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Family Size Rat crawler build

I finally was fixing some stuff on my rig and I measured off the firewall to the front of my block and I have 22" exactly. And I actually hacked off part of the back of the headlight buckets vs notching them. I'll have to go back thru my thread to see if I have a pic to show you.
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csutton7 said:
I finally was fixing some stuff on my rig and I measured off the firewall to the front of my block and I have 22" exactly. And I actually hacked off part of the back of the headlight buckets vs notching them. I'll have to go back thru my thread to see if I have a pic to show you.
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Wow man, that’s stuffed. I’m not really looking forward to that part of the build. Thanks for the pictures and measurements.
 
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I bought some different wheels and 43” TSLs. I’m not really sure I like them, they are a little too shiny for me. I also charged the struts to 7” up travel, which should be close to my ride height. It puts my frame at 23.5” off the ground, and 30” to the bottom of the rockers. My wheel base is currently at 143” for now. There are a couple things I already want to change.
 
No problem and if you need something else let me know. Yea, it's jam-packed and was quite a puzzle to figure out. Cutting out the wheel wells was a must and on the long-term plan is to put in some removable ones. Again my front is stretched 3" in the hood and fenders.
 
the_white_shadow said:
I like the new wheels. Maybe some rust/copper powdercoat to fit the theme. This is a Prismatic Powder color called Misty Copper that i used on my patina F100. It matched the rust pretty well.
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That looks real good. My son suggested bronze or copper, I think that’s exactly what they need. Maybe even just powder coat the rock ring or inner wheel and break up the bling a little.
 
I really did not want to put a bend in the drag link but I think I had to. With it straight I would have had to notch the frame for full compression on the passenger side, and because I probably set the steering box too high the angle was steeper than I wanted it. The bends should relieve some stress on the heims and I might not have to notch anymore of the frame. All I need now is a 1.75” aluminum link for the tie rod. I also set the hood, grill and fender in place. I will have to cut the hood to raise the fender height to make room for up travel. I plan to make my own fenders but these gave a good visual
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Here's where I'm at with mine to give you a viusal of a cut hood, as I've figured the fenders are low on the list to deal with still concerning re-making and raising them. Some day I will. One reaon they are low on the list is because I too like how they look and just haven't decided a final plan.

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I don’t expect this to be popular but Aluminum links were currently out of my budget and there was a $400 difference between 2.5” .250 square and 2.5” .250 wall round DOM. I used 2” .250 wall DOM for the upper link and made the tube adapters for the square with my remaining tube. I also got enough of the square to make the rear lowers match the front. I usually use 2.25 .375 wall DOM and haven’t had any issues with it but my local supply chain stopped stocking it. 👎. Eventually I will go with Aluminum so hopefully this will get me by until then.
 
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I just got back from a very long vacation so I haven’t spent any time on this… but my 1.75” aluminum tie rod showed up while I was gone so I threw on today. It seems like I am always bending and sometimes breaking the 1 ton stuff so I am excited to have some extra beef on my steering now.
 
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I currently sit at 144” wheelbase. My goal was to keep it under 140”. I have plenty of room to move my rear axle forward but as it sits I could have a 5ft bed and still have a good departure angle and decent aesthetics. Any thoughts? Shorten or leave it? 5ft bed with 12” tailgate I could probably sleep in the bed.
 
Home_brewd said:
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I currently sit at 144” wheelbase. My goal was to keep it under 140”. I have plenty of room to move my rear axle forward but as it sits I could have a 5ft bed and still have a good departure angle and decent aesthetics. Any thoughts? Shorten or leave it? 5ft bed with 12” tailgate I could probably sleep in the bed.
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Looks great! Personally I like the idea of a useable bed length for your family outings.
 
06h3 said:
Might as well take advantage of the bed size you want. I cant imagine 144 to 140 making a huge difference, but rear steer will :smokin:
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This was my exact thoughts but I started to doubt myself. So I went ahead and cut the bed down to 5ft and sat it in place. After seeing it on, I can’t imagine having the bed any shorter than 5ft and the overhang is as much as I could stand so I think I am leaving it as is. Thanks for everyone’s input!
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