Joe Gibbs Truck

Hey, welcome to trucks and the project that you've all been wanting to see, you know, a few weeks ago, I said I was gonna build a truck here on the show

and then give it away to one of you guys out there.

Well, that's the project. I'm gonna jump on today and this is what I'm gonna start with. Yeah.

A Joe Gibbs Silverado.

This isn't just any old Joe Gibbs Silverado. No, this is the prototype. This is the first one. It was in all the magazines. It's the one I actually tested here on the show.

Now, if you saw this test,

you know that this is a pretty bad boy, but

it can be better. They can always be better.

And that's what I'm gonna do is make it better

and then we're going to give it away.

Ok. First, what am I gonna call this project? That's simple blackjack for a couple of reasons. First of all, you submit your name, then it's gonna take the luck of the draw for you to win that truck.

Second

is this little guy here. Now, this is something that people used to carry back in the old days when they thought that they might get into a street fight. Now, it looks small,

but with its spring and the handle and a big hunk of lead in the end,

it didn't matter how big you were. If you got popped with one of these things you were going down,

it was called a Blackjack. I'm gonna build a truck version of this so the new owner can hold his own.

All right, the first thing that I'm gonna improve on this truck is the suspension.

Now, the truck already handles fairly well,

but with a supercharged engine and a pipe speed.

Well, it had a pretty bad case of wheel hop.

So I'm gonna cure that by putting on a state of the art air suspension.

Now, I know a lot of you are thinking, wait, wait, stop. I thought you said this was gonna be a performance truck. What's up with the air ride system?

And actually that's a very valid question

because for the longest time, people thought of an air ride system

as something that you put on a cruiser. You know, you take it in, you slam it down and everybody goes. Oh, wow, look how low it is and that's cool.

But the guys at air ride technologies thought, you know,

there's more to air than that. So they came out with this system that is for you, performance minded drivers,

we're gonna start on the rear. Now, this isn't just a couple of air bags that you just bolt in and you're done. No,

no, this actually can convert your stock leaf spring rear suspension

to a state of the art for link with airbags. Now, take a look at this. You have all your link bars, you have your bags and your shocks, all your bracketry. And then this big old boy here

that holds your axle in place

and then these are frame notches to get that thing down on the ground. Now, this is how it goes in.

First, you're gonna wanna get this bed out of the way so you can have room to work. So

off comes the tunnel cover,

disconnect the tell light wiring harness,

the gas filler, Nick,

then remove the bolts

and lift her off.

All right, let's go ahead and roll this truck forward

you

ok with everything disassembled and the rear tires off and the rear end supported on jack stands.

It is time

to talk about the frame notch or what is also known as ac notch. Now, the whole purpose of a frame notch is to allow that rear axle to tuck up into this notch. So the truck will sit super low, but everything will still function properly.

The problem in the past

is if you wanted a frame notch, you had to hand fabricate it, which meant a lot of cutting and welding and basically reengineering the frame from here on back something, a lot of people were not able to do

so by offering this prefabricated piece air ride technologies, saves you a ton of work. And all you have to do

is put it in,

first make a mark where you need to cut your frame

and then cut it out using a cut off tool, a sawzall or a plasma cutter.

Finally just dress up the cuts with the grinder. Now, a little frame builder secret here is to keep the corners rounded to prevent stress cracks.

Now, all you have to do is tap the sea notch into place on the frame,

drill the holes and bolt it on.

You'll need to lower the gas tank out of the way

and modify the inner frame rail so you can get to the nuts

and that is it.

Now, all you have to do

is exactly the same thing over there on the other side,

which I'm gonna do while you are taking a break,

don't go too far because when you get back, all that cool stuff is gonna go on here.

Hey, welcome back to trucks

and project blackjack

the truck that I am building up for one of you viewers out there. Now, at this point, I am deep in the middle of installing a performance air ride suspension on that truck

and have just cut out huge chunks of frame and installed some sea notches back here. Yeah.

Now comes one of my favorite parts getting rid of all of this stock suspension shocks, springs, everything.

All right. Now, we are ready to put on this lower axle brace. Now, this provides mounting points for the airbags, the shocks and your link bars. Now, it's very simple.

It just slides under the axle and then these ears right here

slide up into the pocket underneath your existing spring perch

and then this goes on top

and then four bolts holds it all together.

All right, we're gonna follow all that up with these upper link brackets and they go right here

utilizing these factory holes. That's the good news. The bad news is

those rivets need to come out and the best tools to use is a grinder

and an air punch.

Now it's time to start putting things on starting with the upper and lower link bars.

Then the shocks,

the upper cross member

followed by the Panter bar bracket

and then the Panter bar itself

finally just bolt on your air bags

and the transformation to a four bar is complete,

but

there are a few things I wanna bring up here.

First of all,

you will need to relocate your brake lines here

and here, which means you're gonna have to fabricate a bracket to hold them in place.

Also, you're gonna have to custom make an exhaust system

because there is nothing that's gonna bolt right in place because of the location of that air bag.

Now, because of the way you're gonna have to run that exhaust, you're also probably gonna have to lose that full size spare tire. Now, one more thing

under the bed, there are braces that run the width of the bed,

probably gonna have to notch those in a couple areas

where this new frame, notch sits above the frame. Now, this is all pretty easy stuff to do,

but it's things you need to be aware of before you get into a project like this because there's, there's more to this than just holding on new pieces. There's a lot of things that you need to make fit. All right, takes care of the rear. We're gonna start on the front after the break.

