Before you figure out what size socket to put on your impact, it’s important to get the truck sitting where you want it; imagine the car driving down the road and that’s what we call “ride height”. You don’t need to know what engine you’re using. You don’t need to ‘predict’ how much the car will drop or rise as soon as you add fluids, swap in aluminum heads, or change any other variables during the build. If you have the ride height established, you have enough information to begin measuring for a Welder Series Mustang II crossmember installation. You can adjust the spring rate at the end of the build to support the car at the designed ride height.

It’s a great idea to have the wheels and tires you’re going to use so that you can place them in the wheel opening and mark your spindle centerline. Even though the wheel base was determined by the manufacturer, sometimes when a vehicle is lowered substantially, the factory wheelbase just doesn’t look “right”. It could be that moving the tire forward or backward 1/4″ centers the wheel perfectly… someone checking out your car at a cruise night has no idea if your wheelbase is accurate to factory specs, but they’ll sure be able to tell if something looks off between your wheel and fender.

I jotted down (I was going to say “wrote”, but I’ve seen “writing” and mine looks nothing like that) a bunch of dimensions before going at all the fender bolts. I also knew I wanted to tuck the bumper in a bit, so I made that measurement while everything was still together.

It’s nice to be able to stand back across the road to fine tune the ride height and wheel location.

There is still a whack of room underneath the truck for clearance at this ride height.

Paul’s 17″ winter wheels were used as mock ups. They have an OD of 29″.

If you leave one bolt connected but loose, the whole assembly won’t crash down uncontrollably.

Speaking of the whole assembly, I’d love to hear from someone who was able to remove just the fender, without the whole radiator cradle and the opposite fender still attached!

The most difficult bolt to find is accessed through a rubber grommet on the kick panel.

It took the most time to get the whole front end off without disconnecting the radiator, but it’s possible!

The kick panel bolt is attached just above the DODGE emblem.

I had to remove the front bumper anyways, plus it was preventing the fenders from sliding forward.

Solid!

I think this is the worst rust on the truck.

I wasn’t sure where I would put a truck in the shop… now I’m still not sure where I’m going to put all the parts that are coming off!

When I find some room to keep all these parts I’m removing, I’ll start into measuring for the Mustang II crossmember kit.