azratrods '64

azratrod · Post by **azratrod** » January 30, 2009, 5:56 pm

the bed floor being opened up for suspension travel

the front with a 3" lowered axle and 15" wheels

how the rear sits with flipped spring packs

scrub line, oil pan clearance, and 3" dropped axle clearance

more to come!

BackyardRest · Post by **BackyardRest** » January 30, 2009, 9:20 pm

AZ rat, Cool and keep the pics coming.

turk54 · Post by **turk54** » February 5, 2009, 9:52 am

How much is involved with lowering the front? What still needs to be done in the rear, with the frame, for travel? I have my eye on a rat rod project that I would like to lower about 3" as well, i'm just not sure what all is involved.

azratrod · Post by **azratrod** » February 5, 2009, 10:24 am

its all very simple and straight forward. the front axle came from nostalgia sids. but indistrial chassis lowers axles too. put the truck up in the air, remove the front end components, put the lowered front axle where the stock one was, reinstall everything back where it was originally, add the small spacer that is for the tie rod, it comes with the kit, and thats pretty much it in a simplified way. the rear is simple too. remove the rear axle, unbolt the rear hanger, mount a new spring pad on the under side of the axle housing, slip the axle into the springs so that when you reattach the hanger the axle is on top of the spring pack and not under them, rebolt the hanger, reattach the spring pack to the axle, adjust pinion angle, and maybe shorten the drive shaft. thats it i think. its very easy and straight forward. you can see it all in front of you. meaning there are no hidden steps or fancy tools involved. sorry for the quicky directions

turk54 · Post by **turk54** » February 5, 2009, 11:21 am

Your bed floor is open for suspension travel, is this necessary?

I should probably do a search on How to. Sorry i don't want to hyjack the thread.

ezernut9mm · Post by **ezernut9mm** » February 5, 2009, 8:43 pm

this truck is gonna look bada$$ when it is done. he!!, it looks bada$$ now. lol

azratrod · Post by **azratrod** » February 6, 2009, 5:40 am

i did get a little carried away with the floor. it was rusted beyond saving. the truck was used as a city vehicle before i got it. the bed was a dump bed. it had 2 hydrolic pumps and a pivot type hinge at the rear. so over the years alot of things slid across the bed floor. im putting a fuel tank in the rear in front of the bumper. so i cut a section of floor out for that. the front area of the bed closest to the cab was really rusted and the worst area so i cut it out to match the rest of the floor. the center section of the floor between the wheel tubs was cut out for a C notch and suspension travel. i ended up not using such a tall C notch. instead i used some 5" dia. pipe, cut it in half and used it. the axle housing travels perfectly up and down, and in and out of the 5" C notch. it actually is a C notch in shape versus the U shaped notch i was going to use. so yeah there is alot of floor removed. but i left the bed floor crossmembers and it all look symetrical. i actually cut out some total truck weight. it should help the 292 get going a little faster then before

azratrod · Post by **azratrod** » February 10, 2009, 2:59 am

this is my 64 just hours before the southwest get-together. i traded for some used whitewalls earlier in the week. so i pulled the maroon wheels and my buddies whitewalls off and there was fluid all over the inside of the rear passenger wheel. i took the hub off and there was fluid and parts every where. hoping i would have some brakeing power i mounted the black wheels/whitewalls and tried to drive the old girl. nothing! no brakes! i just didnt have enough time to source the parts and get the brakes back together before the get-together. here are some pictures for everyone to look at. this is how the car sits as of 2.9.09

Alan Mclennan · Post by **Alan Mclennan** » February 10, 2009, 5:25 am

That's a pity azratrod!, the only bigger pity is, I wont be there either!,

azratrod · Post by **azratrod** » February 16, 2009, 4:57 pm

here are my new plates for the truck. these are new (nos), never mounted, never restored, original arizona plates from 1964. the story goes like this: a old timer bought a truck in 64. he went to the dmv to get it registered. he got the plates and went home. he didnt mount the plates for a few days. during those few days he crashed the truck. the truck was sold to a farmer friend and taken off the road and only used on the farm. the plates were never used and taken out of the dmv system. the guy i bought them from is the president of the arizona license plate collectors society. he bought them from the original guy years ago. ive contacted the dmv and there still legal to use. im going to run one of them on the rear and the other is going on the garage wall for safe keeping.

in2hotrods · Post by **in2hotrods** » February 25, 2009, 10:47 pm

That is awesome!

don morris II · Post by **don morris II** » February 25, 2009, 11:02 pm

several years ago the state was selling stuff from a werhoues they had licence plates back into the 30s up to 70s 1000s of them all nos someone bougth the lot and was selling them at swopmeets all over the state it was neet to see all those plates looked brand new

azratrod · Post by **azratrod** » April 16, 2009, 7:49 pm

here are some new pictures as off 4.15.09. shes finially on the road after 226 days worth of hard work. in the past 2 weeks ive put down about 400 miles with out a problem.

*pictures coming tonight

Alan Mclennan · Post by **Alan Mclennan** » April 16, 2009, 8:56 pm

azratrod, I was just snooping around and noticed you have the best job here hands down!! dos cerveza muchas gracias

BackyardRest · Post by **BackyardRest** » April 17, 2009, 10:48 am

remember when AZ used solid copper plates?

My slick came with a solid copper plate and did not really pay much attention to it until recently when I took the plate off bumper and wondered why it was sooooo heavy. It was oxidized so bad did not notice it was copper. I will polish it, repaint the letters and put it back on...

azratrod · Post by **azratrod** » April 18, 2009, 4:43 pm

Post by **Greg D** » April 18, 2009, 5:32 pm

I like I like I like!!!!!
What are the seats out of? They fit very well, are they as comfortable in the truck as they look?

Gritsngumbo · Post by **Gritsngumbo** » April 18, 2009, 6:04 pm

I like those seats too! Tell us more, tell us more.

azratrod · Post by **azratrod** » April 18, 2009, 8:50 pm

i was told by the previous owner that they came out of his 67 ford truck. the brackets were fabbed up by me. im thinking of making some sets to sell. this was the first set i made and the drivers seat sits a bit too far to the left of center. also the inside brackets have no holes drilled into them because there are no holes in the floor. i didnt want to tear the floor up any more then it already is (rust). the outer brackets bolt into the outer bench seat holes perfectly. the seats fit perfectly but they do touch the back window rubber slightly.

Bill W · Post by **Bill W** » May 2, 2009, 4:57 pm

Boy.... those brackets look "JUST" like the ones Slickcollector form this very site sells. and i am sure if we asked he would say that they are his product. I know because i bought them from him also.

looks like the only fab work is the story.

I mean "NO HARM" to anyone on this site.
i have not been here in a while and now you know why.

sorry man, there is no reason to be mad at anyone buy your self.

see ya on the other site.

azratrods '64

azratrods '64

how to lower like my 64

bed floor cut out

64 just before the get-together

64 license plate

pictures of the 64 as of 4.18.09

seats and brackets