If not TIG what type of welds?

 

mig is what most people use but theres nothing wrong with stick.... but make sure its 230v for good pentration

 

A few of my thoughts. First - do NOT run schrader valves. That's ghetto unless you are running the bags only for overload bags, or want to get in your truck, then drive it to a gas station every time to lift it back up.

Second. You can weld a bottom plate or cup in, but DO NOT weld the top in. In the top, I would suggest bolting the top plate on, as you will need to mount the bag to the upper plate, and also have the fittings in the top. Hard to access them through a very small bolt hole if you have a leak. You could weld it in, if you cut the top off the stock shock mount to access it. Make sure you have access holes to get to the lower bag bolts through the LCA too.

Mig welding works fine. Anyone with a 220 mig can do it(with the required skills of course). Don't let someone hack it together. A weld can look good, and have crap for penetration.

I wish you were closer. This would be a fun project to do.

Grafting in a late model rear frame and axle is WAAAAY too much work and WAAAAAAY to expensive for what you need to do. Just a ridiculous idea. You would have about $350 in metal(for the 4link and brackets) to make an aftermarket 4link work.

Your truck could cruise around at the height you are now, then drop about 7" when you need to, in theory. If the inflated height of your bags aren't as tall as your coils, then you could use cups to help get the added height. You shouldn't need to modify the control arm mounts as you will have the same setup as now, which I assume you are aligned at, only with bags instead of coils.

 

ridiculous idea... hey FatHead, stop being so damn polite! Tell'em what you really think.
Anyhow, I still like the idea as it would be a clean approach to solving the bag mounting problems and still be a OEM setup to retain the vehicle value.

 

Haha, didn't mean to come off that way. Just looking at it from a fabricators point of view. Its alot of money, and alot of work, that isn't needed. It would, offer a good clean look though. But, if/when done right, you can have an aftermarket setup strong, cleaner, and look better than a factory setup. If you were actually going to cut the rear frame section off a newer truck, it would be very pricey. And, retaining value I don't think would work, when they hear you cut the end of the frame off and put another one on. But, that's not the main topic of discussion.

 

two things, Theres nothing WRONG with shreader valves, as i said if u wanted to lower the ride with bags and did not want up and down it is the perfect set up.

secound, on the ram you DO NOT want to just bolt the upper mount on. They will be on the side of the frame and there is a real good chance that the bolts could sheer off. I have had to fix a few truck that have done that. And also ur frame will NOT have enough meet to just bolt it too. U could pull the bolts right threw the frame. Have seen that done too.

besides that ur right theres no poit grafting a new frame onto yours. 350 wont get u a good quality link setup..... maybe a 1" bar which will not support the power these trucks have.

 

Frankly I like a lively discussion from different points of view. It shows the many methods of solving similar problems. All I am looking for is a 2" drop in the front (spindles) and clean simple drop in the rear that is level with the front. I am not real fond of the flip kits as they use long shackles to be level (4.5") with a 2' frt drop. I'm thinking of modifing the rear eye of the main leaf spring to achieve the drop I want. If that doesn't workout I'll use a mono spring with helper bags. I did this setup before on my old chevy and it was reliable without alignment problems. I admire the folks who fearlessly mod their trucks to the extreme limits. But, I'm too old for that, I now perfer a more sedate approach. Keep the information flowing. Great fun!

 

True. They will work if you strictly want to ride on air. With no easy adjustment. By that, I mean you would have to put air in each individual bag. You wouldn't want to have one valve for the front, one for the back, because in a corner, air would transfer to the inside bag from the outside, creating roll.

He has mentioned this...
"Three, my wife isnt really smiling when she has to lift and pull herself up into the truck and I dont like how she slides off the seat and out of the truck. Eventually what will lead to seat wear."
Which leads me to believe he will want to lower it down to pick up his wife, kits, load the bed, etc, then raise it up to drive around. All this while he has mentioned keeping his lift spindles, which means he wants to ride high.

I went out and took a look at my ram, and there is no lip around the upper spring pocket, like one the 63-87 Chevys. On those, its easy enough to drill 4 or 6 holes, and bolt the upper bag plate in. I still don't see bolts sheering off, especially when there is no(or not much) side load on them. But I don't say its impossible. Could have used cheap bolts, etc. So I would weld these in the top, but make sure there are access holes to get wrenches/sockets in to bolt the bag in, and get to the fittings for the bag.

Suicide doors is a well known company that knows what they are doing right?
http://www.suicidedoors.com/4-link-k...ted-4-link-kit
Under $350, and 1.5" bars.

I don't want to get into an internet tough guy bickering match. I'm just trying to help him figure out the best and safest way to do what he wants. I don't want him to have to go and redo the lines to the bags, because he decides he wants adjustment. Then he would have to shell out more money for valves, lines, controller, etc. He mentioned he had a 3g tank, and 380c compressor, and I would suggest more than that. At least another 3g tank. I don't want him spending $2000 on an airbar kit, when he could build a 4 link with mounts, bags, etc, for about $800. Just trying to help the guy out.

 

your crazy to go to a mono leaf on a daily drive..... u ever see a 30 000$ truck cheap out with a mono leaf and smash into a gaurd rail doing 100kmh. Yah its scary. the leafs get so week and crack. the best way to lower ur rear for a couple bills would be to go to a spring/ suspension shop and get them to make u a set of drop leafs.

 

he is lifted so no bag will go from the upper spring pocket to the lower arm and have a good ride.... the bag would be at almost max lift. but for lowering it u may be right that u could bolt it to the spring pocket.

What i was saying is if its bolted to the side of the frame the bolts would have a good chance to get sheered off under load. Even high grade bolt dont have the best sheer load rating.

And yes sorry that link is heavy duty but i would piece on together with 2x2 square tube lower with bag on bar and then the 1 1/2 round up top. it will be plenty strong.

And yes the last thing we need is internet bs like on alot of sites.