So, Im trying to get the new Dana 60 in my 95 bird. I have UMI weld in relo brackets for the control arms. The directions assume that you only unbolt one control arm at a time, but my problem is the whole rear end is new. So, its not lined up right. I have aftermarket control arms and a spohn adjustable torque arm.. So, here is my thoughts:
I put the stock control arms back on, and I measured from the front rim to the back rim( I put the rear tires on and let the car down to load the suspension) and tried to get it to be the same dimention. I had to pull the drivers side rearward and the pass side forward. Anywho, while I pulled the rear back I tightened the body mount of the stock control arm to take the slack out of it. Then I tightened the axle side of the control arm while still holding the rear back.
For the pass side, I pushed it forward and tightened the body mount of the control arm, and left the back one loose while I set up the relo bracket in there.
By measuring from rim to rim I have it about 1/16 of an inch within both sides... its as good as its gonna get.
I also put my stock torque arm back on to ensure the zero pinion angle... I have this on so that I get the brackets welded on straight.
Is this a good idea?? I want to see how you all have done it before I go and weld mine on.
I have the suspension sitting on the tires, so the rear is loaded as normal. I now am wondering if I can take the control arm down, one side at a time, and line it up with the relo bracket? The instructions say to unload the rear all the way, which seems counter productive to me. Is it bad to weld them on with the suspension actually loaded? I will just tack them on with it loaded, and then pull the tires off and fully weld them.
It just seems to make more sense to do it this way, but am I missing something here?
Like I said, the instructions say to only unbolt one side at a time, but since I am putting a whole new rear in along with the brackets, I dont have that luxury.
Any insight would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!
Thanks
Cody

 

You put the stock LCA's in, and which axle assembly? If it was the Dana, did you have the relo brackets on, or did you put the stock LCA's in the "stock" hole on the Dana?

How much difference was there in the spacing between the front wheel and the rear wheel, on each side? If you had a major misalignment with the stock LCA's, there's something bent on the car or on the axle. The stock LCA's, in the "stock" LCA bracket holes should put the rear axle assembly perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body, and place the wheels correctly in the center of the wheel openings on both sides.

Once you figure out why you have the major misalignment, and you get around to installing the relo brackets, you don't need the suspension loaded. Not sure about the UMI parts, but I watched Steve Spohn put his brackets on my Formula. The brackets should push firmly against the back of the Dana LCA brackets. They should only fit correctly in one position. You don't start moving the brackets around to try and adjust the front-to-rear-wheel spacing, or to adjust pinion angle. Push the bracket firmly over the Dana brackets, tap them with a hammer if necessary to insure they are firmly against them. Put the bolt in to hold it firm, and clamp the relo bracket to the Dana bracket with vise grips. Weld the edges all around. No need to have the suspension under load. In actuallity, you could install the relo brackets on the Dana before you install it in the car.

 

You know Fred, I hope I get to meet you in real life someday. You have saved my butt more then I care to count! Im sure your liking the more off the wall and in depth questions now then the same old same old I used to ask... hehe. Anywho, back to the topic:

I bolted in the stock control arms to make certain the dana was in the correct position from the factory. I bolted in the dana assembly. By using the stock control arms, bolted to the stock location as designed by dana (lol its far from a stock OEM peice) The relo brackets are the weld in variety, and they move around alot. By this I mean that I put the bolt through the stock location with the relo brackets too. So, the relo bracket goes around the welded on dana bracket, and I also have the control arm bolted at this point. I hope this helps the visual.
Now, with all three in this position, the rear is aligned properly for and aft in the hole, and it is actually dead on for up and down in the fender opening. This is not the dilema. When measured, the rear only has 1/16 of an inch difference from side to side measurement, I can live with this.
What I am concerned about is the pinion angle of the dana for one. I bolted the stock torque arm to it to maintain the stock angle here. Is this a good idea or bad? After I get everything fabbed up it will come out for paint, and then go back in using the spohn adjustable torque arm, and I will probably adjust the pinion angle difference to the negative 2 for street use like I had on the stocker... it worked well for me.
Number two, the relo bracket has lots of movement. By this I mean: With the bolt going through the bracket, the dana, and the control arm, untightened, I can move the relo bracket all around. So, it has play to wiggle it up and down, as well as back and forth. I can also rotate it about the axis of the bolt. So, once I have the axle positioned by the control arm, and take the control arm out and replace with their "spacer bolt", and rotate the control arm down to the 2" and 3" drop hole, how do I gurentee the bracket hasn't moved up on the stock location? Get what I am saying now? If I weld the bracket and it has moved some, I would try to use the bottom hole and the rear would not be centered properly as it should.
The design of the bracket doesn't give it a bump stop to push it against and weld, its all abstract and seems like you need to guess where it goes.
In the process of moving the control arm down something might be bumped and be out of whack.
Was your Spohn ones able to be moved around like I am describing, or did were they able to be pushed into place and couldnt move if you wanted them to?
Again, if something isn't clear, just ask and I will try to clarriffy.
Thanks Fred!

 

also, how do I keep the rear from moving forward or back just a hair? I will have a hard time noticing if it did move forward or back until I get it all tacked up and then put the control arm back on and see it moved on me... there must be some kind of science to this whole ordeal... lol

 

You seem to feel you have to fully assemble the rear axle assembly, the LCA relo brackets, and the LCA's before you can weld the LCA brackets. That's not necessary, at least with the ones I've seen. You weld the LCA relo bracket on the Dana in the correct position - flush against the Dana bracket. You don't have to worry about pinion angle, wheel spacing, etc. Installed correctly, the brackets will not affect pinion angle or wheel spacing.

The relo brackets can "rotate" around the bolt, but they should not be able to move up, down, forward or backward at the bolt. If they do, sounds like you may have too small a bolt.

They are only telling you to do one side at a time because they assume you are starting with an already installed axle, and doing one LCA at a time prevents the axle from flopping all over the place, making it difficult to work with.

You might want to just bounce this off UMI. I'm basing it on the Spohn install. I pulled up the photos I took about 8 years ago, and there is no LCA installed when he is wedling the bracket.

 

interesting Fred... Mine did rotate around, there was not a spot to push them to in order to weld, I had to set them in place by having the control arm in the lower hole. I had the biggest bolt that would go through the dana bracket, and the relo bracket still moved around. So, I just pushed the bracket as high up as it would go, and then centered the control arm bolt in the center of the "play" and tack welded it. Did both sides and pulled it out for full welding. After measuring from the front lip of the front tire to the back lip of the rear tire, we were only off 1/32 of an inch bewteen the two measurements. So, it took alot of work, but we got them on. These things were alot harder to weld on that I thought they would be, but the control arm angle is greatly improved by them! So, I think this will be a great mod!
Thanks for your help, suggestions and ideas through this, it helped quite a bit. But, it does seem that Spohns brackets are prolly a little more user friendly then these UMI ones... so anyone buying, beware! lol.