1962 Mercury ADHD build

[Snowracer]

I think you're really cutting yourself short with those short shackles.

Personally I'd rather run spring under with compression shackles instead. But at least get some longer ones to utilize the potential of the leafs.

Also, you can do some math to figure out your ideal shackle hanger length.

Measure along the main leaf, subtract shackle length and add ~1/2". This gives you the ideal spring mount to shackle hanger length. The 1/2" is for bushing deflection and can vary a bit.

I've also heard a general rule of thumb to get the right shackle length is to subtract the spring eye to length in a straight line with no wieght, from the measurement along the leaf.

ya ill have to see if i can whip up some longer shackles and move the rear hanger back. or if anyone knows of a longer shackle that i can buy and make work that would be great. been looking and might have to try the 04+ F150 belltech drop shackles as they will be for a 3" wide spring

good info on figuring out the math

 

[Snowracer]

Belltech 6425 shackles showed up. they are meant for 04+ F150s and are 2.5 inches longer then the stock obs shackles. did have to grind the one side of the shackle to clear the hanger for full down travel. moved the rear hanger back 2.5 inches and it looks pretty good to me for not having any weight on it yet

 

[Snowracer]

pulled the trans and tcase out on the weekend and found this gem, looks like the front shaft when party mode at some time in the trucks life and was famer fixed. so back to trying to find another tcase

more farmer hacks, front frame was bent from not having a bumper and just a chain between the two frame rails that bent the crap out of the frame. was able to push it back close, or good enough for a wheeling rig that will have a crossmember and bumper to hold everything together

better, forgot to take a pic of the other side but you get the idea

 

[Snowracer]

lots of rivets pounded out and brackets taken off the frame and some wire wheel action and i now have this

so the plan for the front suspension is shackle reversal and 99-04 4" superduty deaver springs. know i want to try and keep it low so been thinking of ways to do the reversal and not ad another 3-4" of lift on top of the springs.

tempted to notch the bottom of the frame some more and see if can put the front hanger up in the frame a bit so not hanging below the frame like most reversal kits

also thinking about the back as most people and kits use the stock rear hanger and shackles but once again that hangs down quite a bit. what about mounting the shackle bushing on the top of the frame and running a long shackle so the leaf eye is right under the frame ? or put the bushing in the middle of the frame and running offset shackles to line up with the leafs?

 

[ZSK]

Can you do a shackle slider?

 

[Snowracer]

Can you do a shackle slider?

Rather not as know a few people that have run them and dont have anything good to say about them other then helps keep the rig low. so if i can do it with a regular shackle id like to go that way

 

[Snowracer]

trimmed the crossmember last night, will give me a little more room for diff and steering

welded some flat bar on the bottom to add back some strength

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Leave the shackle in the front. It will ride just as good as rear shackle if set up right. You can go through the frame with a 2x250 Dom and just run 2 plate style shackle.

You can kinda see it in this Pic. Those are 99-04 leafs in the stock rear hangers. I did redrill the spring pads to move the axle forward or back.

If I remember tonight, I'll take better pics. The front clip is still off so it's easy to see

 

[Snowracer]

I found your thread on the old site about doing the super duty springs without the reversal. was looking last night and really tempted to say F it and leave the shackle up front and just getting the lift i need from the springs. have to measure the springs and see if i can get away with out redrilling them for the center pin. maybe run the backwards and that would move the diff forward 3ish inches?

 

[Snowracer]

this is actually a 60s cab on an OBS frame and he kept the front shackle set up just little more front hanger drop then i want

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I found your thread on the old site about doing the super duty springs without the reversal. was looking last night and really tempted to say F it and leave the shackle up front and just getting the lift i need from the springs. have to measure the springs and see if i can get away with out redrilling them for the center pin. maybe run the backwards and that would move the diff forward 3ish inches?

I'll measure here is a second.

My thought was to run a good lift spring for more travel, so I'd personally run the shackles through the frame.

Edit: 28.5" eye to pin on the front and 27.5" eye to pin on the back side.

The mil wrap is unfortunately on the short side, which you want on the fixed end. I know some guys get away with flipping and redrilling the 2nd leaf, but spring steel sucks to drill.

 

[Snowracer]

got the fronts mocked up and looks like it should work just fine. looks like center pin is about 3/4 to 1 inch back but that works as measured the cabs and the fire wall on the 60s cab is about 5 inches farther back then the obs cab. worst case i can do a zero rate in the front and move the diff forward if needed

 

[Loki89t]

pulled the trans and tcase out on the weekend and found this gem, looks like the front shaft when party mode at some time in the trucks life and was famer fixed. so back to trying to find another tcase

What T-case do you need? Would the one in my parts truck work? It's a '93 460/ZF5 truck.

