Installing a Scott's bolt in suspension in a TF

[Russell Ashley]

I finally got my truck sitting on wheels again and want to fill you guys in on what is involved. It's not as easy as the AD bolt in suspension because the TF frame is wider and the cross member must be placed inside the frame rails. I started out with a running and driving truck with CPP disk brakes and CPP power steering. If you have your engine removed it would make the job a lot easier but I didn't want to do that much work, LOL. Mainly I didn't want to open my a/c. The first thing I did was to remove all of my front sheet metal. Then I marked the centerline of my axle and removed every thing that was part of my original suspension, including shock brackets and spring mounts. No turning back at this point. Here's a pic of the suspension and a pic of the bare cross member.




I had hoped I could get the cross member in by working it under the engine but it won't go.

[Russell Ashley]

My truck still had original style front engine mounts. I removed the mounts completely from the frame and engine, and removed the fuel pump, fan, all pulleys, and harmonic balancer, and by raising the front of the engine I was able to slip the cross member in. I had to trim the frame some to get it to fit down between the rails.



You can see where I trimmed the frame in this pic. I'm posting this in bits as I don't want to loose what I have already typed if I make a mistake.

[Russell Ashley]

When I got the cross member in place I realized that the steering rack was not going to fit in without trimming the front cross member drastically, which meant the original front engine mounts had to go. Justin said I could just remove the entire thing but I didn't want to do that, so I trimmed it.



I got these from Scott's but It meant I had to remove the cross member again to weld them in.



I measured and cut these with the engine sitting back on the original mounts so that I would be sure it was sitting where it is supposed to sit.

[Russell Ashley]

I cut the bottom triangular braces off of the cross member and then trimmed it straight (kind of, LOL) across to make room for the steering rack.



The rack went in with plenty of room but the steering shaft comes out pointed at the engine mount. Beyond that my exhaust pipe is also in the way.



It was tight but I was able to go around the engine mount and also the pipe using the Unisteer u-joints that came with the suspension kit. The joints are not flexed to their limits and there's no slop or binding in my steering when turned from side to side so I'm satisfied with it. If I ever feel that my steering is not smooth like I want it to be I will modify my exhaust pipe slightly to give a more direct route to the column.

I'm glad I left the cross member in as it completely shields the steering rack from the front.

[Russell Ashley]

Almost forgot this one. When I first got the new cross member in place, before drilling the mounting holes, I installed the a-arms on the right side to be sure my wheels would be where I wanted them. I wanted to move them only about a half inch forward and it looks like that's where they are.

[Russell Ashley]

It's tight around the steering rack and the braided hoses that came with the kit are stiff and a little difficult to get in place. I had to use a crow foot wrench to tighten the connections at the rack because they are so close together you can't get an open end wrench on it. The instructions said to only tighten them to 12-14 ft pounds so they aren't real tight.



The support bearing came with the kit. I don't really like the idea of multiple u-joints in my steering linkage but it works and can't be avoided I guess.

[Russell Ashley]

Last one for now. Here it is finally back on it's wheels. I've been waiting on this one, LOL. I still have to align it, mount the calipers, run the brake lines, and install the sway bar. I also will crank up the springs some to raise the front end up. The springs are fully extended now and the bottom of the front of the frame is 10 1/2 inches off of the floor. I want to raise it about two inches.



I plan on driving it in a few days. It won't be the first time it's been around the neighborhood with no fenders.

[oldman3]

Nice job on the install, and great detail on how to do with engine in frame. When you have front end aligned, let us know what your front end man has to say about aligning with the set-up from Scott's...Jim

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

....."I also will crank up the springs some to raise the front end up. The springs are fully extended now....

Russ, How can you "crank up the springs" if the "springs are fully extended"?

I'm curious what you mean?

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Nice job on the install, and great detail on how to do with engine in frame. When you have front end aligned, let us know what your front end man has to say about aligning with the set-up from Scott's...Jim

Jim, I have everything I need to do it so I'll be aligning it myself right in my garage. It looks really close now with the initial settings from Scott's instructions.

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Russ, How can you "crank up the springs" if the "springs are fully extended"?

I'm curious what you mean?

Dan, they're adjustable coilovers and the springs are at the lowest setting. You can add more tension to the spring by turning the lower collar on the shock.

[Katrina/10]

Hi Russell, I see you got your suspension kit and well on your way to finish. Looks great!

