1980 Beater Build!!

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ok I got it mocked up and so far so good. I originally planned on a bit more shackle angle but I used the pirate figure of 11" forward on front mount is correct therefore I subtracted the 11" from the 17.25 that I moved mine forward and landed on relocating the rear mount 6.25" forward. I think it will be about right once I get the bed made, spare tire in there, tool box, chains, etc.

I used a piece of pipe to keep the hangers in-line.
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Here is a pic of the one side
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I plan to put a rubber bump stop in there between the chevy shackle and the frame, and also a criss crossed limiting strap from the center of the pumpkin up to each side of the frame or make a little anti-cam set up on the shackle combo. I also plan to construct something to keep the chevy shackle from walking side to side while at rest.
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I did the opposite of what the picture you posted did.

Heres a pic of mine. Right now, the shackle sits against the frame- Im sure it matters eventually... But not with my time constraints!

I've also attached a pic to show flex, the double shackle hasn't begun to droop yet. Thats with stock chevy shackle doing all the droop.
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thanks! I played it back and forth in my mind and I could see where my 6" shackles would be putting a lot more leverage on the double shackle yet with the configuration I went with I hoped would be a happy medium and less severe unloading. I figured either way would work great especially if you pinned them. Now I just need to find some bushings that fit my hangers and weld them up. Then I can start focusing on saddles and pins etc. etc. I also have been fighting my coil not having full juice for a while now and trying like mad to pin point the issue and I found that with my newer coil even though it plugged in perfectly the wires were backwards and once I turned the plug around against its will we are good to go
 
I finally found my other wiring issue along with have all the tail lights and park lights and dash lights going! All I need now is mud flaps, a license plate light and it is headed for the pavement to work some bugs out of it. I will take pics of my wiring issue tomorrow in hopes to help someone else someday
 
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I still need to post a pic of the wiring issue I had. However I have had the yota out for about 250 street and mountain miles and have worked a few bugs out of it. I have also replaced the fuel sending unit along with a few small additions. So far I have noticed that the double shackles have little to no movement on the road and with no weight on the back it rides like a brick in the mountains both front and rear. I strapped a spare tire on the back tonight and it smoothed it out. I also went to a friends and he has a toyota driveline jig and we built a driveline out of a front CV driveline and a rear short bed driveline. He was able to get the tolerance of the new end down to .010 where as it was .050. It is no wonder they need balanced. I had to swap the yoke out on the tranny to accept the CV and then took it for a test drive with no noticable vibrations.
 
4x4 Station Wagon said:
Good point on the cheap plentiful axles.

As for the beef and bigger brakes really I never knew that..... Thanks that changes my mind a bit...
Click to expand...

I remember reading that the brakes are bigger on the later rear axles because Toyota changed to a simpler, but less efficient, rear brake design. In other words, bigger isn't better in this instance. I had a similar problem with 12.50s rubbing on my frame, so I swapped my '85's stock axle for an '88 axle to gain the extra width for tire clearance. I had rebuilt the brakes on both axles and from experience, the '88 brakes don't work any better than the '85 brakes. Just my $0.02 ... But the '88 axle does look beefier, and probably is to counteract increased leveraging forces introduced by the greater width.

OK, question: How are you calculating proper shackle length for max benefit of the 63 Chev springs? I've got 'em in the back of my '85 mini too, and honestly, they don't flex any better than my old Downey springs did. I'm running a single six inch shackle and extended bump stops to prevent the spring from going past flat on the theory the spring would fatigue and break from that abuse. What am I missing? Nice fab work on the shackle, BTW.
 
Thanks and honestly I am not impressed with the 63's as I have mentioned a few times before..... I wish I would have gone a different route. The only reason mine is at all even close to pleasing is the double shackle. I have to be catious talking crud about them because it is no secret I have little to no weight back there and a narrow rearend with inset wheels. I used the shackle calculator to determine length which it would take a HUGE shackle to ever achieve therefor the double gets me closer to the length needed atleast for the droop portion. Since they shouldnt be bent past flat I dont think the short shackle hurts that at all. I am also very suprised at how well the double does on the road. I have not gotten it to unload at all and I think by using new poly bushings with a metal sleeve and machining them to a tight tolerance it doesnt walk. It drives very nice! Now if I could get it to do better than 8mpg yes that wasnt a typo it gets 8-10 with a 20r and runs good????
 
Shackle calculator? Is that something here on Mud or ??? I've never seen a formula that I recall, but I'll bet there is one. About the brakes: I'm just relating my experience, I'm no engineer. I don't want to be talking crud here either! I once had a semi-complete project truck that had that double shackle setup (on the 63 Chev spirngs I swapped into my truck), but I was leery of it and got rid of it. Maybe now I'll give it a shot.

About the 20R, are you sure about the mileage? The speedo/odometer is going to be way off with anything other than stock tire diameter and stock ring and pinion ratio. I knew my speedo was off following R&P and tire swap, but GPS unit showed me how much in the real world. Very surprising, about six miles an hour, which might explain your situation. Are plugs tan, showing correct air to fuel ratio? No black/sooty tailpipe? How's the rest of the ignition? Engine temps under load? I'm dealing with a funky running truck at the moment too, grrrr ... But it's a machine, there has to be an explanation! Right!
 
