work with my factory fuel pump, but I did get it working pretty nicely. With smarter layout (not using factory crossmembers) it wouldn't have needed to be modified.

Overall it's very similar to the shape of yours only (probably) narrower. I can get dimensions if you want.

 

[Shaunlyo]

I chose not to mount my fuel tank in the back of the frame but instead directly behind the cab as low as the upper links will allow. I put a winch in the back with Both batteries on either side, and the spare over the top. This was to make sure the weight behind the axle is static and doesn’t change throughout the trip. Weight behind the rear axle has a greater impact when countering the engine weight. I am trying to make sure IF the truck catches air, that it lands as level as possible and that duramax/Allison combo isn’t light.

I also figured the fuel center of the truck, well as center and low as possible would have a smaller effect on weight distribution as it changes throughout a trip. I also wanted as much fuel as possible because I don’t want to carry fuel
cans. This one is 42 gallons from a suburban so my gauge will work with its sending until.

The eventual plan is a fuel cell built low between the frame rails that is clearanced for my links, but that isn’t in the budget right now due to needing the new rear brake and hub assembly so that I could move the calipers to the rear of the axle and allow my lower links to have the full axle width for triangulation.

 

[wvracer821]

you defiantly went the baller route on the brakes. I just saw yesterday where Busted knuckle has a Wilwood front setup for the SD60 thats priced really well. I'm kicking myself now for paying up for the Powerstop stuff.

https://bustedknuckleoffroad.com/col...sdbrakepackage

 

[Shaunlyo]

Those are on my purchase list too... eventually as I initially went powerstop too

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

you defiantly went the baller route on the brakes. I just saw yesterday where Busted knuckle has a Wilwood front setup for the SD60 thats priced really well. I'm kicking myself now for paying up for the Powerstop stuff.

https://bustedknuckleoffroad.com/col...sdbrakepackage

Do they have the same stopping power as the factory SD60 brakes? I know they're 4-piston calipers, but the piston area is what dictates clamping force and the pad size also has some influence on stopping power/fade (at least for guys that tow or have heavy rigs and drive them on the highway).

66lbs unsprung reduction is significant, but not at the cost of safety.

 

[Shaunlyo]

That is a valid point Dman but wilwoods have never “not” been an upgrade. This has a lot to do with their quality and higher grade materials than OEM. The company that made my rear setup make a kit for the front of all the large solid axles. Factory brakes have always come on more spongy than aftermarket which is why I went with power stop. There aren’t enough guys yet using this axle in this combination of uses so WVRACER and I might be the test dummies. I am in some extent with my rear kit.

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

That is a valid point Dman but wilwoods have never “not” been an upgrade. This has a lot to do with their quality and higher grade materials than OEM. The company that made my rear setup make a kit for the front of all the large solid axles. Factory brakes have always come on more spongy than aftermarket which is why I went with power stop. There aren’t enough guys yet using this axle in this combination of uses so WVRACER and I might be the test dummies. I am in some extent with my rear kit.

I would argue in this case, they might not be an upgrade in the classic sense. Because of the weight savings, they're certainly an upgrade on a U4 car that weighs 3000lbs... but under a 9000lb duramax, it might be a different story. I'd potentially give Wilwood or BustedKnuckle a call and see if they can clarify the intended use of that kit.

Rear axle brakes aren't nearly as important on a heavy rig on the highway, so it's good you're experimenting on the rear axle first ;)

 

[Shaunlyo]

My intent was to call wilwood tomorrow and ask them. And I should be sub 8000, hopefully 🤣

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

My intent was to call wilwood tomorrow and ask them. And I should be sub 8000, hopefully 🤣

Hopefully, but if you ever do a full inner cage, that might push you over. Mine with all my wheeling gear and me NOT in it is just over 8000 and I don't have a Duramax/Allison.

 

[Shaunlyo]

I’ll just pretend I am 600+ lbs less than you.

