I am trying to come up with a way to lengthen the wheel base on my short bed 85 any one got any ideas?

 

Lengthen? Why?

Move the Rear axle back some and the front axle forward. This will give you a longer wheelbase, as well as increase your entry and exit angles. But you will also need to extend drivelines and probably brakelines too.
Is your bed Bobbed? It looks pretty short in you avatar.

 

yeah my bed is cut all the way back to the shackles thats why I can't move the rear axle and I dont want to jack up my steering geometry

 

do you know if the rear axle pin is in the center of the spring

 

I think it is, but you can figure it out with a tape measure.

As far as moving the axle back, You can look around for different springs or have some made the the pin located further back. Or have you considered going to a 4 or more link suspension with coils? That's what I would eventually like to do.

What are you trying to gain by lengthening the wheelbase?

 

Departure and tire clearance for the 36's I'm getting as soon as I figure out how to clear them and where I wheel I've almost gone end for end too many times I need to shift my weight further back

 

mine is out 3"s forward, and about 8"s in the rear.. we just moved the rear axle back as far as the dual case added.. make sense? then completed the body work..

 

What did you do about the steering?

Did you keep the springs in the same spot or just move the axle on them?

Do you know if you can just flip the rear springs end for end, and reutilize the factory axle locater pin?

 

Crossover steering

we drilled new holes 2-3"s forward of the factory hole in the main leaf... very easy to do.

i don't see why one couldn't

 

I forgot to mention, some guys run Wagoneer springs on the front. I believe this moves the axle forward 2" or so.

SAMI188 Nice Looking Rig!
Who's skid plate/crossmember are you running?

 

Thanks guys I'm going to try flipping the springs and running a extended cab driveline and I'm going to give the drilling a hole through the front springs to move the front axle what did you use for a pin to locate the axle did you have to do any welding? I'll let you know how it works.

 

Thanks grant.. that would be a BudBuilt crossmember

 

Hey SAMI what di you do for rear shock mounts?

 

here's a pic of my broken shock mount... it's getting reworked this wednesday. Easy design.. just run a yube across from one side to the other. My new one will have a slight bend in it to gain an inch or two upward.

 

How heavy was that tubing that broke?

 

like paper thin garbabge... that's the official technical term for it's thicknes

i replaced it last night, patched up the damage from the break on the frame, found some scrap metal that worked great.. it's really, really beefy.. 3/8"s thick!!

anyways, it's all better.. probably withstand an IED now...







-Jason