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thanks man, im looking for another bed/parts truck now. got a little more done to her, pulled the motor and trans, cleaned everything up and snatched the crossmember out to section.

with all the oil on the motor and frame, ill probably replace the seals while its out, may throw a cam in it also, not gonna spend alot on it hopefully will be doing a 12v swap in the next year or so.



i had looked at several ways to section the crossmember and we decided this way would be the best, i only really needed an inch to allow the frame to lay but with me running the big tires we dececide to section it 2'' to help lay, ive still got to finish plating and welding it up but you can get the idea of how its done.

Interesting, I've never seen a sectioned crossmember before. What affect will that have on your steering clearances and bump steer? I know my inner tie rods are close to hitting my control arms with a 4" Z.

Is that a square body Bravada in the background? What's it's story?

honestly not sure on all that untill I finish it up and get it back in the truck, ill the stering shaft will still be in the way of the upper arm, so im unsure on what im gonna do on that, i may swap out for a rack/pinion steering from the mustangs, like porterbuilt, one reason i cut the front and gonna flat plate it to help get it out of the way of the factory steering or possably a decent mounting point for it the r/p,

if i keep stock steering i may rais up the steering box and idler arm and baby notch the frame for the cross arm, also push them forward the same inch i moved the crossmember, heres a link to a better write up of how i did mine,


hopefully its ok to post the link! lol

crossmember is lookig good nice job....

thanks man, got the crossmember welded up and tossed under the truck, from when I mentioned sectioning it 2'' all I heard was about the steering being in the way and if I only done 1.5'' I would be fine. lol I'm eating the it all up not sure if I would have been ok even with the 1.5'' maybe if I was just raising it and not pushing it an inch forward not sure. So this leaves me with having to figure out what im gonna do with the steering,
A: I can raise the steering box and idler arm up 2'' possably forward an inch also, notch the frame for the steering linkage and tierods.
B: I can make add a new cross brace in the frame and mount a rack and pinion, and notch the frame for that.

Only question would be would a r/p from a mustang hold up to the weight of the dually? mustang r/p is what comes with the porterbuilt right??
here's the pic

didnt get a pic of the side frame sides or fully welded,



crossmember is only an .5 inch forward and still not completly up in place, because of the steering

haven't done much with the dually lately but hopefully getting back on it this week! im hoping to get the lower arms completed, crossmember back in and maybe start on the steering. some updates on the plans.. going to go ahead and do a cummins swap and trans swap. hoping to run an eaton/fuller 9speed if i can get it where it doesnt hang below the frame. I did run across a slick aluminum tool box, picked it up and chopped it up and dropped it off to get welded back up. just need to get it repolished! couple pic for yall!