Homebuilt Crossmember

[rlee3]

Anyone have any plans or good description of how you built your front crossmember? I am mainly looking for measurements here. i have a 94 YJ Dana 30 that I am swapping into a 96 sonoma, going to use the stock yj springs, or possibly lift springs. I am thinking 2x2x1/4" for the crossmember, but does anyone have a length of how long one should be? I found a kit for 200...but it looks simple to make if I knew how long the crossmember needed to be, I have a set of frame bushings from my yj that I had in my house before my garage and yj burned to the ground, so I was planning on using those in the rear for the shackle to frame mount.

[chevyrz28]

for mine i used a piece of 4x4 square tubing 1/4 inch thick. Its 4 foot long. I used the 4x4 tubing cause it levels out the springs a little better but it will raise the front higher depending on how high u wanna go.

[wrekd]

Sky manufacturing makes a nice crossmember for around $100 I think (well thats what I paid for mine). For the money you really cant beat it. Just my opinion.

[Tim99Zr2]

i made mine out of

36"x2"x2"x.25" and 2"x2"x.25" angle iron, and some 1/8" flat plate.

31" CTC on spring perches

[SFAZR2]

Quote: Originally Posted by wrekd

Sky manufacturing makes a nice crossmember for around $100 I think (well thats what I paid for mine). For the money you really cant beat it. Just my opinion.

I 2nd Sky. I've been buying all mine from them lately.

http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/new...uct.php?id=197


Dw

[BillaksBlazer]

mine is from sky also. It would cost me more in material to build my own.

[ol red]

bob do some searching through here theres alot of great ideas

[Baggey22]

I made mine out of 4x4x1/4" angle steel.

[Commander184]

i had all intentions on making my own crossmember till i saw they sky man. think about it, they are a company that is using a machine to weld this up and its 200 buck with shackles bushing and hardware very good set up they sell

[rlee3]

That kit looks like its pretty nice and a lot less work, but I have access to everything at work for making my projects, and I get a really good deal on steel. I work at a pipefitting shop, Im not a certified welder yet, but I have been told my welds are better than some that are so its not that I don't trust my welds, I am sure they will be strong. As far as that kit, how far does that crossmember hang down? I was planning on building mine out of 2x2x1/4, it seems like it would be much less profile, I might just go with the route of buying that kit, but I don't know, I have a whole set of bushings that I need that I bought for my jeep b4 it burned to the ground, and my buddy that runs a cnc machine or something...i don't know what it is called is building me a set of boomerang shackles, I have the springs already...so anyone that has that kit...how do you like it? how is the front built? thickness...do you ever get hung up on anything...how much am I expecting from lift If I do spring over...with that kit do I have to cut and reweld the mounts...if not what about the pinion angle? is it decent where I wont get a gadrilllion vibrations?

[tfpets]

[shiftit]

oooooh pretty welds. Wish I could do that. My welds look like someone was welding next to me and the slag accidentally landed on my project.

[DieselS10]

Quote: Originally Posted by shiftit

oooooh pretty welds. Wish I could do that. My welds look like someone was welding next to me and the slag accidentally landed on my project.

They are pretty welds.

[monkeywrench]

what i did

[solenoid]

It all really depends on what spring shackle configuration an SUA or SOA you do.I personally used toyota rear main springs with waggy pack ,shackles in the back with the main spring center pin re drilled . 4 inches foward on front axle centerline with safari box and CJ-5 pitman arm.It's sua and it works great. I'll try to post pics. Every SAS is different ,you can take your time and measure twice cut once and you can have your own unique setup Good luck.

[rlee3]

I have my front crossmember all fabbed up..it pretty much is the exact same thing as the sky one. It is 36" end to end, and I have it set up for 31" spring centers...so what about the rear, I made some real nice leaf spring shackle hangers, with bushings and everything but then came to realize that the frame isn't 31 inches...so what do you guys do about shackle hanger for the front axle? i am assuming it is going to go on the inside of the frame rail, but how do you mount it good so it doesn't break?

[tfpets]

4"x1/4" plate and 3x3x3/8 angle

[rlee3]

after looking through some of the posts I think that is how I am going to do it. There are a few other rigs like that, and I can still use my shackle hanger that I built, it uses a daystar poly frame/shackle bushing for a yj wrangler, I still have some unopened in the package so that should work good, just curious what springs are you running? i am going to do soa and I have 4 stock yj packs....does anyone run one of those?

[tfpets]

those are stock dakota leaves...they sit at a perfect height and they didnt have to be modified at all...and they flex really well...I beleive they are 56"...I prefer the longer springs...yj's are just to short for my liking...If I am going to go the trouble of doing the swap I would prefer to have the extra length and flex...

[rlee3]

with the longer leaves like that do you have to extend the front crossmember out more to keep the center of the pack centered in the wheel well or can you redrill the center pin? also, what do they measure the width? I have all my stuff made up for 2.5" leaf springs...do they measure the same? what size tires are you running? I have some 33x12.5 baja claws on 16" black steelies that I am going to be running on the dana 30, and I just picked up a ford 8.8 for the rear, both are geared in 4.10s.

