Pro's & Con's for Mustang II static drop?

[4DSEVEN]

Have any of you done this where you have welded the crossmember lower so as to give a lower ride while keeping the arms straight? Eliminating the need for spindles.

[Houston54]

It sounds to me like your shop is located under a shade tree.

The crossmember for IFS kits is engineered to fit on the frame one way. To change that would be foolish as it enters unknown stresses into the design.

I would suggest installing the OFS as it is intended and using drop spindles to get a lower ride.

I do not know how low you want to go but there is a limit if you want a practical truck you can drive on normal roads. Too low and you are a danger to yourself and others.

Bagged trucks do not ride at their lowest level typically. Maybe to show off but not for general cruising. If they did they would be leaving paint or parts at the end of driveways, speedbumps, pot holes, etc.

Do it the right way. Not the way some yahoo wants to.

The camaro clip is not the right answer for your truck either.

[mr48chev]

It sounds like he is planning on using an original M-II crossmember he cut out of a car. That does work but it isn't the most attractive and most folks feel it is on the weak side. I do know a couple of guys in this area who have probably installed about 50 of those setups over the past 25 years. The cars and trucks I have seen myself that they drive and handle well. The "but" is that they know exactly what they are doing and have it down pat.

On any car or truck that you want to clip/subframe or stub depending on the term you use, you first want to level up the chassis at the ride height that you want it to end up at. Then figure out the stock ride height of the vehicle you are getting the clip from an measure it at the bottom center of the crossmember.
When you are ready to connect the two you need to block the crossmember up at the same height as it was in the original vehicle it came out of.
You might have to compensate slightly if your tire of choice is drastically different in diameter than the tires that originally were on the doner car.

I did this on my 51 Merc when I put the Nova clip on it and it rode exactly where I wanted it to and rode and handled great.

[4DSEVEN]

I don't doubt his skills as he has done a ton of rods through his shop. He has had a couple make it in magazines (posted on his walls) and has won a number of awards etc.

What has started me worrying was his insistance on a camaro clip as it tucked everything underneath away and what he felt was a better option was quickly thrown out the window when he saw my truck and said well since that's a true 1/2 ton frame I didn't realize the width was going to be different yadda, yadda, yadda. To me it sounded like the front clip he had for me was maybe non existant or who knows... Then he says he has this Mustang front end and goes on about this is a good option etc.

I then said would I then be going with drop spindles? And he said no, no we are going to make it lower without using the lower spindles, it will keep things tucked away etc.

So on that note I am thinking how everyone who has a MII front end are using drop spindles etc. and now questioning his thought process.

He is old school and has a 47 himself done up very nice as well.

I will run with his recommendation so I can move forward on this project.

Thanks for the info.

[b00sted]

I have to ask why not use drop spindles? Other than the cost of them ?

There are allot of people doing custom rods that are wonderfull to drive around town at slow speeds and take to the local car shows, but I want one that I can drive on the highway 300 miles at real world speeds show it and drive it home... I would be very worried about having the front sub dropped unless there is some major bracing going on...