1953 Dodge M37 wheeler conversion (1 Viewer)

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For lifting you need to a winch's rating and divide it by 4 for load limit. And those little winches should not be used for anything like this. I have a Portable 120V 3000 lb winch I use now and then. I needed to move something heavy in a hurry last weekend so I grabbed that little winch and a few snatch blocks. The cable was in great shape, but it pulled apart right at the hook at way less than 3000 lbs load and did some damage. No way I would use one of these little winches for lifting.

An easy way to lift bodies off of frames with a 2 post is to make 4 stanchions that fit in the lift arms and fit on or into features under the body. I have done this with an M37 body and it worked well.
 
"An easy way to lift bodies off of frames with a 2 post is to make 4 stanchions that fit in the lift arms and fit on or into features under the body. I have done this with an M37 body and it worked well." That's what I had and it was a giant PITA. It didn't get the cab high enough and the arms were in the way along with the fixture that I had to use because you can't the arms under the cab.
 
"An easy way to lift bodies off of frames with a 2 post is to make 4 stanchions that fit in the lift arms and fit on or into features under the body. I have done this with an M37 body and it worked well." That's what I had and it was a giant PITA. It didn't get the cab high enough and the arms were in the way along with the fixture that I had to use because you can't the arms under the cab.

What kind of lift do you have? Does it only go up 4ft or something?

Most standard height 2 posts are 12 feet tall. The lift arms go up about 6 ft. The arms are on the lift whether you are using them or not- they are in the way any way you look at it. A simple solution is to take the distance from the arms to the cable cover up top, subtract the height of the body to get the length of your body stantions.
 
So, the rear links are tacked in place.

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Because I'm using ORI's on this project, the brackets I used for them aren't right and have to come off. I think I have some that might work.

And, the towers I bought aren't right either, now that I have everything in front of me. Sigh.
Also, the ORI's require misalignment spacers and a very expensive thing that can fill two at once so you get the exact same pressure on both sides.
2 steps forward, one step back.
 
I decided that I really needed to sort the full hydro now, before the axle gets mounted under the frame, so I can be aware of any issues that come up while linking and installing the drive train. I bought a Barnes universal full hydro mount, and I'm not real happy with it. You have to kick the entire thing up to get any kind of approach angle (where the Artec has the bend built in) and it wants the ram to sit way away from the axle. You can see where the rope runs, which is on line, but lower, than where the tie rod will run. And you can see the mouth on the gusset where they expect the ram to sit. I could make new gussets with openings for the ram in the right place, but then I'd have a bunch of that mount sitting out front of the ram. Which I'm not thrilled about. TMR makes a very simple mounting solution that's much narrower.


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I'm also got to figure out how to get double shear on the drivers side of the knuckle. Passenger side has a arm bolted on for the drag link that can be swapped out, but the drivers side the holes are not drilled out (which is surprising for this fancy of an axle). So, I'd have to drill, tap, and find arms.
 
Okay, the last interior cross member had to go (the one at the rear of the frame is still there), 12 more rivets removed. Put a piece of pipe in to hold the frame at the right width for now.

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And, I had hoped to sling the entire drivetrain into the engine bay and do some test fitting, but ... the part I needed for the clutch showed up wrong and the transmissions place was closed Friday for memorial day, so that plan went out the window fast.

So, I just swung the transfer case into position using the marks I had on the frame. I'm getting better about marking everything on the frame as I go. And .. using that, I figured out my cross member was way too far back. And, although the front driveshaft would clear the upper link on the frame, they really needed to move. So, I modified some link brackets I had to work with the smaller upper heims and tacked them under the frame forward of where the adjustable links are.

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And ... as soon as I did that I realized that they really needed to go outboard of the frame for the stock JL upper link towers on the axle to point straight at them. So I'll fab a little mount for them to sit just outboard of the frame and ... it all might work. The lower links where they are now are 37". Short of the 40" they should be to be equal to the tire size, but I think fine for up front. And the upper links are about 28", which is 75% of the lower links. They will be angled slightly down at ride height, but I think it will be fine. So, I kind of have the front links and the trans/lower link cross member figured out. I'll tack everything for now, get some PVC pipe to mock up the links, and then I really do need to sling the entire drivetrain in for a reality check and final/final location of the transmission mount so I can finish fabricating the cross member mounts and the rest of the cross member.

