[sandman351]

Can anyone give me the dimensions for the upper control arm hats on an aftermarket MII setup for a 35-40 ford? I'm trying to locate the stock crossmember in my frame, and don't have a good ride height reference. If I can set up my stock crossmember with the upper spring buckets in the same location (height and angle) as an aftermarket bucket, I think I will be good to go.

THanks!
Pat

[MARTINSR]

Have you removed the crossmember from the clip yet? All you need to do is measure the height from the lower control arm pivot to the top of the spring tower.

How are you going to get the upper control arm shaft angle right?

Brian

[sandman351]

so I'm not "breaking" the connection between the upper spring hat and the lower control arm pivots. I have notched the outside of the frame so that I may slip my complete MII crossmember up around the outside of the frame, and I just need to know what angle to tilt it rearward, and how far "up" to install it in the frame. If I can duplicate the location of the spring "hat" on my crossmember to that of an aftermarket "hat", I should be good to go.

I hope this all makes sense, it's a bit difficult to explain.

Thanks for the help!!
Pat

[trees]

There are many ways to do this so I will tell you one. First, I assume your body is off the frame (not that important). the middle sections of your frame rails are basically straight, so I would start by putting jack stands under all four corners of the frame and adjust until the middle section is level fore and aft and side to side. Next I would remove the M II shocks and springs and use a threaded rod in the shock mounting holes and adjust until the lower control arms are level with the ground when the the bottom flat part of the cross member is level (side to side and front to back). Then I would put the cross member in place under the frame and start raising in place, keeping the cross member level side to side and front to back. When you are getting close to where you think it should be, make sure your R& P is centered and take a measurement on both sides from the center of the end of the spindles to the floor. You would be looking for something like 14" (or 1/2 of your front tire outside diameter) assuming the frame is set at the ride height you are building to. When you are very close, recheck all your level points and then check distance from the ends of the long pivot bolt thru the cross member to the floor (It should be parallel with the floor also). When you have all this set, your top hats will be in the correct place.

Trees

[sandman351]

I hope my pic shows up.....

I do not have a good level floor that I can measure from (aka ground plane), the best I can do is level the frame side to side and fore and aft. So, if I know the dims of the upper hat, the rest of the crossmember location will follow. The front of the frame is the LH side of the pic, since my frame is level, I need to tilt the crossmember back further, but I don't know how much. I wish I had a nice level floor to use .

I hope this helps, maybe I just need to purchase, measure, and return an aftermarket crossmember kit. Thoughts?

Thanks for all the help!
Pat

[Don Meyer]

If I understand you the complete front end has been welded prior to installation....if so I would do the following.

!. make sure the distance between the upper & lower pivot points is the correct dimension(measure an other car).
2.find center line of old axel - find center line of new IFS & put the IFS in place.
3. tilt the whole assy so tha it has 3 degree of fore & aft positive caster. Measure at the crossmember not the hats.
4. call the mfg to see if he has a installation tape prior to welding.