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“Dylan’s” 89. Back at it!

89 Jimmy 6.0/4l80e/MAGNUM 205/d60/14bolt
Alright, I got this bad boy mounted up so I can start building a crossmember.

So right here I have the transmission pan sitting at 0 degrees. And this is pretty much the limit of how high I can go. In retrospect a 1” body lift would’ve been beneficial but I don’t want to raise it anymore than it is now.

I’m not much of a fabricator so are there any hard rules/tip/tricks to building the crossmember? I started a while back with some 3/16” angle iron that’ll bolt to the frame rails and I’m going to run 2x2 square tubing across. I think I’m just going to run a single mount at the magnum, and maybe another at the adapter. ORD suggest using the magnum as being the main site of support.

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Need some suggestions. I got my crossmember mocked in, and it will work. I’m just not too excited on the design.

For one I will have to notch it for the front driveshaft. No biggie, but I’m second guessing how I did the angle iron. Now I’m thinking I should have it turned up toward the inside of the framerail instead of hanging down. And instead of one large piece along the frame rail, build 2 or 3 almost identical crossmembers and tie together length wise. So there would be 4-6 actual mounting points on the frame.

That all make sense?

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What do you think about using a formed angle instead of structural?
Also how would it work to put it on the outside of the frame? The formed angle would be rounded on the inside and outside and the radius on the outside would look like the radius on the outside of the frame.
Dimensions for a formed angle would be any x any x any and any thickness.
You could even get creative beyond just an angle and make any shape you want.

If you come up with something you want to try just draw it out and send it to me. I have a press brake. I’ll make it and send it to you.
 
I like it. It's simple and functional, it's a lot like what I envision for mine eventually That said, @TuckerK5 offer is sweet. Is there an advantage for having the formed piece vs the store bought angle?

I'm interested to (hopefully) hear folks structural arguments for the single vs multiple mounting pieces along the frame.
 
I saw this a while back and saved the pic. When notching for the driveshaft, you might consider going over if you have room in order to save ground clearance.

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What do you think about using a formed angle instead of structural?
Also how would it work to put it on the outside of the frame? The formed angle would be rounded on the inside and outside and the radius on the outside would look like the radius on the outside of the frame.
Dimensions for a formed angle would be any x any x any and any thickness.
You could even get creative beyond just an angle and make any shape you want.

If you come up with something you want to try just draw it out and send it to me. I have a press brake. I’ll make it and send it to you.

That’s a thought.

You can see that I can’t clock the 205 up much so ground clearance is already sacrificed. My new thought is to turn the angle iron up, then run a piece of tube downward at an angle off both frame rails, then just one piece straight across to connect them. Almost like a belly pan. That straight tube would be the mount for the magnum as well.
 
Gonna get some work done on the crossmember today. I decided to stick with what I had already started. I got some 3x3 angle to get a visual of what I was thinking and I just didnt like it. Too much differentiation going on in that area. I may take @TuckerK5 am get some stuff bent up later, but for now I’ll just build what I got and go from there. I need this thing to MOVE!

So talk to me about the front driveshaft angle. Where I have everything set right now the front output flange is angled back(up) 4 degrees and the axle pinion is at 3 degrees. I know with the CV/double cardan driveshafts I need to point the axle pinion at the output, but does the front output being angled matter? Or just shim it up to match the output angle as if it were a single U joint shaft?

Haven’t looked at caster angle or anything but just eyeballing it’s at a negative, so should be ok if I can get away with it.
 
Not having a huge lift plus the length of the drivetrain I would think you could get away with a simple, less expensive set up. I'm at 7" of suspension and my front shaft works well with single joints at each end.
 
This is a 4500 203 205 with front axle forwards a couple inches and 1410 single ujoint at the case and 1350 super flex joint at the axle. Very happy configuration. Running small shims to point the pinion up. Like a 4* shim. Maybe even less. Helps clear the fittings on the ram.

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How much lift do you have? I ran a single 1350 on each end of a square tube shaft. I had 4 inch lift, d60 and np208. No shims on the front.
 
6” ORDs, D60.

I guess what I was really trying to ask was how many degrees can I go before my caster angle starts to get janky. From what I could research the GM D60s are set for about 8 degrees and it looks like I’m at about 10, measuring from the top of the knuckle by the kingpin caps. Which makes me thing I have plenty of room to shim if need be.
 
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