97 Sonoma originally bagged local to Minnesota by another shop. Its in for a full redo both front and back. 3.5" Body drop on the bed and what we are appropriately calling the uni tub. We'll be gutting the old suspension including the notch, valves, tank, lines, bags, brackets 4-link and wiring. Plans are to set the truck up with a raised gas tank crossmember. Wishbone 3-link rear suspension, new notch, center the wheels back up with the wheel wells and get the drive line straight. Front is being changed over to larger bags.

The suspension design allowed the rearend to shift from side to side and caused the drive line angle to change irratically when the truck was being driven. It actually gave it a feeling like the rearend was breaking loose or that it had rear steer. It had a good 1.5-2" of movement whether you were on or off the gas. I'll be setting up some video footage to show just how bad it was. Along with some more pictures of other things wrong with the truck. Stay Tuned.....
The trucks reincarnation is at the bottom of the page. You would never know it is the same truck if you saw it in person.

You can see how off the wheel sits in the wheel well. The actual rearend swung behind the centerline of the notch and partially missed the notch all together. This kept the truck from laying out.

Best I can tell the bridge work is made with schedule 40 black pipe. The tubing was holding up ok. But the plate upper bag mounts were bending from stress. Everything you see will be taken out and redone.

This was an attempt to turn the upper 4-link bar into a double sheer application. Unfortunately it didn't work since the bracket is not supported top or bottom to the main diff bracket. It caused the bushings to ovalize. Which in turn caused the rearend to shift to one side.

The driveshaft angle at ride height was set at about 7 degrees down. Through the range of motion it changed a good 10 degrees from positive to negative.

You can see the inside notch plate was not set level with the outside notch plate. So the whole top of the notch is sloped to one side.

The passenger side wheel was three inches from the frame.

The driver side wheel was 2 inches from the frame. I guess they figured it was close enough.

I'm not even sure what to say here.

This is where the notch should have been according to where it was placed. It was easily 2 inches forward of where it should have been. I'm going to cut the old notch out and do a new notch in its place.

Notch in its new position.

This is what was under the lower bag mounts when we cut them off.

Let some serious grinding begin.

Wheel is centered back up wit the wheel well.

The truck is rolling now on a set of 15" steelies with baby moon caps and a 2" white wall. From my understanding the truck will be repainted a dark blue with a pin up girl on the tailgate to keep the old school retro theme.

Simple and clean tube setup in the back. The truck will lay out on a 15 with low profile tires and still get full lift or up to a 22" with low profile tires. Only a shock swap is needed.

We sandblasted to get everything cleaned up and then everything was primed, painted and cleared. Sandblasting the rearend is becoming a standard here at Crazy Talk Customs. You just can't beat how clean it will get the rearend and how smooth the paint will come out.

You get the idea all new lines, valves, tank, comps, bags, shocks, notch, link system, paint, etc..... The rear clip looks like a million bucks. Plus the suspension is solid as a rock.

For the bed we rolled a piece of 16gauge sheetmetal into the uni tub. Built a new floor and bed mounts with a body drop built in. The floor will now have custom wood inserts built and will be hinged in the back to have access to the suspension.


Spacers hold the bed up into position and will be pulled out when the truck comes back for the BD.

Look for the truck to be rolling to a show near you sometime.

Old Skool Kustoms did the wood bed floor in Andy's truck and it came out sick. Look for the truck at a show near your this year.