Rangebe...version 2.0

[-Nathan-]

Got the leaves torn down and roughly in place. Here are the 4 chevy leaves, and 2 ranger leaves on the bottom. Going to have the pack as such re-arched as much as I can, and once the axle is in place, can play with the lengths, and add/subtract leaves to get the right height/rate.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

I know you mentioned your lift height in here somewhere but might want to reasearch this a little. i was running stock chev 63's with an extended shackle and a block and would clear 38's with minor cutting. rearching might put you a little too high depending on your end goal. you most likely wont be running a block of anysort but with the extended shackle and custom pack ?.?.? just throwin that out there. for ride height refrance you can check out my mazda build page. the new truck isnt running a block or 63's for that matter.

 

[-Nathan-]

I've done my research, metric tons of it . What you're forgetting is that I'm doing a shackle reversal, so that plus the extended shackle means ill lose about 8" or more of height from my leaves. Hence needing to re-arch them. Once I get them back I'll decide how much to drop the shackle hanger I'll be making.

 

[-Nathan-]

Had an hour to spend in the shop. Doesnt look like much, but it is. Cut all the leaves to length, and wire wheeled them. Also got the old bushings out of the eyes...what a pain.

So this one leaf pack is done and ready to be re-arched, just have to do the other set. Im waiting on my new front hangers and shackles so I can figure out how much I need them arched.

 

[-Nathan-]

Spent some time tonight getting the frame level, and set at ride height. This is the ride height the truck will be at, as well as the width. Its damn close to being as wide as it is long.

Had to throw some tires on there just to keep me motivated, getting anxious to get the suspension finished up so I can get to work on the new motor/tans/tcase. Also, will be tossing the fuel tank, and running a fuel cell, as well as a rear mounted radiator.

 

[organic]

Looking good Nathan. It's always good to be as wide as you are long!

 

[hockeyryan]

awe that looks great man

 

[-Nathan-]

Got a set of belltechs from andres629.

Wanted to mod/strengthen them so did this

Bent

Welded

Template

Used some 3/16 and welded it up.

Here are some pics comparing the regular belltech 6400 to my version...

Oh, and pulled the gas tank the other night.

 

[NXD 5150]

Nice Work, love that front axle! Ive been thinking of a dana 50 swap sometime now and my friends think im nuts. lol

 

[Kyle M.]

Shackles look nice, but why did you do it?

 

[-Nathan-]

these type of shackles are used routinely in long travel setups, can get more droop/less bind.

 

[Kyle M.]

I don't get how they make more droop. To me, you just made them shorter and if I am thinking right, a longer shackle would get more flex. I must be thinking wrong about it.

 

[-Nathan-]

theoretically you want the shortest shackle you can get away with...ill go into more detail about that later, but for now, here is a peak of todays progress...this is VERY ROUGHLY mocked up, and the hanger is half finished, just for a visual, so no hatin'

 

[-Nathan-]

Well I needed some rear hangers as the ones on my truck were shot. Plus with the shackle reversal I wanted to negate some of the loss of lift. So I made up some templates, cut them out, and welded them up.

Still need to fill in that piece at the top.

 

[RangerBoy94]

Those look awesome!!