Your exactly right there has to be an explanation!!! I completely spaced checking the plugs since this problem started. I will do so tomorrow. As for the double shackles I would not be afraid to give them a try again. As for the calculator I think it was on pirate but you can google shackle length calculator and it boils down to a % of the length which ends up around a whopping 11" or some crazy crud. In regards to the speedo it is 5 or 7 mph off and the 10 mpg is with factoring the mileage x 1.12 to make up for the tires as compared to stock. The other tell tail sign is my wallet!!! :eek: My powerstroke is way cheaper to drive to work
 
This thread needs an UPDATE!

And to calm the zombie like thirst of other mudder's, heres my trucks sexy butt. (actually, I was going to show off the 63's and double shackle. SO MUCH DROOP LEFT!)


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Correction! I actually scored a front driveline finally thanks to a friend (I was being cheap and didnt want to drop the coin right now). I need to lengthen it 4" and am bouncing back and forth between using the tube from one of my rear drive lines, using water pipe, using square tube, or possibly looking into turning down a 78 f150 type rear driveline where they had the long splines and either trying to adapt the female side as well or shooting for a conversion u-joint. ANY THOUGHTS??
 
Well crud the stock front driveline has about 3.5 usable inches of travel and I need at minimum 4.5 and could use more to ensure decent spline contact..... I am going to have to either go square tube or get crafty (since I am going on the cheap side)
 
4x4 Station Wagon said:
Well crud the stock front driveline has about 3.5 usable inches of travel and I need at minimum 4.5 and could use more to ensure decent spline contact..... I am going to have to either go square tube or get crafty (since I am going on the cheap side)
Click to expand...

Square shafts are AWEsome. I can (but dont recomend) drop onto the shaft and get knarly on the throttle with no issues... Just smoothes itself out when you cycle your suspension... No splines, no balancing, no bending, no worries!
 
Spoold97 GOOD PIC!

liljlandon - Thanks for the feedback I have been playing with my drivelines and I had a dumb idea :doh: to try and bevel like crazy, and weld two spline sections together (using a cut out window in one of my female splined sections as a weld window) as well as two female spline sections and lets face it IT DIDNT WORK!! I couldnt keep it cool enough to not warp a tiny bit making it TIGHT! Or if I did i didnt get enough heat to ever have it survive. At this point I have made the cuts and picked up some square tube and if it would ever stop storming for a second I could get home from work and whip it up!

So now my new delima is that I have been planning and have purchased a R150to go behind my vortec v6 when the time comes..... but today a friend of mine ran across a doubler with the gear section of the t-case, a front driveline and two rear drivelines for 150 bucks so he picked them up for me. Now I am looking at all the money it will take in adapters and shafts to make my original plan work with the doubler. :crybaby: SO.... I am contimplating just buying the sbc adapter for the 4 cylinder tranny and sacrificing the extra strength of the v6 tranny. Any thoughts anyone? The more and more this adapter word pops up the more and more I ask myself if I should have went with a sm465 and 205 and said screw the extra weight???????? I wanted the low first gear but didnt really want the large jump up to second
 
I am too cheap right now and tied up with a bathroom remodel to buy my third star however I will soon and post pics but so far in the last week or so I have finished my square tube driveline, picked up a 21 spline doubler with a top shift gear box (not installed yet), went on a snow wheeling trip and it all held together and today picked up some decent 38.5 skinny boggers with wheels that look identical to the ones I have. I am going to go ahead and start searching for a wider rear housing with axles on the cheap and then I will spacer the front.
 
Those are 3 leaf shorts.

Take that crappy double shackle off and they will flex allot better and last longer too.

The double shackle doesnt let the pack flex more at all, it just lets one corner hang/droop way to low with no weight on it (bad and unstable) and it puts all that movement into the front half of the opposite spring making into an S shape.
 
I am not opposed to ditching the double. As you can see I contimplated it for a while. Will it still S-wrap if it is stopped at flat and not let go inverted?? As for the frame tube you mentioned in a different post ya obviously those inset wheels are not staying nor those tires as mentioned. If the new wheels still let the tires rub which I am sure they will I will either eat crow and go with the wider housing and spacers in the front or spacer the whole thing. You seem to be wise to the scene as you havent gone easy on others so do me a favor and pick mine apart especially my last few posts I appreciate any thing you have to say.

I totally agree on the fact that the double will basically let it droop with no weight, and I totally agree with the unstable part as I have mentioned, however the thought that made me go there was that unsprung weight not forcing the front axle to limit out as quickly as if droop was limited in the rear....... Am I off on this thought??
 
Im not so sure I understand the last question.

Even with a wider rear or spacer it will still rub the frame nub.

When ya get some spacers it will help it force stuff to move a little more also.

Ill have to read up a little here before I can fully rip. :cheers:
 
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