Other things I would be worried about.

I would be very concerned about developing stress cracks where the extender and the frame meet. The shackle hanger extenders give the spring a lot of side to side leverage on the frame. This will occur as one tire is stuffed up and the other drops down. If you plan on keeping the shackle extenders I would highly recommend connecting the two extenders so that it looks similar to the front drop hanger. This will stop the leverage on the frame and spread the load across the frame.
A better route may be to run S10 for F150 springs in the rear. They flex well and will provide the lift that you are looking for with out shackle hanger extenders. Unfortunately this would involve relocating the spring and shackle hangers.



There is not very much contact to frame where the shackle tube connects. I would be concerned about developing stress cracks because the load is not spread out over a larger area. I would recommend putting the shackle tubes threw the frame. This will be a lot stronger and will improve steering angles.
If for some reason you have to run it down there I would add two gussets on either side of the tube then connect the gussets with a plate to box them in. This would basically extend the frame down and provide support.

Here is a picture with it threw the frame.


I noticed that your front hanger is moved forward.
If running the shackle tube threw the frame would give you a bad shackle angle because the 44044s are to short you could try running a 51" toyota rear. My front hanger is about as far forward as yours, the shackle tube is threw the frame with 51" rears. My shackle angle is about 45deg.

 

if you were worried about the shackle hitting your body mount, it is fine to trim it.

 

First of all I'd like to thank everyone for helping me out with this. It is really helping.

So.. The front shackle hanger I was thinking of welding some braces on that sort of look like this \o/ and I grinded that weld down and it looks like my buddy just kept adding layers on it. lol. I think it may hold. I will take another pic of it and more of the welds on my truck. And I decided to weld the tube uder the frame instead of thru it because I wanted a little more lift. I modeled mine after someone I used to know truck and after his rancho 44044 settled his pinion angle wasn't too bad. So I think I may wait to see how the pinion angle is after my springs fully settle before I decide to go thru the frame.

The rear frame extension I have a tube cut out and I was going to weld that to either piece and gusset it up.

My buddy also threw out the idea of flexing it all over this ramp his buddy has and see what welds break and which hold. I thought it sounded like a good idea. It's probably the least I can do before I take it out wheeling...

Thanks

 

The rear frame extender brace may look like this if you will.. ]\------------------/[
[ or ] = frame extender. --- = tube. / or \ = gusset.

 

Yeah I was kindda worried about that too.. but i've heard that its ok to trim a little and not much is needed to be cut. As far as the shackle hanger maybe gussets that look like this may work? \o/

 

oh and the welds on the creeper gusset kit.. should I redo those because they have bubbles in them?

 

Your welcome, happy to help.

If you are referring to this weld

If you have a die grinder I would fix it. If all you have is a angle grinder with a cut off wheel I wouldn't because I would worry about damaging the round end of the axle where the trunnion bearings go. The main purpose of it is to hold your shock on. It is best to fix it just don't destroy your axle housing.

As long as the shackle extenders can't move side to side it should be ok. Making a cross member to connect the two would strengthen it. You could also run triangle gussets to reinforce front to back so that it could double as a trailer hitch. Basically box it all in.

____________
\ 0 /
should make it a lot stronger. I would make the gusset 6 inches where it contacts the frame and the other side should be how far the tube hangs down. This way it will spread the force over 12 inches of the frame. You will need 4 of these gussets per side.

In my opinion ramping the truck to see if welds that hold your suspension on break is a bad idea. Most failures occur over a period of time as stress cracks develop. It should be over built to the point that the rest of the truck could fold up around it and it would still be intact. If these welds or components fail on the road it will result in complete loss of control and endanger your life and others.

 

Hmm ok thanks for the info. Yeah I think I'm going to fix up all the welds that are still sketchy. lol. So I just have to take the time to do it. I want to paint a bunch of stuff anyway like the knuckles and knuckle arm and u bolts.. etc. I'm gunna black it all out.

