Please help with Porterbuilt Mild Dropmember notch placement.

[Artikgrau325is]

Hello everyone, I was hoping I could get a more specific answer as to where the notch is supposed to sit on the frame. It is a longbed fleetside and I have the complete Porterbuilt Mild rear dropmember.

The instructions say that the center of the wheel well is 26.5" from the third bed mounting hole from the cab. Simple enough, I got out the tape measure and marked accordingly.

I understand that the center line of the dropmember notch is supposed to be in line with the wheel well center line. This is where I run into some issues and want to ask those with experience before I go crazy with the sawzall.

Where do I find the notch center line? I could measure the top of the cap (something like 9 inches), the valley of the cap where it rises from the frame, or the entire notch assembly end to end (38 inches or so). Obviously, this gives me 3 different numbers, and the instructions weren't too clear on it, at least not to a first time truck builder as myself.

I could bring the notch more towards the rear of the truck to get the "center" to match with my 26.5" mark I made earlier...but then I noticed something else, the notch sits almost perfectly where it currently is, the bottom contour of the notch fits awesome with the bottom contour of the frame. In any case, I'm about 1.5" to 2" off of that centerline, so I really need to find some other way to do this.

I even went as far as mocking up the trailing arm crossmember and dragging the rear end out of the storage to see if it would help. Here's some photos:

NCL = the middle of the top of the notch cap. I'm not sure if this was the correct place to get that measurement.

26.5" CL = Center line from third bed mounting hole from cab. This line is about 2" short of the NCL line above.

Black half circle = where the rear end hits the frame.



As the notch sits now, it flows with the countours of the frame REALLY nicely. I don't think it would do this is I were to move the notch forwards or backwards. I still have to trim down the bottom of the frame rail to get it to sit flush though.





Excuse the mess, it has been cleaned up since then. NO MORE RIVETS YESSSSS!!!!




So to sum things up:

My notch center line (if I measured it correctly) sits 2 inches forward of the wheel well centerline I marked on the frame. If I need to bring it back, then so be it, but I wanted to be double sure on it. I already contacted Nate from Porterbuilt and got an automated text, so I figured it would be easier to ask here as well.

If anyone has any tips to help me correctly place this notch, I would GREATLY appreciate it. Thanks in advance,

-Mike.