Rocket Man's 2008 Bagged CC Silverado Build AKA "THE MACHINE"

[Rocket Man]

Make sure you look those babies over when you get them back. Def don't want or need any nicks or scratches on them because they don't know how to mount them correctly.

Yep. Actually, one of the rears had a couple scratches on the outside of the lip when I dropped them off, maybe from being in the house and being moved around for months. It’s ok though, they will buff out. That’s the good thing about billets. The place I took them to is a place I trust. It took me years to find a tire place that knew how to work on big rims and that I could trust. When I took one of the rears to them so they could see what I needed done and explained the tires were stretched too,the dude said “no problem, we can mount and stretch any tire.”

 

[Rocket Man]

 

[Fosscore]

Sweet!!

 

[NathanJax]

Got my new intro's mounted on my Silverado.

 

[Rocket Man]

Ok, I've been stressing over the rear wheels since I mounted them. Back when I ordered them, I factored in the 2" spacers I had on the old wheels and since they were at the correct distance in from the fenders I ordered the new wheels with a backspace of 3". The old ones had a 5 1/8" backspace. That would have pushed the lip out 1/8" with the spacers removed and resulted in the beautiful 9" lip they have instead of the 7" on the old ones. Should be no problem. But IIRC, they could only get to a 2 3/4" backspace due to the design of the hoops,which would have pushed them out another 1/4" to a total of 3/8" out from where the old ones were. Still OK, from my measurements and calculations. However... even the best calculations don't factor in things like the centers are different which changed the location from the hub to the outside lip. By another 1/4". So they're now in danger territory ( but the lips are actually 9 1/2" instead of the 9" I was expecting) and on the first run I (barely) scraped the outside of the passenger lip which I polished out. Then I proceeded to roll the fenders and also found some inner structure that might have been what caused the scrape so I cut that out with a right angle grinder. I drove to the grocery store today at different ride heights and so far so good. However I'm still concerned that if I have to swerve while at ride height I might scrape a lip. I'm going to look into what it will take to narrow the rear end a bit more like 3/8" on each side. I might be able to use the same axles and just narrow the tubes. I have reached out to intro to see if they will help me out as far as some cash back since they didn't let me know the lips would be further out than the 1/4" we calculated. I'll reach out to Moser axles to see if there's any chance of cutting the tubes 3/8" on each side and reuse the axles. Until then it's careful driving I guess. The life of customs.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Ok, I've been stressing over the rear wheels since I mounted them. Back when I ordered them, I factored in the 2" spacers I had on the old wheels and since they were at the correct distance in from the fenders I ordered the new wheels with a backspace of 3". The old ones had a 5 1/8" backspace. That would have pushed the lip out 1/8" with the spacers removed and resulted in the beautiful 9" lip they have instead of the 7" on the old ones. Should be no problem. But IIRC, they could only get to a 2 3/4" backspace due to the design of the hoops,which would have pushed them out another 1/4" to a total of 3/8" out from where the old ones were. Still OK, from my measurements and calculations. However... even the best calculations don't factor in things like the centers are different which changed the location from the hub to the outside lip. By another 1/4". So they're now in danger territory ( but the lips are actually 9 1/2" instead of the 9" I was expecting) and on the first run I (barely) scraped the outside of the passenger lip which I polished out. Then I proceeded to roll the fenders and also found some inner structure that might have been what caused the scrape so I cut that out with a right angle grinder. I drove to the grocery store today at different ride heights and so far so good. However I'm still concerned that if I have to swerve while at ride height I might scrape a lip. I'm going to look into what it will take to narrow the rear end a bit more like 3/8" on each side. I might be able to use the same axles and just narrow the tubes. I have reached out to intro to see if they will help me out as far as some cash back since they didn't let me know the lips would be further out than the 1/4" we calculated. I'll reach out to Moser axles to see if there's any chance of cutting the tubes 3/8" on each side and reuse the axles. Until then it's careful driving I guess. The life of customs.

Hopefully they'll give you a few bucks back. Not holding my breath on that one tho. Wish you luck.

 

[iamdub]

You have a panhard or (preferably) a Watt's link?

 

[Rocket Man]

You have a panhard or (preferably) a Watt's link?

Watts. It doesn’t move side to side at all from all the way up to all the way down. The only issue I see now that Ive rolled the fenders is side-to-side movement from body roll. I have 3/4” clearance at its tightest point which is about normal drive height on the passenger side and 1 1/4” on the driver side. Might be able to move the bed on its mounts though to even that to 1” for both, Im gonna check it out.

 

[Rocket Man]

The folks at intro are having their engineer look into what can be done about the rear wheels. They’re kind of in a responsible position since the paperwork clearly shows 3” backspacing and the pictures I sent them show it’s 2 3/4”.

 

[iamdub]

Fight the powa.

