Nice and clean man!
I was thinking it wouldn't matter if the flip brackets ended up being angled as long as they're tight to the frame.It was really easy the way I did the frame shortening. I just cutoff the factory front brackets for the rear springs and moved them exactly 28" forward on the frame and bolted them back up. In doing it that way, it made it that the 4" flip brackets still bolted up right after the factory frame curves up to go over the rear axle in stock form (which is the same height as where the rear shackle brackets are on the frame anyways). You can see from the below pic, that yes the brackets aren't perfectly in line with the top of the frame because where I ended up bolting them up the frame is still narrowing a little bit, but it's totally fine. Plus, as you can see form the other picture, it ended up landing where the original rear bump stop bolted to the bottom of the frame which made it perfect for the bottom part of the flip brackets. And I also just have 6" cross-tied shackles. Then I just cutoff the excess frame behind the shackle flip and added a crossmember outta 2x4 square tubing. I will probably need to add at least a 1" ez inch or something to the rear to get it to match the front height, but I'm gonna wait to do that until after I get the rest of the drivetrain in and a bit more weight on it to make sure it's correct.
Like I said at the beginning of this thread, this thing did originally have a crappy 4" lift on it with blocks rear and cheap 4" lift springs in the front. I did the rear frame shortening/shackle flip before doing anything with the front, and it was still perfect in line on height with the 4" lift springs that were in the front. So you can take that info how you'd like to figure out if you can still use your 2.5" shackle flip, or if you want to go to 4" flip brackets.
If you end up getting a different truck that does more of the tow/haul duty, I think if you turned yours into a Cousin Willard replica with wheelbase shortening like this, and a functional tube bed (like Cousin Willard) it would be such a cool rig. That's kinda what I was thinking with this thing, other than just bigger with rockwells
View attachment 354904
View attachment 354905

I was thinking it wouldn't matter if the flip brackets ended up being angled as long as they're tight to the frame.
2 factors are making me think about shortening the wheelbase. The first is doing something with the fuel tanks. They are both getting beat up. I have some ideas to better protect them, but I'm railing against having to buy 2 tanks when a single tank setup would be more efficient. The other factor is I've been running the crew cab for over 8 years now and I'm ready to do something new with it. Mainly I want to freshen up most all of the sheet metal and it's hard to find a good, complete bed that I could afford.
I don't really want to move the rear axle as far as you did, but I was thinking about moving it forward about 18". I would mount the drop hitch and air bags so I'd still be able to tow with it.
Your build is giving me a good opportunity to see what the rear part of the frame looks like. Plus it's looking like a really cool truck.![]()

Sounds awesome. Interested to see how the EFI setup works with the L29 long block. It should make some reliable power for sure.
How do you like the fitment of the headers? What are they? Ive got to buy a set soon for mine.
But wheres the nv4500 shifter gonna go?
If you haven't already you should stick a battery disconnect right there too. With everything being right in arms reach you could just reach over and shut it off if something goes wrong.

I don't see a cup holder?![]()
I like those a lot. Got a link?