I saw the one thread about dropping the front diff buy making a shackle. I tried that on my 92 dd51t and the diff hits the cross member pipe that the diff mounts to. Any other easy ideas. I may have to build shackles to lower the front and both rear mounts. THat also would involve lowering the first cross member behind the diff including the t-case mount that is on there. really want to avoid all of this but with afcos and a 2 inch lift I need to lower my diff 1/4 inch to avoid any possible binding. any help would be great or directing me twards other threads. thanks
Hmmm, Well, it's a simple fix/idea for a very small adjustment. For the "afcos", you really don't need anything, that's why everybody likes the mod (afcos), cu'z it needs nothing extra; no follow-up; cu'z the inherent travel restriction of the factory struts is still "in-play". You get more hight, and what you give up is the suspension travel...the total, the total actuation-restriction of the front suspension is still there, and so, the CV's are safe, as being still limited by the factory travel limit of the struts. With the aftcos, you just ride at the higher limit, with less articulation; "BANGS" are now at the TOP of travel (top-out VS bottom-out), no more bottoming-out, with a higher ride hight...+2"... Some though, go a "little more", with the addition to the afcos mod, with "strut-top-spacers", then...a diff drop, for compensation in consideration. It's the shafts though, the front drive shaft CV's that need the drop, in consideration of the added spacing caused by the strut tower spacers. All of this, in moderation, is a kind of "tweek", just a little, goes a long way. The mod you are referring to though, could be considered as a "stage-one", front diff drop. Shackle, one (front)...yes. It's just a small tweek that will gain the small drop'age to the front drive CV's, a "re-location" of the median position of the inner CV-to-diff location. The concept, What the mod does, it's not really dropping the diff. This is where guys go wrong in the concept and break out the mig welder & plasma cutter, and go all wonk'o... Really, the mod does not drop the front diff, the mod changes the "hanging-angle" of the front diff, and the u-joint set angles of the front diff drive shaft is reversed; thereby, the front CV drive shafts are lowered by a very small measure. A measure, that is just enough to accomodate for an additional spacer to the factory front strut towers. So yea, "dropping" the front diff will get you crossmember interference, "angling" the front diff will actually result in a greater front-drive-shaft to crossmember clearance than factory. Usually guys just follow the steps (easy&OK), it's when they try to figure it out and "GET-MORE" that they get all fubared. Basically, for every additional 2-two inches in lift, there is a different mod to consider; here, we discuss the 2-to-4 inch range...AKA, "strut spacers". I've drawn up many simple sketches, and they help to understand what's going on... Search guys...search, but to round this out, here is just another very simple sketch,
Soooooo when you try to lower that front of the diff, it is all but impossible to pull it down. Take the rear mount hardware out and the rear falls down almost willingly. My guess, this is because you are attempting to "push out" the cv shafts, tires, shock tower etc. So would I be correct to say that I should disassemble the front right and left, then pull the front down and insert shackle, reassemble the front right and left and then proceed to finish up the project? Thanks for the info Spanner, we all appreciate it.
Not a problem, this interests me... What you are referring to is called "stuffage", and is a symptom of an incomplete modification; search it via google "minitrucktalk stuffage spaner", Step 1, afcos, you are now riding 1.5" to 2.0" higher, depending... Step 2, camber, have you corrected for this yet... Then depending, you will have a small margin for a front diff angle modification, but not much, and I don't recommend it anyway, as... with "stuffage", available angle is reduced on the inner CVs directly due to the "stuffage" and the mod in question. The stacking affect of the front suspension "cross-over" inherent of the original front suspension design. AKA, the higher you go, the more stuffage you get, AND the less angle you now have available directly due to the stuffage. The "huntibar" mod reverses this problem; you could search this too, BUT, for what you have, too much one way VS the other will also cause you problems... It's a tissot not a john deere, you can't jump ahead with a partial mod in preparation for the next lift stage... What you have is good and just fine; with no diff drop, All of this has been covered in the past, The proper way to do this is, decide on the inches that you want, and for that number, there is a mod, and a procedure. You want a 12" lift? Go with a solid axle and leaf springs; samurai donor...LOCATION You want the "afco mod", don't touch the front diff, As always, JMHO...