 

[azdirt3.0]

https://www.wilwood.com/Calipers/Cal...temno=120-6814

I researched that kit and found what is likely the caliper they are using. It looks like it has a piston area of 4.80 in^2, not sure what the stock SD60 caliper piston area is to compare.

 

[Shaunlyo]

Perfect. I called wilwood and got verification that it is an upgrade, especially in clamping force and material quality as well as the fact that it is perfectly safe for daily driving and towing.

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

Factory Ford pistons are 2.52" (source: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...1432130&jsn=63https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...1432130&jsn=63) and there's two pistons. So they have 9.97in^2 of piston area. You may want to verify with Wilwood.

Not trying to rain on your parade, but it'd suck to spend that money and not have good brakes.

 

[azdirt3.0]

Interesting thing to note about the Wilwood caliper.

If you look further down on the page, the piston is listed as 1.75" diameter and the area is for 2 pistons. If you count all 4 pistons acting on the pads the area should actually be 9.62 in^2. So still not an "upgrade" in power but may be a comparable option depending on the pad selection and difference in size.

 

[Shaunlyo]

Definitely not raining on my parade. But as I learned when I went from 1 ton brakes to 3/4 ton brakes on my king pin 60 in the past, while the clamped surface area was smaller the piston pressure was higher and the calipers were more responsive. This gave me a better brake pedal feel as well as more responsive brakes. No loss in stopping power while on or off-road and a shorter 60-0 stopping distance on 38x15.5s. This was on my old Squarebody crewcab. I do not know what the life span would have been, or if it would have changed as I sold the truck. Point being clamped surface area is not necessarily the most important factor. I lobe the conversation and data though.

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

Interesting thing to note about the Wilwood caliper.

If you look further down on the page, the piston is listed as 1.75" diameter and the area is for 2 pistons. If you count all 4 pistons acting on the pads the area should actually be 9.62 in^2. So still not an "upgrade" in power but may be a comparable option depending on the pad selection and difference in size.

That is interesting... they must have some automated system that spits out the piston area based on a floating caliper - which is strange since Wilwood is a performance brake company. It is definitely much closer and would explain why they suggested it's ok to use on a street application. Good catch!

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

Definitely not raining on my parade. But as I learned when I went from 1 ton brakes to 3/4 ton brakes on my king pin 60 in the past, while the clamped surface area was smaller the piston pressure was higher and the calipers were more responsive. This gave me a better brake pedal feel as well as more responsive brakes. No loss in stopping power while on or off-road and a shorter 60-0 stopping distance on 38x15.5s. This was on my old Squarebody crewcab. I do not know what the life span would have been, or if it would have changed as I sold the truck. Point being clamped surface area is not necessarily the most important factor. I lobe the conversation and data though.

Clamped surface area isn't the same as piston area. Piston area determines the clamping force proportional to your applied pedal force. A bigger piston area = more clamping force (at the expense of more pedal travel).

If you're talking about going to a single piston GM caliper from a Ford dual piston, the numbers work out like this: 3.368 dia / 8.9in^2 area versus 2.18 dia X2 / 7.46in^2 area.

If you're talking about going from a GM 1 ton caliper or Ford 1 ton caliper to a 3/4 ton caliper (2.94" dia / 6.79in^2 area), I can understand why the pedal feel would be better (less travel), but there's no physical way you achieved more maximum clamping force. Like you said, the calipers still may have been sufficient to lock up the rotors and pedal feel goes a long way for braking performance. Also like you said - more aggressive pads or at least more pad wear may have been the result long-term. Had you a big plow and large payload in the bed, you may not have been able to lock up the front tires with the smaller area calipers.

With the actual numbers of the Wilwood calipers being a lot closer to the factory SD calipers, I'm less concerned - but 4.8in^2 would've been abysmal.

 

[Shaunlyo]

Thanks Dmans. Your explanation definitely helped. As I was explaining it and talking with Wilwood, some of it was definitely a bit beyond my knowledge base.