NOOB 2006 TB LS Lake Charles, La

by **dillonwalt** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:32 am

Hi everyone my name is Dillon I am a young former solider of the United States Army currently living in Louisiana. I am a proud owner of a 2006 TB LS. I have been a silent member of ORTB for quite some time and I have been researching, researching and researching some more. I wanted to get my truck to the OFFROAD level but still be a well functioning daily driver. Now I have purchased the Marc Mc 3in suspension lift, 1.5 in wheel spacers, Bilstein shocks front and rear and z71 Tahoe springs, some new replacement parts such as ball joints and cv axles. I am going to set all of those on American Racing Fuel AR321 17X8 6X5.0 wrapped with Treadwright Guard Dog M/T (D) 285/70R/17. Any how I have a bunch of other cosmetic upgrades and will soon be working on fabricating a steel bumper similar to the ones made by MDB. Now that I have something to contribute I will be posting a build thread over the next two weeks. I would love if any one in the Lake Charles area would offer some advice for anything or help and I am extremely greatful for all the info here. I try to do my research before asking questions and I feel like I am doing good, but if anyone has any questions or advice for the setup I am planning on running I would greatly appreciate the input.

by **bartonmd** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:56 am

Welcome!

Mike

by **NC_IslandRunner** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:17 am

Welcome!

by **navigator** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:34 am

welcome Dillon, you only have two posts and you already have your location correct and all your parts on order. Can you give a seminar to other noobs coming in? :-)

j/k welcome aboard.

BTW, what gearing do you have?

by **boog2006** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:48 am

Welcome great post!

YouTube Videos · by **Trail X** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:00 am

My only concern with your setup is the bilsteins front and rear. Are you going with stock height rear shocks? Or are you going for tahoe or longer rears? With Z71 springs and a lift back there, you'd top out a stock length shock all the time.

by **The Roadie** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:20 am

Welcome, Dillon. Most impressive first post!

by **HARDTRAILZ** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:07 am

Howdy

by **djthumper** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:50 pm

Welcome!

by **dillonwalt** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 6:08 am

Wow thanks everyone I try to follow the rules so I can help out as well as be helped out. I bought the BST Heavy duty complete set from the shockwarehouse direct link from the vendor forum. I honestly had not thought of or accounted for the added height; I got the p/n 24-103350 for the rears and the 24-103336 for the fronts. It may have been my first mistake. If these shocks aren't long enough for my intended purpose of Mark MC 3" susp. lift and Z71 tahoe springs will some one please tell me some sort of secret or way to compensate without having to return these shocks. If there is none I will have to kick my on arse and pay attention next time.

by **dillonwalt** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 6:13 am

To be specific I got a set of MOOG 60148, and a set of RAYBESTOS 5891144. These two items and the shocks were the first items I bought and I was still in the research process. I may have got ahead of myself being in such a hurry to get my baby TB turned into a BAD ASS TB. So if anyone has any thing else to point out I may have over looked any help is good help. Thanks for the warm welcome by the way

by **dillonwalt** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 6:23 am

To add some insight my Trail Blazer was treated like garbage before it fell into my hands. Since then I have given it a full Royal Purple and K&N oil change, a little TLC with SeaFoam, replaced both O2 sensors, replaced the condensor and A/C acculmulator, installed a double din dvd player in dash, replaced damaged hood and grille. I am in the process of painting the headlights and tail lights with spray on smoke tint, applying "back to black" on all rubber and plastic exterior, removing side trim and stock roof rack, tinting all windows, swapped out both bowties with black billet bowties. I have both replacement U Joints, CV axles, ball joints upper and lower ready to go on as soon as I start cracking into the suspension. I will also replace all fluids I.E. power steering, transmission, coolant, replacing serpentine belt and possibly the idler pulley depending on if that is the root of my whining problem.

by **dillonwalt** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 6:27 am

Oops sorry, I am not sure about the gearing or the G80 for that matter my noobness is starting to show I have been meaning to check that out I will do it first thing in the morning. If I remember correctly I think I read that I can see that by looking at the sticker inside the dash?

by **navigator** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 8:43 am

yes, you can check the sticker on the dash.
make sure changing the xfercase fluid is a priority, it should be done every 50k.
You can get the AutoTrac II fluid only from the dealer and it takes two bottles at usually <$10 each.

by **Cable810** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 9:10 am

Welcome!!

by **dillonwalt** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 9:29 am

Not bad at all I wouldn't have thought of that until I read it somewhere else thanks

by **4angels** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 2:09 pm

Welcome!

And if your going to ditch the roof rack send me a PM as I could use 1 piece of it....

YouTube Videos · by **Trail X** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:05 pm

dillonwalt wrote:I got the p/n 24-103350 for the rears

I would say that yes, they are too short.

You can check yourself and see what your extension distance is.

Measure your hub to fender distance on the rear axle when your truck is on level ground.

Lift only one rear tire off the ground (by the frame) and measure the new distance from hub to fender.

This difference is your extension. I had BDS+Z71 springs for a short time with tahoe rear shocks. I recall measuring something like 1" of extension, which is pretty pathetic.

No, there is no real easy fix. Buy new shocks. The BDS 5000 series rear shocks are fairly cheap and not a bad option (although we may hear from a chorus of dissidents now).

by **dillonwalt** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:34 pm

So I want to send my bilstien rear set back and go with either the BDS 5500 series or the FOX 2.0. The cost is no issue, I am just really confused as to whether or not you can just swap them with your OEM shocks or if you have to have the BDS system. I really like the fox Dual shock kits but I am also having a hard time wrapping my head around that.

by **dillonwalt** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:39 pm

Also I got my new treadwright guard dogs in today; they look absolutley BAD ASS can't wait to see how the ride and bite. I have heard nothing but good things. I am compiling pictures to eventually make a build thread, trying to have this whole TB flipped by next friday.

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