in my old build STUBBY i did the bob mod for a 4ft bed behind the cab and flipped the 56" springs end for end to get the hangers 4" further under the cab and rear hangers shorter off the end of the frame . i would up at 133" wb and looked good for cab clearance on 38" tires . lots of pics if you need ideas for yours or wana see one cut before you do yours .
I'll have to think about the idea of running the 56" springs backwards.
That's actually how I ran them in my K5 to push the axle back. My end goal isn't to really shorten the wheel base but the truck as a whole. What really got me motivated on this is realizing I could make the overall length the same as my C10 which means it will easily fit in the garage so I can work on it at home instead of always having to come down to the company shop. I don't need to be at work every day of the week.
I wouldn't move the hangers any further under the cab tho. My aim is for a 5.5ft bed. My rationale is that I already was losing 40" of bed space for the spare tire so if I put the tank in the bed, I will just mount the spare tire above it and I'm not losing any additional space. Then I want about 24" of actual open space to haul things like coolers and BBQ grills or sand weight in the winter. With the tool box and spare tire in the 8' bed, I was only using about 2' of space as it was.
Funny you mention that cross brace by the front hangers. On Larry's short box the factory brace was just behind the front hangers. He added a second brace he harvested from another 1/2 ton frame and added it in right in line with the front hangers.
He also added a 1/4" plate to the outside of the frame that extended ahead and behind the hanger. On the inside he had cut apart another frame and sectioned the "c" to fit inside his frame and bolted the inner and outer braces to the frame. It's a frame repair directly out of the book from International truck.
There is more than one way to get it done but that's what he did.
On mine the brace/crossmember is right in line with the hangers. The bottom brackets of the crossmember share bolts with the spring hangers on the bottom of the frame. DIY4x used pieces of metal to tie the nuts together on the back side so it does have a little extra bracing in that regard too.
I had thought some about skipping the cross brace so I'm glad you brought it up and I'm definitely going to include it. I'm also thinking I will beef it up a little.
I can't even afford to buy new leaf springs let alone coil over shocks. I'm thinking once I have everything all settled out, I may do custom ORD leafs. I knew a guy that was going to help me build a cool trailing arm set up, but I waited too long and he moved away.
I'm trying to do this on a budget. Really the most expensive thing is probably going to be the driveshaft work. At least it always seems like it costs me a fortune every time it needs re-tubed.
You are keeping bedsides, right?
Martin
Yes, it's going to have bed sides. The design I have in mind is similar to the M101 military trailers.
The biggest issue I'm seeing with that tank location is clearance for the rear axle. Once you push it forward, the housing is going to be getting intimate with your new fuel tank location.
Adding a link setup as shown above makes even more things in the way. This is why the S-10 tank is behind the axle.
I had toyed with moving the tank down further so I took some measurements to see if I could. I have 5" of clearance from the top of the truss to the bottom of the frame. I decided I'm going to raise the tank UP about 1.5" off the bottom of the frame which will account for the loss of clearance when I have weight back on the rear springs. This truck is way taller than I ever planned, but I guess running about 7" of lift does have some advantages.
Plus I could take the truss off. It's just the remnants of an old DIY4x anti-wrap set up I had on the K5. That would gain nearly 2" of additional clearance over the rear axle. I had left it on because it's not harming anything and might give some very small measure of benefit.
Is he going to change the thread title to "Bob the crew cab"?
Nope
Hard NOPE! No Cali lean here.
If anything it would be the ANTI-Bro Dozer. I can tell you driving a big pickup that's taller than most of those guys, I have a lot of fun getting them all riled up. It just takes a little bit of accelerating from a stoplight and just kinda driving next to them like maybe I want to race. They think it's ON and start huffing and puffing black smoke all over the place blasting down the road with me hoping maybe there's a traffic cop sitting down the road. It makes me chuckle.
