Hey guys,

I am installing my V8 Vortec and was wondering what would be better.

1. A flat belly pan

2. Keep the motor as low as I can for a better center of gravity!

The difference would only really be 3-4" but it's still 3-4", let me know what you think!

Thanks, Jay

flat belly

how about both

Idealy, you would have a flat belly and then drop the whole vehicle down 3-4 inches. Its all about sandwhiching the vehicle as much as posible. Just look at competition vehicles, they are as low as posible with the biggest posible tires (that work).

Idealy, you would put the drive train as high as posible then drop the whole vehicle. Just look at competition rigs- its all about sandwhiching then and keeping it as low as posible with the biggest tires posible (that work).

Going to a flat skid was one of the best mods I have done to my Jeep, I highly recommend it.

looks like your from the great north, i would suspect alot of mud eh? id say heck with the low center of gravity and just go flat belly to keep the truck out of the mud, ive got 24" under my zuk on 38's w/95"wb if that give a reference, i find it a good balance of both under body clearence and a decent center of gravity

joe

Ok I will give you guys a little bit of a better idea of my rig!

It is riding on 4" springs SOA with 35's and a 2" body lift!!

I know I know get rid of the body lift, but I want to keep it because it's a lot easier to work on with that added room and I also need the room for wheel travel. I drive this biatch on the street so I can't cut it up to much this is why I have the body lift!

Yes we do have mud over here but I hate it and stick to the high ground and head for the rocks. We usually have to go threw the mud to get to the rocks though, lol!

Thanks for the replys keep'em coming!

Holy excess lift batman. I have SOA with 7 leaf waggys (about 1" over stock) and have enough room for 38+ tires. Flat skid the belly, take out 5" of lift, and trim the fenders.

Holy excess lift batman. I have SOA with 7 leaf waggys (about 1" over stock) and have enough room for 38+ tires. Flat skid the belly, take out 5" of lift, and trim the fenders.


no shit. :eek:

drop down to YJ springs, ditch the BL. flat belly the fawker, and rock and roll. no wonder you are so worried about your COG.. the thing is fuggin HUGE on dinky little 35's

Hey guys,

Thanks for the advice!

Well I really couldn't imagine smaller springs! I need all the room I have now with the dinky 35's. I am going to be cutting up the fenders to make room for the TJ fenders. For this reason I could run with a smaller spring but I was thinking of the future and bigger tires!

Keep it comin, feedback or sarcasm welcome, lol!

Thanks, Jay

How about some pics so we can see why you need 10 ft. of room for 35s==========Kyle

I dont see how you could need that much lift with 35's. Here's my jeep, SOA on NEGATIVE arched stock YJ springs up front, with plenty of room for 35's and even 37's with the tube fenders.

http://onclickpix.com/13638.jpg

Scott

Here's my YJ with no lift, SUA on 35's. Wheelbase lengthened to 97"

there's NO NEED for 10+ inches of lift to run 35's...

:massey:

That is all.

I vote for lower the body and flatten the belly. I fabbed a flat pan on my Cj-7 (work jeep) as it doesnt carry any lift (ya gotta reclock the t-case & probably bend the t-case shifter). It worked so well that I'm gonna do it to the play jeep next.
Enjoy!

:massey: don't have no body lift mang...

I talked to a guy one time that had just had his YJ sprung over, had 4in. springs SOA and a 3in. body lift on stock axles and 35s :barf: Then the guy talked to me for about 5min explaining to me how street locks were better than beadlocks, cause they were street legal and had a reinforced safty bead :shaking:

So, don't be that guy....take the body lift off, or leave it and put it on stock springs.....I had 4in. springs SOA on 42s on the scrambler. And now my Jimmy has only 4in. of lift and I run 39.5s :flipoff2:

Justin

flat bell it i have 4 in springs soa and 2" bd and 35 cant drop the bd lift 'cause of clearance issue's w rad. but i am ditching 4" springs for some stock waggies asap in the mean time it helps that i have full width axles

flat bell it i have 4 in springs soa and 2" bd and 35 cant drop the bd lift 'cause of clearance issue's w rad. but i am ditching 4" springs for some stock waggies asap in the mean time it helps that i have full width axles

What the fawk did you just say?

What the fawk did you just say?

Location: searcy ar

:laughing:

i have 4''springss, spring over and full width, and my jeep is really big, and ive had 44'' boggers under it. and they had room. i dont see how u need that much lift for a 35. if they come that close to your fenders, buy some bumpstops, cause ur leafs are gonna be dead in a hurry.

i run mud with this thing, i need it that high:flipoff2:

its very obvious that you don't believe in the usefullness of bumpstops...

also are you still running stock shock mounts?

that lift setup to clear 35's is just plan and simply ignorant

flatbelly & lower center of gravity best of both worlds.
flatbelly7

NE-RokToy,

Oh ya for sure I still have the shock mounts pointing down at the ground, is that not better then have them up out of the way! :flipoff2:

Anyway I have plans to run with bigger meats in the future and will be needing the lift as is. I am also not a trail queen quite yet and drive my rig hour and half to the trail beat on it and then drive home. This is the wheelin I like to do. So I do need to keep it some what street legal. There pretty sticky over here with tire coverage! So I have some TJ extended flairs that I am going to throw on to cover th full width diffs up a bit.

