I had mentioned that I was going to mover the axle c/l forward...well, 6 drill bits later, even after trying to step the hole size up I can say with confidence that drilling springs is not my idea of a good time. So I wised up, took the springs to work and introduced them to the mill. 10 minutes later (!!!) I had the holes relocated...just to clarify, I took the spring pack apart and used only the main, #3, and #4 leaf. I only drilled the main and located the subsequent leafs on the new hole so the support would be balanced on the axle. We'll see how everything settles in, I may trim the #2 leaf and reinstall depending on finished height.

Totally worth the effort. Here is the wheel placement before:

Here it is after moving it forward 2 1/2":
 

Plenty of clearance from lock to lock:




Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial

Here's where the more serious stuff comes along...the beginning of the steering box/column relocation

Here's the piece of the firewall I removed. Way more than was necessary, but I wanted plenty of room to work with, and a larger piece will be easier to modify & reinstall down the road.


Here's a ROUGH idea of how the box will be repositioned.




Changing the position of the box/column will "tilt" the column and wheel down somewhat, which is the explanation for the next step. There's a fair amount of interior room to be gained by sectioning the factory column drop a bit. This all has to be modified before the box is laid out and mounted, as the box mounts have no adjustment.




Marked out for removing 1 1/2" from the drop.


I use paint to mark things for cutting. In this case, you can see the bright silver paint, and how much shorter the drop is. This will move the column up closer to the dash a surprising amount.


Close up of sectioned drop. Note that I pie-cut the back to accommodate the new angle of the column.


Welded back together





That's more like it...something small that no one would ever notice but me, but it will make climbing into the roll-caged interior just that much less difficult.


Installed on the dash once again. Here you can see what this was worth. 1 1/2" removed from the drop, and remounted higher on the slotted mounts. Now the column is hugging the dash as it should, and the angle the column passes through matches the drop very closely.

I laid out the holes for the new steering box mounting plate, using a carpenters square to locate the c/l on the frame, then transferred the measurements onto the 3/16" plate (which will be trimmed down and gusseted before final welding)


Checked the holes for alignment on the original frame holes. We're all good.


Here's the raw 3/16" mount plate, setting in place...(side/front view):




Rough shape marked for the cut out.


3/16" plate formed using the marked cut-out for a guide.


Plate marked to the actual shape of the boxing cap.


Here's how the 2 pieces will fit together around the box. They will be welded together, and the cap will have some material removed for clearance at the shaft/worm gear area.


Mount plate tacked in place


Boxing cap with material removed, following approximate contour of the box (side & top view).




Top & side view of new mount assembly tacked in place with the cuts smoothed out and blended in a bit.




Just in case everyone thinks this has been uneventful and exactly as planned, please see exhibit "A" below.

The cause of this issue was moving the box up, essentially "hinging" at the column mount on the dash. It changed the alignment of the pitman arm just enough to make the turning circles (left/right) asymmetrical. Perhaps not important for a competition vehicle that needs to go straight, but I wouldn't feel good knowing that I sent something out like that. I've known about this for awhile but am finally addressing the fix. The output shaft of the steering box isn't splined all the way around as I had first thought. Had it been fully splined, I would have been able to index the pitman arm as needed. A one-position mount for the pitman arm required sectioning the drag link. Not a big deal, just a process. Before anyone asks, There are no concerns with strength from doing this. Were this receiving a rotational force rather than a simple push/pull, I would have sleeved the connection for added strength as I've done successfully with steering shafts in the past. I use a 220V Lincoln PowerMig 200, and would not attempt welding this thick stock with a 110V MIG welder. That's just me. Enough chatter, on to the work.

The output shaft of the box. Note partially splined shaft:


So I cleaned up the (solid) drag link, and created an index mark down the longitudinal axis so they would be joined in exactly the same plane:


I mocked up the two ends after removing the required amount, and clamped them to a pices of angle iron to hold them perfectly in-plane. I should note that before doing any of this, I put the steering wheel in a straight position, and measured the front wheel locations to assure that everything was as straight & true as possible):


While still clamped together, I removed the assembly, double checked that the index marks were aligned and burned them together.


Somehow, I forgot to take any pictures of the pre-ground welds on the drag link. You'll just have to trust me. After the first grind, I filled a couple small low spots, and sanded smooth followed by a wire wheel. Here it is in place once again, as if nothing ever happened




Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial

I'm going a bit out of chronological order here, in the name of continuity...I mentioned earlier that I was going to notch the frame for axle clearance. Well, here we go!

Knowing that I needed more access, and also knowing that I didn't want to separate a stuck Y-block while the truck was on jack stands, I just yanked the whole thing out.


