Quote:
Originally Posted by gigamanx
I'm with you JoeD. Here is my current height measurement. It's about 5" I think with a 4x4 and 2x4 stacked. I'm pretty happy with it, but I did notice the bed is going to lose an inch and a half of depth, so I may jack the cab up another inch. I think it was skymangs plans that called for 6" between the top of the frame rail and the cross member of the cab. At first I thought that was crazy high, but now that everything is sitting on the frame, 6" sounds about right.
Oh, this height also gives me about 1/4" clearance with the trans. I'd have to do a trans tunnel if I move the engine back like you've suggested. |
its a double edged sword! if you set the body too low, you have a big tunnel and no room up front at the core support. but if you set it too high, you have a flat floor and lots of room at the core but need really expensive parts to bag the truck. dont forget about the thickness of the body mount bushing too!
so if you set the bottom of the running boards even with the bottom of the frame, when you go to bag it you will need control arms and tie rod kits and have wacky camber and toe when the suspension is all the way out. you will need what is called a "monster notch" in the rear frame and your 4 link bars (if thats what you use) would either need raised mounts (the factory leaf perches are the lowest part of the frame) or will work at really big angles, which isnt great for pinion angles.
if you use shorter body mounts its like getting drop for free, and you can use stock spindles and control arms and tie rods and it will lay the rockers easily.
so its like a "little of column a, little of column b" when setting up the body, keeping the end goal in mind and picking your battles. I used 3.5" tall mounts and had a very very small trans tunnel, and the bed floor was raised 1.5 inches. for lowering I used 3" drop coils in front and 2" leafs with 2" blocks in the rear, and my running boards were 5" off the ground, which was a great look, and any basic bag kit would have laid the truck out with even a little bitty c notch.
sorry for the book, but its really a matter of thinking about what you want to do and picking your battles. I would at least buy V8 swap mounts and flip them backwards to get the 5.5" rear move of the engine, thats a lot of space and the core support/radiator mount is where you need the space the most, but even if you choose to not move it an inch, at least you will have the experience and advice to give others when you are done!
