Frankenstein Build: Stock -> 37's on IFS -> SAS

I have the 3 link Calculator all filled out as well. From what it's telling my my lowers should be fine I also bought a Barnes Panhard mount but looking at other builds it might not stick out from the frame far enough. I saw your custom mount and it sits something like 6" from the frame? The Barnes one sits like 1-2"

Ouch! I'll make sure everything is secure before I start flexing the crap put of it, haha.

 

What is your guy's wheelbase? Probably more of a question for @malburg114 as we have the same cab. From what I was reading I should be shooting for 128-130", does that match up with your measurements?

 

Mine is a barnes mount that I made my own actually. Had to make a few changes to get it out farther and just reshaped it. Their mounts are so cheap that the steel is basically the same cost.

Mine is 126-127. Same frame as an ext long bed.

 

Oh cool then I should be good!

Thanks for the info, should be a fun weekend

 

Woah hopped on Rock Auto to check on some parts and found these lower ball joints, usually $50/ea, for $5/ea! You bet I bought them!! Never heard of TRW but I'll give them a try for that price.



They also had the uppers for $18, usually $52

 

Double cab and extra cab are the same frames. I’m between 128 and 130. Panhard essentially bumps just in front of the ac compressor.

 

Perfect! I'm gonna shoot for 129" then. Call my truck the average of all builds.

 

Got the lower link mounts tacked in!



With these in I'll be able to start fabbing the panhard and upper link mounts on the axle side. I also prepped all the frame mounts by drilling all the holes to 3/4".


Should have the 3 link setup by the end of my weekend!

 

Upper link is set where I think it will live!


I used the Barnes adjustable upper link mount and a frame plate I cut out of 3/16



I laid one of the ugliest welds I've ever produced when attaching the plate. The welder didn't fit and I went in 80% blind. Regardless I think it will hold and no one will ever see it.


Currently upper link is the exact size as my lowers and the geometry all seems correct where I have it sitting. I'm headed to pick up my steering box and engine mounts today so I'll finally be able to put the correct oil pan on it and move the axle around.

My biggest issue I'm having is where to set the upper Panhard bracket. It seems It will be in the way of the steering box no matter where I put it.

 

Got the motor in! 1st step was putting together the custom motor mounts


Next was welding them to the frame. All in all I was shooting for the bottom of the engine to be parallel with my frame and I think I pretty much nailed it!

 

Had my buddy swing by who is a MUCH better welder than me and finish up all the brackets I had tacked in



While he was working on that I swapped my oil pans and started clearancing my core support for the steering box. Overall pretty happy with where it's sitting. Looks like I'll have plenty of room for the steering link and panhard bar!



Unfortunately I didn't get the 3 link finished this weekend but that's fine, better take my time then rush it. Now I'm thinking I should get the steering set up 1st and then build the panhard bar to match. Hopefully my ball joints show up soon!

 

Well this month started out interesting.
A drunk driver came FLYING down my street, hit my neighbors car, moved it 30+ feet, hit my daily, moved it 5' and up on to a curb, and still had enough speed to slam in to a tree on the other side of the road ~50' away! ALL IN A HONDA FIT!




Surprisingly no one died and the driver even got out of the car and started fist fighting with the neighbors. It took 4 police officers to get him on the ground and 6 to get him in the car.

So all that said:
1. Don't drink and drive!
2. I'll probably be needing another daily. Thankfully by some miracle the driver was insured so at least I'll be getting something for it. I wouldn't be surprised if their insurance totals the CR-V.


Anyway, on to the truck:
3-links suck. I've been working on my 3-link set up for the last month or so and keep running in to clearancing issues. Currently I'm running in to the AC bracket:




The goal was 25" fame height with ~4-5" of up-travel but that's seeming like a hard goal to achieve. I'm thinking I could move the frame side panhard bracket out ~2", down ~1", drop the axle side panhard bracket down about ~.5", and lower the pitman arm link ~.5". That will retain all the correct geometry. I'd probably get another 1-2" out of it that way. The next issue is the the upper link slamming in to my engine mount stop. I might need to clearance the stop and see if I can get a little more out of it that way. I still have around 5-6" before my axle hits the oil pan and I'd like to get as close to that as I can.

Ride height where it's at with 5" of up travel currently puts the frame at 28" and that's a little too tall for my liking.


