Percussive maintenance <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />. I've used that technique on fenders before but never gas tanks lol

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The dead blow won't do much against steel. Funny, though!

[/quote] <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Why would you put the shackle on the front? What I meant was turn the spring around, since the rear half looked longer than the front half (you should measure it) then again the eye holes could be different sizes... [/quote]

Sorry, didn't get that from your original post. Good point. That MAY alleviate some of the clerance issues on the gas tank. I'll look at it.

My shackle comment, and what I originally thought you meant, was based on a lot of people running shackles forward on front solid axles. There's a whole school of thought/debate going on out there about which side of business the shackles are on. I simply want to keep them in the rear. Thanks again for the input.

[/quote]Can you lift the whole tank enough considering you have a body lift? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> [/quote]

That remains to be seen. While it IS an option, the reason people are hacking their perfectly good frames and re-welding them higher is because of the difficulty involved in just raising the tank, right. Of course, yours was different as it was rust related (if I remember correctly), but the others are following suit. I really want to tow with this thing, so don't want to modify the frame. Good thought, thanks!

[/quote]Percussive maintenance <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />. I've used that technique on fenders before but never gas tanks lol [/quote]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I'll want MORE fuel capacity instead of less with that V8... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thanks to all for the interest/comments.

The spring appears to be longer in the back then the front. If you switch it around you would have better departure angleblah blah blah, BUT you would have to redo the spring mounts to have the same wheelbase...

I got your point the second time around. Investigation in progress. I'm slow, but will post back when we get around to figuring it out. Thanks.

depending on what tank you have you can raise it about 5" without cutting the frame, that's what i did. If you have the 2 door V6 tank forget i said anything.

In the photo, the axle appears to too far rearward now, so turning the spring around would make that worse. It looks to me like you need to move the forward spring mount further forward, get shorter springs...... or install coils with trailing arms.

Frank

Thanks for the info. I've got the 4 cylinder Gen I tank.

If the tank is bolted under the frame on the rear you need at least 3" bodylift to flip it ontop of the frame. What I'd do is cut the frame in front of the rear bodymounts, remove the lift blocks, bolt the frame to the body like it came from the factory and weld the frame back together and reinforce it. Make some new mounts on the front to level it out and that way you get rid of 2 lift blocks and gain some height for the tank/space for the D60 and a better departure angle.

My $0.02 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Jon, if you're welder is a competent fellow with a mind about metal working, then you'll be more than fine doing a frame/tank lift combo. As a matter of fact, after this past weekend, I'm buying my class III back from Sparky so I'll be able to tow a trailer with a Sami rock-rig on it.

If you could only see these welds in person. The frame fore and aft will fall apart long before the welds do.

Mentioned above about the spring not having the axle centered; this helps with anti-wrap...the English call it 'axle tramp'...kinda like a ladder bar in function.

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