Well ive been busy lately. Ive added a 6 inch RCX lift to my f150, making it a total of 9" in the front and 11" in the rear. Still on 36" TSL's for now, but I would like to get it up on some 38 ground hawg radials. I did the lift 100% by myself, and took about 8 hours to do. All in all im very happy with it, and love the way it looks. Ive got 4.88 gears Im putting in tonight as well.
Also worked on the 77 alot. I dropped my transfer case 5 inches. My rear driveshaft angle was too much and when I would dig the back end down it would bind and snap my u-joint in a second. Changed my yokes to the 1410 series joints and also had a new heavy duty driveshaft made. Put on a 79 grill, which I love the way it looks now!. Also made some new ladder bars. I learned a valuable lessons doing this though. My old one were on shackles.... So i took those shackles cut them in half, and welded them to the frame. Well..it dont hold for a *****!! I guess its a hardened steel of somesort and my first test drive with them on the welds broke and my rear end lifted about 2 feet off the ground! Scared the hell out of me, but luckly i was on a dirt road and it had some give. Anyways...got a pic of how bent it got.lol. Let me know what yall think.

Before



Afters....







Transfer case droped




Like the front driveshaft angle??



Bent ladder bar

 

The welded on brackets for your ladder bars look weak. The angle on rear shaft looks pretty steep and may need a double cardin joint, like what the early Bronco's have.

 

You should have seen it before I dropped the transfer case......

 

plus the 1410 U-joints can go up to a 45* angle

 

I have never had that much lift, 6 inch suspension is all. The blue truck is a beast. Does the red truck drive better, haha.

 

I don't know about the grill ? I could go either way there.

 

looks like you been busy... i love the look of that blue truck man, i liek the 78-79 better but they are both sexy...and thats a nice lookin f150, tried to talk my 5 foot tall mom into doing that to hers HAHAHAHA that was a funny conversation

 

I really like the 79 compared to the 77 grill. I think it changes the whole look of the truck.

 

I like the new grill aswell.

Good work on the trucks. Crazy angle on that driveshaft. I've seen worse but thats still pretty bad lol.

 

like i said before, you shouldve seen it before I dropped the case. you think its bad now... lol.
ill see if i can dig up a pic somewhere

 

I can only imagine.

Any idea what kind of angle is on it now?

 

1410 joint at 45 degrees haha. Standard joint will be maxed at about 12 no more and it destroys it quickly! 1410 will run at maybe 20. Okay two problems you need a cv joint in your rear shaft. Get a one ton style one from a 2000ish superduty front shaft and make it work. With 2 1350 joints in it it can run at a comfortable 24 degrees(12+12). my rear shaft angle is at 20.5 deg with a cv. Next problem is your trac bar needs two mounting points on the axle otherwise it can still rotate . Read my post on trac bar I just posted in this offroad forum and see the one I want to build for mine. Check out the billa vista article on pirate in the tech section under high angle driveline and it explains everything!!!!

 

hey u NEED a shackle at the frame end of ur traction bars... there should be a two piont attachment at the rear axle, and a shackle at the frame.... and u only need one bar, not two... the way u have it set up will cause the suspention to bind...

 

20*???? Where did you get that from, a standard u-joint can run up to 20* plus some. Ive heard CV joints can be weak, plus why spend the money for one if the 1410 works just fine? And I'm sorry I said 45*. The RECOMMENDED max angle from SPICER is 37* not 45*. I got the 45 from my driveshaft shop.

Why does the traction bar NEED to have 2 point on the axle. I dont see how it can rotate with just one. Its still fixed and I dont see it moving. I can see why it would be better, but for now I think mine will work.