Good news is the droop/flex is looking amazing!








In the meantime I'm working on a double sheer kit for the Toyota Pitman arm:


I recently purchased a 3D printer so I am able to make a quick part and see how it works!


I'll keep trudging along and hopefully get this 3 link situation figured out!

 

Raise the motor. I’m 23 inches and 6.5 inches of uptravel. Pretty sure my panhard is in front of the ac pulley as well. Mount the panhard off the front of the axle tube and scoot the axle farther forward.

 

I lifted the motor about 1.5"-2" when I redid the frame and motor mounts. Don't know if I could go much higher without lifting the transmission mount, which I guess I could do. I tried fitting the Panhard bar in front of the AC bracket but the Barnes high steer started to get in my way. Pushing the axle forward also puts the drag link right in to my radiator space. Right now I think I can just *barely* clear a smaller radiator.

Another option is a bent panhard bar but I'm just worried about it rotating while I'm driving and smashing in to my oil pan.

 

I had to use a custom radiator. Got the axle to where I wanted and then measured what radiator would fit and went on Griffith website and found one that would work.

 

Think I got the 3 link all dialed in. The key was bending the panhard bar. Ended up with a frame height of 26.25", not awful.

Flex:



Full droop:


Full bump:


Ride height (I just went off the rear) is just under 4" of up travel. Not amazing but I'll accept it.


My limiting factor... the upper link/motor mount:


I could lift the motor up another inch but I'm pretty close to my oil pan as it is so I'm gonna run it this way until I V8 swap it.

 

It takes so much time to get that shit dialed in. That's why @malburg114 said no welding. I listened and stopped welding and it saved me mad time.

Told ya that truss would bite you in the ass. lol. did me. cost me 2". prob coulda had 7 up at 23.5-24 frame height. Once I swap pan ill get it back. You can prob get an offset heims on the upper link to clear the mount a little more.

Youre not gonna drop the steering gear down in the front?

 

No kidding... I've stopped welding after I read that on your build thread but unfortunately what I've already welded is in my way haha. Just gotta work around it.

Lol! Yep the truss got me... I just gotta live with it now.
Oh! I didn't even think of an offset heim. That might be what I need for that last inch or 2. I gotta see if I can find a 1-1/4" one. I've seen a ton of 7/8 ones.

I haven't decided if I'm going to drop it yet. I do agree it sits up there pretty high, part of the issue with my DIY frame. I kept reading not to notch the frame back down to go around the core support but I guess I made my frame higher then most lol. If I do drop it I'll have to drop the panhard bracket quite a bit as well to keep all the angles correct.

 

Hey, btw, make sure you spend a lot of time when you put the inner axle seals in. They are like adjustable now and if they are off you will not be able to get axle in and once the gears and locker is in youre fucked. I spent 4 hours dealing with a seal that came out with the axle when I was doing final assembly and i guarantee 95% of mechanics would not have been able to fix that without removing the gears.

Put them in and put hubs on w/old outer seals or no seals and verify 10000000% that axle slides in and rides on the race properly. Even set carrier in and make sure everything is good before you start shimming. Btw, expect to spend 3-4 days shimming and paint checking. It is a nightmare on that ford axle. jk gears and gadgets has the best tutorial on it hands down. watch that for sure.

I suggested doing frame drop with the steering to save yourself the headache of redoing everything while welded on truck. Everyone seems to get beat up by that.

On another note, my suspension was done like 6 months ago and the motor took 48 hours to get in and mounted up front and I still don't have truck running. So, consider that when you start v8 shopping. Im getting to the 50k range if not passed it at this point. Its just brutal.

 

Oh shoot I would have never thought that seal would be such a pita. Gearing will probably be the last thing I do so I don't have to worry about moving all the weight around. I've been watching some videos on regearing but I'll def check them out! I took that axle apart so long ago it'll be a miracle if I get it together 1st try lmao! Hopefully the Sterling 10.5 isn't as bad....

For sure! I always chuckle at your build and the time the V8 swap has taken vs the time the suspension took. The long term plan is to go with one of the UZ-FE engines from a Lexus/Tundra. The only thing that stopped me from doing it when my motor blew is California. If we didn't need to pass smog to drive our cars a V8 would've been a no-brainer. In the future I'll register it on AZ or something and stop worrying about it haha.