under the axle would definitely be the lowest part to worry about.

 

Alright guys, sorry for no update but I'm in Puerto Rico all week on my honey moon. I'll be back this weekend and then its project "finish this project up". I'll have more pics and hopefully some track testing soon.

Regarding the long bar project, I'm thinking of more of a torque arm set up much like what is used on F-body's. The reason for this is the same that some of you have already pointed out, ground clearance. I'm thinking that making a torque arm long enough (like long bars) it won't affect suspension travel all that much. My goal for the traction devise is not necessarily for transfering weight but to just keep the pinion angle in check since I don't think I really have the room to shim it as much as I would need to without using a traction devise. Did that make sense???

However, first order of business when I get back is getting the shocks mounted up front and rear.

 

Hell no once you come back your marriage is OFFICIAL the truck will be for sale....

 

sad but true

 

Alright, I have some updates.

1. My wife knows better than to f*ck with me about my car projects. Thats why I married her.

Now that we have that out of the way...

I've got the front done. I have a couple of concerns but I don't think they will result in anything thats going to give me a problem. My first concern is how much of the lower ball joint stud I had to wack off just to get the stock 17's back on. Here are some pics.


Damn those are short.

Here are some pics of the front suspension done.
Left Front w/o shock

Left Front with shock


Right Front w/o shock


Right Front with shock


Here are some little details about mounting the front shocks. 1. For the trucks you should upgrade to the 3" T-bar and slightly grind the top corners of them so they fit flush. The std. T-bar that comes with the QA-1's seemed a little narrow for me. 2. The std. stud bushing that came with the shocks is for a 5/8" stud mounting hole. The trucks have a 7/8" mounting hole, so I had to buy 7/8" stud bushings. My only other concern is the shock mounting ride height length. These shocks are 1/4" further extended from QA-1's recommended ride height. If I have a problem with them "topping out" I'll have to revise how they are mounted. We'll see. Here are some pics.
Here you can see the difference between the 2 T-bar's described above.

The new T-bar unmodified

The new T-bar modified


the new T-bar mounted in the shock


Here is the difference between the stud mount bushings as mentioned above

 

Damn, should I start shrinking my pics a little bit?

Now that the front is done, on to the rear. I went ahead and pulled the rearend out of the truck and sent it over to Texas Auto Gear. They are going to pull all the guts out of it and I'm going to pick the housing up tomorrow. Once I get the housing back, I'm going to cut the stock shock mounting brackets off and weld on the new ones. Both shocks will now be mounted behind the rearend. There are 2 main reasons that I'm doing this.
1. In the stock configuration, the mounting point distances differ from side to side. Given the narrow range of recommended shock mounting height from QA-1, I would essentially have to run 2 different length shocks.
2. The angle at which the shocks mount is far from ideal and made even worse with the drop. Even with those flimsy *** shock extenders.

Also, while I've got the housing gutted and on the bench, I'm going to weld the axle tubes into the housing and brace it with a truss that extends from axle tube to axle tube over the housing, top and bottom. This will strengthen the housing and also give me mounting points for the torque arm. I'm going to be building a torque arm (similar to a single ladder bar) that mounts near the center of the rearend and extends to a crossmember just behind the transmission. The front mount will be on a shackle to allow the the axle to articulate.

Here are some pics of the rear shocks with the lower mounting brackets.



Once I have all the brackets welded on, they are going to straighten the housing (Its already bent) and rebuild with 4.56 gears and a true-trac. Those 4.56's should feel pretty good.

 

man those QA1s look sick cant wait to see this torque arm your talking about BTW you have very good pics that are very detailed if i must add

 

Cant wait to see when its finished

 

I have a torque arm installed on my truck and also relocated the right rear shock behind the axle. So now, both shock are mounted on rear of the exle. 1" boxed tubing was used to build the bar with 5/8 chromoly rod ends that are adjustable.

My previous best was a 1.89 60' spinning out the hole. With the ladder bar, I dead hooked with a 1.75. Now I need more power or higher stall converter. I have no axle wrap and my overload has been removed. The ladder bar does not bind either. Good choice!

I am sure you will have great results with yours!

 

I'm going to be watching this as I'm looking into building a similar setup.