building it right

[loren]

hey curleyman, did you bring the rear axle forward on that ext.cab or is it in the stock location? I'm gonna need alot of your help on mine to get things right, I'm making a crawlerbed on mine because the original bed is so rotted out from the rubber pad (that just holds the moisture in).also, I need a place to do all these mods (sas,lift, bed) because the place where I usually work on my truck is very subject to a foreclosure.

[CurleyMan]

I did not bring the rear forward it is the stock standard cab frame and wheelbase 104".. I do not have a place to work on the truck the city tried to cut my nuts off when i swapped the cabs. Right now the truck is in the back yard behind an 8 foot tall fence while Alcan redesigns my leaf springs... Ya just gotta roll with the punches and get it done quickly. Ryan has almost been dragged to court for working on peoples rigs in his driveway... I want the allpro bed as well but I bent my leaf spring and now need to deal with that issue first...

[loren]

:nuke: dammit, I remember a day in colo. when you could do anything you f'n wanted to & no city a-hole would give you a second look. what the hell happened to this great state? it's been californicated!! the whole state is a f'n covenant now!!

[csutke]

the whole state is a f'n covenant now!!

tell me about it i use to live in Highlands Ranch and some of the rules they there are just frickin retarded

[Bill Potter]

hey curleyman, did you bring the rear axle forward on that ext.cab or is it in the stock location? I'm gonna need alot of your help on mine to get things right, I'm making a crawlerbed on mine because the original bed is so rotted out from the rubber pad (that just holds the moisture in).also, I need a place to do all these mods (sas,lift, bed) because the place where I usually work on my truck is very subject to a foreclosure.

What wheelbase are you shooting for? I moved my rear axle forward about 3-4 inches when I welded on my new rear spring hanger. I think I ended up at 113 inches.

Before fender cut...
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t293/broncb2b/IMAGE_000421.jpg

After fender cut....
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t293/broncb2b/IMAGE_9999.jpg

[loren]

that looks sweeet! the bed doesn't matter on mine, it's coming off anyway, rusty as hell.

[Bill Potter]

My bed will get shorter soon...just haven't finalized plans yet. Thinking of maybe doing something like a trophy truck with just fenders and tubes. Have to figure out how to do that and still keep storage space for camping gear.

[NissanNut]

If you use yota truck rear leafs. The axle will move forward 1.5". I had to move mine back 1".

http://nissannut.com/projects/sas/rear/rear_4inch_exp33311_done.JPG

[CurleyMan]

I am in the process of moving my front axle 2.5 inches forward to acheave a better approach angle. I was at 104 which most people think perfect however i was also hitting my hanger in the front way too much. 106.5 may be a little long for me but it will help me do downhill obsticles and climb flat faced obsticles. I am also dropping my height becouse i feel i will do better with a lower center of gravity. Some have suggested that a belly skid made from 1/8th inch plate and teflon pads may be desired... we will see first i need to lenghthen my front driveshaft and put a different steering box on...

[Reserector]

I recommend lining your skid with UHMW rather than teflon. That is the stuff they make cutting boards out of and it is fairly inexpensive. Available in white or black.
I used white on mine. Amazing stuff!.

[theking]

Where's a good place to get that cutting board stuff?

[Bill Potter]

I am in the process of moving my front axle 2.5 inches forward to acheave a better approach angle. I was at 104 which most people think perfect however i was also hitting my hanger in the front way too much. 106.5 may be a little long for me but it will help me do downhill obsticles and climb flat faced obsticles. I am also dropping my height becouse i feel i will do better with a lower center of gravity. Some have suggested that a belly skid made from 1/8th inch plate and teflon pads may be desired... we will see first i need to lenghthen my front driveshaft and put a different steering box on...

How are you going to lower it? Less lifted springs? What about "up" travel in the front? Without bump stops (that i still need to build) I can put my spring into my pitman arm (may or may not be a problem if you move your steering box) and my diff into the calmini crossmember. On Barry's truck (axle moved forward) he was ripping off drive shaft u-bolts with his crossmember.

FYI: I'm waiting on bump stops because I want my front springs to settle lower.

It's kind of a catch-22....flat springs will need to be stiffer to keep from bottoming out and stiffer springs don't flex as well.

I think we really need some more arch in the front frame so we can run soft flat springs without the botttoming out problem.

I hope you figure this out because I would love to lower my truck about 4 inches. There are so many trade offs here it's making my head spin.

Bill

If I go lower this will happen sooner.....
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t293/broncb2b/IMAGE_12345.jpg

[CurleyMan]

yes the springs will be 2 inches lower and a little less arched. I am going with the johnny joints (orbit eyes) front and rear so longer shackles are needed. The spring length will stay the same at 50 inches and Alcan says they will flex just as well as before. I had a bump stop from the start so that isnt a problem. The pitman arm however is a problem now because my tie rod will smash into it now that the axle is so far forward. I bent the spring becouse the tire rubbed against the dom tubing and all the leverage forced the spring in an unatural direction. So I have no choice but to move the axle forward. I will either place a toyota, bronco, or scout box up front with an aftermarket pitman arm. As far as the driveshaft hitting a crossmember i cannot see this happening as there is plenty of room. I'll take pic's once the springs are in place...

[CurleyMan]

Oh and i'm thinking of designing an adjustable bump stop with tubing. one that can reduce body roll on the road and then be adjusted up for offroad flex..

[Bill Potter]

I bent the spring becouse the tire rubbed against the dom tubing and all the leverage forced the spring in an unatural direction.

Confusion here...how did your tire rub against the dom tubing? Was it your sliders?

[Bill Potter]

Oh and i'm thinking of designing an adjustable bump stop with tubing. one that can reduce body roll on the road and then be adjusted up for offroad flex..

That would be slick!

[CurleyMan]

yes Bill the dom tube that came from my motor down to the slider... It forced my axle forward and up bending the spring. :(

[Bill Potter]

Ouch...I have noticed that my tire is still slightly hitting the cab when the front tire is pushed into a rock while turning. I have given thought to moving the axle forward the next time I have everything apart (I have three holes in my spring perch). What is the distance from the center pin to the front eyelit on the new springs?

I need to take it apart anyway because my Driver side axle seal is leaking. I had the shop put brand new seals in when the axle was built. Everyone said that the welding would not damage the seals but now I have some doubts.

[CurleyMan]

I won't know until the leaf springs come in. When they do i'll let you know what the measurement is... The difficult part now is finding a steering box that will work for me (probably a scout box)....

[loren]

man, you guys are scaring me,sounds like there is as much or more problems from going SAS as there is with the bolt on independant set-up!!:eek:

[Bill Potter]

No, the setup works well. We are just fine tuning things because we are running 37 inch tires. With 35's most of the rubbing issues are gone.