Crossmember Drop

[phantom dually]

That is for the new tubular a arms. The brackets mounts inside that cutout. I will get some pice to get you a better idea of whats going on.

[70 Jimmy]

Interesting... So the A arms are notched up too. Not a bad idea. How are they mounted? Are the holes for some U bolts?

[phantom dually]

Actually they bolt in using regular bolts. The a arms go in from the sides and mount to the bracket itself.

[phantom dually]

Here is a pic with me holding the bracket into place. It gets 4 bolts. One at each corner. You could weld this in but, I would guess the space in which to get the member unbolted would be none!!

[phantom dually]

Here is a pic of the bracket with the a arm in place. The arm mounts to the outside of the bracket and another bolt holds the arm to the bracket.

[phantom dually]

one more

[SCOTI]

Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....................

A pic is worth a thousand words! I've been trying to figure this in my head & sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees.

[phantom dually]

Yeah I was thinking the same before I bought them. Also when I got them I called Bill and said how in the F does this work!!

[N2TRUX]

I'm getting in a little late in the game here, so let me catch up. I have read all the posts, and looked at all the pics.

Tell me why you think it would be better to bolt the lower A-arm hanger (bracket) to the crossmember rather than bolt it in? Is it because that would not allow you to remove the A-arm after everything is together?

[phantom dually]

I think you are saying why not weld it in versus bolting it in. There is little to no clearance access to the inside of the crossmember to unbolt or bolt up the member itself. Not saying it cant be done but it is a tight fit. BTW welcome to the game!!

[SCOTI]

I wondered the exact same thing the first time I looked @ those pics. Once I went out to the garage & looked @ the notched crossmember sitting there, I realized there would still need to be a way to access the holes for removal/installs.

[fastbagged68]

I welded in mine- It does make it alittle harder to put the bolts in but I did it. I went through the spring cup to get to mine. I am about to cut my spring pockets higher so it should make it easier to bolt it up.

[phantom dually]

Give us some pics when you can.

[SCOTI]

Well @ least it's not something that is pulled apart very often. Fastbagged, are you gonna do something similar like Slammed67's?

[fastbagged68]

No mine is not going to be like slammed67- Mine is on a 63 suburban so I dont know if I will have the same proablem. I really dont mind it too. I will be tucking a lot of rim so if somebody wants to pick a part my **** go for it! My rear will be centered though. I hopefully will be putting my crossmember in my frame with in a few months. I been so busy lately havent been able to work on my crossmember. I got to weld up my rack and pinion and cut my crossmember up alittle more. and clean the welds up and powder coat it. I did a 2 inch crossmember drop on mine to so I need to weld up some hole in the frame rails and re drill some holes. My goal is to have the car running and driving by may of 04' So we will see. I could have it done alot faster but planning on either doing fuel injection or rebuilding my motor to burn up 20's.

[N2TRUX]

Originally posted by phantom dually
I think you are saying why not weld it in versus bolting it in. There is little to no clearance access to the inside of the crossmember to unbolt or bolt up the member itself. Not saying it cant be done but it is a tight fit. BTW welcome to the game!!

Yeah, sorry about that. I did mean "weld" it in instead of bolting them in.

I can appreciate that you are going to a lot of effort to clean everything up. It seems like welding in the A-arm hangers would clean it up even more.

Y'all have a great mod for our trucks going on here. Lets keep this thread rolling and include lots of pics...

[phantom dually]

Hey FASTBAGGED when you attached your upper arm brackets did you go thru the bracket the crossmember and the frame then use the lock washer and nut??? It looks as if you put the nut and washer between the frame and the crossmember. I tried this but it will not work on my frame?? ANY insight would be great!!!

[phantom dually]

Hey N2TRUX you have made a very good point there about the clean factor. I am going to check clearance and probably end up welding them in after all. The truck is ruined anyway so there is no turning back!!!!!!!

[N2TRUX]

Originally posted by phantom dually
....I am going to check clearance and probably end up welding them in after all. The truck is ruined anyway so there is no turning back!!!!!!!

Don't blame me for adding another 10-20 hours to you project:p
Really though, it it seems like it might work. You may want to verify the length of the bolt, and cut them down as much as possible.

I'm just thinking that would clean things up a lot, and you CM is going to be a work of art already with the R&P on it. Besides, once you get it all done, how often will you need to unbolt the A-arms anyway???

[phantom dually]

Fitting the lower arms in tonight. Bushings suck @ss. Put them in the freezer and heated the arm. Then they went in. Now just to get them out!! Also the bolts that I have for the lower arms that go thru the bushings dont fit. They are 5/8 but wont go thru the sleeve that is inside the bushing.

[N2TRUX]

Originally posted by phantom dually
.... the bolts that I have for the lower arms that go thru the bushings dont fit. They are 5/8 but wont go thru the sleeve that is inside the bushing.

How far off are they? Can you just ream the sleeves with a larger bit

[phantom dually]

Im going to try tommorrow using a step up uni-bit. It is real close to going in!!

[N2TRUX]

Let us know if it works...

[70 Jimmy]

How far off are they? .010"? Are the sleeves split? If so, just hammer an old 5/8" bolt through and back out again to "stretch" the sleeve. Reeming can be risky. It may get sloppy on you down the road (pun intended).

[phantom dually]

The sleeves are solid with no split. Talked with Turners and they are sending me the correct ones. On the upside got the upper arms mounted correctly. Will post pics later!!