Pissnoma

Where did I go wrong? My driveshafts cost more than the truck 1,900$, the truck was only 1,500$. How could could I of saved money here? The place did a great job and price is reasonable to me. I just think i should of found junkyard driveshaft in the configuration i needed and altered the lengths at the driveshaft shop.20250530_163226.jpg20250530_163207.jpg
 
The Pissnoma finally took its maiden voyage—semi-successfully.


I’ve had a Grand Canyon trip planned with my family for six months, and from the beginning, it was my goal to take the Pissnoma on this adventure. I pushed hard in the final weeks leading up to the trip, and got it road-ready just two days before we left for Arizona. Right up until departure, I had what felt like a hundred moments of doubt—wondering if I’d actually make it or questioning whether taking this thing was even a good idea.


The main struggles before the trip were bleeding the brakes (still running that ABS octopus), linking up the manual transfer case conversion, and replacing the front inner axle seals. But we made it out of the driveway.


The drive out to Arizona was surprisingly drama-free. The steering felt vague and wander-y, and the engine would creep up to 230°F on grades in the 110°F desert heat. Within the first mile I could also tell the shocks were valved way too stiff, but there was no time to address that.


There were two big test days planned for the truck. The first was the Grand Canyon loop. Everything was going well—until it wasn’t. After finishing the South Rim loop, we stopped for some Navajo fry bread in Cameron, AZ. I left the truck idling in the 108°F sun while we waited for our order. About 15 minutes later, we hopped back in, engine temp at 220°F—nothing alarming. I pulled out to merge onto the highway, gave it a good stomp to find a gap in traffic, and heard the fan clutch roar to life. A second later, I heard a weird noise from the engine bay and smelled coolant.


I ignored it for a moment (bad idea), but the temp kept rising—240°F, 250°F… I found a safe place to pull over just as it hit 260°F. Popped the hood—coolant everywhere. After a quick look, I found the culprit: one of the fan blades had broken off when the clutch engaged hard and punched a hole in the radiator. Perfect.


We called AAA chase. I ordered a new radiator, fan, fan clutch, coolant, oil, trans fluid (thanks to the integrated cooler), belt—everything except the lower radiator shroud, which was obliterated in the process. My wife, kids, and I got to enjoy 2.5 hours of roadside Arizona sauna before the tow truck arrived. I knew we were in for an awkward ride when I saw the Black Ice air freshener swinging from the rearview mirror of the tow truck.


Next morning, I hitched a ride to Flagstaff, picked up the parts (shoutout to my $120 Uber), then spent the day in parking-lot-mechanic mode. All in all, the repair cost about $500 in parts and a healthy portion of my pride—but we were back on the road.


The second test was Broken Arrow Trail in Sedona. I almost bailed on it—I didn’t want to risk another repair day while on vacation—but we went for it. And it was awesome. Broken Arrow is one of the most beautiful trails I’ve ever done… aside from being swarmed by the ever-present Pink Jeep tour convoys covering the landscape like lice on a neglected child's scalp.


The ride home was smooth, though I noticed the engine temp creeping up more easily. Hopefully that’s just due to the missing lower shroud.


All in all, it was a great trip. I’ve got a long list of things to fix and improve, but I’m way behind on house projects, so I’m putting the Pissnoma on a light-duty break for a while—just small stuff for now.


This was a super fun project that took longer than I expected, but I’m proud of how it turned out.


Big thanks to Turdbro for letting me use his shop and lending a hand along the way!
 
Pissnoma Update


I finally got the suspension working halfway decent on the Sonoma. All it took was valving it as light as humanly possible: 8’s on rebound, 10’s on compression all the way around, and yanking the poppets and springs out of the compression tube bypass. Basically, I set it up like a La-Z-Boy recliner with shocks. I’m going for comfort with just enough speed to keep things fun. Front valving feels pretty solid now, rear is… let’s call it “acceptable.” Still needs a little tuning.


Speaking of the rear: it’s sketch city. The main leaf flexes like Gumby and goes full inverted, which is not exactly confidence-inspiring (see attached pic). Plan is to trim some uptravel and slap a military wrap spring over the main. My hacky solution is to grab a Chevy 63 main, pop the front bushing, cut the eyelet in half, chop the rear eyelet, and—voilà—military wrap. Anyone ever tried this? Quick search shows nothing for S10s unless I go full LT leaves, which I’m very against.


Took the kids to the river today and had a blast. Truck is slowly earning my trust, and I’m learning what it can actually do. Every trip shakes out another bug. Last one was weak power steering, so I tossed in a PSC pump and ran all new lines for both steering and the oil cooler while I was at it. Feels way better now.


Next up on the hit list (next few months):


  • Wheel bearings & camber adjusters
  • New Warn hubs
  • Fresh Spicer ball joints while I’m in there
  • Delete the ABS pump nonsense
  • Bigger master cylinder swap
  • Rooftop tent + platform fab

If all goes to plan, that’ll be wrapped up before Cal4Wheel Panamint Valley Days in early November. The big one-year goal: cage before Sierra Trek next August. Because if Pissnoma is gonna flop, at least I want bars overhead when it happens.
 
Good to see you getting some miles in and shaking it down. With that much shock up front mounted to the axle it will be an uphill battle getting it to ride soft but keep it up. Is the sway up front manageable or are you planning on putting in a sway bar? The rear leaves should help overall stability but how is it on the street?
 
Surprisingly, the body roll isn’t bad at all. This is my first go with a radius-arm straight axle setup, and honestly it kind of feels like it has a built-in sway bar—the rear flexes before the front even starts to move. Road manners are decent; definitely acceptable for road trips and twisties, but it’s not something I’d want to drive “spiritedly” on pavement. I’m hoping once I go through the bearings and tighten up the rest of the front end with new parts, it’ll take some of the slop out..
 
That's right, I forgot about the radius arms. Sounds like it'll work great until the bushing start to wear out.
 
Here is a picture of my DIY long travel leaf pack. Its made of another Sonoma pack, minus the overload and the middle tender spring. Next im going to grind the serrated ends off the bushings and sandwitch bronze bushings in there. I will put weld washers on the outside of the mounts, put a ton of grease all over everything and voilà! DIY LT leafs. Deavers are for Beavers 🦫 20250928_164925.jpg20250929_193634.jpg
 
Pissnoma R&D department notes:
The assembly line puts the leaf springs on before the gas tanks go in.

I didn’t want to know this. I never set out to know this. Yet somehow, through the cursed process of wrenching and “simple deductive reasoning,” my brain has been permanently branded with this useless piece of GM trivia.

20250928_172022.jpg
 
The reason I've heard that the factory put the leaf bolts in that direction so if you get in an accident the end of the bolt won't puncture the gas tank.

Just had to deal with that installing deavers on a silverado. Loosen tank and drop enough to move over to remove and reinstall the bolt.
 
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