And the shackle hanger up front why would I need 4 gussets per side now? I thought this would work \o/ and I'd only have to make two right. I'm going to try to draw it out and get it up in my profile pics. And more truck pics are on the way.

And my main concern is the safety of my truck because I don't want it to break on the road and cause a crash or anything like that.

 

Oh PS: Yeah my buddy is letting me borrow his die grinder but my air compressor sucks even though it is a stand up tank with rollers. I will grind it with the die grinder though it will just take awhile.

 

I am the buddy that did the shackle hangers, and it is hard to get the penetration needed for that weld in the place it is at with a flux core welder not gas.... I did layer it and it did pentrat it does not look pretty but i fully trust it. The welds on that shock to axle mount were done with no gas and no flux so that is why they look like they do.... I did not do those welds. Man it has been a while since i have been on here but I now remember why i came here you guys are so much more helpful than pirate with threads like this.

 

so just curious, but why did you not cut a hole in your frame and weld the tubes in the frame??

 

On each side of the tube I would run 2 gussets and then a plate to cover them so that it looks like part of the frame. This will look better and spread the stress over a larger area of the frame. This would require 8 triangle gussets and 4 plates. Just one gusset on either side of the tube would probably be strong enough, but you can make it stronger and have a nicer look with not much more work.
You may want to cut the tubes off so that you can properly align them so the shackle angle is the same. The tubes should be the same distance from the hanger and the springs should be parallel. You can put a few good tack welds on it that are easy to cut if you need to and then put the weight of the truck on the axle to make sure every thing is where you want it. Then if it is good fully weld it.

 

He wanted more lift.
I am assuming he knows that he can get more arch out of the leaf springs.....
SMOD how much suspension lift are you going for?

 

ha. oh

 

I agree he should have run it thro the frame, he was just copying a truck that all they wanted was to clear 38 inch tires and he has told others that thro the frame was a bad idea cuz you get less lift when less lift is better....

 

I only put 37's on now because it will be my daily driver but I'm going to put bigger tires on after the 37's probably 38's and then way later on probably sum 39.5's or 40' or sumthin so I wanted the higher lift for the bigger tires later on.
So the front is approximately 10-11 inches of lift after the springs settle and the rear is probably around 7-8 inches of lift.

I'm going to get gas for my 230v mig and run hardwire (maybe some flux core because I still have a lot left). I can't do well with flux core alone at all really unless it is flat. So I'll fix all my welds and junk when I get that. It should be by this week I get the gas or maybe next week. lol.
My welder manual says I should use 100% CO2 because of the thickness I'm welding (the frame). But the guy at a welding place in town said I should use 75% Argon and 25% CO2. He told me that's what the fab shops use around here. What do I really need?

I think I'm going to keep the shackle hangers under the frame to clear the huge tires later on.. But I'm going to wait until my springs settle before I gusset them up.

I'm receiving a lot of good info on yotatech and I thank all you guys for helping.

PS: a weld cracked on the frame extension in the rear. I'm going to probably redo every weld on my truck when I get the gas.

 

I would gusset it before you drive it on the street.
In my 220v Miller 175 I run 75argon/25co2. Argon leaves a little nicer looking weld and co2 is cheaper. For your application either will work fine. I normally run at 30lbs for the gas, which is considered on the high side.
I would run co2 but my gauges are made for argon and had a warning label not to run straight co2 threw them.

 

I've been driving it just around town. Everything seems to be holding but I'm still gunna redo the welds.

Ok cool so I'll probably go with 75% Argon and 25% CO2. That reminds me too that I need to look at my gauge and see what it's for if it's like yours and says I shouldn't run str8 co2. lol

 

So I've seen the Trail-Gear and Marlin IFS steering box reinforcements and I had a question...

I think the trail-gear one is better because it has the 1/4" plate but I've never used either so I can't say for sure..

I have the material to make this myself to save a lil $$ but I don't know the demensions. I know I can figure them out. I just want to know before hand so I get a better sense of everything.

Thanks

 

Def. do it yourself.... what measurements do you need??