Just keeping busy when things are out
Thanks to lyrikz for giving me a hand getting the frame down to the sandblasters, should be ready to come home in a few days.
When I rebuilt the front suspension a few years back the center section was not accessible to paint with the engine and various parts in the way. The Hammerite paint I originally used held up pretty well on the suspension arms, springs, and drop spindles. Cleaned up the chipped areas and some tape to keep the paint off the rubber parts and zert fittings and gave it another complete coat of Hammerite.
The forward and aft lip areas seem to like to collect water and dirt with no place to go so I drilled some ½ holes to allow this area to drain and not collect as much dirt.
As long as I’m talking about suspension
When I rebuilt the front end I installed some 4 inch drop springs in the rear. I liked the ride height and it definitely was a less harsh ride than the stock springs. But the springs could not carry any load in the bed without sitting down on the frame rubber stops and the shock binding up at its minimum compression.
So to salve the problems, I’m planning on using some 49107 Gabriel Hijacker air adjustable shocks and relocating the shock mounts.
When the truck was all together I had taken some measurements of the shock and suspension travel. I’ve just taken all the measurements and generated a full scale picture to figure out how my modification would work. What you see below is a shrunk picture of what I came up with to fit into the forum (a GIF animation showing the difference between before and after the modification).
CPP (Classic Performance Products) has a shock mount relocator kit that does similar repositioning of the shock mounting holes.
The frame should be home soon and the painting of it will begin, enjoy your build