1988 R30 Crew Soon to be Dropped

[Ghostwhite]

Originally Posted by DblTrbl

This may illustrate a little better what I'm trying to say. See how his rails are straight from the Z to the notch? He lopped off the lower frame all the way back.

Ah yeah that's the other way I thought you might be talking about. That would work really well if you either do a complete back-half like he did or if you were doing tubular notches.

I am using PB fabricated notches and want to a somewhat usable bed so I opted to keep the rear frame fairly original making that easier for me, less mounts and such to fab. Its been awhile since I've read his build and his truck is done very, very well.

If I had a little more room and more time I think I could have done things differently but I am limited to keeping my entire build inside my 'small' garage, I can't roll anything into my driveway unless it is leaving to my storage unit. I also can't work on anything in my driveway which limits what I can do on my other projects as well. I have been hounding to get some time in on my prerunner-style F150! HOAs suck....

[DblTrbl]

Did you raise your carrier bearing? It sure looks like it's going to be lower than the bottom of the frame after the lower portion is cut. I don't see it addressed on yours.

[Ghostwhite]

Originally Posted by DblTrbl

Did you raise your carrier bearing? It sure looks like it's going to be lower than the bottom of the frame after the lower portion is cut. I don't see it addressed on yours.

I haven't gotten to/considered that part yet, I can either use my original driveshaft and adapt it to the cummins or the dodge driveshaft and adapt it to the 14B. I will make those adjustments when the rear end is finalized.

Both are different lengths with different carrier bearings, I'm not married to the stock mount idea either.

[Ghostwhite]

Progress just doesn't always seem like progress. I drew out some measurements and cut lines to Z the front end and decided to throw the front end together to do some more measurements and things weren't looking good.

First off once the wheels were on the upper ball-joints were binding well before the front crossmember hit the floor.



Which is a symptom of the tires being too tall more then than anything else as the bag pocket is almost too collapsed to fit the bag.

Tire is around 30.5" tall. PB recommends 29" so this wasn't surprising.



Pocket had about 2" of clearance at the narrow most area.



Which led me to slapping the bag in and see what happens. Not quite what I was expecting after reading enough DM threads but I guess you get what you get. This was with an SS8, PB sells the D2600 with his members.



The bag mounts are not actually lined up which I find strange. The upper bag mount holes are back more than an inch and outboard even more from the lower mount hole and it doesn't align as the arm cycles either.

Here is the Crossmember now.



And the frame.



I slapped a fender on as well so see how that was sitting.



Another area that could benefit from from a smaller tire is firewall clearance while turning.



At full lock I had to raise the crossmember 8" off the ground to clear.



The plan now is to wait for the 265/35 to replace the front 265/40 tires and borrow some 2600 bags from a friend for mock-up. If everything is how it should be and the member gets back on the ground then I will Z the frame and plan to tub the firewall for tire clearance while turning low.

[Ghostwhite]

New tires arrived and of course the tire shop I used before broke their machine last night. I tried 4 other shops but only one 'said' they could but they failed in their attempt.

The shop does car tires on one side and semi tires on the other and were trying to mount them by hand with the dish up. This caused one bead to fall out of the rim when when the second bead slipped on. I tried to get them to do it fifferently but they gave up. I gave it a shop at home but low-pros suck!

The tread width makes it difficult.

[slimneverdies]

Originally Posted by Ghostwhite

New tires arrived and of course the tire shop I used before broke their machine last night. I tried 4 other shops but only one 'said' they could but they failed in their attempt.

The shop does car tires on one side and semi tires on the other and were trying to mount them by hand with the dish up. This caused one bead to fall out of the rim when when the second bead slipped on. I tried to get them to do it fifferently but they gave up. I gave it a shop at home but low-pros suck!

The tread width makes it difficult.

Where'd you go? Take it to one of these truck stops off of the 15

[Ghostwhite]

Originally Posted by slimneverdies

Where'd you go? Take it to one of these truck stops off of the 15

Tire works on Silverado is the place that did it before, the truck shop at Ted Wiens is who tried and failed.

I think most of the truck places mount them by hand which is what Ted Wiens tried. I may try one of the mexican 24 hr shops next.

[Ghostwhite]

Struck out at another tire shop, 24hr place in the ghetto wouldn't mount the new tires. I am beginning to regret changing sizes immensely!

I'm not interested in buying a tire changing machine, if you know of a place that does them for sure let me know.

[BrooKLyn]

Very nice build I guess your be doing my 4 link bro

[64chevtruck]

Good stuff, Keep it up!

