That comment about looking through the trash to help your wife? Ummmm, lets just say I've been there! Extremely
So you have like 5" of vertical travel? There's a formula out there somewhere . Like for every inch away from vertical the shock is, you get 2" of effective dampening (more or less and within reasonable location) One issue is that the shock loses some effectiveness as the mounting angle increases.
Tonight I was very brief. I tried my new driveshaft safety loop at full droop, and it hit where the center support bearing was before - no big surprise. I tried it right near the front of the driveshaft - where it should go anyway, and it looked great. I took it off to finish painting it.
At ride height in original location
it hit at full droop. That would be CRAZY ugly on an aluminum driveshaft.
I also have to move the crossover exhaust pipe anyway. Here it is in the new location, just aft of the transmission tailshaft. See?
Nice. I painted it up and tomorrow I'll drill holes and mount it to the frame. Thanks for the idea, John.
Now, I measured a bunch of damper related stuff. John is making me some brackets which will enable me to drop the current lower mount by about 4-5". I want to make the dampers more vertical, and I can EASILY do that by flipping the upper mounts side to side, gaining me 3" inboard towards the axle.
I did some calcs. I want you all to check these over. If they are right, then there is no way to get a damper on this truck, ever, not even with stock geometry. The range of motion required by the suspension is too great. It cannot be right. I presume the 'extended length' means 'the damper will break if you stretch it farther than this'.
The shortest damper I can find on summit with a decent range is this
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/djm-1800/overview/year/1972/make/gmc/model/c15-c1500-pickup
And even the range is too small for any of those scenarios other than the stock setup. The stock setup on Summit calls for a damper from something like 12-13.5 at max compression to 18.5ish at max extension. I cannot believe that this is the only way to set these things up. I am guessing that you don't size the damper for full compression, since the travel length is a good bit shorter, it may just not control the truck well in that range? If that's the case, I need to discover how much extra room I have on the compression stroke so that I can select something now.
Any ideas?
Since I figured it out on the breakout suspension thread, I figured that I would post the result here:
I see a big problem. The third set of data when I added "dropping the truck 2"" I removed 2" from the compression side. Since I am not moving the mount or the bump stop for this step, it is wrong, and the compressed length is calculated wrong for the last two scenarios. it should be 12.7 and 11.2, and now I can find dampers to fit!
Easy night, but it took a long time.
First off, to update the calculations. Here it is, I actually reduced the damper range required because I am giving up 2" of compression travel by lowering the truck. It's reasonable now, and I can proceed knowing that dampers exist for this application.
So I mounted the one bracket, flipped R to L, so that it's a bit more than 3" closer to the axle centerline. And then I lined up the other one. The bracket itself will be roughly 6" closer to the axle centerline. Since this side was originally in front of the axle and is now behind, the mounting location for the damper is away from the axle since I switched them R to L. Here are some pictures to illustrate.
This is the drivers side on the passenger side frame rail. See how the mount is closer to the axle?
Now this is the other side sitting there. See how it is now, after being relocated behind the axle, farther away by the offset?
Actually. I just thought of something. I am not sure which damper traditionally is forward and which is backwards. I ought to try and replicate the normal GM stuff. Let's look.
OK, it looks I did it properly. Drivers side damper behind the axle.
I know it doesn't matter functionally, but it ought to look stock-ish.
So then I turned my attention to the new bracket and marked the frame rail in preparation for the right angle drill/unibit solution (shipping)
And then addressed the old crossmember. I had to remove the exhaust to mount it (and the old exhaust was a temporary solution to having two open pipes exiting beneath the seat). here it is. Much will not be re-used.
Drilling these four holes stuck more metal in my arms and fingers then I can remember from any other drilling ever. It must be because I was under the truck. Ick.
It's in. Moving right along....
tuna, if you're planning on scrapping that exhaust, I can put some of it to good use.
volvoclearinghouse wrote: tuna, if you're planning on scrapping that exhaust, I can put some of it to good use.
It's 2 1/4". I don't think I need much of it. Going to be in town anytime soon?
tuna55 wrote:volvoclearinghouse wrote: tuna, if you're planning on scrapping that exhaust, I can put some of it to good use.It's 2 1/4". I don't think I need much of it. Going to be in town anytime soon?
We can arrange a trade. I need a Y pipe in either 2 1/4" or 3" and/or a large portion of 3" exhaust pipe.
I'll be in town this w/e. I think I still might have some exhaust tubing at the ranch. Not sure what size. Pretty sure I don't have any Y pipes, though.
volvoclearinghouse wrote: I'll be in town this w/e. I think I still might have some exhaust tubing at the ranch. Not sure what size. Pretty sure I don't have any Y pipes, though.
Give me a call and swing by to get the 2 1/4" stuff if you'll give an IOU for some 3" stuff. I can make a Y if I have to. What I need is most of a 3" system that I can cut and hack into shape.
