Complete removal & re-installing Air Suspension 2002 Caddy (Chicken's Hoopty) - all New everything (video page 2)

[meade916]

So after sitting in my shop for about a year or more, Chicken say's he wants his caddy running again. We are good friends so him just leaving it at my shop forever is no big deal, he don't care, i don't mind. So he buys some new batteries for it. They were all dead as a door nail (long story). Anyway, all i have to do is replace them all. That means removing a T15k and every thing in the way to get to the batteries. Major pain. So i did it. But one of the amps started to malfunction so i had to send it in. RF took care of it fast! But while it was gone, i decided his ride was too dangerous to give back till i fixed the suspension.

First of all, the first people who ever did the air bags back in 2002 had ripped out all the sway bars. This thing has been hard to drive ever since and even harder to drive after i installed the system. I re-did most of the air ride and relocated shocks back in 2008. All top of the line stuff...but it still rode like crap. When i noticed the sway bars were gone i decided to get one from the wrecking yard, see if that fixes the problem and if so, get him a better one. It made a HUGE difference, so i got him a DJM sway bar and end links. As you can see i already did the brakes, upper/lower control arms and the panhard bar.

anyhow, the air system has really been acting up lately. It has probably never been drained which is also a problem. The valves were sticky and the bags have water in them. I decided we should rip it all out and start over. He agree'd.

So here are some more new shocks for up front. He damaged the other ones i did by having the wheel fully turned with the ride all the way down. I moved them in this time as far as i could i think there is plenty of clearance.

I got Ridetech 10" shocks. 3 Way adjustable...the shit!

New DJM Rear Sway Bar - took like 4 weeks to get here....back order FTL. Got the shortened end links for it too.

I literally bought this rear sway bar just to test because i knew i would end up getting the fresh one if it solved the problem. I got a front one too but the bags are fully in the way. JUST the rear alone made a big difference though.

Man that shit got UGLY over the years!!

[meade916]

[meade916]

I laid some very hefty beads on this thing and ground them down some to make sure they were solid (and not a false weld). Then i painted the bracket black to keep it from rusting. Came out great!! problem solved!

















Got a new sheet metal brake (small one) for some little brackets i will be making.





New Slam-Bags (RE-7) showed up.

Morning selfie with the new selfie stick i got at CES hahah!

Now i can finally get started!

[meade916]

[meade916]

The original tanks had mounting brackets on each end and they bolted onto a bracket the previous installer had welded in place. The new tanks are 12 years newer and have different mounts. So i had to make this shit happen. You know how we do it! No crying, just make it happen.

[meade916]

[meade916]

[SoCaLBaMF]

Almost the same setup Ive got Ridetechs in front, RE7 slams on rears, 4 Viair 480s and 8.5 gal tank.

[goodvibez]

Damn thats clean! Good job on the repairs too! How did the bag mounts tear like that? Just from all the weight?

Anyhow clean install and nice gear should go hand in hand like this, again great work!

[Jessica]

nice work man!