Lowered trucks tire diameter/clearance help

Messin around with my 62 pickup again,trying to get some more things accomplished. Wound up having to notch the frame since the axle wound up against it when we moved it above the springs to lower the truck. Now with the frame notched and tires installed, I have just 1" of clearance between the top of the tire and the top of the "stock height but widened" wheel well. I kept the factory leaf springs but moved them in under the frame. I could get bigger arched springs to allow for more clearance,air shocks,or bag the whole darn thing. I prefer not to bag it. It's an unnecessary expense as far as Im concerned. My goal was to tub it and drop it low by using all stock factory components which so far I ve stuck with.
So my question is "How much clearance do I need on top"? That's the only clearance problem area I have. I do not want to make the wheel tubs taller for certain. If I get bigger arched springs and obtain 3" clarance up top is that enuf? I hate to rely on a forced minimum ride height soley from air shocks.

man i'm not the pro but 1 inch sounds to close for the shock travel. But i'm guessing you kind of feel the same way, How much did the truck lower with the conversion.

I agree 1" is not enuf which is why I need to know "what is" enuf. I have not gotten to the new shock mounts yet but the stock location won't work when lowering. It will if you just tub and don't lower though. When you lower the truck like I did by installing the axle on top of the springs it lowers it by the thickness of the axle and springs together which is about 6 inches. It really depends on the spring pack you use.

Can you gain any clearance with the shackle length and maybe put a rubber bump stop in there someplace? I'd think 3" static ride height would be okay, it's not like yer gonna go off road right?

Digz wrote:Can you gain any clearance with the shackle length and maybe put a rubber bump stop in there someplace? I'd think 3" static ride height would be okay, it's not like yer gonna go off road right?

The bump stop isnt really an issue as I have plenty of axle clearance against the newly raised frame area. I could possibly use a longer shackle. I'll keep that in mind.
No off roading planned for this one or I wouldnt have lowered it to begin with. Then again my driveway is kinda like off roading but I plan on redoing it soon.

You definitely need a bump stop and relocate your shock mounts. With only 1" from either the wheel well, or the bump stop you can guarantee you are going to "bottom out" on something. I lowered my VW Eurovan by screwing in the torsion bar all the way down to about 1/4" above the bump stop. The ride was rough, especially when the suspension rebounded and came back down. It handled SUPER flat through the turns (especially for a 5600 pound van!)

The point is, if you can give up expecting a nice ride and tolerate scraping speed bumps and driveways, then you can make it drivable at that height.

If you like the height, I recommend stiffening the $h1t out of your suspension by supplementing the springs and getting the firmest shocks possible. Basically, spend the money and get race car stuff.

Roman I mentioned previously I needed to relocate the shock mounts. I know I need a bump stop even though I dont anticipate the rear end ever hitting the frame. The frame was notched so I've got about 8" of clearance there and don't envision that ever being a problem now. The floor above the center pumpkin has been raised also. The only clearance issue is the top of the tires,not the axle housing. My 61 is lowered drastically and I have no ride issues whatsoever,however it was done with a lot of high dollar components and Im trying to avoid that route for obvious rea$on$. Once I get the front axle "flipped" I'll get a better picture of the final height and adjust from there. Right now Im just fooling with the rear end and some other panel welding issues. Im doing some custom body mods too. Once I get some decent progress I'll get some pics.

Tim , I think Roman and I are thinking of the bumpstop limiting the tire UP travel not so much the axle itself. If you have to relocate the shocks , perhaps you can toss on some coilovers to stiffen it up more if needed.

True Digz.

Joe I think we are all talking about the same bump stop although I always figured its function was to stop the axle from beating against the frame but I guess it saves the tires from bottoming out too. My 61 has the coil overs and it rides nice. I cant really compare the 62 to the 61 though since the 61 has a whole new sub frame out back with coil springs and all. It's kinda apples and oranges. I just added a shot of my 61 to facebook. Thats the stance Im hoping to have on the 62 or at least close to it.

Just a thought I had...our wheel wells are kind of flat on top, so what if you removed the flat part and made it round. Could you gain an inch or two of space that way without having to use actual wheel tubs. Your original wheel wells would stay in factory location, just rounded on top. One inch of travel in my opinion is definitely not enough. You will loose that just in taking a corner, when the light turns green. And then there's the whole thing about turning radius on the front. The lower you go the less turning you may have.

a rear sway bar will also help .there is also a shock with a coil spring around it that can be adjusted up or down. that will help aswell.

Thanks everyone for all the feedback. I'll keep it all in mind. As far as cutting off the top of the wheel wells and replacing with rounded section,good idea but one of my criteria in this build was to keep the wheel well at stock height. I didnt want that big rounded look that my 61 has. The top of the well from factory stays right below the factory side panels seam line and thats where I need it to stay. Then again,rethinking it,I will look into that. It may be acceptable. The bigger tubs like my 61 have pretty much dominate the bed area since they go further forward and to the rear than the stock ones go. I'm trying to still maximumize bed space on this build with one exception;Im raising the floor height from the wheel wells back to the height of the factory side panels seam line. The reason being,Im reinstalling the gas tank in it's stock hanger under the newly elevated floor so I can shoot my 4" dual exhaust straight thru it's old location and out thru the license plate opening in the roll pan. Then Im running a split bumper like my old 66 chop top van had. It looks bad ass.

hey tim, what is your page name on facebook...wanna check out the pics....joe/north jersey

Tim Brogan

thanks bro..going to check it out now