Howdy moparts!

I’m putting a 512 into a 1989 dakota chassis with a 1954 dodge C-series pickup truck body. I already built a decently strong sure grip rear for two stripe burnouts and smooth street manners but I didn’t decide how to install it yet. My next obstacle is that the truck currently has way too much rake for my taste. The cab is slightly channeled over the frame and I have the front ride height where I want it. The stock dakota 8.25 axle with wimpy stock leaf springs has 9” of travel before it hits the frame. I think I’d like to lose 4-5 inches but I’m a little stuck looking at all the options.

I think if money was no object I would go four link and coilovers. I don’t want to ‘lay frame’ and don’t need to impress people by raising and lowering an air ride. I think the initial expense and continual maintainance of a compressor tank and valve setup is too much for me. Unfortunately $ is definitely a consideration and I have some creative ideas.

The wimpy dakota springs are 54” eye-eye which is the same as a set of xhd 6 leaf A-body springs I already have. My strong, low buck, simple idea is to just mount my new rear on the heavier springs, possibly with slapper bars, and move the front spring hangers up until I achieve the height I’m looking for. The shackle mounts could move too if it looks like that would help keep the front relocation more reasonable or if it looks like it would roll steer.

I don’t have a problem cutting the rivets off the stock hangers, moving them up, and welding them back to the frame. If they stick off the top I can box them in and fabricate reinforcements from 3/16” plate. I’m a little bewildered looking at the ‘drop hangers’ that are for sale online- they look like just a folded tab hanging out in space. This is a part that has to absorb almost all of the force of a launch right?! I’m already nervous about the way the dakota hanger is cantilevered off the outside of the frame- the launch force is trying to rip it loose of the frame instead of getting directed straight forward to the instant center.

I can overbuild this idea pretty easily but in getting it stiff enough to avoid axle wrap with the big block I know I will be making the ride less compliant and more likely to smash and bang over bumps. I won’t totally cheap out on shocks but I’m probably not doing better than ranchos. I could also get a softer ride if I went with the softer dakota leafs and only used the slappers to resist axle wrap/wheel hop but then it might bottom out more with only 4” of travel?

I am also looking at 4-link setups. I have a copy of ‘door slammers’ and the wayne scraba drag race chassis book too but I’m thinking maybe a parallel setup with a panhard bar would be much easier to install than triangulated or angled with no binding for street duty? All I want is no wheel hop and to take out 4-5” of my current 9” of suspension travel. I suspect a lot of the $250 ebay setups are soft cheap steel and bushings etc that would work great on a 200hp mini truck. The two that look good to me are the speedway universal and the competition engineering setups. Especially the CE setup- it looks like I’d have to cut it open and weld it to my axle tube since I already have a brake flange but I really like the idea of it going 360 around the tube instead of just welding to the top or bottom like an axle perch.

The advantage of this setup for me would be that the links would locate the rear, achieving my ride height pretty easily, and seperate the job of maintaining pinion angle and resisting wrap and hop from the job of holding up the chassis. If I did this I could budget for the $350ish 4 link but I wouldn’t have a lot of cash left over for fancy coilovers. I’m sure since I only want decent street manners and am not chasing a 0.9 second sixty foot I could figure out a reasonable coilover option.

If you read this far thank you! I put this in unlawfl because I feel stuck between the drag racing world and the streetrod world on this part of the build. It just seems like most of the easy options for lowering are not going to like big power. I know 600 ft/lbs and 500hp is nothing these days but it is a far cry from a 4 banger mini truck or ford flathead v8!

Got an opinion? An easy solution? Something I didn’t think of? Let me know!

Thanks Moparts!
Rdr