Hey guys! im new here. please move thread if im in the wrong area. i have been lurking for a while on here for my build and finally joined. wanted to thank all of you for your info on various threads!

Anyways here is my build. i started off with a 1985 f250 single cab 6.9 IDI (i love this engine) 4X4 with the dreaded ttb that i got from a tow yard for 500 bucks. i fit 37's stock and shredded the ttb so after that i got down to business. i swapped in a dana 60 king pin front axle 10.25 rear with 4.10 gears. 7" lift in the front 6" in the rear ( spring combined with front shackle reversal and rear flip, Atlas springs ect.) fabricated a new cross member to clear the front drive line. bilstein 7100 reservoirs front and rear stainless braided brake lines front and rear. there is nothing this truck cant go up! its a damn tractor! i have a zf5 speed thats going in soon as well
here are some pictures below

So this past weekend i flexed so much i twisted the tailgate off the truck. i know these truck have alot of frame flex and i want to ditch the bed and make a roll cage to help lessen the frame flex. i work at a steel supply so i can get 120 feet of 2" dom for about 350 bucks plus all the 1/4 inch plate scrap in the world. and i have access to a tubing bender and i am a good welder. i want to do an 8 point cage to help make the frame a little more ridged to keep from tearing the cab mounts off. my concern is while i have the bed off ( im cutting the bed sides off and mounting them pre runner style on the cage) should i plate the frame to keep it from cracking because of the localized stress of the cage? i dont really do high speed runs mostly steep hills in 4 low or small rock sections (i wheel with jeeps). please tell me your thoughts on this i want to build this thing for KOH next year hoping to be caged and on 42's with the body cut by January

 

 

Why fight the frame flexing? Let it flex. You could modify the cab mounts to give couldn't you? Have you every seen the mounts on a old Ford pickup? I had a 53 f100 and it had arms with rubber bushings that support the rear of the cab.

If you make the frame stiffer, isn't that going to make the truck teater-totter on diagonal wheels more where if the frame had give all 4 wheels would be on the ground giving you traction? Your 4 corner leaf spring suspension doesn't have as much flex as a coil sprung vehicle would correct?

 

While you're right about the frame flex, it flexes so much it doesn't let the suspension articulate as much as it should.if I let it keep flexing it's going to tear the truck apart. It actually tore my starter solinoid wire somewhere and somehow broke my drive selector needle in the dash ( dash is being removed and an aluminum plate dash is going in) My goal by end of next year is a 4 link front and a better leaf set up in the rear. This is a street legal off-road build not a DD

 

I'm interested in the front "spring shackle reverse". I've been wanting to do one for a while (however I don't plan on going to straight front axle).

Can you post a few pictures of the setup and tell me where you bough the kit (or was it already on the truck when you bough it).

How many leafs are in the front springs?

 

Yes i can, I'll post some pictures when I get off work in a few hours. Started the build with the truck completely stock

 

I think you will have less articulation with a stiffer frame, I think the frame is doing some of the articulation. But if you have plans for a better suspension. I would look how the professional off-road people do it, but I would think you would want to get large plates and bolt them to the outside part of the frame over a large area. Then weld your tubing to that. I would not weld to the frame if you can help it. And the small lip on the top and bottom of the "C" of the frame is not very strong.

Unless you wanted to add crossmembers. Bolt plates on the outside, come up and weld a crossmember all the way to the other side to another plate that is bolted to the outside. And then weld to that added crossmember.

 

Are you building the cage inside or outside the cab/bed?
Yes run plates larger than the tube you will weld to it.
Dave ----