Chassis Build Up & Design

Actually they have the 7-9" in stock at summit from SPC and they've come down in price since I last checked. $150ea.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SPS-92546/

Sweet.  I'll have to dig further when I want to go adjustable.  Still too pricey for my build at this point.

^ wow those have really come down from last time I was looking at them.

Yeah, last I can recall they were 180, down from 210 or 220, each.

^ wow those have really come down from last time I was looking at them.

I was thinking the same, I'm actually considering them now.

Hey Harley - do the ART lower control arms you run have drop built into them?  Do you have the new or old version of the arms?  It's hard to tell from your build thread pics. 

I'm going to pick up the shockwave arms from generics10 that you linked to a while back in the classifieds here.  My stock LCAs are not happy with the new coilovers.

Harley has the drop arms, he's had them for at least 5 years now... when did they update designs?

how do the stocks not like them exactly?

5 years sounds about right.  I didn't even have the truck 6 months before I did the front suspension.  If I were to put a date on it I'd say June of 2006.

I don't know about the new or old arms either, but I do know from comparing mine with the arms to another truck without, both with the QA1s, that I'm getting about 3 inches of extra drop out of them.  Can't wait to couple that with the tall ball joint and eventually a drop spindle.

The newest shockwave arms use a through-bolt mount on the bottom instead of the t-bar.  These are the ones I'm hoping to get



The shock mount on my stock lower control arms is about an inch lower now than it used to be and it drops further every time I race it.  The shop that put them in mounted them with the t-bar below the LCA instead of above and the bolts are pulling the shock mounts down.  Mounting them above the LCA may have helped a bit but I think the same thing would have happened eventually.  The shock mount just isn't strong enough. 

Harley - do you still have room to adjust your ride height up or is the pic on the first page of this thread as high as it goes?  I'm wondering if I should buy some shims before I get the new LCAs put in.

Never seen those before.  Are they ART?  With the straight tube they won't give as much clearance that my style arms and the newer ART arms do.  Personally I don't think they will compliment a coil over setup well.

This is the style I have.  I haven't seen any deflection on the plate and when I got the shocks rebuilt one of the bodies was cracked and had to be replaced.  I run the T bar on top.



This is the through bolt style.  Definitely looks beefier than mine, but I paid a ton less.



My ride height is set about an inch or so from the bottom of the threads on the shock body.  Should be another couple inches of adjustmentment or more.  I'm also a Blazer, though, so an S10 will be another 1.5" lower.

With whatever style you choose, I'm sure you will not like the sway bar mount.  It just doesn't seem to be in the right place for the lower ride height.  I know both my friend Jim and I have bent several end links with these arms.

Do you think there will be clearance issues with the frame?  I can get these for significantly cheaper than a new set of Spohn's and I've heard bad things about the frame mount tubing splitting apart on those.

Where have you heard about the spohn arms coming apart?

I haven't run a set of S10 arms from them, but I had a set of their arms on my third gen camaro and the guy I sold it to is still running them without issue. If their quality has tanked I can think of a few people who would really like to know about it.

There is certainly less room.  Not being bagged it probably won't be an issue, but I'll take all the room I can to avoid control arm to frame friendships.  That low hanging basket screams at me too, but takes up about the same real estate as my arms; mine just have the tubes running with it.

If the price is right don't let me talk you out of it.  Today I wouldn't pay $500+ for the Spohn's or $600 for the ART's.  That is a lot of serious cash for some plate welded to a couple tubes and the Spohn's are ugly and bulky looking to top it off.  I paid in the $300-350 range for my ART's new back in 2006.  I did my whole front suspension AND bought my wheels for about a grand IIRC.

thanks for the input.  I just looked at pics of the current Spohn's and they also use straight tubing and a similar hanging basket thing for the mount.  I'm looking at about $300 for these so they would save me about $100-120 over Spohn's (they're listing for $389 at Summit).  They are new, they've just been sitting around for a long time.  ART arms are $600 so I thought that price was reasonable.

I've read a few forum posts about the mounts on the spohn's (both UCA and LCA) peeling apart.  Someone mentioned that they're made of seam-welded tubing.  I don't know how common that issue is though.

I just looked at pics of the current Spohn's and they also use straight tubing and a similar hanging basket thing for the mount.

Yeah, I don't like that about the Spohn's either.   I'm definitely glad I got my ART arms for so little so long ago.  I'd wager the bend is there because they're being bought to layout on shockwaves.

The shock mount on my stock lower control arms is about an inch lower now than it used to be and it drops further every time I race it.  The shop that put them in mounted them with the t-bar below the LCA instead of above and the bolts are pulling the shock mounts down.  Mounting them above the LCA may have helped a bit but I think the same thing would have happened eventually.  The shock mount just isn't strong enough. 

I always thought that would be an issue with running stock control arms & coil-overs. I've seen a lot of people say it's fine but I just couldn't see the shock mounts being anywhere near beefy enough.



 

Even though we're off topic in here.... I'm still working on this every week.  Al helped me pull the cab out of the way, so I could work on the transmission crossmember and while I was waiting on some parts I mixed it up with more harness work.

To start, I followed Al's lead sectioning the crossmember and bolting the sections where they go.  I then capped them off after some trimming since the transmission is set over an inch.  Tacked in some gussets and then removed it from the frame to weld it up.

With how much the transmission mount is moved back and down I'm planning on going a different direction for the final transmission crossmember, but this does the job for now, keeping the powertrain where I want it to be.  Plan is to get some tube bent up to run the exhaust underneath, so that can be removed with out removing the crossmember.  I don't think the exhaust will be able to be routed to avoid going under the transmission, so I will plan on dropping it if I ever remove the trans.


IMG_3173 by TheHarley, on Flickr


IMG_3174 by TheHarley, on Flickr


IMG_3175 by TheHarley, on Flickr


IMG_3176 by TheHarley, on Flickr

The wiring is pretty much all laid out where it needs to be and shortened where needed.  I still have a few circuits to add and need to finalize the location of the O2 Sensors and Fuel Composition sensor before taping up and looming it.  I'm really happy with how it is turning out and once it is loomed I doubt much of it will be readily visible.  It isn't even now.  Biggest hurdle right now is determining how the circuits for the 5.3 harness are going to be powered off of the 4.3 Fuse Block.  I'm trying to maintain some of the extra starting functionality the 5.3 PCM offers as well as sort out ways to use some of the more modern sensors and switches that came with the engine/trans.


IMG_3177 by TheHarley, on Flickr


IMG_3178 by TheHarley, on Flickr


IMG_3179 by TheHarley, on Flickr


IMG_3180 by TheHarley, on Flickr

Next up is modifying the exhaust manifolds and fabbing up a bracket for the fuel composition sensor.  That will help me wrap up those electrical circuits.  Probably should start roughing in ideas for the Y Pipe too, so I can get the final crossmember made up.

All the ball joints have arrived.  Still waiting on the arms, but not quite back to that part of the project yet.

What did you end  up deciding on for your wheel/tire combo harley?

Progress is looking great, I can't wait to see the pieces all together.

I'll be sticking with the 17" Cragers for now on 245/45 an 275/40s that I have already.

Eventually something similar to 295/30R18 and 335/30R18.  I'm looking at 26-28" tall tires pretty much.

A little more progress.  Driver manifold is nearly ready to have the extensions welded on.

Going on a mission trip starting Sunday, but will have a couple full days to attack this after the 4th.  I need to start figuring out what needs to show up to keep the ball rolling.


IMG00102-20110623-2306.jpg by TheHarley, on Flickr


IMG00104-20110623-2307.jpg by TheHarley, on Flickr