chopped x member!

[justpball]

here are the bolts i am talking about for the motor mounts, the top ones you leave in the frame and the bottom ones unbolt from your cross member.

[mullit]

gotcha , thanks

[OffroadZ71]

That thing looks awesome man!

[justpball]

Thanks bro, welcome to the site!

[justpball]

here are some shots of the rear...not pretty but functional...LOL i am going to 2 or 4 link it but wanted to get it all set up so I could see how everything is going to line up.

[tvblazer78]

That is cool, I was thinking about doing something like that on mine. As you know with the gas tank it's hard to place the bags. nice job..

[justpball]

thanks, yea the gas tank is a bit%^! if I keep it i will pull the leafs and do the 2 or 4 link.

[justpball]

Man just got the tranny back in... took a poo on me, I am glad I didnt trade it off and it go out on him a couple of weeks after he had it, I would have felt like crap. It never slipped or anything and I left a red light the other day and heard a pop and then nothing...turned out to be the torque converter but at that point we were already in the tranny so just went ahead and rebuilt it...oh well one less thing to worry about!

[tvblazer78]

Originally Posted by justpball

Man just got the tranny back in... took a poo on me, I am glad I didnt trade it off and it go out on him a couple of weeks after he had it, I would have felt like crap. It never slipped or anything and I left a red light the other day and heard a pop and then nothing...turned out to be the torque converter but at that point we were already in the tranny so just went ahead and rebuilt it...oh well one less thing to worry about!

Sorry about that, but its good to just rebuilt it. Good luck with it..

Trav

[54Caddy]

How much did you cut out of the Xmember??

[justpball]

1 5/8 and that is as much as you can go without moving your steering stuff up or switching to a rack setup. my lower control arms are just about touching the nuckles where the tie rods bolt in.

[54Caddy]

Oh alright so if i where to do this to my truck with coils wouldn't i have to compensate for the cut to the xmember, by cutting the coils the same??

[Hottrucks]

No..its a totally different type of drop

[54Caddy]

yea, but the mounting location of the lower control arm is changing because they bolt to the xmember, so that would bring the lower control arm closer to the spring cup on the top, so wouldnt leaving the same height spring be a little hard to force in there. Correct me if im wrong.

[Hottrucks]

when you do this or other X memeber mods it drops both the upper and lowerarms the same which is why they work so well...if you get into to much X member mods with drop then you run into issues with steering rod hitting the frame which can be cured with a small Cnotch but to much drop and the steering wheel shaft will hit the upper control arm

Hope that clears it up

[87 dually burb]

all suspension is raised up the amount you section from the crossmember
similar to a "z" doesnt affect the susupension travel other than the steering shaft hitting the upper arm

[54Caddy]

oh alrite that cleared it up now i remember how it all mounted when i redid mine thanks, looks like i need to look for a donor xmember and do mine..

[JEM]

Originally Posted by 87 dually burb

all suspension is raised up the amount you section from the crossmember
similar to a "z" doesnt affect the susupension travel other than the steering shaft hitting the upper arm

It does affect in one respect; you're moving up the inner control arm pivots relative to the frame, but you are NOT raising the centerlink (steering box and pitman arm) location. So it's going to change the front suspension's bumpsteer curve.

This may or may not matter, but it'd be interesting to measure it before and after.

If you were going to maintain the same relationship of steering linkage to control arm, you'd need to raise the steering box and pitman arm an equivalent amount (think you run out of clearance around 1in) or lower the steering arm at the spindle (not sure if it's possible/practical.)

[Hottrucks]

sorry I didnt ook but is it pos to flip the piyman arm ( on the steering box) you could easily raise the drag link with a couple new holes but I know you run into issues with the cross link hitting the frame but a quick c notch would cure that

[justpball]

here is the problem, the lower control arm gets too close to the steering arm, Look at the pic and on the left side you can see the nuckle that is about to rub, right above the Lower control arm bushing. The steering shaft from your steering wheel is def going to need some love, either by putting in joints like I did or the other thing would be modify the upper control arm...

[87 dually burb]

so does your drag link rub on the lca's when aired out
also do you have a pic from above of the lca as to where they touch or rub?
I was looking at doing a 2" drop member but need to see where my next problem will be
thanks

[justpball]

no but it is mm away, thats why I told you to call me before you try to put that in... you will need to move your steering up if you do a 2 in. but you could make a 1/2 spacer and you would be fine, but then you would only get a 1 1/2 drop...

[54Caddy]

hhhuuummm sounds like a good project more than just a weekend jobber..

[Hottrucks]

I bet you could build in during the week and do a swap on the weekend if you have a spare Xmember it would be a good time to combine a few projects at once...I have a spare and Am thinking this drop 2" spindles, cupped LCA ,and disc convertion....That should put me well into the heater box and hood hindge :duh:

[justpball]