cutting and turning

[SteveG]

The draglink is what those attach to... the one at the pitman arm.

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

d'oh, what are the ones I pictured then?

[SteveG]

Tie rod ends... just like all the others. TTB terminology can be a bit confusing.

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

so I got some lower spring mounts from a ranger. you can pull them from 2wd rangers also.

now the camber is perfect, I have the tie rods hooked up but it's binding somewhere and won't let me turn lock to lock. Imma dick with it again once he rain stops.

I also plan on removing 1 of the 5 leafs from the rear to soften it up, if this doesn't sound like a bad idea;
there's a thick stiff flat bottom leaf
then the 3 medium leafs
and the long main leaf.
I plan on removing the shortest medium leaf.

then there's 2 overload leafs (leafs 6 and 7), that I think should work good enough if I hit a hard landing, or should I not rely on those?

[Rmc]

Removing leafs won't hurt, I have many friends with deaver leaf packs ( 10 leafs new) that have removed all but 4. It will work just fine but don't expect to haul anything heavy after u soften up the spring rate.

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

update, I ordered a drop pitman arm for the steering.

Also I installed the ranger lower mounts, but the camber was noticeably negative. Although I could have turned the camber cams, I decided to install the original spring mounts raising it about an inch, now the camber is slightly positive with the camber cams maxed out.
Once the drop pitman arm gets here I'm going to drive it for a few days and see if the springs will settle half an inch or so.

Will having the camber cams maxed out cause the ball joints to wear faster? even though the camber is at 0*?

Also, I have been searching but I need more infor on flipping the rear shackle. Looking at it in the truck, assuming it's the same as a bronco, it looks like I can just cut the rivets off and flip the shackle mount, then I would need to reverse the shackle. Any info on our shackle flips would be great.

[Rmc]

Yes just grind off the rivet heads n pound em out, flip, drill where needed and bolt in place. Use grade 8 bolts. Post up photos of what u have and are trying to achieve though. U want travel or lift? Your shackles may already face the correct direction.

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

currently they are tension shackles.

I've been searching some more, and I may keep that setup for more travel annnnnd instead of removing the bottom leaf I may leave the center section of it and cut off the outer ends? trying to make the pack slightly softer.

[ChaseTruck754]

The bottom leaf on the truck is the thick, overload one - right? If so, yes, cutting it down to about the width of the spring perch on the axle will keep the 1/2" (or however thick the thing is) of height while still softening up the pack. It also removes load capacity though so don't go try & throw a pallet of concrete in the back of the truck after doing that

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

installed the drop pitman arm, steering still doesn't want to turn all the way, going to look more into it tomorrow.

If anyone has custom junkyard packs, I would be interested to hear what you have and how well it works.
here's my rear pack to explain better, I'll be removing leaf 6.

Is there a chart anywhere that gives specific pound ratings for leafs according to their thickness, width and length?

[Rmc]

No chart that I know of, but it's a progressive rate. As I remember its each individual leaf turned upside down and how many lbs of weight it takes to flatten it, sort of... Well the idea is this leaf takes "x" lbs to compress one inch plus the next leaf and so on. To get an idea of overall spring rate it would be each leafs rate added to the next but they progress in resistance rates due to leaf lengths which make engagement of this resistance at different points in the overall compression progress to the overall spring rate. Does this sound right? I dunno deaver explains it better than I can.

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

dang, I guess it will be trial and error with the leafs.

I found my steering issue! there's steering stops on the knuckles. Bolts on the backside and a casting stop on the front. looks like I'll have to pull out the grinder.

[Rmc]

If u loosen that jam nut u can crank in or out depending on what u need, it a good idea to use some kind of steering stop before max left/ right of the steering box, your steering box will thank u.

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

i'll have to get new bolts, looks like they weld the nut to the bolt from the factory.

[Agui-E7TE]

I was able to just grind a little bit of material off the knuckle to get it to turn like before. The issue is with the plating which inherently takes up a little more space between the beam and knuckle causing you to loose a bit of steering sweep.

Also, those upper leaves look like they might limit wheel travel but if you're going to haul a lot of weight, you might not want to remove them. If you're not, I'd remove them from the pack to make it a bit softer.

[ChaseTruck754]

Those upper leaves are an overload or hauling pack. They only come into play and effect the spring rate once the truck is squatted enough to make them contact the bumpers above them on the frame.

If you won't be towing at all you can dump them. If you plan to tow heavy loads or haul a bunch of stuff in the bed they may be worth keeping.

[CPT. SPRINGINGTON]

well, the leafs are softer than what I remember, so i'll leave them.

here's the finished product of this thread. I did the camber and alignment in the driveway and everything looks and drives straight. No problems though I had a bad coolant temperature sensor, boy was that a bitch to diagnose.

Rancho 4" lift springs. They ride really smooth/soft on the street, with single trailmaster shocks and no swaybar.

[Rmc]

It actually looks pretty good, I'm glad u stuck with it. Can't wait for the video footage of getting her airborn. Well done captian.

[hobbyturnedobsession]

Looks good!

[Baja]

NAILED IT! Now go air that beast out and get some video.

I know this is old, but I just found it and I have to say that I have spent the last 20 minutes laughing so hard that I was crying.