Topic: flatbelly?

[LITTLETRUCK]

whatsup guys im new here just wanted to say high and ask a quick ? I have an 84 ex cab with all pro lift dual cases  22r flatbed 5.29s on 36 tsl sx's I also have a fror style cross member and a all pro skid plate with the e-bread setup, ive searched and can't find a good answer  or one that I can understand anyway so mabey one of you guys can help me out.  my ? is how do you do a flatbelly?  I understand the concept but the part I don't understand is what you do to the motor mounts. do you buy special ones or modify the old ones or do you just bend them or what?  sorry if the ? has been asked a million times I just couldn't find it.

Thanks in advance for all of your help

[OOPS]

Roger Brown sells the MM spacers.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/MotorMount.shtml

[TheCookieMonster]

my understanding is you dont change motor mounts...you change the crossmember mount to where you want it and where everything is still working. the motor mounts stay the same. the only thing that happens is your transfer case adapter rotates 10* and changes the transfercase mount. do you have the clocked t-case adapter? so you put in the clocked adapter , put in your crossmember so the t- case doesnt hang down past the frame rails, and cut floor (or beat with BFH!) unless you have a bodylift to make room for the tc...hopefully that makes some cents

o  to 

[WHITE_TRASH]

On my 90 I loosened up the nut on the engine side of the mount and raised the cases and trans.  Simple as that.  On my 81 I used a couple pieces of 3/8x2" flatbar and raised the engine )with the mounts bolted to the engine) and put the plates between them and the frame.  I drilled and tapped the plate in 4 places to bolt the plates to the frame and allow the mounts to bolt to the plates.  Not totally necessary but on a 1st gen I had the room.


I just had the engine ouf a couple weeks ago and the mounts were just fine, so I wouldn't worry about any added stress.

[OOPS]

my understanding is you dont change motor mounts...you change the crossmember mount to where you want it and where everything is still working. the motor mounts stay the same. the only thing that happens is your transfer case adapter rotates 10* and changes the transfercase mount. do you have the clocked t-case adapter? so you put in the clocked adapter , put in your crossmember so the t- case doesnt hang down past the frame rails, and cut floor (or beat with BFH!) unless you have a bodylift to make room for the tc...hopefully that makes some cents

o  to 

That is not the way I have seen it done. What you are saying is you just push the the t-case up after putting the adapter on? seems to me that would put stress on the MM's that they were not designed for. I have only seen it done using the spacers on the MM's like roger sells. I do not know I have never looked into doing it on my rig.

Are there other things you need to modify like the exhaust system?

[Hyena]

i raised my t-cases about 4 inches, didn't even touch the motor mounts.  seems to be working fine.  but my motor mounts are chained so they can't go anywhere anyway.  i cut a hole in that middle crossmember and ran my exhaust through the hole.

[robrub00]

Disclaimer( i havent done this but im looking into doing it.  i have much more before i get to itbut here is what i think can be done.)    from my Web wheeling i have done.    the first replyyou had shows rodger browns motor mounts.  cheack his site.  he did a drive train lift.  he did like 3 inch body lift and 2 inch drive train lift.   yielding  and increase center of gravity,  equivilant of a 1 inch of body lift  and the whole drive train got lifted above the frame rails( please cheack his site for more acurate numbers)   he also had to move the tranny crossmember up  ( or he sells a stock spacer but then you still have the tranny crossmember sticking out)  you can go with  a fror tcase crossmember getting rid of the stock crossmeber to give you that 2inches under the tranny.
  then you can buid your flat belly from there i believe.
  next thing metioned in this post what the 10 degree rotated case crossmember.  that i belive is for marlins dual case mco7r10 or mco8r10.  this adapter and crossmember  rotates the tcase and output shaft 10 degrees givingyou more clearance for a flatbelly or to help avoing obsticles.  hope this helps.  others sounded like they just cranked up the tcase and basicly  flexed the ruber in the mounts( but also had them chained-look on 4crawler.comto learn more about chaining motor mounts.)   hope this helps.  and if it was too long winded or a statement of the obvios im sorry. please dont hate me!! haha

[WHITE_TRASH]

You are correct.  The R10 adapter helps you by not having to lift the cases as far up into the cab when doing a flatbelly. 

[fordh8r]

  The motor mount spacers work fine with a body lift and then you'll need a crossmember to match your case lift. Raising the engine helps keep good driveline angles if you'll be driving yours on the street especially at freeway speeds. Mine works fine and no vibrations whatsoever. 

[WHITE_TRASH]

I used to dd my truck with a flat belly and stock motormounts with no vibes at all....  I just run a cv in the rear and a good quality shaft.

[RTA]

I raised mine up without moving the motor mounts.  I went up maybe 4 inches total.  The front driveline now has a better angle. The rear is good because I have already rolled the axle up.  I have an All-Pro x-member that I just cut the mounts off the frame and raised them to where I wanted them.  Next thing you will have to worry about is your floorboard... 

Here is a link to mine: http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=42134.0

[Tice]

I raised my motor with some mounts I built (look like Rodgers), I really didn't need to, but with the flat belly my fan was real close to my radiator. Also, I have no body lift which is causing my fan to hit my intake tube sometimes.

[Gittinit]

Twisted rubber and chained mounts are whats done to my rig. I don't dd so I can't comment on vibes, but It works fine for me. I'm still not completely flat either,(about 1 inch under frame rails, at case) so mabye I found the middleground, compared to some.

I ran it this way 1st with a non cv rear shaft, and now with a cv rear shaft. I went with the cv rear shaft becouse I wanted my pinion higher, not becouse of driveline issues though. I havent had issues with either option.

[LITTLETRUCK [OP]]

thanks for all your help guys, this is the answer i have been looking for.  I forgot to mention that i have an electric fan so i have some room to play with between the radiator and engine.  so in theory wouldn't it actually improve front driveline angle if the transmission and t-cases were moved up and the engine was rotated in its orginal location?

[WHITE_TRASH]

Sure the rear angle would be improved a bit by moving the engine up but that raises the center of gravity and would require a body lift or extreme floor/firewall modification.

[kiyul4130]

so in theory wouldn't it actually improve front driveline angle if the transmission and t-cases were moved up and the engine was rotated in its orginal location?

no it would actually make the frotn DL angle worse. the lower your cases are the better the front DL angle will be, the higher you go, the worse. with duals though "most" of the time your angle is pretty good. i just jacked mine up as high as i could and made a new crossmember. next will be a skid plate. ill try to get some pictures up....

[LITTLETRUCK [OP]]

sorry guys i didnt clarify myself. what i ment was that buy lifting the tranny and t-cases and just leaving the motor at its orignal height and just rotating it forward wouldnt that actually improve the front driveline angle while makeing the rear driveline angle worse?