87 Full Size - A Solo Man's Solo Build Story

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Finally gettin around to postin the build out I did installing the Solo Stage 4 kit with Kings. I got the plating and uniballs with bump stops too. Since I had to pull the beams, I might as well do gears too so I went with 5.13 and an Auburn Pro up front to match the one in the rear.
I REALLY love the 5.13s on 33s Highway I hit about 2800 RPMs at 75 MPH too so not really a loss there either

It certainly was a very, very long venture but I did everything myself including the welding I swore I'd never do on my rig It took me about 3 months to get "everything" done but there were few issues like the alignment and wrong springs so I didn't truly ever finish until last month so about 9 months total for my "new" baby

Here's a couple pix of what I "started" (owned for over 19 years so done plenty of work) with and a current after everything was finished.

A bit of a breakdown of everything:
-Flip out Pioneer deck with GPS and front/rear cam
-Front cam is behind the front wheels so I can see where they are and what's in front
-Rampage Soft Top
-GoLight RadioRay remote controlled spotlights
-ViAir compressor/tank with chucks on either side of the rig
-Center console sealed with drain so it works as a cooler
-MBQuarts front/mid and an ancient Fosgate sub
-Sony Marine amp
-Plasti-Dip'd carpet so it's water proof and still feels like carpet and I kept my factory carpet
-LED strips for rock lights cuz useful and looks cool
-Custom head liner and visors
-Solo Stage 4 kit with King Shocks/Coils/Bumps and Plating/Uniballs
-5.13 Motive gears on Auburn Pros front/rear
-Yukon Hardcore locking hubs
-1987 front end conversion
-Hybrid 8.8 rear axle. 8.8 center section, 9" outters. No c-clip, 9" style axle tubes/bearings, thicker tubes, and disc brake options
-Rear disc brakes with parking brake

I think that's about it?

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Here the rear end is being removed. That plastic tub came in real handy to keep all the parts in one spot where they can't run away from
That Ultimate 8.8 cover was garbage front day 1. I was very happy to get rid of it.
You can see the disc brake brackets for the 9" ends which are very nice. I hated those drums and broke the passenger shoe every time for some reason.
Not too much excitement here

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Now we're doin the fun/not fun stuff! Those rivets sucked!!!! There's tons of suggestions on what to do but the best way I found for me was cut a wide slit all the way to the frame, and air hammer the shit outta em. So you can see the huge mess it made but I cleaned and organized later (that's pretty rare)....

So you can see the Deaver q80-2s compared to the stock leafs. Big difference and I gotta say I really do love em after testing em out.

I found the exhaust was in the way of the shock with the old brackets and there was some other issue so I ended up cutting the exhaust off just after the 2nd cat but that's later down the road. Had to cut the brackets off later and add new ones too since one shock was rubbing on the frame on hard hits but that's later too.

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Doin some basic tests.

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Gotta love the pinion nut crush washer! They say never to back it off but I disagree. You gotta be super careful BUT if you back it off just a bit just before it crushes, you'll make torqueing it down 10-100x easier. I snapped two sockets doin this pinion. Once I backed it off like 1/16 of a turn, it had no problem tightening down to the final specs.

Of course my first injury is from just walking by one of the front beams I wasn't even doin work, just in my garage for somethin random....

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Done! With the rear.... It just glides over bumps now. It was so smooth I wondered if the axle was still there but then I remembered it has to be otherwise I would be having a very different experience
TIG welding with a foot pedal was a real PITA all around. Kinda wished I had a MIG but glad I did TIG since I know it's got good penetration vs. MIG, there's a bit more praying involved. I prefer the complete manual control too.

So yeah, the rear is done ! Actually it wasn't I had to cut the shock tabs, redo those, and a lil brake line/wires/tubing plumbing.

