Help With Either Zing Frame or Notching Crossmember

[classic_crime_inc]

alright so I'm looking to get my long box to lay rocker, it's bagged already..now I dont have the time/space or really weld skills to do get it to lay rocker so I'm going to take it to my friends shop, but I have a few questions...want to get as much info before I drop it off at the shop

-Whats better Zing the frame 4'' or notching the exsiting crossmember 1.5''? and why? I want to be as low as possible and I want it to be safe and drivable this truck will be a daily driver and a tow pig..towing a small 16 foot camper and may possibly haul my '68 caddy deville once in awhile so it needs to be safe/driveable but it also has to be LOW and look good! haha
-What problems or disadvantages or anything will occur with doing either of these and how will I fix or prevent these problems if there is any?
-How long will each take rough estimate? because he charges by the hour..
-Or whats an idea on a cost a shop would charge for this with the trans tunnel and everything...truck has a 305 motor in it, not sure if he'll have to do any modifying or raising to make sure the hood will shut

thanks!

[Captkaos]

Buy a Porterbuild Drop member and rear section.  The front bolts in so you can reverse it and it will put the truck on the ground, the rear bolts/welds in and will do the same.

http://www.porterbuiltstreetrods.com/ tell him Captkaos sent you.

If you still want more info on the above post back.

[classic_crime_inc]

I'd love to if I had that kind of money laying around..doing that would basically be double the cost of what its going to cost to do the Z or notch the stock crossmember..because I'd buy that and then have him install in since I dont have a garage right now..so it'd be nice but just not practical

[Captkaos]

If you want the truck on the frame rails, just Z it then.  Keep in mind towing is going to require some serious thought as you will have to be able to air it up to keep it from ponding the ground on one that low.  Personally I wouldn't recommend it for a LWB truck that you want scraping the ground.  Realistically you only have about 4" of usable lift with bags..

[HAULIN IT]

While your at it...Put the 472 out of the Deville in the truck so you can move that barge!  Chris is correct, of coarse about not doing it, especially if you plan to do any towing. The dragging will be a problem, let alone the extra "wrongness" of the hitch mounting, frame strength, ect.
 Unfortunately, it seems to me you have too many things against you, lack of garage, money, time & skills (your words) needed to do this well. The interest in towing the camper & trailer concern me also. Plan your next step carefully. My Two cents, Lorne

[classic_crime_inc]

lol yeah the 472 is a beast

alright so if I were to go with the dropmember would I be able to tow or is it just the Z that I couldnt tow with? I do have the money for it..but I'm a cheap ass and like to save as much money as possible and like I said I dont have a garage or anything to work on it right now so it'll have to be done by a shop....I dunno how often I'd tow the caddy probably never but saying just in case however the camper will be pulled 4-5 times a year to out of state shows..not sure on how much it weights its a 1967 I'm thinking its somewhere around 2,000 pounds its light and small could weight less..I'll have to check, but wouldnt a check vavle keep it from draggin or anything and keep it aired up?

[Captkaos]

Not if you blow a line and it has happened.

Dropmemeber is a bolt in for the front.
I am saying having a SLAMMED truck and towing is what I wouldn't do.

[classic_crime_inc]

ahh I see what ya mean now..anyway of preventing that from happening? or is it just something that could happen on any bagged car/truck and nothing you can do about it..

