-=> Quoting Day Brown to Landon Robinson <=-
 DB> @MSGID: 1:2613/415.0 34ba7988
 DB> On 01-08-98 Landon Robinson wrote to Jack Schwendener... 
 LR> to 
 LR> turn the thing into one of those muscle car era street machines with 
 LR> 
 DB> As mentioned, the big tires will be slower off the line. but 
 DB> they will also increase the area of the rubber on the road, 
 DB> so you will find after market ring & pinion gears, or perhaps 
 DB> an antique rear end... with a higher ratio, lower RPM output. 
 
Ah... I wasn't planning on going that big. I big 15" that will still bolt
onto a '68 small pattern axle.
 DB> presumeably you will install long shackles on the back end of 
 DB> the leaf springs to get the height to clear the fenders for a 
 
I would but I've got a coil spring rear end.  I was planning on going with 
a pair of air shocks to raise it up high enough to clear a set of tires and
raise the back end all at the same time.  I do not plan on "tubbing" this
thing.
 DB> But: when you raise the rear end, you change the angle of the 
 DB> drive shaft into the yoke on the pinion. UNLESS: you also go 
 DB> and change the angle of the engine mounts as well, or shim the 
 DB> rear axle mounts, *so as to keep the axis of the crankshaft/ 
 DB> transmission* PARALEL with the axis of the pinion shaft, you 
 DB> get odd harmonics in the u-joints, chew the little buggars up 
 DB> on a regular basis, and possibly scar the surface of the ring 
 DB> gear. That scarring don't actually damage the ring gear over 
 DB> the short term, but the whine that arises out of it will drive 
 DB> you nuts. 
 
I'm aware of maximum acceptable drive train angles and I think what I have
planned will still keep things in line enough not to matter.  Speaking of
U-Joints I should grease mine again sometime soon.  I do have a question
though...  I was thinking about putting a set of ladder bars on with rubber
stoppers/bumpers that would contact the frame only when neccessary (to keep
the thing drivable around corners) but when I crawled under there to make
some plans as to what I needed to do (welding points, measurements, etc) I
found out that the rear end is connected at four points with trailing arms
and should not be able to move at all.  To get to the question, would 
ladder bars even do anything with the read end set up as it is?
 DB> *all* of the heavier truck rear ends will use floating axles, 
The only problem with this is the trailing arms would still be from a weaker
axle setup (although with thicker/beefier arms...) and would still be a
weak point.  My F-250 has a Dana-60 rear end I love that thing. The only
part I don't like is having to pull the bearings out to change break shoes.
Thanks for all the help.
-Landon
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