This is a load bearing picture, the van isn't on the ground, but I jacked the suspension up until it came off of the jackstand, then test fitted the wheel. This is the van's rims too, I was quite happy to see that they fit and cleared the brakes and all
very cool, although I'll still be swapping them for 4x4 rims just to get a trim ring on there. I may have to move the radius arm back, or the TTB mount forward, gonna play with both tomorrow. I had things where I thought I wanted them, then before I did anything more than a few tack welds, I put the passenger side beam on and test fit it, the mount I made for the driver's side TTB pivot interfered with the axles. If I move the mount forward, I have to trim the engine cross member, if I move the radius arm bushing brackets rearward I'll change where the wheel sits in the wheel well... It looks very nice and centered right now, so I'll see how much I have to play with by removing the bushings on the radius arms tomorrrow, that should get me over an inch, and I will see where that places everything. I have a couple 32 inch tires on wheels as spare for my bronco which is a 31 inch tire that I can put in this hole and see where it goes, but anyhow, two steps forward and one step back is still progress
Or maybe more like 3 steps forward and two back haha.... Honestly, I have about 4 hours of straightforward work in this now, but it's taken me about 4 full days of work to get here. If I ever do another one, I know I could be at this point before lunchtime on the first day all by myself, well, maybe with the exception of the rivets on the engine cross member, those were a bear even with a plasma cutter. Definitely not a full day's work to get to this point with having a clear plan though. I'm pretty sure that after I get this one done, I could do another front end swap pretty quickly. I have been complaining about having no help here, but, honestly, at this point I am thankful for it, I'm getting my hands on every part and seeing the difficulties that one will encounter.
maybe it's time for a build thread so it's easier to follow this trainwreck... haha