What size tires are you going to be running? It might not hurt to be forward an inch or so from the stock location to save the back of the fender.
CK5
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'85 K5 "Denali" Blazer: Front 4-link
- Thread starter Conner
- Start date
The goal is to restore and upgrade this truck for mixed use on/off road (ex: drive across the country to a national park to 4x4 camp).
35x12.5 on rally wheels is the plan. This is a good point though, I will keep that in mind when cycling the suspension and checking everything. I'm really hoping I can get away with relatively minor trimming at both the front and rear of the fender.
About what relative lift height are you thinking you will be? Mine was on 35s with a 2" lift, front axle 1.5" forward for a long time. Never had the tire touch the rear of the front fender. Had the "fang" cut off up to the core support.
Since you're on links I think you can get away being tighter to the firewall since you have a more defined travel path.
Truck is looking good! I am jealous of your front links.
I was hoping for 3" ish above stock ride height, which I think is approximately where the axle is sitting in the recent pics. Eyeballing it before actual cycling, from there I think I will have about 5" of up travel. I think ideally I'd have 6" up (and 6" down). So I need to figure out if I want to go a little higher lift, or just have 5" up and 7" down instead (not sure how/if the springs I have will affect this).
Thanks for the reference point, and I'm hoping you're right as I like the look of uncut fenders and am planning on a stock style bumper (so I'd prefer to leave the fang). But I'm going to trim as much as is needed, and if it looks worse than I'd like I'll do some sheetmetal work on the fenders to try to retain the look.
And thanks again! I'm excited about the suspension. The bracket problems have been frustrating (especially for the cost) but I think it will be worth it in the end.
Everything becomes a compromise at some point when we modify these 40 year old vehicles. At 3" you might be ok. Won't know until you cycle it!
As for the coilover springs they shouldn't be changing anything about your travel #s. The springs more or less just hold the truck up. Your travel is set by you using other factors.
In this article they show a pretty clean way of doing the front fang that ends up with more clearance but looks pretty close to factory.
I think I might try to put a bend in my panhard bar to clear the oil pan. Good idea or bad idea? Thoughts on shape of bend (like 1 single bend, or 2 adjacent bends like the drag link has)?
Basically I think I could get about 2 more inches of up travel if not for the panhard bar clearance to the oil pan. Other than that, I think it's all clear until the diff hits the crossmember. Not only would more up travel be nice just for its own sake, but this would also let me sit closer to the middle of the shock at my desired ride height.
I will probably call ORD with this question as well, but I'd appreciate any thoughts/ideas on this topic. Thanks!
Edit: Picture from tonight just for fun
Basically I think I could get about 2 more inches of up travel if not for the panhard bar clearance to the oil pan. Other than that, I think it's all clear until the diff hits the crossmember. Not only would more up travel be nice just for its own sake, but this would also let me sit closer to the middle of the shock at my desired ride height.
I will probably call ORD with this question as well, but I'd appreciate any thoughts/ideas on this topic. Thanks!
Edit: Picture from tonight just for fun
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A bend in the panhard will be fine, seen it done multiple times.
Believe it or not I was actually just trying to scan through your (extremely long lol) build thread for this. Is yours bent, and if so do you have a picture of where/how you did the bend? Thanks man!
lol good luck finding anything in that thread, best bet is to just ask. No I don't have a bent one, I pushed the engine up about a inch and a half higher, the panhard tucks about a 1/4 below the balancer at full bump.
I think a majority of us had to bend the panhard bar
There's a lot of variables but in the end, yes, a bend in the bar is absolutely fine. Strangely, a lot of them end up bent the other way to clear big diff covers on the D60.
I can't personally bend the tube, and I'm not sure if anyone locally can (have a couple calls out, waiting to hear back). I also think I am going to need a longer piece of tube than I have now, because of the bend.
Are you guys able/willing to sell and ship me a length of 1.5x.250 tube with a bend in it for the panhard bar if I provide the lengths and angle of bend? I can call you guys if that's easier. Thanks either way.
Short version:
Midnight 4x4 in Utah is awesome to deal with and willing/able to do one-off tube bends like this for a reasonable price with quick turnaround time. It has been surprisingly hard to find anyone who does this type of thing (maybe my internet skills just suck).
Long version:
In case it helps anyone else, I called ORD about purchasing panhard bar tubing with a bend in it from them. They told me they are not set up to do custom stuff like that, but referred me to Summit Machine in Utah. Summit Machine told me they don't stock or work with DOM tube typically, but they were extremely helpful and recommended Midnight 4x4, also in Utah.
Midnight 4x4 was also extremely helpful on the phone and thankfully they do stuff like this all the time and were more than willing to do a one-off bend like this and ship it to me. Which was a huge relief considering I can't get anyone local to even call me back. LOL. $191 bent and shipped for 4.5' of 1.5", 0.250" wall DOM tube with a 20 degree bend in it (I provided a drawing based on a PVC pipe mock up I made). Which is a little more than I hoped, but not too far off (I get it, one-off stuff is mostly set up time, plus shipping is a lot). 4.5 feet has several inches of extra material on each side of the bend, but I wanted to be sure it will work and I will trim it to fit obviously.
They said they should have the tube done tomorrow or Friday, which is great because I'm kinda at a standstill until I get that tacked together and in I think.
I'll of course update here when I get it and make more progress.
Midnight 4x4 in Utah is awesome to deal with and willing/able to do one-off tube bends like this for a reasonable price with quick turnaround time. It has been surprisingly hard to find anyone who does this type of thing (maybe my internet skills just suck).
