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Re: My version of the s10 swap
16,600 miles on the truck when I put it away Thanksgiving weekend. Time to put some more miles on it!
But first, it was in need of some maintenance and an upgrade.
This maintenance shouldn't have been necessary. When I put it together before, I had bought all the ball joints and steering joints from Speedway. When they showed up, they were in a white box with no brand name on them. I'll never do that again. I noticed when I jacked the truck up a couple weeks ago that the front wheels move in and out with a distinct "clunk", and the ball joints were shot.....with 16,600 miles on them!!! I always use MOOG, and this time I didn't. It now has all new MOOG joints in it and is very tight. It is less costly to do the correct parts once, than to do it again in too few of miles.
Now for the upgrade. The 5.3 is definitely too much for the stock s10 leaf springs, and makes for some noticeable axle wrap. I had at first shied away from traction bars, thinking they would hang too low on a truck that already rubs on the ground on occasion. After evaluating many options, and understanding that I want to spend my time working on my station wagon project, I decided to go with a "bolt on" solution and ordered up some CalTracs bars. They don't hang too low, but they do hang lower than the rim so if I blow a tire the bars will drag on the ground. I may have to swap out my springs for some 2" drop springs in the future and get rid of the blocks.
Anyway, here are the pictures:
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