[Ghostwhite]

Finally found a great shop that got my tires all mounted up, Pops tire on Lake Mead. Also switched over to D2600 bags, they fit the pocket a hair better but still makes contact with the member.

SS8 (note: the SS8 lower bag mount is inboarded slightly in an attempt to limit bag to arm contact with compounded side-effects to the upper mount)



D2600



Made some marks on the frame and a few cuts.





The first bit of gluing it back together.



Went with a 3.5" Z which got my 'frame' rails on the ground with a small margin before the bags bottom out in order to hopefully prevent some bag damage. I may also make a hard bumpstop to ensure the bag never bottoms. This will also should get me pretty close to rocker on the ground if not there and then some.

[DblTrbl]

There ya go! Looks good. I should have taken my cab off and done the Z on the floor like you did. I almost bought the farm when I cut mine loose 2' up in the air!

[Ghostwhite]

It makes many jobs easier, if I didn't need the cab for mocking things up I would have hauled it to storage but this setup makes it bearable. I use some furniture dollies to slide the cab back out of the way and forth, and just lift the the frame up when i need it back on the frame and out come the dollies. Has worked pretty good.

[75Dually]

I just read through your whole forum. Man it reminds me of all the work I have done over the past 2 years. That is going to be one cool truck brother! The only thing I saw that might need to be addressed is the upper front bag mounts. You may already know this so disregard if so, but you don't want any metal touching those rubber bag parts. They will fail if not addressed. I did dozens of hours testing on mine to make sure, and they are not even perfect. If you want some ideas let me know. Can't wait to see it running and finished!

[aggie91]

What's the latest on this one? I am really wanting to see this one done and what you are doing for the cummins swap.

[Ghostwhite]

Originally Posted by 75Dually

I just read through your whole forum. Man it reminds me of all the work I have done over the past 2 years. That is going to be one cool truck brother! The only thing I saw that might need to be addressed is the upper front bag mounts. You may already know this so disregard if so, but you don't want any metal touching those rubber bag parts. They will fail if not addressed. I did dozens of hours testing on mine to make sure, and they are not even perfect. If you want some ideas let me know. Can't wait to see it running and finished!

Thanks! I have been following your build and stealing motivation and ideas. I am concerned at this point with the upper bag mount for the reason stated but I am going to wait till I can cycle it on air at this point. I am open to suggestions but at this point am most likely looking at changing the upper mount to make it all clear correctly.

Originally Posted by aggie91

What's the latest on this one? I am really wanting to see this one done and what you are doing for the cummins swap.

I have been busy as all get out with camping and the desert racing involvement as well as a few other projects. I did start plating in the Z. I need to just get in the garage and start knocking out the little stuff.

Sorry for the blurry pic, I'm using sections of the frame piece I cut off for the SFBD to plate it in.





I also picked up some body harness connectors for the cummins engine to make integrating the cummins and chevy harness together easier.

I have been dedicating some time and $$ to a 4x4 plasma table build which will be a game changer as well.

[Ghostwhite]

Got a little bit more done, almost finished with the Z plating.













Just need to fill in the small hole in from on the 3x4 tube. Also got my axles stripped down for the disc brake swap and figuring out which axle/hub combo I want to run to tuck the semis out back.

I need to pick up an air compressor to get my plasma running, grinder and a cutoff wheel sucks!

[DblTrbl]

You've done all that with a grinder and cutoff wheel? Holy **** man! My dually is the first truck I've done using a plasma throughout, and now I can't imagine doing without.

[Ghostwhite]

Yes, all with a 4.5 grinder with various wheels.

I do have a plasma and I used it on the rear frame rivets but I had been using my roommate's air compressor and he got a job out of state and moved.

[Jacob Collins]

You are an inspiration, Is this thing on the road yet?

[Ghostwhite]

I have unfortunately not been working on this much lately. I had a motorcycle wreck in April that kept me away for awhile and then some desert racing took priority. It has been hot as hell here in Vegas and the big race I was helping prep for(V2R) is over so I might get some work done between helping prep for a race in December.

[travlinman]

Do u happen to have the part number for the drop spindles? I'll need to order a set soon when I order my mmw arms

[Ghostwhite]

I used 71-91 Chevy / GMC C30 1-Ton Drop Spindle - 3" Drop from Western Chassis Inc. I picked them up thru SummitRacing HERE

[DblTrbl]

Suspension source has them for $250. That's what I used. They all look the same as far as I can tell...

[travlinman]

Thanks guys for the info. I hope there the same lol I'd like to save 100$. Plus suspension source is close enough that I could pick them up and save on the shipping.