It's been a few issues since we've been able to bring you an installment of our '48 Willys truck buildup. Our only excuse is that, unlike most other magazines that drop a vehicle off at a shop and swing by from time to time to snap photos of the progress, we're building this sucker in the driveway and out of a two-car garage in our spare time just like you would.
Despite a winter's worth of weather setbacks, too many hours behind the keyboard, building other projects, and child-rearing duties, we're gladly able to bring you up to speed on the project. Now that the suspension is done and it's a roller, we've sent the 455 off to the machine shop to be prepped to meet the drivetrain. Next time, we'll introduce you to the drivetrain since the engine is still a ways from completion.
When fabricating your own...
When fabricating your own suspension, you owe it to yourself to check out M.O.R.E.'s product line. We ordered the company's new stubby front spring perches for use with 2.5-inch springs, as well as the company's standard spring perches. We also ordered two pairs of M.O.R.E.'s incredibly beefy boomerang shackles and its chromoly shackle hangers.
We're anticipating big power...
We're anticipating big power and don't want a ton of lift, so we decided on a spring-under suspension for Overkill. To allow the 40-inch Goodyears to clear the cab at full stuff, we moved the axle forward a good 8 inches from stock. We began the suspension build by spacing the shackle hangers apart 32 inches on center to match our spring-perch width and tacked them to the frame using the stock spring hangers to ensure they were square to the chassis.
Since our spring-perch width...
Since our spring-perch width required the shackle hangers to extend half of their width past the frame, we cut gussets out of 1 3/4-inch, 0.120-wall DOM tubing. The trick gussets look way better than boxing the whole hanger to the frame and give more than enough support.
Stock Willys truck frames...
Stock Willys truck frames are incredibly flexible. We like our flex to come from the springs, so we cut 1/8-inch plate to fully box the frame from front to back. We found once the shackles were installed they hit the underside of the framerail, so we severed a piece of rectangular tubing and notched the framerail, as shown, to allow the shackle to clear.
To extend the front framehorns,...
To extend the front framehorns, we hacked and chopped the vintage Ramsey PTO winch bumper that came on the truck. Once elements of the bumper were bolted, welded, boxed, and reinforced to the frame, we installed the Rancho 2.5-inch lift Wagoneer springs (PN 44044) and mounted the M.O.R.E. stubby spring perches to the front of the frame. We added a tube in between the mounts for rigidity and folded the side of the mounts in for reinforcement. The 47-inch long Ranchos have an offset centerpin, with 22.5-inches between the spring mount and the axle centerline and 24.5 inches from the shackle to the axle centerline.
With the front springs hung,...
With the front springs hung, we modified a Dynatrac high clearance U-bolt flip kit (PN DA60-2X5796-B) to work with our high-pinion Currie Rock Jock Dana 60 and hung the axle under the frame. We also removed the engine and were greeted with lots of unwanted frame flex because a previous owner had hacked out the factory front crossmember.