Hey, welcome back to trucks.

And what I'm working on today is putting a performance air ride suspension on this 2003 Silverado to make it handle. Now, I know, I know you don't usually think of an air ride suspension for handling, but the guys at Air Ride technologies are bound and determined to change your mind on that.

Now, I've already got the rear suspension in time to dig into the front. And the first thing that needs to happen

is all the front suspension needs to come off. I mean, everything, upper and lower control arms springs, shocks, sway bars, all of it.

So Chris start the music and you follow along while I add more junk to the swap meet

spot.

Now, the only surprise is a piece of the spring tower needs to be cut out to give you clearance for the shockwave air spring

and you can use a

Sawzall, a cut off wheel or a plasma cutter to get the job done.

All right, the kit consists of new, upper and lower control arms and they've got everything brand new urethane, bushings and ball joints and all the hardware to put them in.

Then you have this huge new front sway bar and of course, all the hardware to put that in

and then you have the shock waves. Now, these are basically an air bag and a shock all wrapped into one nice neat little package. Now, first thing we're gonna put in are these upper and lower control arms.

We'll follow that with a shock wave coil over and it just bolts in place.

Finally put on the new sway bar and you are back in business.

All right, while I'm in here now is a good time to upgrade the brakes on that thing. Now, I know that you've seen it's got Bear rotors on there, but that's it. Just rotors. So we are going to upgrade that

with the Bear Errata speed rotor and caliper kits

and we've got a kit for the front

and we've got a kit for the rear

and I know you're thinking man, that is an expensive brake system,

but it's actually not bear gives these away for free

to the guy that's gonna win the truck, the rest of you guys gotta dig out your wallet and pay,

but

you don't have to pay too much because the whole idea behind the Errata speed kit

is that you get superior breaking.

That looks good for a reasonable price. And here's the biggie bolts right in place of your stock brake system.

So that's what I'm gonna do is put this on. You're gonna take a break when we get back, I'm gonna deal with the air system and the electrical, it's gonna power this thing.

Hey, you're back. Good

because I am in the final steps of installing an air suspension on this 2003 Chevy, but it's not just any old air suspension.

This is Air Ride Technologies, Street Challenge package. That's for those of you that want your truck to handle as well as it looks.

Now I've got the suspension installed on the front and the rear.

Now it's time to take a look at what it's gonna take to make this operate.

Now, an air supply system has got five major components. You've got your computer controller system,

then you have your sending units,

your solenoids,

your air tank and then your compressors. Now how you mount this stuff on your truck is entirely up to you, man. You can put it under the bed, you can put it in the bed, you can put it on the frame, put it in the cab.

There's no one way to do it. But air ride technologies suggest that you put it all together on a board like this for numerous reasons. First of all,

it's easy to mount it in the bed this way.

Second,

it's easy to serve us because everything's right here, easily accessible. And third,

well, it looks good. Now, here's how it works. You

got your air compressors that fill the tank,

the tank supplies air to the

solenoids.

The

solenoids are controlled by the computer

and the sending units which tell the

solenoids how much air to send to the airbags. See, very simple. Now, all I've got to do is mount this in the bed and hook it up.

Unfortunately,

I have to bring this project to a close today because I'm getting a little short on time,

but in about four weeks, I'm gonna roll this truck back in,

gonna put a few more surprises on it

and we're gonna give it away to you.

You know, most people realize that G vehicles are some of the most popular rigs ever made.

And because of that, you would think that you could go out and just buy some performance parts for them, right.

That hasn't always been the case until now,

Edel Brock has just come out with his aluminum cylinder heads for the A MC V8 engines. Now check this out. Look at this, you have stainless steel valves,

springs, retainers, screw in studs, guide plates

and an improved oiling system.

This is the stuff that the Ford and Chevy guys have had for a long time and

a MC guys had to just dream about it. So

if you are building an A MC engine and you want to have some real power,

give that Brock a call. They got what you need.

Speaking of popular vehicles. How about the 96 to 2001 Ford Explorer?

Yeah, those are all over and there's a lot of people that are just dying to get more power out of them. Well, now you can

with these,

these are called torque monster headers and they are designed for the Ford Explorer with a 5.0 V8 engine.

Now, believe it or not, these wild looking things

are designed to slide right in place of your stock exhaust manifolds and they will give you a substantial increase in horsepower and torque because

look at them, they flow like a mother.

Now they also have a high temperature coating

and

they come with all the gaskets and hardware to put them in. So if you're tired of just putting around town

and you want that Explorer to run like it should

torque monster header should be the first call you make

if you're building power into a four by four truck and you're also lifting it up in the air.

One problem that is gonna rear its ugly head is axle wrap, but that's ok because super lift has a solution to that

in these heavy duty ladder bars.

Now, these are made out of heavy gauge steel tubing,

they're triangulated and gusseted for extra strength

and they are fully adjustable.

They also have urethane bushings in both ends. Now, the mounting brackets

are made to fold right to the axle and to the frame. So installation is fairly simple but the end result very strong.

So if you're having axle wrap problems, super lift probably has a set of these that'll fit your truck.