That's a lot of spring you have there. What was the listing for again? Are you going to move the hangers rearward to center the axle up some?
Your RC is going to be HUGE!!! 
Jim

Sounds like the same rear springs as the ones I put in the rear of my 440 RC. It just looked like a lot of arch in them.
Jim

Rear done, despite the looks, the whole truck is on it's own weight.  The jack stands aren't touching it.

I got my parts in and was able to put everything together.  Except for a couple of support brackets I need to put on for the lowered hangars.  I had to lower and forward the shackle hangar the same amount as the front hangar.  I have a pretty good pinion angle from eyeballing it.  I think the stock drive-shaft may even work with a conversion joint.  I haven't looking in to that at all, so that's uneducated speculation.  I might end up putting in a zero-rate to move the axle backwards some, right now it's about 2" forward.  

Now, I have to get back to the front and redo those hangars.  I need to make the front spring hangars 6" forward and I'm going to drop the brackets another 1".  I haven't decided if I'm going to keep the springs with the long sides towards the back.  With the hangars 6" forward and the springs long-side forward, the axle would almost be centered.  I'm wanting the axle to stay at least 2" forward though.  So, my two options have been to long-side rear the springs with a zero-rate 1" back (axle 3" forward) or to long-side front the springs with the zero-rate 1.5" forward (axle 1.5" forward).  I'm leaning towards the 3" forward option.

Thoughts at this point?  As it sits right now, the front end is just a hair lower than the rear.  After I get the front end redone and a zero-rate installed, it should either level or just a little higher.  I want it to sit 1-2" higher in the front, that's my goal in the end.  It should leave me around 14" lift in the front and 12" in the rear (13" if I zero-rate it too).

It's still settling some more, I think the angle is going to end up close to 45*.  When I installed the shackle hangars, they were straight up from leaf eyes.

I'm going to use some 1/4" angle with gussets.  I'll have pictures of those when I get to the steel supplier.

I haven't yet, still looking around for one within a reasonable distance and not priced insane.

Nice job!!!

Yep, that's what it's supposed to be.  That's just something I did up in Paint.  Now, I have to go out and make it turn out that good on the truck.

I was going to get a couple of extra fenders and start with those.  I'd like to have a good set of fenders to put aside and the ones I have now are almost perfect.  I'll check out the repair panels and see if they have what I'm looking for.  Thanks for the tip.

Here's the bracket after I cleaned up the edges and painted it.


I also got my new steering shaft made.  It's made per the How-To with K-car steering column joints and a Jeep shaft.


I also got the steel picked up for my new front spring brackets.  Once I get the new ones made, I'll sell the old ones.  Steel was surprisingly cheap for what I was quoted.  The difference between the website prices and actual prices at the shop was 33% cheaper.  I spent a ton of time making sure everything for the steering shaft was good to go.

steering shaft looks sweet!

i don't think that hanger set-up looks strong enough!

Cant wait to see this thing on wheels!

I think if you reinforce the square tubing a bit it should be fine.

I've been giving it some thought, but it should be fine for now.

I just got my flat top (un-machined) knuckle in the mail.  I'm sending it out tomorrow to JNutter to be machined.  Then I'll be started on the cross-over steering.

nothing like suprise projects, huh?
i know the feeling.

I'm looking forward to seeing this beast with rollers on it.  Looks good so far.

Some new work I got done the past couple of days...

New ball joints installed as well as everything cleaned up and painted.


The tubing is 1.5" diameter DOM with 1/4" wall and the ends are 3/4" heim joints.  It should fit above the arms just fine once I get the degree shims put in.  There should be a strong 1" of clearance, is that enough?

I'm not putting a ton of money into my 44.  Basically, just enough to get it to work with my setup.  The X-over steering and some new ball joints is it.  Otherwise, I'm working on a 609 hybrid front since I have the 9" parts already.

Ford 9" center section (35 spline) with Dana 60 outers.  I want to build it so I can use off the shelf 60 axles.  It won't be any time soon though, probably next year with all of the time away from home I have coming up.

I can all of the fabrication work myself.  I figure that I'll have about $2000 total in it and it'll be VERY built.  Around here, I can't get a stock Dana 60 for less than $800-$1000 normally.  If I want one that has 4.56 gears, it's $1200 at the least.  That's with everything stock as well, my 609 built will have all aftermarket parts.  Plus, I can put the 609 together piece by piece instead of having to front up a bunch of cash for a Dana 60.

i know what you mean on the cost of a dana 60. i ended up buying a whole rc for a 60f. now i have my next project (Sopwith Camel B model)after i have the springs in A3 figured out .

I got some progress done today.  All I really did was manage to get the wheels/tires on Swamp Donkey today.  In the next week or two, I should be ordering the pitman arm, brake lines and rear drive-shaft parts.

Down on all fours again...


Even with brand new springs, has the Dodge lean...


The tires don't stick out nearly as far as I thought they would.  It turned out just how I wanted it.  My 3 year old likes it because she's as big as the tires are...

If I could do it all over again, I'd take out a couple of inches.  Instead, I'm just going to keep what I have and step up to 44's.

For me, it seems like it's going slow.  I have bursts of building on the truck.  I either need to gather some parts or gather the time to do it.

Looks like the roof is even with the roof on the Duece.  Way to make your big truck look little (or your little truck be big).  Looks great!

The driver side is between 1/2" and 1" lower than the passenger side.  I'm going to use an old overload spring, cut down to size, and bolt it in to the driver side spring pack.  I'll probably use a 3/4" thick piece.

The Deuce still has a little height on the RC.  It's kind of an optical illusion with the RC being closer to me than the Deuce in the picture.

Right now, it's on 40" Ground Hawgs.  I'm looking for some 44's in the area though.  The closest I've been able to find right now is up near Youngstown, OH.  I'm not too concerned with bigger tires yet.  I want to get it drive-able again first.

you're going to have some RADICAL driveshaft angles