Xmember install progress
 

I drove my truck up to slammed67's place this weekend for the xmember swap. Here's progress...

and then after the :b69: refreshments...

XXL,... What are you going to do with the old crossmember? I'm looking for one to cut up.

...

PM'd you,...

R U done yet??

Nice road rash I've got on the front edge of that control arm. Note: Somewhere in Wichita there's a missing yellow dot from the road. :metal:

slammed67 is such a diligent worker. Here's a progress pic...

more...

BTW... capt kaos, we discussed potential tie rod clearance issues, but you felt it wouldn't be a problem. Oops :(

I hear grinding noises in your future. I"ve had to do that to every crossmember I've built so far same spot.

Yes, that is what I'll be doing this evening, after a few beers of course ;)

XXL, CaptKaos, or Slammed, how much of notch is that crossmember?

1.5"

Hey, that thing's a short bed stepside with a raised floor. It'll only hold so much beer!

:b69:

How come there is not alot of Pabst Blue Ribbon. I see ALOT of Lite's though. Pabst Blue Ribbon is the poor boy special!

OUCH I remember asking those questions to Bill Turner when I was only going to do the member and not the Rack and pinion. He spoke of turning the parts backwards somehow?? Not sure if he was blowing $hit up my ARSE or what??

But Bill Turner is a nice guy and, for those of you who don't know slammed67, he's quite the bleeding cl!t {inside joke}

:phat:

Slammed, you have PM.

Almost done...

Let the problems begin...

Where are your spacers for the upper control arms? You also need your borgenson joints to clear your upper arm, any time you go that low you are going to need to do it.
Where are the budweisers?

I haven't put them in yet. Look at the first pic in XXL's last post. See how one side of the a-arm shaft where it bolts to the x-member is dished or cupped and the other side is flat? It looks like the dished part matches the curved surface on the cross member studs, but I don't think you'd want to put shims between those two non-flat surfaces. However, if you rotate them so the flat side is facing inwards, then the nuts would be against that dished a-arm shaft. Why is one side dished like that??? The '67-'72 shafts are flat on both sides which makes sense. So which way should they be installed?

On my buddies 85 the shop that did the alignment used spacers that were dished to match the shaft on the outside of the spacer stack.

Did '73+ trucks have such a spacer on them from the factory?? That's the only explanation I could come up with.