But, heres the reason I put the whole bar fixed. I know it will limit flex and all that but for the most part this is a mud truck. Most everything here in FL. is flat and wont need the extreme flex that some of the other guys need. My old ladder bars were on shackles. I bent my leaf springs 2 times and ever since I welded my rear and put the 44's on, my rear end like to wonder when I go around turns. The rear want to keep going strait as the front turns and it is causing all sorts of problems. More than likely its because my springs are too weak and I know I need stronger ones.
With the fixed ladder bars on there it elimates the wondering since the axle has more support. And if it does end up breaking, or my axle still rotates too much, then I will make one with 2 mounting points. But for now that is how its staying.
And just so you know I'm not done supporting the transfer case crossmember, I ran out of metal and havent gotten any more yet. Im taking a peice of 3/8 plate and makeing a /---\ design. I origiannly had it one solid peice, but with the hump in the transfer case it would not mount up. So I had to make it work. Sorry my chit aint perfect. I dont have $1000's of dollars to throw into my rig. I use whats available and do the best I can for working in the dirt.

U-Joint Sizes




<!-- main body text --><CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=5 width=871 border=0><TBODY><TR borderColorLight=#cccccc borderColorDark=#666666><TD align=middle width=103>U-joint series</TD><TD align=middle width=108>Joint width (W) (inches)</TD><TD align=middle width=136>Cap diameter (D) (inches)</TD><TD align=middle width=132>Maximum Angle</TD><TD align=middle width=194>Continuous rating (lb-ft)</TD><TD align=middle width=158>Short Duration rating (lb-ft)</TD></TR><TR borderColorLight=#cccccc borderColorDark=#666666><TD align=middle width=103>1310</TD><TD align=middle width=108>3.219</TD><TD align=middle width=136>1.062</TD><TD align=middle width=132>30</TD><TD align=middle width=194>130</TD><TD align=middle width=158>800</TD></TR><TR borderColorLight=#cccccc borderColorDark=#666666><TD align=middle width=103>1330</TD><TD align=middle width=108>3.625</TD><TD align=middle width=136>1.062</TD><TD align=middle width=132>20</TD><TD align=middle width=194>150</TD><TD align=middle width=158>890</TD></TR><TR borderColorLight=#cccccc borderColorDark=#666666><TD align=middle width=103>1350</TD><TD align=middle width=108>3.625</TD><TD align=middle width=136>1.188</TD><TD align=middle width=132>20</TD><TD align=middle width=194>210</TD><TD align=middle width=158>1240</TD></TR><TR borderColorLight=#cccccc borderColorDark=#666666><TD align=middle width=103>1410</TD><TD align=middle width=108>4.188</TD><TD align=middle width=136>1.188</TD><TD align=middle width=132>37</TD><TD align=middle width=194>250</TD><TD align=middle width=158>1500</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>

 

Ok you made me dig deep on this one. Ok as far as your ujoint chart goes its correct BUT I got another chart for ya that shows your life expectancy for the more degree you run. This is why I was saying any more than 12 you destroy the joint much quicker ,not saying it cant go beyond that.

And so you have a 1410 on the diff end ,or is it at the T case? not so bad at that angle. The other end of the shaft is what a 1330? Its mangle time! a.k.a weak link. Get a $10 angle finder and find out what angle your shaft actually is. I'm guessing 25 degrees.
You actually dont want to find your angle on where I have my angle finder. I found that area has a slight taper and is not perfectly in line with pinion. Best way to measure is to turn your yoke vertical with no straps or u bolts and run your angle finder on that flat surface then take 90 degrees and minus whatever you have on your angle finder to get your angle.

So if you run a cv your angle will actually get better because you need to rotate your diff upwards by putting on new spring perches (making your pinion higher which now is not so steep to t case)and running your pinion angle 1.5 degrees below being paralell with shaft to allow for axle wrap to rotate while driving so it would then be in line. How do I knw this because I researched the s*%$ out of it and found this Pirate4x4.Com - Extreme Four Wheel Drive
Read it twice. Learn it

Now for Trac bar I dont even have one yet but I found this article
Axle Wrap Prevention
I now know I want to build this

but with the exception I want a threaded point like where a heim threads or something like this, for articulation.

Hope that solves your problems....