A short message on mocking
This is a short post only because I abandoned the idea halfway through.
After cleaning the frame and cutting of the extra bits, I decided it would be a great idea to loosely install the suspension parts so I could ensure they fit. The rear seemed like a good starting point, as it’s much simpler mechanically than the front. Just leaf springs and an axle.
Which means step one is install bushings in the leaf springs. Easy, done. The bench vice turned out to be a handy tool to push the metal sleeves back into the bushings.
Next is figuring out how the hanger shackles were actually supposed to be oriented. Google for the win here. It really is nice sometimes to be able to do an image search.
I only ran into problems when I went to mount the spring itself. Turns out, if you mount the shackle before the spring, then you can’t insert the bolt in the correct orientation to hook them together. The frame is in the way. It’s an easy fix - attach the spring to the shackle first before mounting to the frame. Still, it’s never fun to be forced to undo work.
That being done, I rolled the axle under the frame to check the u-bolts. No problem… except man, that angle is weird. Why is the axle tilted all wrong?
Oh good Lord, Chris. It really helps if the axle is facing the right direction! Leeet’s turn that around. Okay, that looks better. A hand tighten on the u-bolts to prove that everything fits, and I have an axle mocked up!
For the rear, that’s all I could do. The torque bar bracket needs to be welded to the axle, and the rear sway bar has to wait until there is…weight…on the suspension before it can be mounted properly.
So I turned my eye to the front suspension. After looking at the instructions for all the parts, however, I realized that the time spent mocking it up wouldn’t be worth it. It’s time to be brave, and just go for it!