Flipping Trailing Arm Crossmember

[damnyankee36]

This is my first attempt at bagging my '66 C10, so I might be re-inventing the wheel here...

While looking at ways to keep the pinion angle close to the proper degree at my target lowered ride height, I was going to flip the trailing arm mounting brackets that are riveted on the crossmember. I then realized, why not flip the whole crossmember?

In doing this, I raised the trailing arm pivot points 3-1/4", plus gained an additional 1-3/8" driveshaft clearance at the top of the hole. It also raises the lower part of the crossmember to help with ground clearance problems for laid out trucks.

Four of the bolts were out of alignment by about 1/8"- 3/16", the other six lined up perfectly. I drilled out the four holes and enlarged the others by a few thousandth's and installed 7/16" grade 5 bolts.

Consequently, this also raised the top of the crossmember 1-1/8", so I'll have to massage the belly of the cab in this area to clear it.

When fully dropped, I have about 7/16" clearance between the frame and the arms. Looks like it will work.

I've never seen this done. Anybody else do this?

Pic#1: Top of crossmember, Before
Pic#2: Top of crossmember, After
Pic#3: Grade 5 bolts
Pic#4: Overall view, After