The Motley Crue: White '97 OBS Crew Cab Build

[Becks_Bronco]

And now that I've finished reading the updates.... damn that thing is perfection. It's crazy clean underneath too. i love it.

[tcm glx]

I see a rusty rivot. #paintyorivets!!! (Wish you had glass fenders. Would be easier to pick on you)

[Becks_Bronco]

Some details on the front setup are: Autofab bent beams, 2" drop beam pivots, heimed radius arms. Pro-Comp 6" coils, Bilstein 5100 shocks, Vital Designs custom bumpstop extensions. Tires are 315/75r16 KO2's.

Not your first rodeo, and maybe not an issue once you strap the front end, but are your brake lines long enough? Rob Craven recently had an issue where his tire rubbed through the rubber part of the line, as that long metal section coming off the caliper wasn't clocked quite right. Desolate uses a different caliper banjo bolt eliminating that hard line, and secures the ABS/Brake lines to the lower shock body to keep them out of the way of spinning things. Might be helpful?

[nubreed71]

I did notice that Will...still trying to decide if I'm gonna just get new lines made that are a little longer, or strap the suspension to keep them from pulling too tight. The upside is the way that Autofab made these brake lines, all I have to do is get the lines with a couple AN fittings on the ends and then just attach them to the fitting at the caliper and the frame. Autofab likes to re-use the factory brake line ends at the caliper since they help route the line away from trouble. Hopefully that should eliminate issues with rubbing, and all I have to worry about is the length.

[nubreed71]

Don't you worry Tony...all those rusty pivots are all gone, and any rusty rivets that are still remaining have all been cleaned and painted

[ChaseTruck754]

Autofab likes to re-use the factory brake line ends at the caliper since they help route the line away from trouble. Hopefully that should eliminate issues with rubbing, and all I have to worry about is the length.

That's the way I've done mine. Used to take a set of stock brake lines to Mesa Hose and have them cut the rubber off, weld/braze -3 male AN fittings on and then make the stainless braided hose length to my requested size. They've worked well. I did tend to have them cut the metal part that we left a bit shorter than was left on yours, but I think with a smaller radius brake line bender, or even your hand (carefully) you can get a little better routing here.

For the slack in the middle of the line I used to do the couple zip ties through a short piece of rubber hose trick to make a little stand off that tied them to the coil, but kept them away from getting pinched in the coil.

[nubreed71]

Good call on the radius bender. I need to take a look under the truck when it's sitting at ride height and maybe use a jack to droop it out to see how the routing looks in relation to the tire and then decide if I need to fiddle with the routing, or just address the length.

[nubreed71]

Or just go coilovers and run hardlines down the radius arms because we all know that's where it's going eventually...

[Becks_Bronco]

Or just go coilovers and run hardlines down the radius arms because we all know that's where it's going eventually...

haha!

We all go there eventually... lol.

[Becks_Bronco]

Autofab likes to re-use the factory brake line ends at the caliper since they help route the line away from trouble. Hopefully that should eliminate issues with rubbing, and all I have to worry about is the length.

That's the way I've done mine. Used to take a set of stock brake lines to Mesa Hose and have them cut the rubber off, weld/braze -3 male AN fittings on and then make the stainless braided hose length to my requested size. They've worked well. I did tend to have them cut the metal part that we left a bit shorter than was left on yours, but I think with a smaller radius brake line bender, or even your hand (carefully) you can get a little better routing here.

For the slack in the middle of the line I used to do the couple zip ties through a short piece of rubber hose trick to make a little stand off that tied them to the coil, but kept them away from getting pinched in the coil.

I liked the ones your guy made. The hose section was universal between all locations on the truck, just those -3 AN fittings on each end so you only had to carry one or two spares, but they worked on both the front and rear, and no special parts needed.

[nubreed71]

Totally agree Will. If I end up getting longer ones made, will keep these for spares.

[ChaseTruck754]

Autofab likes to re-use the factory brake line ends at the caliper since they help route the line away from trouble. Hopefully that should eliminate issues with rubbing, and all I have to worry about is the length.

That's the way I've done mine. Used to take a set of stock brake lines to Mesa Hose and have them cut the rubber off, weld/braze -3 male AN fittings on and then make the stainless braided hose length to my requested size. They've worked well. I did tend to have them cut the metal part that we left a bit shorter than was left on yours, but I think with a smaller radius brake line bender, or even your hand (carefully) you can get a little better routing here.

For the slack in the middle of the line I used to do the couple zip ties through a short piece of rubber hose trick to make a little stand off that tied them to the coil, but kept them away from getting pinched in the coil.

I liked the ones your guy made. The hose section was universal between all locations on the truck, just those -3 AN fittings on each end so you only had to carry one or two spares, but they worked on both the front and rear, and no special parts needed.

Exactly. I had a bunch of -3 AN stuff on the crew. Made the lines 2 different lengths really for 4-5 different things on the truck. Could carry 2 spares and would cover everything. I'd also carry a -3 cap and plug or 2 of each and that way if you couldn't fix something with the new hose for some reason you could just cap off that rotor and keep rollin with the other 3 working.

[ChaseTruck754]

But all this is moot. We all know it'll be coilovers and hard lines down the radius arms like he said. Still, the banjo setup you have now can work and you just get a shorter braided line for the flex section from the end of the rad arm to the caliper. See the versatility of doing it this way!!

Oh, and head's up to all. Cheap AN fittings, fasteners and even the braided stainless line here: https://www.allensfasteners.com/search_ ... aramCat=47

The quality wasn't as good on that stuff vs. what I got from Mesa Hose, but it was really good on the pocket book. Mesa had the good braided stainless line with the rubber (or poly?? - whatever it was) coating/sleeve on the outside and then quality stainless swivel ends. The allens stuff has no outer coating over the stainless braid and they have zinc coated fittings on the ends. Still decent stuff for sure, especially for the price. Just depends on how crazy you wanna go.

[nubreed71]

Great find with those lines on Allens, thanks for the heads up! I use them for hardware pretty often, but had no idea they had those lines available. Hell, at that price, I may just order up some longer lines and call it a day.

[ChaseTruck754]

Allens has all sorts of stuff, and all at damn good prices. Spend some time just searching/looking through the catalogue online. I've found lots of stuff I never knew they had!

[nubreed71]

Agreed...probably worth my time to dig around on that site to see what else they offer outside of hardware.

[nubreed71]

The boys over at Richer got the rear spring swap turned around super fast, and even had time to help me get the front skidplate mounted and a lower mount/crossmember for that fabricated. I'm super stoked how it all turned out, and snapped a few pics with the skid plate bolted to the skid plate structure before I pulled it off to get the crossmember removed for powdercoat.

I'll get some more pics once the skid plate crossmember has been powder coated and final installation is done on that and the skid plate. I'm debating a couple little cutouts with mesh backing at the top of the skid to peek out below the OEM bumper. What do you guys think, yay or nay?

[VintageIronFab]

What you need now is a 38 gallon tank!

[VintageIronFab]

What you need now is a 38 gallon tank!

[nubreed71]

It's definitely on my to do list, but I can't find F26D or F26E tanks in stock anywhere. Not sure if Spectra discontinued them or what.