S10 Frame Swap - Air Ride Questions
 

Hey guys,

Running RussDs frame swap kit that is fully adjustable on my RCLB 80s s10 frame. Have the full frame stripped down and just finished sandblasting it.

I have 2" drop spindles and bags for the front, but wanted to know how much work I need for the rear. Planned on going with the Ekstensive Metal Works rear end kit (full notch and 2 link/trailing arm setup) which gives me my bag mounts, panhard bar and new shock locations.

It says it lays frame with 20" wheels. Which is what I normally strive for. But this got me thinking....

I know the S10 frame doesn't need to lay on the ground to lay the 3100 body on the ground. And I don't care to do all of this work to the rear to "lay frame" and then have to put in huge bump stops or something so I am not crushing the running boards or having 4" extra travel in the notch that isn't necessary.

So, point of this post... How low does the S10 frame need to be to lay the 3100 boards level on the ground? And how did you accomplish this in the rear of your S10 frame? I plan on mounting the cab at roughly 4" above the frame

Re: S10 Frame Swap - Air Ride Questions
 

I know the temptation is to "lay frame" at a car show but before you do that, remember that if you can do that at a car show it WILL do that sometime at 70 mph going down the road when a line or something fails. it will happen, so do yourself a favor and make sure you can drive it on the bump stops to get you to safety or a place to fix it. ibuild my exhaust, etc on the bump stops so nothing scrapes to be safe.

Re: S10 Frame Swap - Air Ride Questions
 

Thanks for the suggestion. I truly do think people need to hear this and think about it if it’s their first vehicle they’re building with air ride.

This will be my 5th bagged vehicle, so I’m personally aware of the possibilities.

You could also say that static vehicles that are low and blow a 75r sidewall will be dragging on the ground. At least with a bagged vehicle you could air it up if you needed to.

In 20yrs of bagged vehicles, I’ve never once had a bag or airline blow, if you install them correctly and with some due diligence. Same reason the brakes on the fire truck I drove for work didn’t lose its braking system when the air lines blew, and the dump trucks and transports don’t blow their rear bags. All comes down to how they’re installed and protected.

Re: S10 Frame Swap - Air Ride Questions
 

Well, i would have saidthe same, but my35 Chevy developed an aneurism (blow out) in the side of a line nowhere close to anything. so that extruded plastic DOT rated hose can fail in use. So the new truck Im building all of the air ride system is plumbed in 1/4" SS tube and AN hose. it is not fun having a failure in the suspension.

Re: S10 Frame Swap - Air Ride Questions
 

One of the primary attractions of S 10 swaps is that the S-10 did all the homework years ago and the front suspension Uses the same A arms and other pieces as many same year Chevy/GM Cars do.

If you want bags you just serarch for bag kits for the year of S-10 Chassis you have and done.

Still Truthfully these days If you have a good stock 3100 frame to start with under a nice complete truck you are most likely better off to buy a MII style front end that is already set up for bags and a 4 link kit for putting bags under he 3100 and add a notch and done. When the S-10 thing started you could buy a dead S-10 long bed work truck out of someone's driveway for free or a couple hundred dollars an get a few bucks back out of the sheet metal over the scales at the scrap yard. Then you made mounts like one of our members shared the patterns for years ago and got by pretty cheap. Now A donor S-10 costs rea money, then rebuilding the suspension you are going to use Costs $$$ before you ever buy the bag kit that can run into serous money. Then because the rear axle is so narrow you end up buying a S-10 4x4 rear axle unless you are running 15 inch wide rear tires. If you buy the popular frame swap kit that is another 1500 before options.

Still if you don't have a good 3100 frame to use and A Morrison or Roadster shop frame is just way way too spendy the S-10 works.