Scale Auto – October 2019

(Jacob Rumans) #1

24 Scale Auto • OCTOBER 2019


SCALE AUTO TAILGATE SPECIAL


where the arms meet the crossmember.
I bent the A-arms up and repositioned
the ball joints with pliers to align with
the spindles — the torsion bars flexed
enough to absorb the twist.
I removed the mounting pin inside
the upper control arms and repeated
the procedure to the ball joints. The
spindles and upper arms can be built
up when the lower control arms are
mounted to the frame, 3.
Rather than make a couple of
lowering blocks to put between the rear
axle and trailing arms, I shortened the
rear coil springs by an ⅛ inch. After
cutting the springs, I drilled a 1⁄16-inch
hole in the top of each and inserted a


length of piano wire — brass or styrene
rod would work just as well. I also
drilled the locator holes in the frame to
allow me the freedom to fine-tune the
ride height, 4.
The truck needed brakes, and I
thought it would be in keeping with the
theme to replicate drum brakes. Using
the kit’s inner wheel parts, I removed
the outer rim with my lathe, preserving
the backing plates. I finished them by
hand and drilled the center hole to fit
the wheel bosses, 5.
With the track and ride height set, I
milled .040 inches off the face of all
four wheels to remove the lip. The rear
rims retained their molded in inner

lips while the fronts had .075 inches
removed from their inner edge. I
milled inside lips from Schedule 30
PVC sprinkler pipe. Outer rims were
machined from 6061 aluminum so
they could be polished. The lip detail is
the same on all four wheels. But the
rears are deeper to make all the wheels
the same width with different offsets, 6.
The front shocks were shortened
about ⅛ inch and installed. The
Panhard rod moves well with the
“working” rear suspension, so it was
installed prior to setting the rear ride
height. The rear shocks need to be
shortened, but by how much will be
determined after the wheels are

1 2


3 4


5 6


installed Brake Kit part
on wheel

Rear
wheel

Front
wheel
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