Looking better. Sway bar links look like they were made to go there.
CK5
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1991 Chevy Crew Cab "R" / "V" Conversion
- Thread starter mckustomfab
- Start date
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
Its nice that the cab and chassis trucks kept the same 34" wide frame rails, made mount up stuff pretty straight forward. Thanks again for your input on the u-bolts, I wouldn't have thought about it until a possible problem arose.
hate to say it so late now and at round 2 . but the 2.5" spring to the 3.0" u-bolt gap could let the springs walk around a bit . now after seeing this i remember a rig i did a spring swap on years and years ago that went 3.0 down to 2.5" spring and we had a set of spacers made like U channel to bolt in like a leaf but fatten up the spring pack to the 3.0" thickness .
keep a eye on it and if stuff starts to move do this mod and should be good . but much better over your first design .
keep a eye on it and if stuff starts to move do this mod and should be good . but much better over your first design .
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
I had cut some 1/4" flat strap to add on each side of the spring pack to go between the pack and the ubolts to keep the leafs from "walking". I have not torqued the ubolts yet so I can still add them, my thought was to tack them to one of the plates. Thanks again for the input!
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Yeah that would be a good idea to just weld some strap coming down off the underside of your top plate along the side of the springs to just help keep things centered. I really want to do this swap when I build my crew cab dually and 4x4 convert it. I see guys parting out F550s all the time in my area for way cheap compared to buying a GM or Dodge front 60 alone. I might even get a parts truck and run the entire coil spring front suspension off an '05+ truck or just stick with and older one for the simplicity of leaves. Depending on my trans and drivetrain choice when I get to it I might do a divorce mount setup with a super duty transfer case. Torque King 4x4 has a kit now to convert them for use in a divorce setup for 2wd to 4wd conversions.
I can't remember but what's the plan for the front axle on your truck?
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
One of the main reasons I went the F550 route was overall price, between the cost of regearing my axles, upgrading the brakes, and possible breakage from the 46's the cost savings was huge. The axles I found have the 4.88’s, I believe the two most common ratios for the F550’s were 4.30 and 4.88. I am going to run the front F550 axle as well, my current plan is to use some pieces of ORD's 4 link kit to mount it and run some coil overs. The rear axle was very straight forward, and if you run the Ford leaf springs you could also get the spring hangers and just bolt them straight to your frame rail (same frame widths). I would think you would need to remove a few leafs though...
This is what we are using on a few Superduty axle projects .
https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.co...fstuff&Product_Code=R2348&Category_Code=3LINK
All F550 trucks got 4:88 gears, some with lockers. V10 F250/350s got 4:30 gears and then there are the most common 3:73s and I even saw an '03 F350 6.0L dually with 4:10 gears once. There was a company on FB called Cut Bros that was doing a coil spring super duty axle setup for chevy frames but they have mostly quit doing stuff. There was also a guy on here in Montana doing an install and it was going pretty easy but he has disappeared a while back and never finished the thread.
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
Yeah that is the kit I am basing most of my "design" off of. I am going to use their axle side brackets and possibly the frame brackets from ORD, I really want to use the Summit Machine joints instead of rod ends.
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
Not sure where I got 4.30 for the F550 but I thought I saw it somewhere... Doesnt really matter though. I looked at Cut Bros stuff a while back but like you said they have kind of fallen off, I also have a thread off of Pirate from a guy that was using the factory superduty coil buckets and coils for his swap. (link)
Cool! I will have to read through that when I get a chance. It's pretty popular with the 92-97 ford guys to swap all the factory brackets and such to do this swap on them. There's a few companies that do bracket kits also but I haven't seen anyone with a real kit for the squarebody trucks yet. Maybe @Stephen at ORD should do a budget friendly '05+ super duty axle swap kit.
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
I have looked at the kits for the OBS Fords and part of what makes it work well for them is the frame width is wider than our square bodies. I have been talking with ORD and told them what I am doing, seems like the hardest part of it would be the frame brackets and making some bent links to line up with the frame rail. Here is a thread that I started more specific to the 4 link and Stephen chimed in on it too. Link
Good info in that other thread.
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
Got a chance to mess with the front end for a little while today, I pulled GM D60 and manhandled the Super60 under the truck. Didn't have a ton of time but I was able to get the axle pretty well square under the frame and the axle center line about where I want it. I have a lot of measuring and fitting to do plus I have to order some parts... Here is the pics
She is going to be wide....
She is going to be wide....
Always thought how one would swap one of these into our trucks. I thought it would be a pretty easy drop in unit to get some links and coil overs.
You gotta do something about that f-word on the hub..
Warn makes hubs for these!You gotta do something about that f-word on the hub..
Can you do anything different with the way you are adapting the wheels to bring them in? Like remove a spacer or swap around how they are bolted together if you have enough clearance on the steering.
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
It seems to be fairly straight forward, I hope to use a lot of stuff from ORD and a few custom pieces. The links, joints, and axle side mounts are all availible in the market. The frame bracket I am looking into, and the steering and panhard setup. I guess we will see how much "easier" it is but atleast this way I get some massive brakes, axle shafts, and u-joints.
You gotta do something about that f-word on the hub..
They will stay for the time being but after everything is squared away I plan on adding something like these!
mckustomfab
1/2 ton status
I could move the adapter plate to the other side (outer side of the wheel), this would bring them in about 1" per side. I have given some thought to this but if i go this route then I will have to do all 5 wheels so they can be swapped as needed. I will need to look at how this affects the rear axle but it is definitely worth looking into!
