Well my buddy made the big mistake of trading his services (building street bike engines) for the services of some other guy (so called "fabricator". Long story short, my buddy built a motor for a guys bike in exchange for this guy to do a full width conversion with longer chevy leafs. Well he got his truck back and the nicest thing i could say about it is its a death trap. I was scared to strap it to my trialer to drag it to my shop to cut everything back out. Anyway im starting from scratch and was looking for some help on what works and how much these things weigh. Im goin with 63in chevy springs out back mounted under the frame on a full with chevy rear. Up front im looking to move the axle forward a bit and was looking for some input on what springs have worked for you guys. The scout will have a hard top on at times but is running a chevy 350, th 400 and np 205 so the weight is tranfered back quite a bit from stock. From my measurements a jeep wrangler after market spring appears to be close to perfect. I would use a stiffer over the counter spring like a 2.5 in lift pro crap (has a strong main leaf) or something like this with a strong drop hanger and shackel reverse. He wants to use this thing for crawling but be able to suck some high speed stuff as well so i want a fairly flat spring with enough spring rate to make it stable. Looking to keep it low, run h2 wheels and 37s. any ideas would help me out. Ive built toyotas and heeps but never a scout even though i always have loved them. (i had a 73 sb 392 4x pickup before) Flame if u must but im lookin for some experienced help.

got pics?

got pics?

I want to see pics of this death trap suspension, too.

Look back on the last 5 pages, there have been a few spring threads lately, as well as a few in the FAQ.

just to give you a visual it has full width axles under a 33in wide scout frame. he didnt move the perches on the axles so the springs were pulled in hard. stock chevy spring hangers flipped upside down and burned on the frame. Welds look like cold throw up. the rear shackel hanger is a chevy one that the guy flipped over and cut a hole in to stick the shackel through. what he failed to engineer in this process is the shackel is supposed to move...it cant cause the hole he cut is just big enough for the shackel to go through so it hits on both sides and thus is fixed. the worse thing is the hardware he used to hold the thing together. u bolts holding the axle to the spring were too long so he stacked nuts on top of each other to space it out then cross thredded a lug nut on to hold things. in the spring eyes he didnt use bolts. he used an assortment of old u bolts shoved through and then apparently ran out of those and used a hinge pin from a chain link fence on the drivers front spring! its so bad that i was embarrased to tow it behind my truck and as soon as i got home i got the thing on jack stands and cut everything off so no one would think i did it....lol its that bad.

Wow that sounds pretty bad, I wish you had some pics.

I've seen and even been a part of some pretty bad booty fab, but what you're describing makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

and I thought the fella around the corner with lift blocks under the front of his blazer was booty.

Edit... Full width conversion with longer Chevy leafs. How much do these things weigh? Up front I'm looking to move the axle forward a bit and was looking for some input on what springs have worked for you guys.
Running a chevy 350, th 400 and np 205 so the weight is transfered back quite a bit from stock. run h2 wheels and 37s. any ideas would help me out. .

The FAQ has some good pic's of springs people have used, a lot have used the Waggy 44044 as they are an offset spring and help with moving the front axle forward. People have used 63 out back, but since your going under the frame you could also use Chevy truck rear 56" spring as these have an offset too. The 63 under the frame are going to be way more flex then the front will ever see.

As for weight the IH stands for It's Heavy.

Here is a side shot.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=258755&d=1155679104
under side shot
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=256646&d=1154310787
for high speed bumps you might want to run R.S.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=252675&d=1151990266
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=252676&d=1151990290

Not that my stuff is anything to copy, but pictures always seem to help me.

The 63 under the frame are going to be way more flex then the front will ever see.


What he said...I have 63's under the frame in the back, and 57" fords in the front. Although i havent had it out of the shop yet, i used the overhead hoist to lift a front tire....and the 63's flex about twice what the front does.
I dont have any good shots yet of my rear, but the 63"s are almost the exact same width as the frame. I just used 3/8 plate, Cut brackets and plated the frame inside and out, and used stock chevy shackles. so the plates extend like 3" below the frame, with just a hole through them for the spring and shackle bolt. If that makes sence. Wether it will work or hold up on the trail, i'm yet to find out.

I honestly wouldent even consider this booty fab. I would call it booty hacking. Fab sounds way too nice for the way this was put together. Thanks for not flamin and for actualy helpin me out. I am seeing allot of scout guys running the 4044s so ill probably go with those and I already have a set of the 56s for the rear so ill use them. On the full width dana 44 front i cant move the spring perches in because the passanger side one is cast into the housing so im going to have to widen the front hangers by one inch on each side. On the back side of the spring im goin to run through the frame or at least notch into the frame for the top shackle mount but im going to need some sort of an offset shackle to push the springs outward one inch on each side. Any ideas before i go through the time of making my own? Thanks again guys, TTL

get one on these
http://www.shopih.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ION&Product_Code=CPT-RVRS-SHKL-KIT-5&Category_Code=FG

I think im goin to try out some 2.5 in procomp yj springs. They work really well on my dads yj sprung over with a winch and a 350 so they should work on a scout with no winch and a 350 ok.... Plus they have life time warrenty and are dirt cheap! we will see how it works....

i used 78 chevy 6 inch bds front springs and the 95 chevy rear 1 ton pack with the thick bottom spring taken out on my scout. here is some pics. sorry not the best for showing how its mounted but it will give you a good idea. What i did was to extend out the front of the scout for the longer spring and to move the axle forward. I built the shackel reversal into the bumper which is welded to the cross memeber and frame. and made the exstention of the frame into the bumper. The shackel mounts are the same as r290 going through the frame.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/2079000-2079999/2079494_27_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/2079000-2079999/2079494_13_full.jpg

on the rear i moved the spring pearches on the axle to the stock scout width. and built new mounts to weld to the side of the frame. Don't have any pics of them sorry. haveing them directly under the frame will probley give you more flex. but this is how much flex mine has and this pic is not full flex.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/2079000-2079999/2079494_2_full.jpg

I think im goin to try out some 2.5 in procomp yj springs. They work really well on my dads yj sprung over with a winch and a 350 so they should work on a scout with no winch and a 350 ok.... Plus they have life time warranty and are dirt cheap! we will see how it works....

What is the length of the YJ spring?

If you look close you can see how I made the offset on the hanger, as the frame is 3" wide. I used washer first to figure out the setup.

I got the yj spring packs and did some planing. Looks like i will mount the front spring eye center even with the very front of the frame and it will move my axle forward. (un known amount cause nothing was stock on this thing to measure off of so i cant be sure exactly, Im going off of tire placement in the wheel well and steering) I want to keep this thing as low as possable and be able to trim the fenders to run 37s. (high speed desert pre run stability) I will play with the pacs and possably add one or two factory yj leaves to help with the weight if needed. These springs have a ton of arch but the spring rate is low so under a heavy vehicle when they are squished down to near flat they work really well, feel firm at speed and offer a ton of down travel. I will try to get some pics of the build up and see how these things work out.

Also what are you guys doin for steering with a scout box and full width chevy?

Also what are you guys doin for steering with a scout box and full width chevy?

High steer. Change out the pitman arm for a wagoneer arm. Ream it to accept the 1 ton TRE. Done.