Wagoneer spring over reverse shackle

[billylight]

so i have been working on this for a while. i have done tons of research and and measuring and asking and stuff and have come up with a design that i feel will work the best for me. i wanted to have a little more lift than what stock springs with a spring over would give and i wanted my springs to have a decent amount of arch at ride height also. that way i could have a descent amount of up travel without going into negative arch. obtaining all of this with the least amount of lift from a spring over was the challenge. i ended up with a set of rancho 44044 springs and im mounting them backwards to the front stock shackle hangers. for the new shackle hanger i wanted it to be up in the frame to minimize lift even with a descent length shackle. I got started this morning with removing my rear spring mounts, modifying my body mounts and cutting to holes in my frame for my new shackle hangers

 

[billylight]

im trying to wrap up most of my build before the last weekend of this month. i am heading to california to play on the rubicon. ive had my waggy for about 2 years half built and decided to finish and take it instead of my 4runner (besides the runner needs a new clutch and i just dont feel like replacing it). i may even drive it out there instead of tow it. things on the list to finish include reverse shackle, full high steer, custom wide track high pinion dana 44, 2" spacers in rear, shocks, gears, front drive shaft, air filter for my tbi kit, and fix over heating issue. the if i have time list: sliders, rear bumper, front bumper.

i'll see if i can keep up on here. it should be pretty cool and go fast with the shortness of time frame i have

 

[jedi]

pics please.

 

[billylight]

finally got my front axle housing back from advanced and took it down to six states in orem to have my gears put in.

i had it built out of late 70s ford F150 hp dana 44. its been re tubed to a passanger side diff with waggy wide track specs and 17 degrees of pinion to caster difference.

in the pics i have my flat top nuckles and raised high steer arms on it. i still need to set my spring perches but am waiting om my shackles so i can compress my springs and set my pinion angle exact

 

[billylight]

today i also installed my new wheel spacers in the rear. they are 2 inches wide to match the 4 inch wider track width in front

 

[billylight]

while i had the wheels off in the rear i figured i get some pics of the work i did a while back to lift the rear

i built some brackets to move the front hanger down to to get the bottom of the spring flush with the frame

shackle flip in the rear with chev lowering shackles. kind of wish i moved them to the top of the frame to lessen the length of the shackle hanging down. i still may move it up but im going to wait to see its stance after i finish the front

repeat picture but to get an idea of the height when the weight gets put on the rear it sets down about 2-3 inches. the rear springs are stock with one full length add-a-leaf in it

 

[billylight]

pics please.

here is a few for you

 

[jedi]

that's a pretty clever idea on a lowering shackle. it looks pretty long though?

 

[billylight]

that's a pretty clever idea on a lowering shackle. it looks pretty long though?

yeah after i get it together i may rethink its lengths and locations

 

[billylight]

tech question? so i mocked up my front axle tonight to set my pinion/caster angle injunction with the spring perches so i can weld them on. i'll get a few pics later. is the machined surface of the flat top knuckle 90 degrees to a straight line through the ball joints? just wondering if i can set my caster angle with my angle finder set on top of the knuckle? it seems really close but hard to tell with the 2 degree slope of the driveway and the inward slope of the knuckle and stuff.

 

[billylight]

front end

its pretty much back together minus figuring out what im going to do with the shocks.

these shackles are 5" eye to eye. the spring interferes with the frame just a bit at full stuff so i have some 5.5" ones im prepping to to install to clear this up

the steering worked perfect! i am using my factory pitman arm drilled out to except chevy one ton rod end. the tie rod and drag link are from summit machine made from DOM and no adapters. i used a shorter steering arms than factory which will help the steering be more responsive. they also helped clear the pitman arm with my axle coming forward about 2"s. notice my custom diff cover. i cut the plug out and turned it over to make it about an 1.5"s higher to get a little more fill for the high pinion and 10 degree tilt for the drive shaft

I have not driven this config yet. i still have to regear my rear axle and wrap up my air filter

 

[billylight]

Cold Air intake

This has been a project! affordable and custom cold air intakes are not easy to come by! ive been putting this together for about a year and finally have all my parts to build it. the adapter for the tbi i got from the wrecking yard off a natural gas converted chev truck the rest of the pieces were custom made or purchased from intake hoses dot com.

Custom Fabricator Bill Pendleton welded this 4" tube to this this plate to help me convert from the tbi adapter to my 4" cold air intake system

with a lot of time i got it adapted and mounted

Mocking up my parts. i hope this tbi really makes my 401 come alive

I have a K&N filter that was spected to me by the manufacture for a rating up to 800cfm. after i get it all in place i plan to make a heat shield/ air box to protect the filter and promote the air used to come through the grill

 

[billylight]

about done fitting the intake. i need to make a support bracket for it and the heat shield/air box it looks nice

 

[billylight]

A few pics on its new stance


The front axle im guessing moved forward about 2.5" i need to do a little trimming but i have exellent clearance on the kick board

 

[bryson]

Looks good!

 

[brokejeep]

What chip are you using with the TBI...Is your motor still the 360 or have you swapped in a chev 350???

 

[billylight]

my motor is a AMC 401. my computer is chipped from Affordable Fuel Injection specific for the AMC engine.

 

[bryson]

What chip are you using with the TBI...Is your motor still the 360 or have you swapped in a chev 350???

It looks to me like an AMC motor...

 

[Panos]

why not just get sme boomerang style front shackles to clear the body mount

 

[billylight]

the body mount i cut and moved back the front part a bit cause i mounted them right through the frame where the mount was. its not the mount i was hitting. it was the spring hitting the slope of the frame. i upgraded from 5 to 5.5" ones and the .5" made all the difference and it clears fine now