During our travels it’s inevitable that we will be riding in the dark or during rain fall. I actually jokingly call CaDually the “rainmaker”. It seemed for a good stretch every time we went out it would rain.

These lenses and LED replacements are pressed fit, no mounting screws or holes to mess with. The challenge is getting these suckers to fit in the cutouts.

I made sure to install on each side first in case I had a mishap during the installation.

I’m very satisfied with the look and performance of these LED tail lights. I can’t wait to fire these things up at night for a real street test. (Minus the rain of course).

I’ll be bringing my rear spacers to change out. The rear wheels have about a credit card clearance between the outer rim and inner fender well. The plan is to change out the 2.0” spacer for a 1.5” spacer. This should provide 0.5” additional clearance.

Spacers specifications:

2x 1.5″ Thick 8×6.5″(8×165.1mm) Wheel Adapter Spacer Fit Chevy 8Lug 14×1.5 Truck

It definitely sits lower than before and the front wheels are tucked in now. I will need to work on the rear wheel setup as the passenger side rear wheel touches the fender if the angle is not correct doing down.

The wheel has way more clearance with the Stone Fabrication kit.

By luck I was able to find a fabricator that was into trucks as well. He’s into the truck club scene has a lot of experience installing air ride systems. A note of importance, he is familiar with the kit I purchased.

The extra touches like adding a support gusset for the mounting tabs is much appreciated.

After replacing the top cups the surrounding area needed to be cut out more.

Cup replaced

Through a common friend I was able to hookup with “Tony” a race car fabricator located at Jamestown, California. This is about 45 minutes from my location higher up the hills.

The previous TIG service tried to do the repair using MIG and did not prepare the rim correctly. The cracked areas required a bevel that allows TIG material to penetrate the material and adhere to the rim correctly. These beveled techniques are performed on both sides of the rim.

The completed TIG welded cracks are left with the excess and not grind down flush for additional strength.

The gap between the rim edge and tire is significant compared to the new replacement tire which sit flush wiping the rim.

The new replacement tire size is 245x35x22. This will increase the sidewall by approximately 0.5”. This translates to more rubber between the rims lip and the asphalt.

The difference in the backside is huge. The front face of the wheel tire fitment has also improved.

More photos of the new tire installed 245/35/22.

As the after photos show, the tire seats on the rim lip much tighter. The overall look is more appealing and seems to be the correct size for the tire and rim combination.

EDIT: after riding on the new set of tires for at least 300 plus miles I can tell the difference 0.5” makes. I no longer feel every pebble or rock on the road I run over. The ride is noticeably smoother.

What it really turned out to be was the tire coming out of the lip of the rim a bit. Not enough to lose air but definitely deforming the sidewall.

I took it to the local tire repair shop again.

The 255/30/22 size is like a freakin’ rubber band on the rim. I had it replaced with the same size since it was readily available. I will be changing the tire dimensions in the near future to 245/35/22. This will give a little more sidewall between the rim and asphalt.

255 / 30 ZR22 95W XL

After the last 2 pothole hits I’m thinking of going up in size. Try out the 255 / 35ZR22 size. It will add approximately 0.5” to the sidewall area.

I was very surprised to get the rim back from repair so quickly.

I’m assuming due to the amount of weld material the repair required, a more then usual amount of weights had to be used. What’s odd I don’t recall seeing weights on the other front wheel. Now I will have to check and confirm it has been balanced.

I’ll have to keep an eye on this repair and perform more than normal periodic air pressure checks.