cut back Mustang II cross member?
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From: Pflugerville, tx
cut back Mustang II cross member?
now that the green truck is gone for a while for the interior, I can get back to working on the other trucks.. after thinking about this for a while, we've decided to use the TCI MII/rear leaf chassis under the 56. (saves money now)..
the front frame horn is sitting about 6.5 inches off the ground right now.
(at ride height), with 15in rims& tires..
we'll go up to 18s, which will raise that to 8. we think we want to cut the step in the MU cross member and raise it into the frame a little more, (1 in),
which will drop that 8 back to 7.
anybody do this? of have any feedback on that kind of change?
Sam
the front frame horn is sitting about 6.5 inches off the ground right now.
(at ride height), with 15in rims& tires..
we'll go up to 18s, which will raise that to 8. we think we want to cut the step in the MU cross member and raise it into the frame a little more, (1 in),
which will drop that 8 back to 7.
anybody do this? of have any feedback on that kind of change?
Sam
old and in the way
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From: Lovely Hueytown Alabama
Sam,
I don't see any reason why you couldn't ??? The entire front suspension/steering/ride is on that crossmember so you wouldn't be affecting geometry or anything... only thing different would be the angle of the steering linkage and one inch shouldn't bother you (saying this to a man who had to custom build headers for his steering linkage is somewhat humorous, don't you think ?)
the crossmember won't know it's one inch deeper in the frame... I'd do some good boxing/strengthening, but that goes without mention, right ???
later
John
I don't see any reason why you couldn't ??? The entire front suspension/steering/ride is on that crossmember so you wouldn't be affecting geometry or anything... only thing different would be the angle of the steering linkage and one inch shouldn't bother you (saying this to a man who had to custom build headers for his steering linkage is somewhat humorous, don't you think ?)
the crossmember won't know it's one inch deeper in the frame... I'd do some good boxing/strengthening, but that goes without mention, right ???
later
John
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From: Pflugerville, tx
Sam,
I don't see any reason why you couldn't ??? The entire front suspension/steering/ride is on that crossmember so you wouldn't be affecting geometry or anything... only thing different would be the angle of the steering linkage and one inch shouldn't bother you (saying this to a man who had to custom build headers for his steering linkage is somewhat humorous, don't you think ?)
the crossmember won't know it's one inch deeper in the frame... I'd do some good boxing/strengthening, but that goes without mention, right ???
later
John
I don't see any reason why you couldn't ??? The entire front suspension/steering/ride is on that crossmember so you wouldn't be affecting geometry or anything... only thing different would be the angle of the steering linkage and one inch shouldn't bother you (saying this to a man who had to custom build headers for his steering linkage is somewhat humorous, don't you think ?)
the crossmember won't know it's one inch deeper in the frame... I'd do some good boxing/strengthening, but that goes without mention, right ???
later
John
any issues with lower arm travel?
Sam
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From: Waleska, GA
sdetweil, I'm planning on buying a MII front suspension for my 53. What do you think of the TCI system? Did you get the 2" dropped spindles? Please keep posting pictures so that I can reference this thread.
Thanks!!
Thanks!!
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From: Pflugerville, tx
we ordered the rear spring kit at the same time.
went in clean, and looks nice.. have to powder coat everything to remove the surface rust now..
I cut the step an inch and raised the cross member up into the frame a little more..
pics tomorrow.
Sam
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From: Westminster,Md
Sam, Along the same thoughts as John mentioned, you may also need to 'raise' the ht of the upper control arm hats,the same amount..so that you keep the same distance between the control arms at their pivot/mount points..otherwise you would be 'squeezing' the two arms closer together..if you get what I'm saying..I'm not sure if that small amount will affect the swaybar , I woudn't think so, but the control arms must be kept parallel as they go thru their up/down motion and travel for geometry to work right,..
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From: Pflugerville, tx
Sam, Along the same thoughts as John mentioned, you may also need to 'raise' the ht of the upper control arm hats,the same amount..so that you keep the same distance between the control arms at their pivot/mount points..otherwise you would be 'squeezing' the two arms closer together..if you get what I'm saying..I'm not sure if that small amount will affect the swaybar , I woudn't think so, but the control arms must be kept parallel as they go thru their up/down motion and travel for geometry to work right,..
Sam
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From: Lovely Hueytown Alabama
Sam,
sorry for the slow reply...we're in an maintenance outage at work and days have been 12-14 hours long...
to answer your question... I see no problem with the lower arm swing by moving the crossmember up... however as cmoritz mentioned you're gonna have to put in a 'spacer' to raise the top hat the same amount that you raise the crossmember...
could be done with some thick wall tubing or solid bar... but you have to keep the distance between top/bottom correct or you'll mess up your geometry and the springs won't fit !!!!
later
John
sorry for the slow reply...we're in an maintenance outage at work and days have been 12-14 hours long...
to answer your question... I see no problem with the lower arm swing by moving the crossmember up... however as cmoritz mentioned you're gonna have to put in a 'spacer' to raise the top hat the same amount that you raise the crossmember...
could be done with some thick wall tubing or solid bar... but you have to keep the distance between top/bottom correct or you'll mess up your geometry and the springs won't fit !!!!
later
John
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