42 ford truck axle ..frame width

[Dynamicdan]

Ok so i am going to be building a frame..i will be using 42axle with the four bolt pad...i will be doing a suicide front end...so my question is...where do i get my frame width..am i correct in thinking it should not be any wider then the pads??? Otherwise the radius arms or split bones wouldnt work right???

 

[Dynamicdan]

Im guessing i answered my own question by the overwhelming response i have received from question

 

[Dirtyrat]

Well, obviously you want the arms to come back either straight, or slightly angled inward toward the frame. But it also depends on your frame height, I have seen some of the mounts come off the bottom of the frame too, so I guess without seeing some of what your plans are, its tough to really answer you fully.

 

[77flh]

Spring width

May want to decide on a spring width to use, maybe one from Speedway that is a standardized item.

Then you can engineer mounts for the pads and where/how the radius rods and spring shackles will need to be attached to the mount (inside, centered or outside of pad for instance).

You can make the frame, crossmember and spring mount accordingly.

It is often difficult to picture the whole mess at the same time, but I am sure most of us have had to cut stuff back apart because we were focused on just one part and not the whole assembly.

I have always found that digging in the build section and seeing some of the amazing stuff guys on here have done gets me thinking of different options for my problem(s)...

 

[kenny c]

Don't forget that the wider you make the radius rod mounting points, both on the axle and the frame the more it will limit how far you can turn the front tires left to right.