Quote:
Originally Posted by Rufas
I have installed the Rear StrongArm System on my 1970 GMC LWB. I confirmed before the purchase that the system would work on a long bed truck. Everything bolted in without issues and appears to be of good quality. I'm using the ShockWave shocks with this system.
But I'm having a major issue with the driveshaft. When the suspension is unloaded, ie fully extended, the driveshaft hits the bottom of the center cross member. There is not any provision to run the split drive shaft with the center hung bearing that is used from the factory. I've had a one piece driveshaft made locally. The shop that made the driveshaft did not make it using a 3 inch shaft because of length. The driveshaft was made with 3.5 tubing.
I've talked to RideTech about this and they said they do not not offer any mods to the center cross member, nor any suggestion on how to modified it and were no help on how to mount a center drive shaft bearing. I was hoping for a little more customer support on this. I'm fairly good at wrenching, but welding and re-engineering suspension are not my strong points.
So at this point I'm at a loss on how to proceed with this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Hey guys, sorry for the slow response. I have been out of the office a couple of days last week and am just now getting around to following up. I apologize for the inconvenience.
In regards to the one piece driveshaft on the long bed. I have had customer install a carrier bearing to the cross member before to utilize a 2 pc drive shaft, but this is the first time I have ran across a 1 pc drive shaft conversion. Your installation looks great, everything appears to be nice and clean, I really like the way it is coming along.
Be careful driving with the Shockwave fully extended, this will cause the shock to "top out" and potentially destroy it. Shockwaves should only be fully inflated for brief periods of time such as entering driveways, clearing obstacles in the road etc. They are not designed to be driven on fully inflated. The best solution would be to modify the center cross member with a drop in the tubing to accommodate the driveshaft, the second would be to add a limiting strap to keep it from extending fully or pay attention to your air pressures so that the interference is not encountered.
I wish I had a more technical answer for you but unfortunately we've never encountered that problem before. Feel free to contact me direct, Ill be more than happy to help you out in any way that I can 812-481-4737.