I've got your brackets. I will package them up and have Mrs. InKansas drop them in the mail tomorrow.
Just wanted to say that I really like checking in with this thread to watch the progress.
mazdeuce wrote: Just wanted to say that I really like checking in with this thread to watch the progress.
Dude, thanks. That means a lot.
Today was an exciting day. We got home late, because tonight was a church night, but it was exciting because a bunch of parts converged on my house tonight!
See?
I took apart the 90 degree drill adapter and was very pleased with all metal parts (except for the wood handle), and I regreased it and reassembled.
So tomorrow I'll drill the holes for the rear upper damper mount tomorrow and mount it and then begin the inner fender/radiator support final assembly for this side. I have one miniscule spot to fix on the leading edge of the passenger door and one minor hole to fix on the trailing edge of the rear wheel arch, and then I am spinning it around. I know I have been promising that for a while, but I got to handle a lot of rear suspension stuff and crossmember stuff and it was time well spent.
Look for updates tomorrow.
JohnInKansas wrote: I've got your brackets. I will package them up and have Mrs. InKansas drop them in the mail tomorrow.
Thanks Mr. and Mrs. inKansas!
mazdeuce wrote: Just wanted to say that I really like checking in with this thread to watch the progress.
No kidding! Makes me feel like my projects might be possible, and I like seeing the grassroots engineering work and general process to the whole thing.
pres589 wrote:mazdeuce wrote: Just wanted to say that I really like checking in with this thread to watch the progress.No kidding! Makes me feel like my projects might be possible, and I like seeing the grassroots engineering work and general process to the whole thing.
Thanks guys, reading this stuff makes it more bearable to get dressed for the weather and go out there even though I'm crazy down on sleep. It's a big job, and motivation is tough. You're helping me as much as I'm helping you, probably more.
I can't decide if I like the psychedelic paint scheme or if it is hurting my brain! Maybe leave it alone and just shoot some clear?
Paint it!!!
Oh it'll be painted. If I did all this bodywork to be covered in clear, my wife would stab me in the face with a soldering iron.
Arg.
Consignment sale tonight. It means we spend $15.65 on six months of clothes for the whole family, so I am not complaining, but it means I wont be in the garage tonight. The kids are not reliable enough sleepers these days to have me in the garage and my wife gone. She'll be back around 9:45. We'll aim for tomorrow. This week has not seen a night with over 4 hours of sleep anyway, so I'll just rest up a bit.
tuna55 wrote: Oh it'll be painted. If I did all this bodywork to be covered in clear, my wife would stab me in the face with a soldering iron.
I detect some anger management issues. Not a redhead is she?
NOHOME wrote: I detect some anger management issues. Not a redhead is she?
No. Not really.
We have been married for nearly 7 years now. She has been pregnant 5 times. She stays home with two kids during the mornings and adds the older two when she picks them up at lunchtime. Things are a bit... hectic...
tuna55 wrote:NOHOME wrote: I detect some anger management issues. Not a redhead is she?No. Not really. We have been married for nearly 7 years now. She has been pregnant 5 times. She stays home with two kids during the mornings and adds the older two when she picks them up at lunchtime. Things are a bit... hectic...
Get yourself a snip snip
Sine_Qua_Non wrote:tuna55 wrote:Get yourself a snip snipNOHOME wrote: I detect some anger management issues. Not a redhead is she?No. Not really. We have been married for nearly 7 years now. She has been pregnant 5 times. She stays home with two kids during the mornings and adds the older two when she picks them up at lunchtime. Things are a bit... hectic...
Done.
A short night. First off the exciting part!
No, not the beer. Although it is from a very tasty local brewery and my wife bought it for me. Notice the sweet glass made out of half a wine bottle by Mrs. VolvoClearingHouse The brackets. Mr. InKansas strikes again with some nicely made brackets built to a terrible MSPaint drawing I did. They fit perfectly. Thanks again. Thanks for getting them to me so quickly.
Just sitting in place on the drivers side
Just sitting in place on the passenger side
Then I mounted the relocated pass side damper bracket on to the drivers side, behind the axle. It's going to be cool. I did have to drill one hole twice, but that's OK.
Notice how the "now" alignment of the bracket hole and the upper damper mount are nearly vertical!? Nice, eh? Now when I drop the truck the resulting inclination won't be too bad.
I proceeded to cut the old ones off. Then this happened.
I have never seen a cut off wheel fail like that. OK, I got the big one. Then this happened.
So I decided to call it a night even though I wanted to grind the tube flat (round?) and tack the new ones in place. I'll tackle that tomorrow.
Thanks for the unibit idea, they, and the old style right angle drive, worked great. No issues at all. Great idea!
I ran out of hardware, and I need some gloves and a cutoff wheel. Seemed like a good time to stop. I went inside and heard screaming, so it was a great time to stop.
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