I also had to relocate my ViAir tank because the upper shock mount took it's place. Not happy about that since it's in the tightest spot possible now BUT it's still under the truck where I want it

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I forgot to mention the fuel pump access hatch I made did! I really love this mod because at one time I had to drop the tank 12 times to figure out the fuel pressure issue I had since I was failing emissions for it. Turned out to be 1 lil grain of and below the sealing o-ring.... But every time that tank was full when I had to drop it. Funny, I've only needed to get in there once since but I was glad I had it since I was replacing the pump.
I used a rubber hose I slit down one side as the edge gasket so it'd seal nicely. It does and I can stand on it and the latch is handy

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The previous owner did the VDO gauge cluster. Def better than the stock ones

Also here's a shot of the wheelin cam. It's aimed toward the front wheels and you can see I got a great view. The cam auto adjusts for light and since it's down below in a dark area, the front of the wheels can sometimes be washed out. I tried a filter but the cam just adjusts for it. It works pretty well though and it sure beats havin to get outta the truck especially if it was muddy.

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Now onto the front... And now to say good bye to a bunch of things, but for better stuff

You can see the old beams compared to the new ones from Solo. They did a fantastic job on the plating and their welds on everything have been top notch. Unfortunately they did not plate my radius arms like they were supposed to so I got to have fun doin that. It was the easiest welds I got to do at least... Roughly 18ft of of 3/32 filler :\

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Since the beams were out, and I had an oil pan leak, I opted to fix that. Didn't have to unbolt the engine mounts but definitely had some interesting gymnastics I had to do. To clean the gasket that fell into the pan, I had to look away from the truck, and bend my arm behind me to get my hand/arm into the pan... You can see that purty blue Permatex gasket in there now

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Mocking up the shock hoops so I can weld em! One that that sucked was having to remove the factory air box. I have a cone filter now but I didn't want to gut anything like that. Oh well....

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Hoops are welded in. Pretty much no goin back now! I can't tell you how many hours I paced nervously before I hit the first beads.... Surprisingly I didn't really fuck it up tho! All these months later with some trails and one hard/fast run, no cracks!
Since things are new, and I'm cleaning up the area, I used one of my favorite paints. Hammered Finish in Dark Bronze. It cleans off easily, especially grease and oil. When it gets dirty, it's not as easy to tell like black since it's a more neutral color. I also with I went with their copper color instead since it's more brown but I'm happy

So after welding, I got the beams in and the front diff setup. That crowbar setup made the ball joints pretty easy.

Once I got the ball joints in, I mounted the knuckles up and then the radius arms. And then......

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the rest of those pix

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Look at these magnificent axle shafts!!!!! You can't use em if you have cut n turned beams though so unfortunately they had to go back.... :*(

If you have stock beams OR if you have cut n turned extended beams, then you can use these.

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Cutting the hole was fun. I used a 6" hole saw and still needed to cut out more. I used a hot knife for that which was fun since I had some melted plastic fall onto me. Pro tip: If melted plastic gets on you, don't wipe it away otherwise you'll make things worse. Let it cool then peel it off

So now I'm getting an idea of what the travel potential is and the potential is good!

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Finally get to do the final life critical welds! Again, super stressed but I spent a lot of time checking everything and I did it right! Not too bad of welds either for TIG'in this in place. It's also worth sayin this is my 3rd welding project in my life. I've got plenty of hood time practicing for months and on/off for the last 3 years. I'm proficient enough to say I did a good job but it could certainly be better but it is better than many weld jobs I've seen SO I'm satisfied cuz I'm not a pro welder, just a side hobby

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And now I'm gonna stop and do something else I'll continue adding the rest later.... Enjoy!

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Now this m'fer...... This is the u-joint up front on the passenger side. I welded the cap but there's too much travel so the axle shaft blew right through at full flex. It didn't do it at first so I had to add some force but it's good to "pretend" a real off road experience and figure this out in your garage first before you hit the trail
So can see I'm pointing to the bind points and then you see the "explosion".

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More clearance issues! This is passenger side but the axle stub isn't sticking out far enough because of the bind at the u-joint closest to the diff. We'll call it the center u-joint going forward

So from here I get to do some mods....

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What happens when you cut an axle shaft with a grinder in 120+ temps? It gets hot. Here's a dumb ass moment where I picked up the shaft and spun it in hand like you'd do with a pipe and now I permanently will forever know the spline distance for my front axles :\