Lots of good info on here I have read through already and got a pretty solid plan in place I believe. Ive got a 55 buick special 2 door post I have put a sbc and super t10 in to. Now I am in to the rear suspension and diff work. I have a ford 9”, trailing arms from a 70 c10, original coil and track bar mounts and elcamino coils. I saw a nice bracket that jalopykid made that bolted in to the X of the frame. My plan was to copy his design but since I have the c10 crossmember here has anyone used one on this conversion before? I think I would need to narrow the driveshaft opening to bring the arms closer together so that I dont need to modify the X frame. I could slightly pie cut out some of the c10 crossmember above and below the driveshaft opening so that it gives the arms a little more angle so that they run parallel with the X braces which would allow me to run the front arm bolt through the frame as well, would move the arm mounts on diff outward slightly hence bringing the crossmember rearward also moving it back to a little wider part of the X. Sorry this is ling winded but has anyone done something similar?
You will probably find that the truck arms are too long and will converge deeper into the X, negating your plan. In prep on my 40, I had to shorten each arm 3" and also copied the jalopykid design. I shortened the arms by staggering the cut line on each side of the arm 3", and sandwiched copper sheet between the arm sections so the weld would not stick to the other side. That kept the arms being able to twist in suspension travel, something the engineers designed in. I had to remove two rivets to separate the sides but plug welded that point back. Also using a 9" out of an Edsel to keep the 5x5 BC.
Thank you! I know jalopy kid moved the arms in 2” on each side on axle. To get them inside the x. Did you mount in stock location on axle and thats why you needed to shorten?
I have not gotten that far yet, but my plan is to make a bracket to sandwich between the axle pad and the truck arm with holes for the U-bolt. The rear of that bracket will have a fabricated spring cup for the coil spring since it is behind the axle centerline. One of the brackets will also have the Panhard bar mount. I do plan to mount the arms in the stock location relative to the axle, the reason for shortening. I did not want to cut my frame and 4-link or tri-angulated link just would not work.
Hmmm. You could either move the truck arms inboard or outboard for the U-bolt to clear the spring cup or make a u-shaped pad welded on top of the axle to roll the U-bolt in below the spring cup and use lowering blocks. Moving the truck arms inboard to clear the U-bolt and stay independent of the lower spring cup may accomplish both of your goals, but you may still have to shorten them. There may be other ways to shorten them, but that is the way I did it.
With trailing arm axle pads in stock c10 location they clear spring mounts. So im hoping angling them in a little more will get me inside the x and make bars run parallel to x frame allowing me to run front trailing arm bolt through mount and frame. Ill know once i mock it all up in the coming days. But I do have room to move trailing arm axle pads in 2” on each side and still clear spring mount so I have options. Would love to avoid shortening arms as there length is where all the benefit comes from
Lastly, look at the trailing arms by Tin Works Fabrication. I considered those, and they told me they would make them in the length I needed and delete the spring mount. Nice folks. Their design offers more room in the X for the driveshaft and rely on the "twist" with the johnny joint.
Those are nice pieces indeed. Pricey, especially for me to get them to Canada but a good alternative to build if I need shorter arms.
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