Long version:
In case it helps anyone else, I called ORD about purchasing panhard bar tubing with a bend in it from them. They told me they are not set up to do custom stuff like that, but referred me to Summit Machine in Utah. Summit Machine told me they don't stock or work with DOM tube typically, but they were extremely helpful and recommended Midnight 4x4, also in Utah.
Midnight 4x4 was also extremely helpful on the phone and thankfully they do stuff like this all the time and were more than willing to do a one-off bend like this and ship it to me. Which was a huge relief considering I can't get anyone local to even call me back. LOL. $191 bent and shipped for 4.5' of 1.5", 0.250" wall DOM tube with a 20 degree bend in it (I provided a drawing based on a PVC pipe mock up I made). Which is a little more than I hoped, but not too far off (I get it, one-off stuff is mostly set up time, plus shipping is a lot). 4.5 feet has several inches of extra material on each side of the bend, but I wanted to be sure it will work and I will trim it to fit obviously.
They said they should have the tube done tomorrow or Friday, which is great because I'm kinda at a standstill until I get that tacked together and in I think.
I'll of course update here when I get it and make more progress.
Are you going to thread it yourself?
No, but only because the ORD kit comes with weld-in threaded inserts. The panhard bar in the kit is also just raw DOM since it's supposed to be cut to fit. Although I don't think it would be long enough even without a bend, and it's definitely not long enough with bend. So I think I was going to have to buy another tube whether I found someplace local to bend it or not.
Don't feel bad, I ended up replacing all the tubing in the ORD kit because I had no idea what I was doing. Luckily for me it was straight pieces and I had a yard close by.
Tubing came in, exactly 1 week from ordering, which I think is great considering it's a one-off custom (albeit simple) part. They made it exactly to the specs I gave them, down to the 10th of a degree. Highly recommend Midnight 4x4 for random tubing bends like this.
Test fit about a thousand times and then cut both ends of the tube down to squeeze under the oil pan when the passenger side is stuffed and driver side drooped, and squeeze above the diff cover when both sides are stuffed. Then tacked on the threaded inserts for the joints.
These pics are terrible, but a few of it in. I also tacked on the panhard bracket to the frame. I had to put it back further than I had thought I would because of the panhard bar clearance to the drag link end with the passenger tire stuffed.
Clearance to the oil pan at its closest point. I may give this a little more than this when I actually do the bump stops.
Because the panhard bracket moved back from where I was hoping, I think I will have to move the axle back a little so the coil spring doesn't hit the panhard bolt head on the driver side. Hoping that moving the brackets back half an inch or so will give me enough room.
Test fit about a thousand times and then cut both ends of the tube down to squeeze under the oil pan when the passenger side is stuffed and driver side drooped, and squeeze above the diff cover when both sides are stuffed. Then tacked on the threaded inserts for the joints.
These pics are terrible, but a few of it in. I also tacked on the panhard bracket to the frame. I had to put it back further than I had thought I would because of the panhard bar clearance to the drag link end with the passenger tire stuffed.
Clearance to the oil pan at its closest point. I may give this a little more than this when I actually do the bump stops.
Because the panhard bracket moved back from where I was hoping, I think I will have to move the axle back a little so the coil spring doesn't hit the panhard bolt head on the driver side. Hoping that moving the brackets back half an inch or so will give me enough room.
I shifted the axle brackets back a half inch tonight (now they are ~8.75" behind the body mounts if anyone cares) and tacked them back on. I was afraid this would cause some other unforeseen clearance issues, but thankfully it doesn't seem to be a problem.
With the axle in this position and ~6 degrees of caster, it looks like the panhard bar clears everything (including the drag link end), my current estimated bump stop height should still work, and the coil spring should have room to clear the panhard bracket and bolt head.
Obviously everything is only still tacked and subject to change... But I think I'm ready to start figuring out the shock hoops.
With the axle in this position and ~6 degrees of caster, it looks like the panhard bar clears everything (including the drag link end), my current estimated bump stop height should still work, and the coil spring should have room to clear the panhard bracket and bolt head.
Obviously everything is only still tacked and subject to change... But I think I'm ready to start figuring out the shock hoops.
Im assuming you did but have you cycled the suspension to all positions to verify clearance? And with a tire on as well?I shifted the axle brackets back a half inch tonight (now they are ~8.75" behind the body mounts if anyone cares) and tacked them back on. I was afraid this would cause some other unforeseen clearance issues, but thankfully it doesn't seem to be a problem.
With the axle in this position and ~6 degrees of caster, it looks like the panhard bar clears everything (including the drag link end), my current estimated bump stop height should still work, and the coil spring should have room to clear the panhard bracket and bolt head.
Obviously everything is only still tacked and subject to change... But I think I'm ready to start figuring out the shock hoops.
Yes, but of course planning on lots more to be safe. What I meant is at this point, tentatively the axle location is looking good. At all axle positions, the panhard bar and bracket clears everything. The axle is closest to the panhard bracket at roughly ride height, and with the axle moved now I'm 99% sure the coilover has enough clearance to the panhard bracket at ride height. It gets further away as the axle goes up or down.
I have not fully cycled with a tire on (yet). I will need to trim the front of the fender to do that (hopefully moving the axle back helped a little, but it will definitely still need some).
That's a good point though, I should do that next before worrying too much about shock hoops because I need to make sure the coilover clears the tire. Other than the fender and the coilover, I can't think of anything the tire will potentially hit? I'll find out either way I guess.
Thanks for the help thinking through everything (you and everyone else)! It's very appreciated.
