I hope its ok that i post pics and share what im doing with the suspension in this section, if not please let me know
so i picked this truck up two weeks ago and i think i have made good progress so far. my plan for this truck is to build a low budget rat truck that any one could drive for under $3,000. at the same time show off some of my fabricating skills.
this is going to be my first full custom air ride setup.
The front suspension will be done this afternoon, after i get all the link tabs all burned in. ill post pics tonight. the only thing that i wont have done is the steering, i had to order a vega style box and convert to cross over steering. too much work trying to keep the stock steering set up.
As for air management, the only thing i have now are switches and bags, stuff i had laying around the shop from swap meet scores and old projects.
okay guys! i have the front suspension all in and air to it. I wanted to do a cantilever setup like i did in the rear but lifting all the weight of the truck from the front of the frame rails would have given me lots of frame flex and twist. so i went with a traditional bag over axle setup but i still kept the spider theme on the links and gussets. I'm not completely finished with the frame, i need to add a cross-member under the engine and add misc. brackets
I would definatly find some of the old roll plates that they are suposed to have on top and bottom. They might work for a while but airlift definatly switched to the newer bag for a reason. I worked for one of Airlifts biggest distributors for 7 years before coming to Ridetech.
couple of small updates.
steering box is in and works great, the chrome one was the cheapest one with the 25 to 1 ratio; works better with heavier vehicles like trucks.
i also added the first spider.
So I have good news and bad news. The good, suspension and steering work perfectly :thumbup: the bad, the engine lost oil pressure after about 5 miles and the front crank seal leaks like a mother. It needs power brakes, it's a real pain holding back 5.29 gears in traffic
The build cost is under 3k and it's not always the tools some one has sometimes its who you know. A good friend of mine has a water jet and I could have had him cut everything I did on the plasma for only the cost of materials. He hid the shift arme for me and provided all the bushings for the truck. And there is no wat I would sell the truck for 3k it's worth way more in time.
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