Brice's NA V6 Build

Word to the wise, I suggest you do not lower the front. I lowered mine 2" (w/ Belstein 4600s) and always bottomed out on just driving down a smooth highway. I put a 1/4" spacer in and it's way better... Still a lot of work for only 1.75" drop. Oh, and it would NOT camber align at 2". I wore out the tires in 13k miles. You'd need totally custom upper and lower control arms to go lower.

 

I have a custom 2" lbj spacer in at the moment so I haven't lost any travel. I plan to chop the spindle as much as possible to get the alignment stock. I'm also planning on going 2" more on coilovers at which point I will lose travel, but I will most likely make new lower control arms that move the bump stop down. Or that's the plan. If I can take 4" out of the spindle I should be golden but from what I can tell I can definitely take out 3"

 

Can you share a pic of your lbj spacer? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about! I used a shock sleeve.

 

Sure!


This basically makes the spindle longer effectively lowering the truck. If I shorten it 2" it should act as a true drop spindle and I should be able to retain a stock alignment.

 

I'll be damned. Do you worry about the extra stress on those long ass LBJ bolts when cornering hard?

 

Not too much. They are the same grade as stock (or whatever I took off)I torqued to stock specs so I guess we'll see what happens! Ideally I should weld them to the spindle when I shorten it and tap threads in the spacer so I can use stock length bolts again.

 

I would but I've experienced broken bolts before so maybe I'm paranoid. I'd paint mark the bolts for an easy check to make sure that they haven't loosened.

 

Good idea.

 

There will be more leverage applied to the LBJ and maybe UBJ. If my understanding of geometry is correct, the leverage should be directly proportional to the center of the wheel hub to the ball joints.

I wouldnt race it or wheel too hard on it. Ok for street queen I would guess but keep a close eye on your ball joints and control arm bushings for extra wear.

 

Looks good dude. Get some daytime pics.

 

Once the spindle is shortened it shouldn't be a worry any more as it will be retaining stock geometry, but for now I agree.

 

It won't be stock as the LBJ will still have more distance from the center line of the spindle. I honestly don't know if it'll be ok or not. I'd just be careful and check for play at least every oil change. Ish

 

I like that for a spacer. I've been thinking about doing a BJ flip on my 86.. but I like the surface area you get with those plates. Did you plasma or waterjet those out? I may have to look at mine a little closer to see if I can do something similar, make a template, then waterjet some spacers.

 

Yeah I guess that is true. I suppose I could do all the lowering on just suspension to avoid that, but then I would have to make some pretty radical changes to the lower control arm and bump mount. I think splitting it 2" spindle and 2" suspension should be ok... But then again it could come unglued and kill me. So I guess we'll see what happens.

 

These were cut on a laser. I should have had the holes machined however as the laser was a bit messy.

 

I would honestly post a thread in the suspension part of the forum and see what the pros (and trolls) say. Judging from other home grown suspension mods, be ready for some
and and and andand and and and

 

yeeeeah.. laser/plasma are always kinda meh. Im spoiled with this waterjet.. after using all three.. the waterjet is hands down the best. came out good tho man. curious to see how it holds up.

 

If you're cutting the spindle down you might want to consider cutting down a set of Total Chaos spindle gussets to match.

 

I do planon gussets and thats a good idea. I do have some plate I can gusset with as well in case cutting down pre made ones is a hassle.

 

Day time pics: