Did one side of the blocks tonight. It was pretty easy to be honest. The bolts were kind of a PITA (as per usual) to get off but I only needed PB blaster, rubber mallet and a 19mm box wrench. Also two jack stands on the frame in front of the rear wheels and another pump jack to hold up the axel. A deep 19mm socket would have been nice but I don’t have one. I’ll need to trim the u bolts to cinche them up the last bit but that will have to wait for tomorrow.

 

Yea those U bolts are too big around the axle. Axle tube size is 2.5" iirc

 

Aww shit good call, I didn’t even notice. I’ll need to pickup new ubolts I guess...

 

Thats probably one reason you struggled. Trying to close those to fit into the shock plate isnt fun

 

Anyone know where to get a set of ubolts cheaper then 60 shipped? Seems like 90% of the stuff I’m finding is 3”.

u-bolts direct has .5” x 2.5” with a 8 7/8” length but all told it’s 66 shipped... seems like a lot, maybe it’s not.

 

I paid about that much for mine but the ones i purchased were waaaay beefier than the OEM or the ones that come with the typical block kits. Got em from some 4x4 site years ago

 

Alright sounds good. Went ahead and ordered em. Thanks!

 

@Ivey When you lower the front you will have to remove the sway bar. When the suspension bottoms out the frame is going to destroy the bolt that holds the sway bar. On mine I have 1 - 1.5 in of clearance in the front at high speeds and pot whole and that bolt is gone. Just a suggestion, I know @jetas has his removed completely.

 

Cool sounds like a plan

 

Engine bay with headers installed and I finally got around to removing the EGR valve that was left on after the PO “deleted” it.

 

Snow melted enough today and parts came in all at once. Installed new rear struts along with the blocks and correct ubolts. Drop looks pretty much what I wanted but I’ll need to drop the front and get it out of the garage to really tell.

Recipe for rear:
U-bolts - 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 8 7/8"
$66.41 shipped w/hardware from uboltsdirect.com. The nuts they shipped were really tall so I ended up not using washers. If that worries you get your own hardware.

3” fabricated blocks w/3 degree pinion angle
$67.33 shipped of eBay from Chassis Tech. The blocks are really nice but the ubolts are 3” wide. If I had known I would have tried to buy the blocks without bolts or check if they have 2.5” ubolts.

Rear struts Gabriel G63907
$36.90 for both from Rockauto

I’ve got a pair of KYB KG4611A for the fronts and plan to cut springs and see how much I can get out of the torsion bars.

 

Why is there a degree on the angle of the block?

This looks amazing. Keep going, you do good work.

 

It’s probably negligible but the pinion angle is the angle between the diff and the trans. The blocks raise the diff 3” high so the taper in the blocks compensates for that. Whether it makes a difference or not is up for debate but it can’t hurt.

 

Looks good dude.

 

Nice, I'm gonna have to check out those blocks when I do my suspension.

 

Finished. Ended up cutting 1.5 loops from the springs. Maybe could have gone with 2 for a bit of a rake but I don’t really want to take it apart again.

 

Looks a lot better. I wouldve definitely gone a little lower tho, the rake wouldve been nice, looks like its a little squatted right there

 

Yeah I’ll drive it around a bit more and see if it settles anymore before I make a decision. I don’t think my 76 has torsion bars so I think Cutting the spring is the only way to get it any lower.

 

Yea no torsions on the pre-79 models. Totally different suspension

 

Well it’s totally buggin me so I’m a cut another half loop tonight.