I recorded the installed angle, so I can make sure the mount for the new T-5 will place everything correctly. This will allow much easier access to the firewall and frame for final welding, etc.


Placement marked for notches, and 6" long notch sections cut out:



Typical notch fitment. I prefer to use a fillet weld on things like this, so I left approximately 1/2" of the notch exposed. A bit more on the inside of the frame to allow for bump-stop installation.


Both notches all welded in...

A lot of you may be waiting for me to address the firewall issue. That is, I "butchered" the firewall to move the column & box up/forward.

Well, here you go. This is where we left off, and here is the piece that was removed:



And here's the exhaust section (from Kragen) that I used for the round top piece that will make the reveal over the column tube.


Old section relieved and clamped in place for fitment:


Here you can see the section of exhaust laid in for test fit.


Tacked in place:



And welded in...


Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial

As I said, a bit out of chronological order, but here's what I did out back...

First to go was the utilitarian bumper. Good riddance. (A fellow Unibody owner came down from Sacramento and scored a nice freebie with this...I hate throwing stuff away, and it was in really nice shape)


You can see how far the rear end needs to come down


In addition to a huge stack of leaf springs, there were these coil spring helpers. Actually a cool set-up if you needed something like that (I think Tim might try these for hauling his Alaskan camper). There's also quite a bit of room to modify the rear shackles for a few inches of drop as well.


I managed to salvage all 4 u-bolts, and drop the rear end down after removing the original shocks. I forgot to take a play by play on removing the leaf springs, but I removed all of the "flat" overload springs, as well as the bottom two arched leaf springs.


I set everything back down to check the height and I'm pretty pleased. Actually starting to look like something I'd refer to as a "stance". I'm looking for a couple more inches drop in back, as the front will drop an additional inch with everything bolted back on. There's currently about 4 1/2" clearance above the axle to the bottom of the frame, so it looks like the notch may not be necessary in back.




I added approximately 2 1/2" to the length of the shackles to get the last of the drop I'm looking for.

To be clear, I didn't flip the rear end. Before lengthening the shackles we have about 4" +/- from c/l to c/l of holes:


Cut line:


Extended shackle tacked together (left) next to original. Extended with 3/16" stock. Will be fully welded and ground, and back side will be boxed, & welded.


6 1/2" from c/l to c/l of holes, thus lowering the rear the last 2 1/2" I was looking for.


Both shackles extended, and tacked:


Boxing plates tacked on the back of the shackles:


...and fully welded front/back. I generally like to grind welds for cosmetic reasons, but there's really no reason on items like this that will never be seen:




Here's the extended shackle reinstalled. If it looks tight on top with the bed floor, and to the rear with the bed x-member, it's really not. There's about 3/4-1" on top, and more to the x-member. with only 2-3" of travel, the shackle will only move back about 1/2". It moves forward when the spring droop (when the truck is jacked up):




And here is where we sit now. About 6 1/2" lower in front, and 5 1/2" in back. Have some room to go up on either end with the addition of leafs, but I think this looks pretty good. A drastic improvement. And a little tech tip: the open lifter valley on a Y-block is the perfect size to securely hold a jug of Fast Orange hand cleaner


Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial

The week before Christmas, Tim & Kathy came up to Casa de BIGREDTODD...

Kathy kept my wife Corinne company while Tim & I played out in the garage. We just had to mock up the racing wheels/tires to see how it was going to sit & look before we stripped the axles out for a rebuild. Pretty bitchin' in my humble opinion...

 

Tim seemed pretty OK with it, too!



The afternoon ended with the truck up on stands, as Tim took the axles back to rebuild. This should give you an idea of just how good the parts look now, that Tim pictured earlier:

He did deliver a fresh & clean T-5 / truck bell housing so I could get started on the tranny mounts, and finish the frame work:


Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial

Todd, I just noticed that the steering box fill plug appears partially blocked by the mounting assembly. It looks like you might want to cut a notch over the plug for more direct access.


Lawrenceville, GA

Maybe its me but I'm not seeing Todd's photos?  I can see Tim's however?  Any help?

   

1956 F100 Big Window 309ci Y-block,  1956 F100 small window 272ci Y-block

Greg.  Mountains of North Eastern CA

Anyone else having that problem?

Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial

Todd,

I can't see your photos on the Slick 60's site either???

   

1956 F100 Big Window 309ci Y-block,  1956 F100 small window 272ci Y-block

Greg.  Mountains of North Eastern CA

They do take a while to load...you might want to check your computer settings, since the pictures are all linked to a photobucket account

Todd in Central California...about half way between Fresno and Sacramento

1956 Thunderbird - 1960 F-100 - 1961 Starliner - 1961 Imperial