Beam to Pivot Bracket Clearance

[-JD5353-]

Hello all, I've been cycling my front suspension and noticed that with my wheel base pushed around 1"-1.25" forward the passenger side beam comes very close to the driver side beam bracket. So this question pertains more to you guys who have your wheelbase pushed forward. What is a safe distance between the beam and bracket? In my situation there's about 1/4 of clearance in one small area for about 1-2 inches in the middle of the travel then there's plenty of clearance, everything else is fine and has plenty of clearance. I'm thinking because I'm running heimed radius arms and eventually uniball beam pivots this should be adequate? I feel that the force is aways pushing the beams back so it would be kind of hard for the beam to hit the bracket. I guess force from the driver beam could flex the bracket and considering I'm running drop brackets (although reinforcing them and running ties to the frame) it would amplify this. But I could be over thinking it. Let me know any thoughts or experience you may have with this. Moving the wheel back is not the end of the world. If you need pictures to understand what I'm referring to I can take some tonight. Thank you.

Justin.

[baja-chris]

I'd go within 1/8" on a caged chassis with spherical bearings on the suspension. 1/4" is lots of room once the stock bushings are replaced.
I've run them so close I had to sand down the bolt heads to get another 1/16".

[Rmc]

I set mine up with 1/8 inch clearance. I'm assuming your speaking of the beam hitting the front rear edge of the crossmember. Due to the cheap ass hiems I'm currently running I have rub marks on the beam face but you can't hear a clunk or feel anything. Just keep in mind good radius arm hiems make a difference in front to back motion. Replacing them is on my to do list as I have 10 new 1 1/4" hiems left from stripping my race truck.

[-JD5353-]

Sweet guys thanks for the response. Glad I'm not the only one dealing with this. I basically pushed the beam forward till it hit and brought it back a 1/4 inch. I still have probably 3/8 more I could come back in the hiem if I have to. Just wanted clarification before I drill the holes for the radius arm brackets. Reason I went with 1/4 is I'm not caged and I've kinda seen these trucks shake like Micheal J. Fox. Plus it's not a race truck and I figured I would play it safe. And RMC I'm referring to the bottom corner/bolt head of the driver side beam pivot bracket coming close to right where the kick in the passenger side beam by the axle window is. Sounds like Chris knows exactly where I'm referring to.

[Rmc]

Sry man, only read half the post there, realized I was out of locktite and had to haul ass to the parts house before they closed.

[-JD5353-]

No worries RMC thanks for the reply anyway

[VintageIronFab]

If you are doing this I would add the uniballs to the pivots. Not that hard of a job and pretty easy to install. With beams out and a MIG welder getting the job done in an evening is pretty easy. If you are going to push the beam forward I would recommend something-- and I would recommend this very highly mainly because I did not do this prior. With the coils out and the stock parts all in place-- take your distance measurements so that you have an exact start position. When the arms start moving in an arc the distances are not moving the same when the beams are moved or the radius arms are longer-- the arcs just change therefore the measurements will change. One thing I would do is with everything bone stock--coils removed- cycle the suspension all the way to the stock bumpstops and mark that position on the frame both driver and passenger-- then compare the measurements.

[Wrightracing.net]

VintageIronFab, That is great advise. I have helped a couple friends to their front end and I had to make them put all the stock stuff back on, so we could get starting point marks.

[-JD5353-]

Thanks for the advice guys. I already had it taken apart but I did plenty of measurement before hand. First I plum bobed off the frame and measured to make sure the truck was level. Then I made a bar out of 1/4 stock that was 105" and varified that at the height it was at it was at 105". Pushed the pass as far forward made an extension off my bar and used the bar on the other side. 5 minutes of work so I could have piece of mind that the wheel base was dead on. It's how they tech wheelbase on the racecars. Didn't do a great job explaining but it's a way to know it's good and it's nearly impossible to mess up. I'll also do a X from LF to RR and RF to LR to make sure it's square.