Project: AREA|51 [OCD meets ADD]

[msaintg]

wow, you are really going at it. More power to you. Forgive me, but I am confused.... I don't get why you cut off the tortion bars.... what are you going to do for springs up front? What keeps the front wheels from falling off with no spindles? How did you figure out where the engine needed to go without the cab in place? Why did you section the frame and offset it 3" where you did? What is the advantage of using the S10 4x4 frame?

[AspecialZ]

Hey Doug, welcome to the page, glad to have you. Looks like Dave and you have quite a bit of workl ahead of you. Let me know if I can be of assistance in anyway!

[DJDAudio]

Originally Posted by AspecialZ

Hey Doug, welcome to the page, glad to have you. Looks like Dave and you have quite a bit of workl ahead of you. Let me know if I can be of assistance in anyway!

Scott!!

Thanks man!

I need patch panels lots of them cheap haha

Shoot me an email if you can DJD(AT)DJDLABS(DOTCOM)
I have a part number list all ready for all the panels I need lol

Do you have a build thread on any of your AD trucks?

[DJDAudio]

Originally Posted by msaintg

wow, you are really going at it. More power to you. Forgive me, but I am confused.... I don't get why you cut off the tortion bars.... what are you going to do for springs up front? What keeps the front wheels from falling off with no spindles? How did you figure out where the engine needed to go without the cab in place? Why did you section the frame and offset it 3" where you did? What is the advantage of using the S10 4x4 frame?

So many questions Let me see if I can address them all.

We removed the torsion bars because they where in the way. I had plans to static the truck for a while to enjoy it, but they just needed to go for room.

The truck will have Air Ride suspension so will have either an airbag up front on the lower control arm, or a hydropnumatic setup. Either way no need for the old torsion setup any longer.

The spindles are still there they are a one piece hub bearing assembly with just the front axles removed, they are still solid in place.

The nice part was the cab was still sitting on its original frame next to us, so we measured from the back of the stock 6 to the center of the front axle.
We then took this measurement and set the motor in the S10 frame to have the back most part at the same point in relation to the front axle line. So with a wider 'bump' in the firewall the new motor should fit nicely and clear a fan on the rad.


The frame was raised 3" to clear the rear axle. For with air ride I would like to have the truck flat on the ground at shows, so this requires the axle to go up into the stock frame, so instead of notching the frame like most, we just moved the entire rear frame section up 3" to clear. So the nice factory 'bump' in the frame will look like a nice custom notch. This also will raise the bed floor up nicely to clear all of the components underneath. And keep the rear diff from pocking up into the bed floor.

The 4X4 S10 chassis is so much better then the 2WD S10 chassis.

Here is a 2WD S10 chassis,



And here is a 4WD Frame,



As you can see the 2WD frame has a large cross member right where the oil pan needs to go. Also the control arms are angled and pulled more to the center of the frame. All of this makes fitting a V8 tight. Also the geometry of the front arms and steering make for more sportscar like setup, as well as better camber curves as the suspension travels. Just an all around better setup. also they come with 4 wheel disk brakes, and larger front dual piston brakes. ... and the frame is thicker and stronger. I could go on and on haha, It was my Friends idea to run this frame and the more I work with it the more I love it over my old 2WD chassis.

Oh one other nice feature is the wider track width of the front wheels, no need to run a thick front wheel spacer