 

[Rocket Man]

I've been trying to find out exactly what type of a setup the rear suspension is ever since I bought the truck. I'm not experienced in this. I ordered an air suspension design book about 6 months ago that's supposed to explain things but it won't ship until (finally) next week. I was told by the PO (who also didn't seem to know what it was exactly) that it's a 4-link. That much I know. But there's several types of 4-link like parallel, triangulated, etc. Plus there's different ways to keep it centered as it raises and lowers. Today, I decided that what I thought was a Watt's link isn't. IDK what it is. It's an X that connects to 4 points on the differential, 2 upper and 2 lower. It also connects to the 4-link. But I do not see how it centers the diff. It doesn't help that I'm trying to look at it by putting it on jackstands and crawling underneath it. the best pics I have are from All-Star Customs, the builder. I think it might be their own design. If anybody know what this is, please chime in. You can see the 2 upper and 2 lower links that attach to the diff, and the X-brace. I see no way to adjust side-to side unless I just unbolt the box from the frame and see if I can get it to move. I only need 1/4" to be centered.

 

[iamdub]

Best as I can tell from the pics, that X piece doesn't really do much by way of lateral bracing. For the most part, controlling of the lateral movement is all done by the bushings in that X piece and the 4 link bars. This isn't a strong design for lateral stability. It's fine if you take turns really slowly. For anything else, you need more reinforcement. Due to your tight wheel-to-fender tolerances, you're pretty much limited to a Watts. Triangulating the links would require major reconstruction. Adding a Watts would, too, but it'd be much more effective than triangulating.

 

[Rocket Man]

It corners pretty good so I’m not going to mess with the suspension at this time. The engineer at intro finally called me today and we decided they will change the backspacing by 1/2” to 3 1/4” from the 2 3/4” currently. That will put the rims at 1/8” in from where the old ones were with the 2” spacers on. Bummer is that I need to pull the tires and TPMS sensors, box them up and ship them to Cali. Good thing is that I won’t need to worry about them hitting the fenders. They said it should be a week or possibly 2 turnaround which is fast for them. It took 3-4 months to get them originally. But it’s easier than the alternates like re-narrowing the rear end or changing the suspension.

 

[Rocket Man]

Pulled the rear wheels, had the tires and TPMS removed, boxed them up and sent them via UPS today. $86 shipping for both to Cali, not bad. They said they’ll pay for return shipping. I called and talked to the engineer again to make sure he knew the centers are machined to fit the inner diameter of the raised area where the valve stems are and so they can’t be moved out on the hoops because that’s a bigger diameter like the fronts are made but being an engineer he just told me he has it handled as long as we don’t increase the backspacing by any more than 1/2” and hung up on me. Rude mofo. I suspect he is going to have them machine 1/2” from the back of the hubs since it looks to be about 2” thick there. He did say it will be quick which also makes me think that’s the plan. The process of cutting the welds that hold the centers to the hoops and then machining adapters and rewelding it would not be quick.

 

[iamdub]

Pulled the rear wheels, had the tires and TPMS removed, boxed them up and sent them via UPS today. $86 shipping for both to Cali, not bad. They said they’ll pay for return shipping. I called and talked to the engineer again to make sure he knew the centers are machined to fit the inner diameter of the raised area where the valve stems are and so they can’t be moved out on the hoops because that’s a bigger diameter like the fronts are made but being an engineer he just told me he has it handled as long as we don’t increase the backspacing by any more than 1/2” and hung up on me. Rude mofo. I suspect he is going to have them machine 1/2” from the back of the hubs since it looks to be about 2” thick there. He did say it will be quick which also makes me think that’s the plan. The process of cutting the welds that hold the centers to the hoops and then machining adapters and rewelding it would not be quick.

He's probably salty cuz he's the guy that f'ed up the original measurements.

 

[Rocket Man]

He's probably salty cuz he's the guy that f'ed up the original measurements.

Pretty sure he is the reason they’re wrong since they consulted their engineer when I ordered them because originally they said they couldn’t do 3 “ backspace but then called me back and said they could.

 

[iamdub]

Pretty sure he is the reason they’re wrong since they consulted their engineer when I ordered them because originally they said they couldn’t do 3 “ backspace but then called me back and said they could.

Said they could, yet they didn't and it's costing you more money and headache. Gotta love those in-juh-neerz.

 

[Rocket Man]

So the engineer called me last Thursday and asked if he could change backspacing by a “bit less” and I was in the process of asking him what the issue was and then he said something about being able to sell my wheels and make me new ones, then said he’d do some more measuring and call me back. So today I called the office and Shirley, who’s been helping me, said engineer dude had a family issue and wouldn’t be back until Monday and she had also heard something about new wheels but couldn’t find out anything until she heard from engineer dude. She also said that the plant knew they were a “rush” for a car show. So I wait.

 

[07Burb]

So the engineer called me last Thursday and asked if he could change backspacing by a “bit less” and I was in the process of asking him what the issue was and then he said something about being able to sell my wheels and make me new ones, then said he’d do some more measuring and call me back. So today I called the office and Shirley, who’s been helping me, said engineer dude had a family issue and wouldn’t be back until Monday and she had also heard something about new wheels but couldn’t find out anything until she heard from engineer dude. She also said that the plant knew they were a “rush” for a car show. So I wait.

Something seems fishy about “engineer dude” to me

 

[iamdub]

Something seems fishy about “engineer dude” to me

My thoughts. But, what's Mark to do?

I don't quite understand it, though. If they possibly have a buyer for the "oops" wheels and can make Mark more, then why would the offset need to be "a bit less" than what they most recently agreed on? If they're making new wheels, they can make them to whatever offset. Or am I misunderstanding something?