I know the reason these trucks come from the factory with a little bit of an added body lift is to help with the clearance of the big bellhousing on the Allison transmission and probably to help a little bit with the under hood clearances as our motors are fairly tall with the turbo being in the valley and all.
My question to you guys, is has anyone ever removed it or done any type of alterations to it? The reason I ask and the reason I am so curious to know is that (Im probably not the only one bothered by this) the frame rails on our trucks hang down far to low below the body for my liking. I am going to be starting a long (and expensive) journey with taking my truck completely apart, stripping it of ALL its wiring and other junk (stereo, HVAC, Airbags, blah blah blah...) and going back in with only what the truck needs to be legally street driven plus a roll cage. I plan on doing all of my own wiring from scratch and really stripping the truck down to just the essentials. My long term goal is to build a very simple (thus relatively light weight) track machine from the ground up and still drive it on the street occasionally. I might also throw it in the local car show after its finished just to give the old musclecar guys here in town a taste of new school diesel.
With all the factory stuff removed from underneath the dash I will have some room to open up the tranny tunnel a little bit and take the body lift out. Im not planning on running the Allison tranny when the truck is done, so I may not have to worry too much about the tranny tunnel as the transmission I plan on running is much smaller. Im also quite curious to see what kind of clearance I will have with a much larger than stock turbo in the valley. I will probably have to run some form of cowl hood to clear the turbo, but thats alright with me. Im also wondering if the steering linkage will be affected by lowering the body down an inch.
So am I just flat out crazy for wanting to do this? Or would it be easier to just go buy a half ton and build my race rig out of that as they dont have the body lift in it from the factory. I could probably find one at a junk yard for cheap and start off with that and as the project moves along, transfer my drivetrain over to the half ton platform with taking obvious provisions to ensure the structural integrity of the chassis.
Discuss!
Edit: After doing some more thinking about the adverse effects of lowering the body an inch... It would definitely make running a downpipe off a rather healthy set of twins a daunting task.
It may also mean that to gain the desired look of a lowered rig (by lowering the suspension) I wont have to lower the suspension as much to have the results in terms of the look and stance that I am after.
My question to you guys, is has anyone ever removed it or done any type of alterations to it? The reason I ask and the reason I am so curious to know is that (Im probably not the only one bothered by this) the frame rails on our trucks hang down far to low below the body for my liking. I am going to be starting a long (and expensive) journey with taking my truck completely apart, stripping it of ALL its wiring and other junk (stereo, HVAC, Airbags, blah blah blah...) and going back in with only what the truck needs to be legally street driven plus a roll cage. I plan on doing all of my own wiring from scratch and really stripping the truck down to just the essentials. My long term goal is to build a very simple (thus relatively light weight) track machine from the ground up and still drive it on the street occasionally. I might also throw it in the local car show after its finished just to give the old musclecar guys here in town a taste of new school diesel.
With all the factory stuff removed from underneath the dash I will have some room to open up the tranny tunnel a little bit and take the body lift out. Im not planning on running the Allison tranny when the truck is done, so I may not have to worry too much about the tranny tunnel as the transmission I plan on running is much smaller. Im also quite curious to see what kind of clearance I will have with a much larger than stock turbo in the valley. I will probably have to run some form of cowl hood to clear the turbo, but thats alright with me. Im also wondering if the steering linkage will be affected by lowering the body down an inch.
So am I just flat out crazy for wanting to do this? Or would it be easier to just go buy a half ton and build my race rig out of that as they dont have the body lift in it from the factory. I could probably find one at a junk yard for cheap and start off with that and as the project moves along, transfer my drivetrain over to the half ton platform with taking obvious provisions to ensure the structural integrity of the chassis.
Discuss!
Edit: After doing some more thinking about the adverse effects of lowering the body an inch... It would definitely make running a downpipe off a rather healthy set of twins a daunting task.
It may also mean that to gain the desired look of a lowered rig (by lowering the suspension) I wont have to lower the suspension as much to have the results in terms of the look and stance that I am after.
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