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[Instructions] Installing US CAR TOOL B-Body Relocation Kit

Schober Motorsports

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Hey guys,

Wanted to do a write up on this project because I couldn't find a single thing on the internet of someone installing these things. So here it goes. This was done on a 67 Coronet [ NOTE: There are different kits for Plymouth and Dodge ], the kit is US CAR TOOL Relocation Kit [ http://store.uscartool.com/66-70-B-Body-Dodge-Spring-Re-Location-Kit_p_73.html ] Purpose of this write up is to give you guys some sort of idea on what your doing when either installing this kit or else one of the many other kits out there. I will say though, with doing this kit, everything was very high quality and nicely built, very happy with the out come. Now first off to begin...

Tools Needed:

- Marker
- Straight Edge/ Square
- Grinder
- SawZall
- Welder
- Correct size bolts to hold up front mounts
- ViseGrips
- Safety Glasses / Shield... Metal in your eye is horrible, as many of you can agree with.

First thing is first, Jack the car up and level it out. One thing is like to do is to level the car out before I start anything so I can use that level to my advantage. Make sure the car is also properly supported.

DSC06082.jpg

First we will start on the front spring mount.

DSC06148.jpg
DSC06150.jpg

NOTE: Originally when you order this kit, you will receive this bracket with the front 3 holes drilled in, I am going to be running Super Stock Springs, so I needed to get a set of holes drilled 5" back from the mounting plate, thats why there are two sets of holes drilled.

Get your square and your marker and butt it up against the back plate on your car and mark your lines. **Note: Holes that are shown are from the emergency brake bracket, you will most likely need to remount this in a different location like I had to.

DSC06151.jpg

Cut the lines out ensuring you are not cutting too much material off. Then clean off the metal with a grinder so you have nice, clean metal to weld to. Go ahead and give your bracket a test fit and use the proper size bolts to hold nice and snug. I think i used 3/8, but not 100% sure. Once you level it off, go ahead and tack weld this in place. Once you are happy with the fit, go ahead and finish welding. Make sure those bolts are tight so the bracket doesn't move while welding. Once your happy with your welds and completed welding as much as you can, go ahead and throw some primer on it and complete the other side.

DSC06152.jpg
DSC06153.jpg
DSC06155.jpg
DSC06157.jpg
DSC06159.jpg

Now you've completed both front spring mounts, next is completing the back spring mounts. First I put the bracket over the frame rail and adjusted my C-Clamp Vise Grips to kinda close it up against the frame rail. Go ahead and mark the holes and the outline of the bracket. After that go ahead and cut out a section so the bracket can fit with the sleeve welded in. Don't forget to clean all surfaces that will be welded before moving on!

DSC06132.jpg
DSC06136.jpg

I kept this setting on my vise grips and put the metal sleeve in the bottom hole and then put the vice grips back on to bend the bracket back to this tight setting. Now when you put it on the frame rail to weld up, it'll be nice and tight against the frame and will be a good weld. Finish welding and get your guide pin that is supplied in the kit.

DSC06137.jpg
DSC06139.jpg

Now place the guide pin in the old rear spring mount. **Note: It was a bit snug, so you might need to either sand or widdle away some of the guide pin so it fits a bit easier, I did need to use a hammer to help it though. Continue to send the guide pin though and line it up with the top hole in the mount. Once you have it where it is lined up correctly with the guide pin, go ahead and do some tack welds and continue to weld the bracket completely in. Do the same thing to the other side and you done... Drop a plumb bob at the same point on all 4 brackets, mark this on the floor of your garage with a sharpie and measure in a X pattern. I got 66 7/8 from corner to corner and matched up perfectly.

DSC06140.jpg
DSC06141.jpg
DSC06142.jpg
DSC06144.jpg
DSC06166.jpg
DSC06165.jpg

I will post welding on the spring perches later in the project, I still need to shorten the rear end and cut the old ones off... But that is for another day! Hope you all enjoyed and if you have any questions or comments feel free to add! I am not a professional nor do I claim to be, I'm sure there is a better way to do this job, but this is just the way I did it. This kit provided damn near nothing for instructions so I decided to make my own for the next do it yourselfer out there who wouldn't mind having some sort of idea what to do with this kit.

