Need help on SOA conversion!

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You can look at my build thread to see the approximate height, yes it settles quite a bit with all the weight.

Count mine as one more vote for "I would wait for drivetrain and body before cutting"
 
Alright then. I cancelled my order for sliders and we'll see how it goes with the current set up. thanks for the input everyone!
 
Thanks Ron. I had just put a fresh coat of wax on that morning ;)
 
oil pan clearance...HA!lol
 
We put the engine on the frame this week to mock up engine mounts and a crossmember. JMack was kind enough to supply me with the files for his, but my builder already had something in mind that he wanted to do.
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With the engine on the frame, the 29" height came all the way down to...28" :(
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On the plus side, I think I've got oil pan clearance covered
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I have the 4x4labs high steer kit. The tie rod only has about an inch of clearance over the leaf spring, does that seem a bit tight to anyone?
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For the cut and turn, do we just need to set the desired pinion angle and then with the cut and turn we'll be rolling the knuckle forward to restore the original steering geometry (which i guess will be dictated by the position of the TRE's)?
 
Mid mounts seem to be preferred over front mounts for 4X4’s, they put a lot of stress on the bell housing and something you might want to consider before you get too far with the front mounts.



Do you plan to build a new trans tunnel?
 
J Mack said:
Mid mounts seem to be preferred over front mounts for 4X4’s, they put a lot of stress on the bell housing and something you might want to consider before you get too far with the front mounts.



Do you plan to build a new trans tunnel?
Click to expand...

You're referring to moving the engine mounts further back, correct?

As for the transmission tunnel, only if it becomes necessary
 
TuffMudder said:
You're referring to moving the engine mounts further back, correct?
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Yes, it's my understanding that keeping the mounts at the front like the bread vans had them is hard on the aluminum bell housing in a 4X4.
I wanted to reuse mine and after a bunch of reading I decided to make the mid mounts.


TuffMudder said:
As for the transmission tunnel, only if it becomes necessary
Click to expand...

If you plan to run an innercooler you need to move the engine back to the point that the height of the bell housing starts to become an issue.

looking at the pictures it looks like you engine is already higher than mine but again its hard to tell from pictures.


I'm just trying to offer help and I'm not being critical of your build, it looks great!!
 
I haven't taken anything anyone has said as critical. Trust me, I need all the help I can get. Our builds in particular have so many similarities (I just saw your thread on traction bars and the ruff stuff bars are what I'd been planning on using), that your input is invaluable.

He did move the engine back some. The limiting factor looks to be making the 90 degree turn off the exhaust manifold with the firewall making it a very tight turn. Did you not run into this as an issue? I'm wondering if this is just an issue for me because of how much height I have. This leaves me with about an inch or two of clearance between the bellhousing and where the firewall should fall.

I'm not entirely certain the intercooler is going to fit, but I'm still committed to trying to make it work one way or another. We're going to go with a low profile mechanical fan which should give us another 1-2 inches up front.

I did forget to mention on the oil pan clearance pic, the engine will sit about 3 inches lower with the engine mounts than it did in this mock up.

Several people mentioned staying with the current spring location and seeing how it works out. With the engine weight on the frame I have 28" to the bottom of the frame rail. I know Ron mentioned that his did quite a bit of additional settling with time, and the body, remaining drive train, etc will add some more weight. I'm wondering If at my current height you guys still feel I need to leave the springs alone and see where I end up before deciding on changes?
 
J Mack said:
I used a Steed Speed manifold that centered my turbo.

http://www.steedspeed.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/019.345114016_std.JPG
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I didn't even think of that. I hate when I overlook relatively simple solutions.

I think I remember from your thread that you ended up with just about an inch of clearance between your bellhousing and firewall? That may give me another inch up front, coupled with the inch or two from the flex fan may allow room for an thin intercooler.
 
Thanks Lil'John. Particularly on confirmation of the tie rod clearance. First look at that had me a little worried.
 
Rodney,

Looking at your shackle length, couldn't you just make some smaller length ones and pick up another 1 to 2 inches? This and all the weight, you might be right where you want to be with the height.
 
Yes Ron. I could shorten the shackles or I could go with the leaf sliders (I'd prefer sliders if i go another route). Even if i just shorten the shackles, I end up have to cut and move the leaf and shackle hangers. I had several people suggest waiting to see where I end up before redoing the springs. I'm just wondering with 1" of drop with the weight of the cummins if I still need to give it time.

Ron, your previous post seemed to indicate that after you had all the weight on the frame, the springs "settled in" and lost some additional height just with time. Is that true? Any idea how much extra height you lost, and how long it took?
 
J Mack said:
Your good to go with that measurement IMHO.
I'm at 27.5 to the same spot on my frame with 33' tires and SUA with just the cab sitting on mine now, the extra 2" will help with oil pan clearance.
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I'm not sure how I got lucky but mine measures 24" with 35 inch tires and I have an empty cab so no interior weight.
I have stock shackles on 60 axles.
 
Lil'John
The springs are stock, but I removed the bottom two short leafs and put in a Rancho add a leaf. I did based on the SOA tech article which seemed to indicate this as the preferred method. The article mentioned that if you went stock, the leafs would quickly flatten out being over the axles, but an add a leaf would stiffen the pack to correct this (that was my interpretation at least). I think the add a leaf is at least partially responsible for my frame height issue, so maybe this wasn't the right choice.

I was hoping to avoid redoing the spring hangers, but Im beginning to doubt that will be possible.

What's the height to the bottom of your frame rail currently?
 
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Nik, are you spring over or under?
 
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