[69GMC2004]

It's been a little bit since I updated this. Between all of the Covid-19 stuff going one, work being unusually busy for this time of year, and a last minute impromptu hunting trip, I haven't managed to get much done.

If you live in Canada, don't use UPS. Just don't. 5 days of delays, 5 days of phone calls, 5 days of UPS employees admitting that they messed up and refusing to try to correct it, 5 days of UPS refusing to release the customs documents so I can pay my duty and taxes, $200 above original shipping cost to release my package, just for them to deliver it to the wrong address without the required signature, an hour of me driving around to all of the similar addresses to mine and knocking on doors looking for my package, I finally receive my rack and pinion kit from No Limit. No limit was awesome to deal with, it's just unfortunate that this is the standard service received from UPS.

When I got the package I found that the tie rod was poking through BOTH boxes but miraculously was not damaged. This install was very straight forward and easy, only had to make some minor adjustments to the bearing mount on the upper frame rail because the mount would not sit flush with the holes lined up.

The No Limit tie rod ends are a 5/8" bore. I needed to use 73-87 spindles for the QA1 suspension, which have a larger tie rod taper 5/8" on the small end and 3/4" on the larger end. I spoke with Rob briefly an he hadn't recalled anyone running into this issue. I didn't want to start messing with the steering linkage in the kit or start building custom steering linkage, so I ended up bringing the steering knuckles to a local machine shop and had them punch out the tie rod hole and press in a sleeve with a 5/8" bore. Works like magic!

I set the engine in place temporarily to get an idea of how much room I might have between headers and the steering shaft, as much as I can guess without the cab on the frame anyway lol.

I also found a set of tires that would actually hold air to put on some 5 bolt rims after doing the conversion. So even though I still can't install brakes (14" Wilwoods don't fit so great under 15" steelies), it's sitting its own wheels for the first time in about a year and a bit.