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So, making progress and learning. I'm using Johnny Joints in the front because I had them left over from my EV project, and now I realize that Johnny Joints require the brackets to be lined up perfectly. there is no fudge angle allowed like with heim joints so I'm going to have to adjust the axle side brackets (they are 20 degrees and I need a little more - which is good news for triangulation). And ... the upper links (stock Jeep at the axle and smaller heim at the frame) have different size bungs. 1.5" at the axle, 1.25" at the heim. Oops. Have to see if I can size up the bung at the heim or if I have to get bigger heims. I hope not, I just made those brackets to custom fit.

And, the measurements for link lengths (cutting PVC so I can see the mess) were off left to right, so ... there's something wrong there. I'm assuming it's the axle, but I centered it with a laser. Hmmm. So, A few things to sort before going on.
 
I agree that ram mount is too large , you should have a look at how Dion & Andy did theirs, tight & clean.
 
Okay, fixed a few links that weren't in the right place, centered and squared the axle, got things close enough, cut the lower link on the axle free and angled to where it needed to go, and now I have lower links and a driveline mocked up. The driveline is sitting on the trans/link crossmember, so some massaging is going to have to be done there to accommodate 6" of droop.

I wished I could get the links a little longer, I'm at 36" on the lowers, the standard would 40" to match tire size. I'm 28" on the uppers - which is a little longer than 75 of the lowers. So, I guess I'm living with it and just believe I'm driving on 37's when I'm wheeling. Waiting on - new bungs so I can finish mock the uppers, clutch parts so I can put the drive train back together, PSC ram so I can finish tacking up the full hydro, 2 ORI's that went to Connecticut by mistake, shock hoops from Ballistic fab because I can't get any of the towers to play nice with the ORI's.

On the fully hydro steering. Ideally I want to double sheer the tie rod at the knuckle. On the passenger side, you and remove the drag link arm and replace with a very expensive and very thick machined piece of steel that will allow me to double sheer that side. but, on other side, Dana didn't drill and top the stop for the arm. So, I'm going to have someone to do it. I don't trust myself getting those holes drilled right - and it's not something you want to screw up.

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You mean driver side as the pass side looks to have a bolt on arm in pic ?
 
Why the links so close together? Spacing them out helps a ton with body roll and driveability.
 
Need to get one set triangulated. There's not going to be a panhard bar. I agree about the body roll. the uppers are parallel. We'll see how it drives.
 
You don't need that much triangulation imo, it won't help a ton with the flex steer with a ton more added angle.
 
I could pull it back to 40 degrees.
 
So, I'm working on that. the problem is if I put them at 20 degrees and 40", they land right where the front driveline is running. So, I either move them inboard some or they have to go another 6" back - which makes them very long, and way longer than the fronts. So, I'm going to set them in where I think they will work for now. wait until the drivetrain is in - because I'm really only guessing on the height of the drivetrain right now.
 
Okay, I redid all the lower links, and if it's not perfect, I'm blaming @DangerNoodle.

The frame side links are as wide as I can get them while staying clear of the driveline. The transfer case might be able to clock up which would relieve some of the interference. I won't know until I get the drivetrain in and the cab set in place.

The axle side links are reset and everything seems to be about 20 degrees.

In the 3rd/last picture, the circles are where the transmission will mount.

In the second/middle picture, you can see the upper link frame side mounts on the under side of the frame. They tuck in nice at the bottom of where the frame curves up and they are close to level. the lower links are now 40", the upper links are 28". Ideally, the upper links would be 32" to be 75%. Should I slide them back 4 more inches? That would mean the upper links would angle down slightly.

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Might get close at full drop, either limit strap or a carrier on the front dline ?
 
Okay, so I fiddled the uppers a little to see how close I could them. This first option is the right height (it's close to level with the axle end) and the right length (about 32") to be 75% of the lower link. But the back hole is blind to the frame. I'm don't think I could even get a steel nut welded on there.

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The other option is 29" long, so it's a little short, and low enough that I have access for the bolt, but the link will be sloping down slightly.

Does it matter?

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Go with the longer link, the short one will cause too much pinion angle change IMO. Just move that mount up a little and drill thru frame, weld a piece of tube cut at same angle on outside of frame for bolt head to seat on and run a long bolt.
 

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