Sky's Offroad Design Super Duty RSK Install

[85lebaront2]

It seems like product development really has some work to do in order for that RSK to be close to right. *roll eyes

You and Bill both get to be guinea pigs this week!

Oink, oink

[Gary Lewis]

It seems like product development really has some work to do in order for that RSK to be close to right. *roll eyes

You and Bill both get to be guinea pigs this week!

Yes, I agree with both statements. Erik tells me that the frames vary in that area, but all I know is what I'm looking at, and it doesn't quite fit mine.

Guinea pigs or pioneers. People don't usually eat guinea pigs, but the pioneers and frontier soldiers did wear arrows from time to time. (Hm, you're a little bit late on that one, charlie. Ooh, I bet that smarts!)

[VWThomason]

Yes, I agree with both statements. Erik tells me that the frames vary in that area, but all I know is what I'm looking at, and it doesn't quite fit mine.

Guinea pigs or pioneers. People don't usually eat guinea pigs, but the pioneers and frontier soldiers did wear arrows from time to time. (Hm, you're a little bit late on that one, charlie. Ooh, I bet that smarts!)

Erik called me today, but I missed his call. I tried calling him back, but I sat on hold for over half an hour so I gave up and maybe I can get in touch with me tomorrow. However, in the voicemail he did say he was in the middle of the redesign and should have my kit sent out in 2 weeks. We shall see.

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

Yes, I agree with both statements. Erik tells me that the frames vary in that area, but all I know is what I'm looking at, and it doesn't quite fit mine.

Guinea pigs or pioneers. People don't usually eat guinea pigs.....

You've obviously never been to Central, or north western South America.

Qui (?) Is quite popular and delicious!

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, I agree with both statements. Erik tells me that the frames vary in that area, but all I know is what I'm looking at, and it doesn't quite fit mine.

Guinea pigs or pioneers. People don't usually eat guinea pigs.....

You've obviously never been to Central, or north western South America.

Qui (?) Is quite popular and delicious!

Jim - No, I've not been there. Been to Nicaragua where they eat iguanas though.

VW - What Erik told me yesterday is that it'll be two weeks to ship the new part, but another week for me to get it here in Okiehoma.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - No, I've not been there. Been to Nicaragua where they eat iguanas though.

VW - What Erik told me yesterday is that it'll be two weeks to ship the new part, but another week for me to get it here in Okiehoma.

Pollyo de arboles. (chicken of the tree)

I would say that Nicaragua is Central America!

Anything south of Mexico and North of Colombia is Central America.

Panama to Guatemala or Belize.

[Gary Lewis]

Pollyo de arboles. (chicken of the tree)

I would say that Nicaragua is Central America!

Anything south of Mexico and North of Colombia is Central America.

Panama to Guatemala or Belize.

APOLOGIES TO SKY!

This morning I drilled the holes in the frame. The first pass was to drill the existing holes out to 1/2", which is the size of the fasteners. And while the majority of the bolts would go in, they were all kinda wonky and one refused to go.

I checked the size of the holes in Sky's bracket: 17/32" So I pulled out the 17/32" reamer and took all of the frame holes out to that size. That let the bracket bolt up nicely.

Here it is installed. But, the thing to note is that there is no spacer between the frame and the bracket - and it fits nicely! All of those bolts are just snug and no washers were used for this test. So, when washers are used and all the bolts torqued down I think the frame and the bracket will meet even better.

But, there are a few things to note:

1. I didn't follow the directions of torquing down the bolts in the bottom of the frame first and then drilling/grinding the side bolt holes out. Instead, I drilled and then reamed the original side, and bottom, holes out to 17/32". Then I installed the bracket and all of the bolts loosely, then snugged them up hand tight. Then I torqued down the side bolts and then the bottom bolts. That seemed to cause the frame and bracket to meet each other nicely.

2. I had to install the bottom left side bolt with the head on the inside, as shown, because doing it the other way caused interference with the bolt through the bottom.

3. I will have to trim a washer for the bottom bolt in the top pic due to the proximity of the weld.

[1986F150Six]

APOLOGIES TO SKY!

This morning I drilled the holes in the frame. The first pass was to drill the existing holes out to 1/2", which is the size of the fasteners. And while the majority of the bolts would go in, they were all kinda wonky and one refused to go.

I checked the size of the holes in Sky's bracket: 17/32" So I pulled out the 17/32" reamer and took all of the frame holes out to that size. That let the bracket bolt up nicely.

Here it is installed. But, the thing to note is that there is no spacer between the frame and the bracket - and it fits nicely! All of those bolts are just snug and no washers were used for this test. So, when washers are used and all the bolts torqued down I think the frame and the bracket will meet even better.

But, there are a few things to note:

1. I didn't follow the directions of torquing down the bolts in the bottom of the frame first and then drilling/grinding the side bolt holes out. Instead, I drilled and then reamed the original side, and bottom, holes out to 17/32". Then I installed the bracket and all of the bolts loosely, then snugged them up hand tight. Then I torqued down the side bolts and then the bottom bolts. That seemed to cause the frame and bracket to meet each other nicely.

2. I had to install the bottom left side bolt with the head on the inside, as shown, because doing it the other way caused interference with the bolt through the bottom.

3. I will have to trim a washer for the bottom bolt in the top pic due to the proximity of the weld.

It is coming along, Gary!

[Gary Lewis]

It is coming along, Gary!

That it is! I really didn't realize how much WORK there is to this swap.

 

[Gary Lewis]

That it is! I really didn't realize how much WORK there is to this swap.

 

In mapping out what I'm going to be doing 'twixt now and when the front bracket comes in I've decided that I want to remove the driver's side rear spring bracket and install the Sky bracket. However, the measurement that the instructions give to properly place the front bracket measures off the stock rear bracket.Given that, I measured the stock rear bracket to the Sky front bracket and it is currently sitting at 54 9/16". Then I measured the Sky rear bracket to the Sky front bracket and got 53 1/16". So that told me that the Sky bracket positions the spring eye 1 1/2" forward than the stock bracket does.However, in order to confirm that I'm doing it correctly I talked to Erik. He suggested that I measure the stock rear bracket vs the Sky rear bracket, which should give us the answer. Meanwhile he'll look at the drawings to make sure we are all together.So here are the two measurements, with the factory bracket on the left and the Sky bracket on the right. But there are two things to note here.Bottom Line: factory is 2 1/2" & Sky is 1" . So the delta is 1 1/2" and I should be able to replace the factory DS bracket with the Sky bracket and then measure 55 1/2" minus 1 1/2" equals 54" to position the front bracket when it comes in.