Very little, but that would work. It would put the rod ends in a bind if its too much though. Ive been going like a crazy man all day looking into this. It appears to be okay, for a cruiser at +4 degrees. If I decide to get bold and start doing some mild racing, I could mill the upper shock mount, where the a-arm bolts through, and put shims in between the bushings and the mount. That would work perfect, but I dont plan on racing it at all. These trucks are hard to get parts for.

 

I wouldn't worry about it overmuch then. Also, I think you would have to REALLY adjust the rod-ends to put 'em in a bind. They have a fair amount of angular travel, do they not? (I mean, all you are going to want is a degree or so, either way...... a half turn of the rod end may be too much. )

 

Did some more today, but not much. Trying to figure out those upper mounts is just a pain. There is no way to really get it the way I want it. I think Im close, but man, this has been the worst part of the build so far. The problem is, you have to get critical measurements, but to get them, you have to cut the supports first. I tried making cardboard templates, and got close. I guess its close enough, Im going to go with it. Anyway, I was also playing around with the rear suspension and set it a little, plus I installed the wheel spacers.

There is a gap, and I hate that. But the critical dimension is right, so I guess Ill go with it

With the spacer in, this is where the wheels will sit. I think its still too high, but Im sure I can lower it.

I have over 5 inches of clearance, with 7 inch wheels. This is actually one of the front shocks.

With the lower bar level, Im going to have to build a support. It sticks down quite a bit.

I will wind up building a cross member here for the upper bars, and another for the shock mounts.

 

Think I would be tempted to put a fill plate on that gap, or overlap the plate a bit, for some extra reinforcement.

 

We will do something. Im not sure what yet. We had talked about boxing in the open section of the cross member also. So, we arent done yet, but that is where it will be for good.

 

I figured I would post this here also...

So, yesterday was a bad day. Those top hats were just really not cooperating. Im posting now to admit I have made a bit of a mistake. Its not catastrophic, but its not an easy fix.

The installation of the IFS states to set the ride height where you want it, in BOLD letters even. I have coil overs on my Charger, so when I read that, even though it states that this will be the ride height of the truck, I thought I would have some adjustability. Well, I dont. These are non-adjustable coil overs. So the height that the suspension is set at, is where it will stay. These shocks do not allow it to be lowered. I was setting it for the maximum height I thought it would ever need to be at, then I assumed I could drop it from there.

The problem is, its not low enough for me. If Im going to all this trouble, lowering a few inches wont cut it. To me, the stance is more important than the color or bodywork. It has to sit right, and its roughly 2-3" too high. Here are the options;
1) If I try to lower it where it sits, it will create problems. With shorter coil overs the suspension travel would be limited, and the suspension would be in a bind. I could get dropped spindles, but Im not sure what these spindles were sourced from, and I also have brakes to worry about, etc...I could try airbags, but it would need the air shock style bags, which are expensive. I do have the A/C compressor I could turn into a compressor, but then I would need lines, valves, a controller, a tank...
2) Move the suspension crossmember. A bit of work, but honestly we could probably do it in a full day. I havent welded the top hats, but if it gets lowered, the passenger side top hat would need to either be replaced, or built back up, where it has been cut to fit now. Not a huge deal, but annoying.

At this point, Im not sure what Im going to do. Im not going to give up, but this is the first big problem I have encountered. I figured I would post this for humilities sake, and in case anyone is watching, thinking about getting one of the IFS kits. I couldnt find a lot of information when I was looking, so maybe this will help someone in the future.

 

Do you have all the weight on the front already? If not, setting the engine/trans in place will lower it some as well......

 

The installation uses "jig sticks" which are bars set to the compressed height of the shocks at ride height. It simulates all the weight.

I think what Im going to do, after talking it over with my wife and showing her the issue, is wait. Im going to set the bed on, and see how it looks. Im sure itll have to go lower. If (when?) it does, Ill look into lowered spindles. It shouldnt cost any more than $200, and the cross member can stay where it is. We will see. Ill post when I figure it out.

 

Could always put larger diameter tires/wheels on the back, to get the rake you want.

 

So we temporarily set the bed on, and the hood to see what we have. It looks okay, but not like I wanted, so we are going to have to lower it another 1-1/2" to 2". This means a slew of problems, but it fixes a few also. The motor mounts will have to come out, but they look like they might interfere with the steering rack. We can fabricate some more later as needed. This will also cause the bellhousing cross member to be too low, so we are going to modify it also. And the rear suspension will have to lower also, causing us to c-notch the frame, and maybe even raise the bed floor by a few inches, but the lower 4-link control arm is about 4 inches below the frame, so we will cut that distance in half when we get ready to fabricate the mount for it, and the bed floor is rotten anyway, so if we cut and raise it, it will get into good metal. We also still have 3 or 4 cross members to fabricate and install in the rear of the frame, some bed supports and shock mounts too.

So tons of work to get done. But on a positive note, a local friend scored me an original light duty bumper, for $100. Its a little twisted, and has some rust and a few extra holes, but its in as good a shape as the front. We will add a tow hitch under the bumper that will be tied to the frame. Should be nice.

Overall side view. Better than original, but not as good as expected. It needs to come down.

Another angle, also showing the horrible body work Ill get to someday.

The bumper. Not a good photo, but the bumper is great. The other mount should be here soon. He forgot it at the yard, so they are shipping it to him. A great score for $100.