The main reason I wanted a little more lift than tire was so I didn't have to dissect the body panels to make them fit.

Yeah, you don't want to mess up the body.  If it looked like my truck it wouldn't matter so much, its got rust everywhere.

sweet truck dude very clean!!! and almost as big as mine

http://ramchargercentral.com/index.php/topic,120357.0.html

Things I still have left to do...
-Weld up the tie rod
-Drill out the pitman arm
-Fabricate the drag link
-Drop transfer case 2"
-Rotate rear axle up 10*
-Order drive-shaft from Tom Woods
-Hit some mud!

Yea, I have those springs in the front and rear.  Before anyone catches it, I have new studs to replace the hack-job bolts/spacers on the passenger side spring plate.  I haven't put them or the new u-bolts in up front yet (or in the rear).

Im curious... how do you plan on dropping the transfer case?

When you drop the transfer case it increases the angle for the front shaft.

Cool!
I just wanted you to be aware but your already ahead of me.
Jim

I leveled the rear of the truck, took about 4" of lift out of it.  Now, the front of the truck is about 1" higher than the rear w/ weight on it.  That's without a front bumper as well.  In the next month, I will be ordering my drive shaft and getting it on the road.

I've been working on finishing the front axle as well.  I'm finishing up the steering, the tie rod is done but I need to finish the drag link.

-The list of things to finish before I can do a test drive:
Install rear drive shaft
Finish steering peices
Reinstall fuel tank

-Things that I'll need to finish to make it fully road worthy:
Mount up the shocks
Install front drive shaft
Rear gear rear end (4.10s to match the front)

New pictures will be on the way some time this week.

nice looking ramcharger

i love this truck.  relly like were this is going

Almost took it out for a maiden trip this afternoon.  Already ran in to a couple of issues.
- brakes are SPONGY as hell, need to re-bleed
- wrong u-joint straps (one on there work, but not trustworthy)
- clutch linkage is disconnected somewhere
- this thing is a CHORE to climb in to!
- there's a mud daubers nest behind the driver side headlight (found out the hard way, ouch!)

I'll have a video posted in the next few days when I get the linkage figured out.  The brakes and straps work enough to test it out down the road and back.  I don't have shocks on it right now either, I need to get the mounts for those made up as well.

nice

how 'bout a video showing how you get in that beast? 

sounds like a gold-medal level olympic routine!

If you've ever been to an old city like Charleston, SC they had big square stones in front of everyone's house for people to step onto while getting out of the horse-drawn carriages. Maybe you need to invest in something like that!

What mods are needed to the driveshaft with that much lift. Also what hieght should/do the driveshafts need modified? Thanks. Freeking sweet Rc

Here are the shock mounts, got these done in the past couple of days.

So you must be road legal down there even at that height?

The headlight height range is nice compared to the bumper height laws.  I'm not even sure what the laws are here in MN but I believe its 25" to the bottom of the bumper.  Funny thing is, my RC is level with most of the new Ford trucks when they drive by (top of their box sides are level with my door/bottom of the side windows).

You must have gotten the driveshafts straightened out, no more binding?

Pictures of the recent installations...


This is the alternator from a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan.  I used a pulley from a truck and the bracket is from yet something else.  Both were Gen 3 vehicles, that's about all I know for sure.  The pulley had to have the inside machined down .375" so that it would bolt to the alternator.  Otherwise, it was a direct install along with doing the ammeter bypass and accompanying 4 gauge wire install to handle the new current.  There's about $60 in the swap all together, a friend hooked me up on the machining of the pulley.



This is the sway bar setup that I installed.  I used the torsion bars out of a 1994 Isuzu Rodeo and grabbed the brackets off of both ends as well.  The arms are just 1/4" flat stock that is 1.5" wide and from sway bar center to end link bolt, 18" long.  The end links are from a mid 90's Chrysler LHS and the bushings are Energy Suspension 1" bushings.  I have about $65 in the whole setup, I already had the nuts and bolts.

I think I am going to make the arms about 2" shorter, but shouldn't be a problem how they are now.  The marks you see on the shocks are from installation.  The only problem that I don't have resolved yet is how to keep the bar itself from sliding to either side.

I have an idea to make clamps for the bar, I'll take pictures and write up the details on whatever I get to work. 

Those are actually the doors that were on the truck when I started.  The passenger door isn't so nice looking, it has a huge dent in it.  I welded up the holes from the old mirrors and installed new ones.  It's definitely a 20 footer, when you get up close, all of the little defects are obvious.

I can take some better pictures, I need to get out and do some more work to it anyway.  I'll post them up when I get them.

Here are a couple of pictures of the business ends of my drag link...





Here's a picture of my $40 tube bumper, 4.5" dia by 1/4" wall.  It'll work for now, but I plan on adding some tube to the top to protect the front end and adding some off-road lights.