[ChuckDriver]

Nice job Russell, great write up! It should be one nice ride when you are done!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Dan, they're adjustable coilovers and the springs are at the lowest setting. You can add more tension to the spring by turning the lower collar on the shock.

So that will LIFT it, not just make the ride firmer?

I'm curious how that works out. I love the idea of Scott's IFS but I think it's potentially too low for my purposes.

[Russell Ashley]

I've gotten a few more things done since my last post. I've finished the brake lines and bled the brakes, and got the sway bar installed. The missing bolt in the sway bar bracket is where the bumper bracket bolt goes. That hole will get filled soon, I hope. I also have everything back on the motor and have filled the radiator and p/s pump. It's ready to start up at this point.



I had to trim the front cross member slightly to get the sway bar in and up close to the frame rail.



With that wedge of the cross member out of the way the sway bar tucks up close. I don't think my truck will be leaning much, that sway bar is huge.

[Russell Ashley]

Finally! First time out of the garage in over two months. All of the adjustments are just eye-balled but I just had to take it around the neighborhood to feel how it drives. Steering feels good and tighter than with the frame mounted box. The brakes feel good and stop smooth and straight. It feels a little stiff but that might change when I get the front sheet metal and bumper back on and get some more miles on it. I'm going to take a day or two off and then I'll do an alignment on it and test drive it again.

The wood board is laying there to keep the hood from hitting the core support.



At this point I'm hoping my calculations on wheel placement are correct. I liked the position of the wheels in the fenders before so only moved them a half inch forward. This is a before shot. I'll know sometime next week but I don't expect any problems there. It's definitely going to look better with less space between the top of the fender opening and the tire.

[Stepside Jim]

Russell Ashley, Can't wait to hear how the ride has changed once you get it all back together.

Good pictures and good write-up.

Jim

I don't think I mentioned it...... I could sit and stare at the welds and just drool.

[oldman3]

Front suspension looks great, nice job on the install...Jim

[_Ogre]

nice write up russell
looks good

[Highsider]

Thanks for including us in this project.

[ChuckDriver]

Looks great Russell! What position did you set the adjustment knob for the coilovers at? I think if you go full counter-clockwise it will put the rebound at the softest position, when you can fine tune from there.

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Looks great Russell! What position did you set the adjustment knob for the coilovers at? I think if you go full counter-clockwise it will put the rebound at the softest position, when you can fine tune from there.

I'm glad you asked that , Chuck. I hadn't really paid any attention to those knobs other than to turn them back and forth a little, LOL. I just went out into the garage and checked and they were a couple of clicks from being all the way out, so I turned them fully all the way out. When I start driving it regularly I'll tune them to my liking. I suspect it will be at the softest point as the truck felt a little stiff in my short test drive.

[Russell Ashley]

I finally got it back together and I am very pleased with the way it sits. This pic shows the difference when compared to the previous pic. The flash makes the paint look worse than it is.



I like the way it sits but might have to turn up the coilover slightly. I took it for a drive yesterday and it was fine, but when I turned into my driveway with the wheels turned fully to the left I heard something rub, so I will have to look into that. I don't know if it was the tire hitting the fender lip or maybe the inside rear of the tire hitting the inner fender.



I've only made a few short drives around my neighborhood but I like what I've felt so far. I hope to make it to a local cruise in Tuesday night that is about twenty miles away but rain is forecast so it might be a few more days before I can really give it a road test. At some point I want to lower the rear a little but that will have to wait a while as I want to drive it for a while before I start another upgrade on it.

[ChuckDriver]

Nicely done Russell, the front stance looks right on. What are your plans for the rear, axle flip or four link?

[Russell Ashley]

Thanks for the good comments, everyone. At this point I'm not sure how I'll go about lowering the rear. It's got a twelve bolt rear axle that is out of a full size vehicle, 2:73 ratio, non posi. The wheels are too wide to tuck up into the fenders so I'm thinking about an axle swap to something slightly narrower when I get in the mood to do it. I'll probably ask Justin at Scott's what he recommends for suspension.

Back in my post 15 I said I had the engine back together. Later I noticed that the belts didn't line up and the crank pulley was out about 3/16ths from where it should be. When I installed the harmonic balancer it felt like it bottomed out but apparently it didn't. I had to drain the radiator and remove everything again and pull the balancer the rest of the way on to the crank. It went on easy the rest of the way so I don't know what happened the first time. Have you ever noticed how much less fun something is the second time when you have to go back and re-do it.