raising upper A-arms?

[a squarecan]

Hey guys,

I have decided to modify my front cross member, I will be sectioning the lower half of the cross member. In the process of sectioning the lower half I will be raising the lower A-arms which is what I want, but I am having a problem coming up with a good way to raise my upper A-arms the 1.5-2 inches I am hoping to take out of my cross member. Has anyone ever raised the upper A-arms on a project before? I am thinking about extending the existing bracket, but I would rather do something else, if anyone has any ideas or expieriance I would love to hear what you guys have done.


Thanks
Keith

[DM310]

There is no need for that! If you section the crossmember correctly it will move the whole suspension up. I think you may need to do a little more research before you go hacking up your truck. Check out http://www.captkaoscustoms.com/suicidal.html

[Captkaos]

Yeah, you are making a LARGE problem out of a simple task. I can make one of these for you if you want also.

Thanks for the link DM310!

[a squarecan]

I am familar with what you guys are talking about, and I know exact what is involved in the crossmember section. My brain just got ticking and I started to thinking about a slightly different idea of the very common cross member drop that most people use. I dunno what it is about the cross memeber drop I dont like, but there is something about it that... I dunno, probably more work then it is worth.

Captkaos, I have seen a few of the crossmembers you have done and they look very well made. I am just curious what something like that would cost to have made, not to mention shipping to Portland Oregon 97220. If you wouldn't mind it may be worth my $$$. If you could pm with some info that would be sweet, let me know!

Thanks
Keith

[DM310]

can you go into detail about what you were thinking then? Maybe you were just thinking about raising the mounting points of the lower arms which some people have done. You can do this and keep you upper arms in the same location. You would just have to compensate for it w/ a custom lower arm. I have done my crossmember and Z'ed my frame, out of the 2 the crossmember was a lot easier in my opinion. You are going to have to do one of them if you really want to get low.

[Jaredm82]

if you move just one of the sets of arms (upper or lower) you will completley screw the geometry of your front end up and it will not handle right. There is no need to Z your frame, just raise your crossmember 1.5" and you can get your frame on the ground with 3" spindles, unless youll be running larger than say a 28.5" tire.

[a squarecan]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

DM, My thought was to cut and move the bottom section (along with the upper spring cup) up roughly 1.5 inches, but like stated above to move 1 set of arms you much move them both. I hadn't set my mind on anything yet, I was just in the thinking mood and thought I would toss the idea out there.

Hey Jaredm82, Do you have any pix of your ride? From your avitar it looks like you have a pretty sweet ride!

Keith

[DM310]

fastbagged68 makes a set of lower arms and so did a another vendor. It moves the location of the mounting points up for the arms but keeps the balljoint in the same location so the geometry stays the same.

[Captkaos]

a squarecan I sent you a PM. I guess I need to put this info on my website....

[Jaredm82]

I dont have very many pics right now. Im jsut getting my truck back together again. I welded the cab mounts down 1.5"s and im cutting the pinch weld off the bottom of my truck. Right now im in the process of cutting and tacking, cutting and tacking, cutting and tacking the pinch seem back together and that is a son of a *****!! After I get that done I have to rework my front wheel tubs to make room for some 265/30/22's. I also have to figure out my hood hinge siuation...

[fastbagged68]

Jaredm82....I will get some pics of my wheel well I did on my 63. I can fit 22's no problem. But now tonight I am going to start on my hood hinges and see if I canmake them work. I don't think they are though. So if you know anything that might work let me know! I allready know about Sachhese Rod Shop hinges.

If you really want to go low you can do Lower control arms like what Bill Turner use to sell. I can make them too. I have done 1 set now. I need to make a jig up to speed up the process. If you want to see pics of the arms do a search for Crossmember drop... i posted it.

[gostranger]

i looked for your pics of the lower a arms and couldnt find them how much do you get for a set and can you repost a pic thanks

and jaredm82 i am looking forward to seeing some pics of youer truck it looks like what i am going to do to mine i will be hitting you for suggestions thanks

[Jaredm82]

nah my suspension is good, I just need to figure out how to stuff 22's and still have a functioning hood. I dont want to do a forward tilt. I think I can re-re-work my hinges as I already reworked them to clear 20's. The 22's are only 1.5" taller so they will go up another 3/4" into my wheel well, plus the 1.5" i lowered the body down. That equals about another 2" I need to clear out. I think I have an idea on the hinges, i have a single hinge that I can cut and weld until I make it work. Obviously hood hinges are out of the question as I lost those with the 20's. I get out of summer school in 2 weeks and then I will be able to dedicate more time to my truck

[Jaredm82]

and about those saches hinges, have thoise been done already and do they work? Thing is, not too many people go this extreme on these year trucks so you have to be an innovator, i guess that has its ups and downs. I tell you what though, I turn heads where ever I go and that was jsut on the 20's, its gonna be insane on 22's!!!

[a squarecan]

I would love to see some pix of inner fender wells if anyone has them, this is a big obsticle I am facing. Like mentioned above this is a fairly new trend with these trucks so there are not many before us to say "hey this works or no it doesn't" I have thought about it a little bit and I know when it comes time to dealing with the hood situation I am going to re-enforce the firewall and attempt to use some mid 50's truck hinges. I have never seen this done, so to say if it works or not is not possible, but I dont see why it wouldn't.

Keith

[Jaredm82]

here are some pics of my current set up

[gostranger]

very nice!!!!!!!

[a squarecan]

Damn!

Very nice! I am just curious.... Does your hood still close? Looks like your mod to your fenders would affect hood closeure sevierly. Also what size tires are you running up front? I cant decide if I want to run 18's or 20's up front. Either way 22's are getting stuffed in the back.

Thanks
Keith

[Jaredm82]

nope everything opens and closes as it should, i just dont have springs in there to hold it up! Im redoing the hinges and inner fenders, I didnt know what the hell I was doing when I made those. I made those when I was 19 i think.

[fastbagged68]

Jaredm82- Here are some pics of my wheel well!

[DM310]

Very nice..........

[Jaredm82]

oh man thats sexy as hell!!!! how big of diameter are those tubs?

[Jaredm82]

and what size tires, and also, what sthe diecum on there for?

[fastbagged68]

Those wheel tubs are these ones http://www.etrailerpart.com/mywebs/m...8e_1801069.htm
I am running 20's- 245-40-20. It is 28.3 or so. I could have made the wheel well a little smaller but once you lift the rear of the truck up it would push down more....So I set it up so I could drive the car around a car show if I wanted to at 1/2" off the ground.
The way you are doing your hood hinge is on the right track. If this helps I weld round tube around the joint on the front and one on the rear joint and tac welded a peice of steel to those. That can raise the lower part of the hinge up..or cut off. Give you more clearance. I need to figure out my hinges soon. Not sure what I'm going to do!

[fastbagged68]

Oh the diecum was to mark to cut... we ended up not even using it!