[BillaksBlazer]

most of the springs that everybody uses have an offset pin from the factory. i went with a 48 inch spring. The rancho 44044. it also has and offset pin that moves the axle foward so you can fit larger tires.

[tfpets]

If you look around at different springs there are VERY few springs with the pin in the center...most of them are set forward of center...the dakota springs are set fairly far forward of center...I dont recall the exact measurment but if you look in the pics you will notice that the front crossmember is set at the exact front of the frame...this put the axle about 2" forward from stock centerline of the IFS with those springs...off the top of my head I can only think of one leaf spring that has a centered pin, the 52" rear springs from a 73-87 chevy 4x4...Im sure there are more but thats all I can think of at the moment!

[BillaksBlazer]

jeep yj springs are centered also.

[solenoid]

You also need to pay attention to pinion angle and caster ,unless you've already planned on cutting and rotating your inner C's.

[DieselS10]

Quote: Originally Posted by solenoid

You also need to pay attention to pinion angle and caster ,unless you've already planned on cutting and rotating your inner C's.

Especially caster if your gonna drive it on the road.

[rlee3]

I figured I would have to cut off the spring perches and weld on new ones to get the correct pinion angle, especially with the shackle in the back...who runs it in the front like the yj's? When I had mine a lot of buddies were doing the shackle reversal on theres, but I guess it would be a lot easier on the caster and pinion angle if I put the shackles in the front. Is it really going to matter that much if my caster is off...its mainly going to be a trail truck...the only road speeds it is going to see is 40 or under going from my house down the road to the trails.

[BillaksBlazer]

my castor was at 7* using the sky crossmember with rancho 44044 springs and the supplied shackles with the mount on the bottom of the frame.

[DieselS10]

Quote: Originally Posted by rlee3

Is it really going to matter that much if my caster is off...its mainly going to be a trail truck...the only road speeds it is going to see is 40 or under going from my house down the road to the trails.

If you aren't going to drive it on the road it isn't that big of a deal. It will just wander back and forth badly at speeds above 20mph or so and the steering won't return to center after turning.

[rlee3]

BillaksBlazer...how does yours drive? the sas kit I am building is pretty much the exact same thing as the sky kit as far as the measurements....with the 44044 springs how much do they run as far as price? I was planning on picking up some dakota springs from a salvage yard near me, but maybe I will get these if they aren't too bad...

alright a totally different question, I am building all my brackets so they wrap around the frame for a lot of weld area, and I also want to be able to put a few 1/2" grade 8 bolts all the way through the frame to really make sure nothing is coming off...what is the best way of doing this for a box frame? just drill through and put it on or do I have to make some sort of insert so I don't crush or rip the frame?

[BillaksBlazer]

the springs are about 140 a piece but. Mine drives great. Today i drove about an hour to my trails at 70 mph. Dakota springs are nice but they are long. if your going to run anything less than a 36 i would look into other springs that are 48" or under. The longer springs just stick out the back of the tire so much. Wrked is the one who pointed that out to me. he said he sometimes gets hung up on them.

[DieselS10]

Quote: Originally Posted by rlee3

alright a totally different question, I am building all my brackets so they wrap around the frame for a lot of weld area, and I also want to be able to put a few 1/2" grade 8 bolts all the way through the frame to really make sure nothing is coming off...what is the best way of doing this for a box frame? just drill through and put it on or do I have to make some sort of insert so I don't crush or rip the frame?

You would need to drill or cut holes large enough to insert and weld tubing through the frame that the bolts will go through, but I personally think that would be overkill. Welding a crossmember to the bottom of the frame and adding gussets would be plenty.

[rlee3]

I have 4 yj packs...what else could I get from a salvage yard...140 is kind of high for me...I'm trying to keep this on the cheap if possible, is there anything else that would work better than the yjs pack?

[rlee3]

I have decided to run the shackles in the front just like my yj, plus I think it looks a little better in my opinion. The only reason I am doing this is because I figure that If I have the shackle in the rear, I will have to rotate the perches on the axle so far that it will really throw off my caster, so by moving the shackles to the front it will help keep the spring more even, and hopefully I fall into a range of caster that is bearable at speeds over 20....this is just thinking, someone correct me if I am wrong, but it makes sense to me...I will probably just build my own shackles too, nothing ridiculous.....and for the crossmember I originally had planned out 4x4x1/4 square tube....will that be too much of a drop now if it is going to have the 4" drop plus the shackles...or do you think I will be alright?

[wrekd]

That will be way to much drop. Id use some 2x2

[rlee3]

that is what I was thinking that it was going to hang down way too far, except I was thinking 2x4, so it only dropped 2 inches but I had 4 inches of contact with the frame for more strength from the welds and more strength for the shackle mounts....but am I correct that my new idea is going to make it better as far as getting the caster closer to where it is suppose to be by making the spring more leveled out so I don't have to rotate the axle quite as far to get the correct pinion angle?

[DieselS10]

For the caster You want the upper part of the steering knuckle to roll back about 7*, not forward.