[KrucksGarage]

Are you going to use a 2X4" frame rail? Will the 1 3/4" width spring scale the frame rails, shackles and 3100 axle spring pad?

I'm sorry I'm not sure what you're asking there. I do think yes that I'll be using 2x4 rectangle tubing for rails.

 

[stewartwhite]

You will have 2" wide frame rails and wider frame rail at the joint a beefy 3100 I-Beam axle with wide spring mounting pads on the axle the question is are smaller springs going to look proportionate. I absolutely disagree with the post "it won't make a difference" you will have a side steering system the 1/4" less width at the spring eyelets and u-bolts will make a difference on a heavy car. I see Val has posted on your project and he says 1 3/4" springs are okay for the application he is a good and experienced guy to critique gasser projects. There is an excellent thread on the HAMB "which side should the shackles be located".

Technical - straight axle, shackles front or rear? | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)

 

[KrucksGarage]

You will have 2" wide frame rails and wider frame rail at the joint a beefy 3100 I-Beam axle with wide spring mounting pads on the axle the question is are smaller springs going to look proportionate. I absolutely disagree with the post "it won't make a difference" you will have a side steering system the 1/4" less width at the spring eyelets and u-bolts will make a difference on a heavy car. I see Val has posted on your project and he says 1 3/4" springs are okay for the application he is a good and experienced guy to critique gasser projects. There is an excellent thread on the HAMB "which side should the shackles be located".

Technical - straight axle, shackles front or rear? | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)

I think what I'll do is make a spring hat out of .120 stainless sheet metal, broke in kind of like an upside down "U" with a hole in the top for the spring pin and that will be secured and take up the gap between the pack and the U-bolts. Then everything will be nice and snug. Even if it's not needed, required, necessary, etc. I think it'll make me feel better about the setup and I can't see that it would hurt anything.

I'll take a read on that shackle thread no doubt because I've been curious about people's thoughts on that. On old jeeps, including my current CJ5, I have always done shackle reversals on the front because I like the shackles trailing, and prefer the axle travel movement off-road better in that setup. They came from the factory as shackle forward design. For a car, in a gasser config, interested to see some theory on that.

 

[KrucksGarage]

I've been pretty busy around here lately but might have a shop day tomorrow. I have my tires mounted, and front axle stripped to the spindles ready to get built. I have all my parts from Speedway to assemble and mount the front end so I'm going to get it put together tomorrow and get ready to cut the frame soon and build the front rail setup. I've got a few projects going right now including beginning work on my old CJ again (bought two engine crossmembers from speedway, one was for this), and I just tore the powerglide out of the Impala and getting a TH350 built to replace it. Lots going on with the shop projects.

 

[KrucksGarage]

Got the front axle assembled today and wheels and tires mounted. That rear end is temp, I need to fit and narrow the 9" Ford housing and get axles for it.

Bought all the front axle parts from Speedway.

With the drop axle it's a long ways to make up between the spring and frame. I'm thinking I'll go away from the truck axle and go with maybe the WAC moly tube straight axle. Once I get the weight of the engine and front end on the springs it'll be that much harder to make up the difference in the hanger gap. Right now with the rear tires mounted that I'm going to run, and the nose just above level you can see how much distance I'm working with to make this setup work.

 

[KrucksGarage]

Got the plasma cutter out of mothballs and the trunk floor axed out tonight. Next will be to clean up the spot welded flanges with a wire wheel and drill out the spots for a nice clean removal. I'm going to carve out the wheel housings leaving about an inch flange room to attach the new ones or filler strips if I reuse and widen these ones. I'll get a repop floor, probably the golden star one that's flanged at 3" or so narrower to accommodate the wider tubs. Still have a lot of clean up work and the whole rear of the floor section that dives down into the rear brace to remove. Should have some time to get after it more this weekend.