Author Topic: Ekstensive air ride install (81 C10 stepside)  (Read 13235 times)

Offline nucknoel89

  • Frequent Member
  • **
  • Posts: 432
  • Proud to be Canadian!
Ekstensive air ride install (81 C10 stepside)
« on: March 25, 2018, 10:08:48 PM »
Hey all, this is something I've been wanting to do for years. I did some searching online in hopes that someone had done a thread or video on this before, but I couldn't seem to find much. I started this thread in the hopes that I could help someone else who may wish to do this. I welcome any advice or feedback! Here we go!

This is a full air ride kit made specifically for the 73-87 square body 1/2 ton. It's made by a shop called Ekstensive Metalworks, based in Houston. They do tons of custom truck builds, trucks that have graced SEMA and numerous custom truck magazines. The full suspension kit is $1800, and I feel the parts are good quality.
One negative I will say about this is that they aren't great with communication and shipping. I ordered the kit on January 27, and they told me that a few pieces were back ordered, so it would ship when they had everything. I waited quite patiently and had to make a couple phone calls a week apart, and then on March 7 they finally shipped it out. After getting several boxes, I realized that not everything was there. I contacted them and apparently one box got misdirected and also the airbags were still back ordered. I got that misdirected box yesterday, and the box with the bags should be showing up tomorrow. Also got an email a couple days ago that apparently they sent me another box (expedited) which should come tomorrow again, so hopefully that has all the last little bits. I hope that my case was just an anomaly, but I would say that if you wish to do business with them, don't be in a rush.
Despite not having absolutely everything yet, I started to get to work anyway. I'll post below as I progress.

Offline nucknoel89

  • Frequent Member
  • **
  • Posts: 432
  • Proud to be Canadian!
Re: Ekstensive air ride install (81 C10 stepside)
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2018, 10:32:14 PM »
I started by pulling most of the the wood from my bed (the convenient part of the stepside bed). I'll have to pull the bed off eventually for the welding, but this worked for now. I wanted to mock the step notch into place. The step notch /bridge was already fabricated and included mounts for the shocks and panhard bar (2 link setup). It slips over the frame, then you weld it on, cut out the section of the frame under it, then box it with the filler plates they provide. I'll get someone who is really good at welding to do that part for me, but I want to have as much prepped as possible. The frame is a bit wider overtop of the axle, so I marked a line 2.5 inches from the outside of the frame on both sides and trimmed it down.


Then I slipped the notch on:


Next was the air tank. I ditched the spare tire carrier long ago, so I cut most of the bracket/crossmember out and mounted the air tank to the ends of it.


The last thing I did today was mount the compressors. I figured I'd put them on the rear most crossmember, right behind the tank.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 11:54:54 PM by nucknoel89 »

Offline 54inches

  • New Users
  • Posts: 2
  • Newbie
Re: Ekstensive air ride install (81 C10 stepside)
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2018, 08:06:08 AM »
Any updates?

Offline nucknoel89

  • Frequent Member
  • **
  • Posts: 432
  • Proud to be Canadian!
Re: Ekstensive air ride install (81 C10 stepside)
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2018, 11:56:13 PM »
Any updates?
Sorry, totally forgot about this thread. I intended to take more pictures as I was doing each part, but I got carried away.

With the step notch in place, I welded it to the frame. The shock mounts should be facing the front. With the notch securely welded, I cut out the sections under it and welded the filler plates supplied to the bottom of the notch. I made do with an cut-off wheel, but it would be much easier with a sawzall or a plasma cutter. I saved the sections I cut out and used parts of them to box the frame at the front and back of the notch for a bit of extra strength.

At this point I put the truck on jack stands. I removed the leaf springs one side at a time and installed the bars in their place (they use the front spring hangers). I opted for new bolts. They're a bit of an oddball, I think 9/16×5.5 grade 8. The "pyramid" on the end points up to the bottom of the axle. Then there are some crescent shaped brackets that sit on top of the pyramid and hug the axle. The old spring perches on the axle need to be cut off. Then the u-bolts slip over top and bolt through the plates that go under the pyramid. (Later on, once I had my driveline angle set at ride height, I tacked the crescent brackets to the axle and torqued the u-bolts, I think about 130 or 140 ft lbs.)

Next up were the upper bag brackets. I bolted the bottom to the new axle bar, then bolted the bracket to the top of the bag  before lining it up against the frame. This ensured the top and bottom mounts would align. I tacked it in place and then removed the bag so that any potential slag wouldn't burn holes in it. The brake line/bracket were kind of where I cut the frame sections out, so I shortened the hard line, flipped the rubber line around and moved the bracket forward. The panhard bar was mounted to the frame, then the little triangle bracket bolted to other end and I welded it on so it was parallel at ride height. The shocks were bolted to the tabs on the step notch and the tabs on the axle bars. The bottom shock collars need to be ground down fit.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2018, 12:03:26 AM by nucknoel89 »

Offline nucknoel89

  • Frequent Member
  • **
  • Posts: 432
  • Proud to be Canadian!
Re: Ekstensive air ride install (81 C10 stepside)
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2018, 08:43:55 PM »
On to the front. I started by removing the old spindles and coil springs. The kit requires drop spindles (not included). I took the upper bag brackets supplied and clamped them to the upper spring pocket (they have a slight bend that matches the contour so it's easy to line up). I then drilled bolt holes into the  upper spring pocket through the pre-drilled ones on the bracket. There's a cup that bolts to the bottom of the bag that just sits in the spot where the spring was. I bolted the upper bracket to the bag and put the air fitting in the top of the bag. I then drilled a hole in the middle of the top of the upper spring pocket to feed the air line through to the bag. I then bolted the upper bracket to the spring pocket. They supply some grade 5 bolts for this, but I opted to buy grade 8 bolts with locknuts instead. I then installed the drop spindles, and while I was at it I replaced the ball joints and tie rod ends. One thing I found is that they change the position of the caliper, so you'll have to manipulate the line a bit.