Anyway I installed the motor today and for to many reasons I couldn't get the flat belly I was looking for. It is close but not quite a flat belly. The D300 clocked flat sits pretty high. Also with using the 4L60-E I have some issues with the driveshaft being 3/16 away from the oil pan.

So know I will have to figure out how much space I need at full stuff for the front driveshaft? I mached it up with a peice of 1.5 DOM today and it only leaves me with 3/16 of space between the pan and shaft. I know there is ways to use a skinny front driveshaft but don't know how much the suspension is going to swing towords the pan!

Trial and error I guess!

Thanks for the, to much lift chit chat but do any of you have any EXPERIENCE with trying to run a skinny in tight spots and how close could you get to your oil pan without making contact with the shaft and oil pan?

Thanks again,

Between this... :flipoff2: :D

Location: CANADA EH!


this... :rolleyes: unless you're planning on 53's

Anyway I have plans to run with bigger meats in the future and will be needing the lift as is.


and this... :shaking:

Thanks for the, to much lift chit chat


you're pretty much screwed on getting the answer you want. No one here is going to agree that you need 11 inches of lift, everyone here think you should run a flat belly skid, and every one here thinks you should have a low COG. You got the answers, they just didn't happen to go along with your mental thought process.... thankfully. As for being street legal, you'll have a much easier time with about 9 less inches of lift, oh yeah you'll have a better off-road vehicle too.


edit: but do any of you have any EXPERIENCE with trying to run a skinny in tight spots and how close could you get to your oil pan without making contact with the shaft and oil pan?
of course with 11 inches of lift your driveshaft will point straight down at the ground anyway and you won't have any problems with driveshaft clearances... :flipoff2:

one thing I've been thinking about.... with 11" lift, stock wheelbase, and a belly up or close to it how the hell do you plan on having a rear driveshaft that can handle day to day driving?

What axles you're running?

BTW you have too much lift :flipoff2:

What axles you're running?

BTW you have too much lift :flipoff2:


WWMD? :massey:

:flipoff2:

JF, what's the point of coming here and looking for answers, only to ignore the answers you got, not to mention the suggestions you were given that would help you out in the long run? :rolleyes:

Hey guys,

I have taken in all the advice you all have given, and I thank you!

I have had this set up for about 5 years now with full size diff's HP D44 and D60 rear. The springs are well worked in so it's not as big as your thinking at all. This is why I have so much travel they have been well used and flex nice. I went as flat as I can with the driveline and will probably try some smaller springs and see if I can get the D300 up into the floor a bit to get a flater belly then I have mocked up now!

I appreciate you help for sure, it just got on my nutz hear the same "to much lift BLA BLA BLA! If the last five people have said the samething why type it out again.

Anyway thanks!! Oh and to the repeaters :flipoff2: :shaking:

Hey guys,

I have taken in all the advice you all have given, and I thank you!

I have had this set up for about 5 years now with full size diff's HP D44 and D60 rear. The springs are well worked in so it's not as big as your thinking at all. This is why I have so much travel they have been well used and flex nice. I went as flat as I can with the driveline and will probably try some smaller springs and see if I can get the D300 up into the floor a bit to get a flater belly then I have mocked up now!

I appreciate you help for sure, it just got on my nutz hear the same "to much lift BLA BLA BLA! If the last five people have said the samething why type it out again.

Anyway thanks!! Oh and to the repeaters :flipoff2: :shaking:

Ok, so here is something different....I'll show you my setup :D

Here you can see that my front springs was completly flat and the tire was completly up in the fender, after I trimed the fenders that same spring would go negative arch and would come within an inch of the factory bumpstop :eek: In the rear with stock length shackles the spring eyes would rest against the frame just before the spring would flaten out. This is with 4in. springs SOA and no body lift with 42s, so yea I think you've got too much lift :flipoff2:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=177408&stc=1
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=177409&stc=1
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=177410&stc=1
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=177411&stc=1
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=177412&stc=1

Justin

HUH!!

:massey:

Well thanks for taking the time to show me that! I am going to see how much sheet metal I can cut off to use those Xenon 6" finder flairs.

I would like to chop a chit load off so I can maybe go with some Ford 150 springs and lengthen the wheel base a bit.

I'm still swapping in the Vortec 4.8 and the little chit $$$$$$$$ is killing me! So I don't know if I can afford anymore mods this off season. Can ya loan me some cash $$$$, lol!

Thanks dude! Oh and :flipoff2:

This My YJ with 60/14 bolt and 1.5" RE SOA springs and TJ flares and a 1"BL. I have a 14" belly that hang down lower then I wanted but it covers alot and it is super beef. I was running 38.5 SX's on a 4"BS modified Hummer rim. the only Problem I saw was with the Shackle Reversle the tire hit the fender. but I got a 39* score on the TIP test with a Full size spare on top of the cage and full of camping gear. this test was done at Sierra Trek '04 and it ramped a 958 on a 30* ramp at the same event
Hope this helps
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/rockchump/Mvc-020s.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/rockchump/Mvc-021s.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/rockchump/Mvc-022s.jpg