The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs ride height

Got the donor rear end bolted in to the burb and back on some temporary wheels so I can move it around. I need to start working on the steering. I did the Joyce/Andereggen IFS swap where you take a later model front end, in my case 84 GMC, and bolt it into the AD frame. This mod requires the crossmember to have 1 5/8 inches cut out of the middle of it and then welded back together so it ends up the correct width to bolt up to the AD frame. Went good with no problems. I now have a rolling chassis with the IFS,283,th350 and the rear end all out of the donor 84 GMC. Now comes trying to establish the dreaded ride height. How do I do this? I have had the body on and off a number of times and would like to avoid doing it again. Some of the locals are telling me that to establish ride height I should have enough weight on it so that the lower control arms are approximately level. Instead of putting the body back on could I just remove the front coils and block the lower control arms in the level position? I could then mount all the power steering apparatus, sway bar, shocks etc.etc. modifying as necessary. Need some advice from all you bolters that have been through this.

Hey Weeds, you have a link to that, or any info you can Email me? That's something I need to do to my 1 ton panel. I am having trouble finding any IFS aftermarket kits that will do 6 bolt wheels. They all want to sell me a Mustang II setup or something similarly light duty.

Regarding ride height, I was thinking about the lowering spindles, like the lowrider types use. I have heard that the IFS from the '70s - '80s leaves it a little high. I have also heard that it leaves it a little wide. I would be real interested to see how yours looks with the front clip back on it.

Yes, you can assemble it without springs, and just use pieces of pipe, or something to simulate the springs. Once you've got the geometry worked out on all the linkage, it will probably be necessary to go to a roundtrack race type spring to get the ride height and weight-bearing capacity right. We use springs with specific weight ratings and overall heights to adjust for different track conditions, and any roundtrack magazine, like Circle Track, for instance, will have ads for spring merchandisers. Just give them the unloaded height you want, and the weight rating, and they can custom-build you springs, if necessary. it's much easier than trying to trim springs for ride height, and hoping you get the right spring rate in the process.

To figure out the weight on the axle, just traler the project to a truck scale, and weigh one axle at a time. Cut the front axle weight in half, and you've got the spring rating for one wheel!
Jerry

Jerry, thanks for the info on ride height. I think I will take your suggestion and remove the coils and block the lower control arms level and go from there. BradB I found all the information on this particular IFS swap right here on the Stovebolt page. I tried going back to some of the old posts and I couldn't come up with anything. I think some of it was in the lounge and now may be lost. However I have pictures of my installation that I could E-mail you. Also I printed out all of the information as I discovered it on the site.I can send you copies if you want. My donor was 5 bolt though and it may not be suitable for a 1 ton.

Weeds, that would be great. Anything you can offer is appreciated. Do you have a scanner? It might be better to scan them and Email in order to preserve them for future requests like mine. Pictures would certainly come through a scanner better than through a copier. Even if you do not have OCR (optical character recognition - converts pictures to text...) a jpg image of a page will still print nicely.

Regarding the bolt pattern, I think all I need to do is to start with a 3/4 or 1 ton donor truck. I was planning on not narrowing the saddle to preserve the motor mounts, welding spacers to the frame instead. Since mine is a dually, I figured I could reduce the size of the spacers between the rotor and the wheel to get the correct track width. Reading about narrowing the saddle will be interesting. I can always fab some motor mounts.

BradB I don't have a scanner and I am a real novice with a computer. I will attempt to E-mail my pictures to you. Then I can make copies of the text and illustrations on the how to of this particular swap. It really worked good for me and it is a real truck IFS with disc brakes and power steering. Can you E-mail me your mailing address and I will try to get this done in the next couple of days? Meanwhile I will continue trying to find the link on Stovebolt for this swap. My e-mail is [email protected].