thinkin bout thrownin in the towel and goin solid

Mud Bug 94 goin solid?

I got a dana 60 flat top,high pinion,with 4.10s and a sterling 10.25 with 4.10s both complete with stock tires and wheels too. I paid zip for the pair and figures id throw um in and beat the snot out of my high mileged explorer till the motor swap comes. i came up with a design for the leaf spring hangers i just want an opinion on them thanks for lookin. - Joe



the front hanger....

the rear shackle hanger/crossmember.....

edit, the spring width is 39.25" not 30.25"

 

[zainyD]

Looks good so far....you're a luck son of a gun getting those axles for free. How the heck did you manage that?

 

[cgriffin_5139]

do it do it

 

[Mud Bug 94]

my friends uncles 88 f350 was a plow truck it had a 460 and c6...he gave me the truck because the frame broke in half at the tranny cross member due to rot...this swap wont start for a while becaus of me having too much "stuff" on my plate at the moment but i wanted to see if it was worth the effort first.

 

[sn0border88]

if you need room to work, I know a shop where you can do the work in with therookie and myself. he is the sas king of the east.

 

[CodePoet]

Can I induce the King to come to Indiana?

 

[sn0border88]

if the money is there im sure he will go anywhere. pm him if your serious.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

i got a place but the door aint high enough...ill drag it out on the drums and rotors if i have to..im just too busy at the moment and ...well, poor.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

Got a phone call yesterday...aparently my buddy, whos barn the axles are in, thought it would be funny to bore a 1-3/8 hole in the tires on the axles...great...now i have to figure out how to get the 500 lbs each axles from the road into the back of my garage. im gunna unload them from the trailer with an engine hoist. then i will have to drag them from the road, through my soggy yard and up a 6 inch ledge into the garage. not an easy task when your only 5'2". im bringing them home sat or sun. not sure yet. any suggestions?

 

[james t]

Get help.

The sterling is a little over 500lbs. The D60 is even heavier. I once hauled a sterling out of a junkyard on a wheel barrow across pea gravel. Not fun. Getting it off the wheel barrow and in the back of the truck (only 2 of us) was fun too.

 

[sn0border88]

yup, get some friends and make a video so we can watch and laugh

 

[Mud Bug 94]

= snoborder88... = me

 

[Mud Bug 94]

Update

well, today i mocked the sterling up and with 29 inch tires on it the top of the wheel well is 48 inches from the ground...thats with 4 inch shackles and stock springs and thats it....now i have to plan the front...and make it... and assemble it....sorry fellas no pics

 

[wanderer351]

is that how tall you want it to be??

and why not just move the pearches on the axle in the 3in to match the explorer ones??(I did that to mine..yea I lost a litle stability..but the flex is greater due to the distance from the pivot point..and ALOT less work movin 2 perches vs building new spring mounts)...and just convert that 60 to coils...that way later your not doing a leaf to coil conversion..like SOME PEOPLE around here...

 

[RockRanger]

What Springs are you going to use. Just a few things I see on your hangers.

The front one looks fine and should work ok depending on where it is mounted. Need to watch out for the crumple zone that is up there. I used YJ springs which are around 45" long. If you use the same size the crossmember you have on the shackle hangers will get in the way of the driveline. Also running a rear shacke will make it difficult to get proper steering angles to emiminate bump steer.

We need pictures.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

is that how tall you want it to be??

and why not just move the pearches on the axle in the 3in to match the explorer ones

Wanderer...thats what i am doin for the rear...for the front i am doin leafs because I have a wide variaty i can get for nothing and they can take more abuse(IMO)...as for the height i plan on droppin in the 10.25 with my homemade shackles and building the front to match and thats it for now

What Springs are you going to use.

RockRanger....maybe waggy leafs...
So the final product will be as follows...Rear: Sterling 10.25, SOA on stock explorer leaf springs with 4 inchshackles...Front: Dana 60 on (waggy leafs?)...

Now ive been thinking....what about explorer rear leafs up front?...i really like how they flex...As for pics... they are in my head so its gunna be tuff to pos them...

 

[Tilt168]

jesus....and i remember snowboarder when he was new!

 

[JoshC]

:ttiwwp:

 

[RockRanger]

waggy springs are the smae length as the yjs I used just with a different pin offset. You will run into the problems I mentioned with the cross member I talked about above. The explorer springs might work but they will be way to soft. My yjs were way to soft stock. I cut a ranger main leaf spring to fit in the pack and if it wasnt a trailer queen it would need a swaybar or stiffer springs for a bunch of street driving.

I would go coils up front. I did leafs and now I am getting ready to swap to coils. By the time I got my steering working right for a few hundred bucks more I could have just done coils.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

jesus....and i remember snowboarder when he was new!

and.....