Crossmember Assembly And Installation - Putting The Pieces Together

To ensure that the crossmember could be installed accurately, the frame was boxed, leveled side-to-side, and set up at ride height.

Before the truck was disassembled, the spindle location was marked on the top of the framerail. Joe had also set the truck at ride height and positioned the tires so they looked right in the fender opening to make sure this was where he wanted the spindle centerline. A vertical line was drawn on the outside of the frame at the spindle location. Note that this is true vertical, but not necessarily squared off the top of the framerail.

Vertical lines were then drawn on the inside of the boxed framerails 1 7/8-inch ahead of, and behind, the spindle location. This will be where the crossmember goes.

Joe then checked that the framerails were parallel by measuring the inside and outside distance at both the front and rear of the crossmember.

The bottom of the frame, at ride height, happened to be the same height as the spindle. The spindle height point comes notched (arrows) in the crossmember so Joe drew a line for the horizontal cut (where the crossmember will be welded to the bottom of the frame). If the bottom of the frame had been lower than the spindle height, by say, 1/2-inch, the line would have been drawn 1/2-inch lower than the notch.

Joe then figured out the amount the crossmember would need to be notched to fit around the frame by subtracting the outside frame measurement from the crossmember measurement and dividing it by 2. We got 2 3/8 inches, which was then marked on the crossmember uprights. If the frame had some taper (so it was wider at the rear crossmember location), separate calculations would have had to be done.

The towers were positioned by measuring 4 inches forward from the spindle centerline and marking the frame at spindle height (the bottom of the framerail for this install).

The towers for this kit are designed so the inside vertical edges (the part that looks like it might get welded to the frame--but doesn't) are to be 28 inches apart. The difference between the frame width and the 28 inches was 4 1/4 inches, which was then divided by 2. The towers were marked for 2 1/8-inch notches. Once the height of the notch was determined, Joe installed the upper control arm to check that there was clearance between it and the frame (stock control arms require a lot more clearance than tubular arms).

The crossmember was slid onto the frame, making sure it was level front-to-rear and side-to-side, and then tacked in place.

The front of the upper tower was lined up with the mark (4 inches ahead of spindle centerline) that was made on the frame earlier and tack welded.

Plates were provided to box the open side of the upper tower. Joe held them in place and drew a line along the top of the tower.

The tower plate was cut and tacked into place along with a boxing plate (provided) for the crossmember. At this point Joe went around and double-checked all his measurements. Everything looked right, so he finished welding the crossmember.