Originally Posted by
stx4wheeler
Alright I did some looking tonight and I figured some stuff out.
The rear is a 6 leaf pack with one huge overload. Part of the reason it doesn't flex well out back is #1 is that the shackle is very short and sits perfectly vertical at ride height, #2 on uptravel the shackle hits the hanger where they did the ghetto shackle flip and dropped it through the bottom of the hanger.
When I measured the wheelbase from center of the front hub to the center of the rear hub it was like 98", if I swap to my stock waggie 54" leaves I can get 4" more wheelbase and get a better shackle angle. If I swap to 2.5 wide 56 inch ford springs I can stretch it by 7" which would give me a great departcher(sp) angle. Or I could put in a 2" zero rate on the stock 52" rears, and call it good.
The front will take some thought since my frame has been cut off right in front of the front spring hangers.
Why don't more people run waggie rears with an offset or the 56's with the offset in the front?
Look at Pigpen, I extended my frame about a foot to move my front spring hanger out. It was quite a bit of work but worked well for the few hours I got to wheel in Clayton. Plenty of people use the Chevy 56's and IMO they are easier to find these days because GM used them in all tonnage trucks in the 80s. As far as I've seen 52's were only used in 1/2 tons in the 70's and those are getting harder and harder to find. One issue with running the 56's in the front is that to keep your approach angle reasonable you need to run the short side to the front. With the longside and shackle at the rear your pinion angle gets crazy while drooping. It hasnt been a serious issue for me though.
Push/pul won't be taken off for a while because I don't want to change to much on here till I have had it and wheeled it for 6-8 months before changing lots of stuff.
This is a full ****ing FAIL. You no comprende how much push-pull sucks to try to wheel. The second your driver's tire droops more than 6" you lose all steering control, period. See, even Ed has a used setup, get that from him and save yourself the headache.
What would I need to change the np205 for a 208 or 241 that would give me better gearing? I have the figure 8 adapter? Sorry for all the questions but I don't know much about Chevys or standards.
Dont do this. A) It is impossible without a tranny output shaft swap and new adapter and B) its just dumb. Though the 208 and 241 have better gearing they are not as stong and are just plain inferior for our uses