[Scott2]

Jonathan -

Nice looking chassis! I got my TCI chassis in August of 2015. Looks almost the same as yours except mine has smooth bends over the rear axle and yours is cut and welded sections. Mine is also a Ridetech coil-over chassis and I have two inch drop spindles up front and set the coil-overs at the lowest setting out back. My truck is now running and close to driving so I can offer a few thoughts and experiences for you:

- I also ordered the chassis mount brake booster but had issues with the brake pedal. It hit the left head, got in the way of a shifter cable for my auto (I used a Flaming River column with a Lokar cable shift kit mounted to the bottom of the column), looked like it would interfere with headers, and every time I bumped the cab it would rub on the sheetmetal where it passed thru the floor. Plus I knew it would be a pain to service the master even with a remote reservoir. I swapped it for a POL firewall mounted unit with a hanging brake pedal and I am much happier.

- The chassis mounted booster left very little room for exhaust and you can either squeeze it in or drop it under the trans to the pass side. I decided I didn't like either and added this to list of reasons to change the pedal and booster location. If you go this route, make sure to cut off the frame brackets for the booster before powder coat.

- Once the booster was gone there was a big gap in the brake lines and I needed them re-routed to the firewall. I talked with Evan and Mario in TCI Tech but never found an easy way so I bought a roll of 3/16" SS brake line from Eastwood and a Rigid 37 degree flare tool and made new lines to extend to and from the relocated booster/master. This is much easier without the motor/trans installed!!

- Not specific to the TCI chassis I also used a generic Delco foot pedal park brake - and should have drilled holes for the cable mounts before assembling nearly everything else. My advice is to mock up everything you can and drill holes for mounts and weld brackets early on, then powder coat or paint the frame. I used Wilwood rear cables to connect to the Ford internal brakes and had Control Cables make me a custom front cable and provide hardware to mount and connect them all.

- Tires, tubs, rear end - I bought the nine inch rear from TCI with my chassis and it came at 60" wide. I bought Foose Legend wheels in 20x8.5 w/5" BS, and 20x10 w/5.5" BS, and Nitto 245/35-R20 front with 305/30-R20 tires. The back tires are awesome at ~12" wide but the wheel wells and rear axle were sadly not up to the task of handling them (note: there is no such thing as too wide rear tires!). I trimmed out the bedsides and used '60-'66 Chevy truck inner wheel wells cut down to 3 or 4" and then had the rear narrowed 1" each side. I found that I could get the housing cut this amount and keep the axles with no change. Fits great now. One note - since I haven't driven it yet the front tires could always rub somewhere. I got the truck on the ground and ran the steering lock-to-lock and so far it's all good.

- Headers and clearance - used Hooker cast headers (8501's in silver) and they fit pretty good. You do have to use three joints and a frame support to get the steering shaft around the drivers side but not a big deal. You may also need a clearance notch for the pass side header flange. I cut a several inch wide slot out of the frame rail and welded in a section cut from a 5" or 6" diameter pipe.

- trans cooler - I copied another guy on here and mounted a Derale stacked plate cooler on the pass side outside the frame rail and behind the running board. It's a tight fit but it would be putting it anywhere.

- Stuff to weld on the frame - someone asked early on why I didn't have the frame coated straight from TCI or just after receiving it. Good thing I didn't!! I had to weld the steering support, the header clearance notch, and supports for the rear mounted gas tank. Other than that I just had to drill holes here and there. Some were for mounting stuff I forgot, several were for ground wires.

- If i were doing it again - I would fit a trailer hitch and drill holes before powder coat. Not necessarily to haul stuff but to add an extra crossmember out back in case I get hit. Two crossmembers to go thru to get to the tank should be better than one.

- Problems - very few that were a big deal. Almost every welded-in nut had buggered up threads. I ran thread chasers or taps thru them all and had to do them more than once. There must be a lot of metal trash knocking around in the frame? Even after that I have a bolt stuck in one of the frame holes for the rear cab mount. It went in tight, started to bind and as I backed it out it locked solid.

Also - the access slots for the bed mounting bolts - it's a pain getting washers and nuts on them and then getting any tool in there to hold them while tightening. If you drop anything in there I think it's gone forever - a magnet just sticks everywhere. There must be a trick? I need to call the tech guys again.

Good luck with your build. Let me know if you have questions. Most of the notes above are covered in my build thread with pics.