Dropping a C30 flatbed

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Mike Bradbury

Do the brackets that bolt to the axle for the 4 bars have the perch for the bags? Still trying figure out how you mounted the bags behind the axle with out welding brackets to the tubes.

I am going to do a complete cab back custom frame so if I need to tweak anything I can in the design phase. The bags look close to the wheels in your pics, Do you find any clearance issues when the axle is twisting left and right over uneven road surfaces?

Yes, the lowers have the bag brackets as part of the lower plate. They are designed so that it positions the bag under the frame rail for mounting.

The problem w/that was the truck would have been close to stock height @ the recommended bag inflation/installed height. I solved that by swapping the two sides so that the bags were kicked just outboard of the frame (basically in-line where the leaf was). This allowed me to make my top mount where I needed it for the truck to be @ the dropped ride height I wanted w/the bags @ their recommended inflated/installed height. It's worked well but kills the 4x cut-down semi wheels for the rear (you'd have to run a stock steel inner on my set-up).

You could do similar but different. Where I have the bags mounted to the leaf-spring adapter plates, you would need to have a 'bridge-bar' attached. That ties the two sides together & allows moving your bags/mounts to just inside the frame just like they would be if mounted off the rear housing (but w/o welding to the tubes). The downside is it gets crowded real fast between the rails & you have to put the Panhard bar above the center housing.

If I were doing a HD 6x-72??

I would utilize a 3/4 ton T/A set-up. I have dibs on a 68 3/4 ton truck a former retired co-worker has & it's just for this purpose. Putting the bags in the stock position yields 5-6" of drop. If more drop @ ride height is desired, a 'bridge -bar' bar that anchors to the original spring mounts can be utilized & new top mounts built off of the frame rail as needed to achieve the desired height wanted w/the bags @ their recommended inflated/installed heights.