I mean I've seen plenty of people do it before..I guess I'll try it out around town and stuff though before I make a long trip with it, farthest I go is usually Kentucky which is around 8.5hrs

[classic_crime_inc]

While your at it...Put the 472 out of the Deville in the truck so you can move that barge!  Chris is correct, of coarse about not doing it, especially if you plan to do any towing. The dragging will be a problem, let alone the extra "wrongness" of the hitch mounting, frame strength, ect.
 Unfortunately, it seems to me you have too many things against you, lack of garage, money, time & skills (your words) needed to do this well. The interest in towing the camper & trailer concern me also. Plan your next step carefully. My Two cents, Lorne

what do you mean by the wrongness of the hitch mounting? with being that low, I wont be able to install the hitch because it will drag is that what your saying? and what do you mean about frame strength..the frame should still be strong I would think

[Captkaos]

You could hardline the whole system, but you have to have flexability somewhere.  It can be done, but handling with a lower truck and a trailer just doesn't go well in my book.  There was a guy around here that had a static drop with 5/7 on his and he thought he was going to tow a small boat with it.  When he got home and after it beat his teeth out and was wandering all over the road he raised the truck back up.

[HAULIN IT]

Classic, My thoughts are this. A truck used for towing needs to be:
A)Larger/Heavier than the item towed, check you local laws.
B) The suspension (what is the weight capacity of you airbags?), TIRES, brakes, ect. need to be capable of carrying the extra weight & deal with the movements of the trailer (dog wagging the tail or the tail wagging the dog).
 My hitch w/stabilizer set-up is approximately 7" from the ball to the bottom of the stabilizers (you are using them when towing a 4900lb car on a trailer with a 4400lb truck right?) so if your suspension can raise, say 6", where will this make your hitch need to be to have the trailer level? In the bed (5th wheel) would have to be the answer.
 Not to be critical of a guys work, but the notching, Zing, ect. better be done well with this extra burdon on it. My Two Cents, Lorne

[classic_crime_inc]

Classic, My thoughts are this. A truck used for towing needs to be:
A)Larger/Heavier than the item towed, check you local laws.
B) The suspension (what is the weight capacity of you airbags?), TIRES, brakes, ect. need to be capable of carrying the extra weight & deal with the movements of the trailer (dog wagging the tail or the tail wagging the dog).
 My hitch w/stabilizer set-up is approximately 7" from the ball to the bottom of the stabilizers (you are using them when towing a 4900lb car on a trailer with a 4400lb truck right?) so if your suspension can raise, say 6", where will this make your hitch need to be to have the trailer level? In the bed (5th wheel) would have to be the answer.
 Not to be critical of a guys work, but the notching, Zing, ect. better be done well with this extra burdon on it. My Two Cents, Lorne

very good points, glad I asked..yeah now that I think about it I'd never haul my Caddy, I havent before and never need to so that wont be a big deal but it'd be nice to haul the small camper it's so much cheaper to camp at the shows that are 3 days long than get a hotel. The bags are Air Lift Dominator 2600 on there site it says load range of 349-3055lbs the trailer weights way less than that..are there bigger bags I should get or should I be fine with them...Air Lifts headquarters are 35 mins from me so thats why I went with the Air Lift bags...also I do think I'll go with the dropmember now, sounds like less problems and worries me with the Z'd frame how it'd hold up and take the stress from hauling a trailer

now with the dropmember, people say I'll need to body drop it still to get it to lay rocker..probably a stock floor body drop...but I'm wondering if anyone has picts of a 73-87 C10 with the dropmember and not body dropped..I want to see if it's low enough for what I like...I found tons of the older C10's but cant find any picts of the 73-87



by the way heres is about the size of my camper..I dont have any picts of mine, but very similar to this one just in nicer shape, but this guy body dropped his Dually & his camper..yep the camper too

[Captkaos]

to lay the rocker, yeah, but do you really want to go through a body drop for like 1.5"?


More pics of both drop member and my chopped crossmember.
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=9557.0


He can custom make one, but he will not make it set anything on the ground... Liability issues..

[classic_crime_inc]

yeah good point, that'll be low enough for me..thanks

so my friend is thinking about doing the Z on his truck..and I told him I've been weighting the options and gettin info on the forums..he wanted me to ask you guys about the Z not centering the wheel..he didnt understand what that means and he wanted picts of this and wanted to know how to fix this with the Z

[78 Chevyrado]

It's silly as heck, but for some reason I kind of like that....