 

[Snowracer]

What T-case do you need? Would the one in my parts truck work? It's a '93 460/ZF5 truck.

if its a fixed rear flange i could make it work but looking for another NV271 from the 99-04 trucks. have found one but is from a 6.0 so has the wrong input but i have a parts case i might be able to do some parts swapping to make it work

 

[Snowracer]

got the front shackle mount done

dom in the frame for the bushing, also welded up the frame on the bottom and then braced the dom sleeve

need to get some better shackles cut as just made some temp ones for now

 

[Snowracer]

started to clean the trans up and resealing it

 

[rattle_snake]

Chassis is coming along nicely.

 

[Snowracer]

Chassis is coming along nicely.

thanks man

got the steering mocked up last night. all chevy tie rods and even went with the offset ones for the knuckles for little more diff cover clearance. drag link is at a 3.5deg slope right now so will probably be flat once i get some weight on the springs. will wait will i have the weight on it to build the trac bar so can make sure it matches the drag link

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Nice, prepare for lots of people to tell you how bad your truck will ride now

You worried about that crossover arm actually being to high and hitting the frame at full stuff?

 

[Snowracer]

Nice, prepare for lots of people to tell you how bad your truck will ride now

You worried about that crossover arm actually being to high and hitting the frame at full stuff?

ya will be interesting as pushing on the frame it does not move much, but they are super duty leafs for a 7.3 so might be a little stiff. remember when the springs where in the Welfare we did take a few of the lower leafs out to help

not to worried about it as measured and i have 7" right now before hitting the frame. more worried about hitting the leafs as have had that issue in the past

 

[YotaAtieToo]

ya will be interesting as pushing on the frame it does not move much, but they are super duty leafs for a 7.3 so might be a little stiff. remember when the springs where in the Welfare we did take a few of the lower leafs out to help

I was more talking about the front shackle, the internet is convinced it automatically makes it ride horrible.

not to worried about it as measured and i have 7" right now before hitting the frame. more worried about hitting the leafs as have had that issue in the past

Yes, but that may easily drop to 3-4" with everything assembled. I guess that's just something you have to just see what happens. Not like an arm swap would be hard at all.

 

[Snowracer]

havent had much time this last month to work on this but did get a little bit done

motor and trans are in the frame and bolted up, did a new fly wheel and clutch as the old one was nfg for sure

picked up a set of Nitro 35 spline hubs, look just like Yukons but at 3rd of the price so hope they are not garbage

 

[arse_sidewards]

Is that an OEM tailhousing?

 

[Snowracer]

Is that an OEM tailhousing?

yep, stock from the 89 f250 donor truck

 

[arse_sidewards]

yep, stock from the 89 f250 donor truck

Interesting. I've never seen an aluminum 4spd tail-housing

 

[YotaAtieToo]

So yukon copied dynatrac and cut the price down, now nitro copied yukon and cut the price down more?

Good to know about them though. $165 is killer!

 

[Snowracer]

So yukon copied dynatrac and cut the price down, now nitro copied yukon and cut the price down more?

Good to know about them though. $165 is killer!

figured for the cost it was worth trying them as way better then the G2 hubs and still cheaper then a set of slugs. will report back if they blow up

 

[Snowracer]

finally got a tcase built for this. had to take the 31 spline input out of my parts tcase and put it in a tcase from a newer truck that was 34 spline.

bolted in with a clocking rig so it clears the crossmember and gives me a flat belly. made up some shifter linkage while at it

was able to get enough help and got the cab on, just sitting right there and have to figure out some mounting. right now its sitting to high in the back as its sitting on the tcase cause i clocked it up. thats ok as most of the floor on that side is rusty so will cut it out and build a new floor and make room for the tcase

 

[Snowracer]

drilled some new holes in the cab and used some OBS ford body mounts and got the rear of the cab mounted, front is still sitting on wood. with the cab "mounted" i took some measurements and cut 14" out of the frame to make the short box i have fit

fish plate

nice and short, sitting at about 117 wheel base

 

[Snowracer]

had to trim the rear of the box and its just sitting there for right now but wanted to get it on there and see how it lined up with the cab. its a "wrong" box so the body lines dont match but from what ive found for pictures i have it pretty close to matching the cab

with the box on i was wanting to get a real feel for it so finally got around to mounting my 39s up. picked up some Black Rhino beadlocks like a year ago, really liking the look of them

and damn that looks good

will have to do some fender trimming on the front for sure