How To Install a Ladder-Bar Suspension - Chris Alston's Chassisworks

With clamps holdingeverything in place,the stock housingend is welded backonto the axle tube.Don’t forget to remount the pads for the rubber axle snubbersonto both sides of the housing, directly below the frame rails, tokeep the shocks from bottoming out and beating themselves up.The housing endsare fully welded,and the entireassembly is backin place. Visibleare the notchesthat had to becut into the stockcrossmember toallow full ladderbartravel, andthe lower shockmountgussets.With all necessary brackets attached to the housing, it’s time tocomplete the narrowing procedure; Chassisworks carries the partsneeded for the home builder to do the job. The pinion centerlinegauge, foreground, is machined to work with all types of housings,while the alignment bar, carrier adapters (left), and housing-endadapter provide absolute precision when welding the ends in place.Lacking only the brake backing plates and a bit of paint, theladder-bar installation is virtually complete, with the panhardbarbracket clearly visible. The bearing-mounting areas ofthe stock housing ends have been cut off to allow the use ofthe Strange safety hubs, which are bolted to the housing-endflange from the inboard side and contain their own bearings,eliminating the potentially hazardous C-clip methodof holding the axles in place.The alignment bar slides into the housingand through the carrier-bearing adapters,which are installed in place of the carrierbearings. The housing-end adapter fitssnugly into the bearing area of the stockhousing end (which was cut off a coupleof inches from the backing-plate mountingflange), holding the end perfectly square tothe pinion.L60-15 tires on 15x8-inchrims put a full 22 inchesof rubber on the groundas the Chevelle returnedto earth. Visible on theright side of the photois one of the additionalgussets (formed from thecut-off ends of the frontcrossmember) that runsfrom the crossmemberto the frame.HowTo-001_0204 Email: sales@cachassisworks.com Web: cachassisworks.com5 Chris Alston’s Chassisworks Inc., 8661 Younger Creek Drive, Sacramento, CA 95828