DSC06082.jpg DSC06148.jpg DSC06150.jpg DSC06151.jpg DSC06155.jpg DSC06153.jpg DSC06152.jpg DSC06157.jpg DSC06159.jpg DSC06137.jpg DSC06139.jpg DSC06132.jpg DSC06136.jpg DSC06140.jpg DSC06141.jpg DSC06142.jpg DSC06144.jpg DSC06165.jpg DSC06166.jpg
 
My Plymouth US CarTools spring relocation install . . . questions . . .

Hey Schober Motorsports . . . very nicely documented process on the install of the leaf spring relocation kit from US CarTools - I installed the similar kit on my 67 Belvedere ( the Plymouth version ), but I was concerned about the lowering of the rear shackle attachment as it would raise the rear of my car and change the pinion angle too.

So I got up with Chris at US CarTools and he made another version of the kit that allows the shackle attachment to stay in the same location . . .

Here's my doodling on the frame - what I thought needed to happen . . .

sm_rearbracketplan.jpg

And the new "option" bracket that Chris from US CarTools made up to make this work . . .

uscartools7.jpg

Now you can see how the "new" eyelet fits into the frame in the same orientation as the "original" eyelet . . .

sm_rearsrbracket11.jpg

And the results of the new bracket welded into the frame . . .

sm_drminitubwork14.jpg


It worked great, but the "old" frame ends up in the way of the shackle install . . . so it had to be modified.

The full documentation of my install is in my build thread and starts on page 48 . . .

uscartools7.jpg sm_rearbracketplan.jpg sm_rearsrbracket11.jpg sm_drminitubwork14.jpg
 
Awesome thread and pictures, thank you! I'm about to start the same installation on my 67 Belvedere. Can you post pictures of the car now? -Doug
 
Awesome thread and pictures, thank you! I'm about to start the same installation on my 67 Belvedere. Can you post pictures of the car now? -Doug

Funny enough I decided to check this thread and see if anyone posted anything new and sure enough! Good luck with the install, its alot of a work... But wow is it worth it.

IMG_0521.jpg
20783921221_3349da0757_b.jpg

IMG_0521.jpg 20783921221_3349da0757_b.jpg
 
Unfortunately I really can't tell you. Straight lines have always been my forte. Needless to say I didn't really notice any handling issues for the short time I had it street legal.
 
This is a well documented process, thank you very much.

I am currently in the process of installing a US Car Tools relo kit and have a very serious dilemma !!

One hanger bracket was installed "square", the other has a significant tilt to it. So bolting the box to it to position it in the frame is totally out of the question

Furthermore:

The hanger on one side is 1/4" further back than the other side.

These are all original factory welds so ... morons on the assembly line !!
 
Was the car tubbed? I know you narrowed the rearend? How much? Or did you get that size tire under there just relocating the springs??
 
Man, there are loads of spring relo and mini-tub how-to write-ups on here, you just need to search or ask and people will point you to them. One of the most detailed is in "modern bullitt build" in the Resto-mod forum
 
Man, there are loads of spring relo and mini-tub how-to write-ups on here, you just need to search or ask and people will point you to them. One of the most detailed is in "modern bullitt build" in the Resto-mod forum

Pat from the "Modern Bullitt Build" used the forward leaf spring relocation brackets from US Car Tool in a slightly different way. He used them to install lower 4 link bars, which is AWESOME btw.
 
I'm about to do this on my 64' Polara . The directions that come with the kit are about useless. Pics of the process help a lot, thanks for taking the time to post. Did you use the mini tub kit also?.
 
Just got done ,no that hard at all. .your post was very helpful,more than the directions although i was probably making it out to be harder than it was . Anyone do a video or post on how to do the mini tubs yet?.
 
Hey guys,

Wanted to do a write up on this project because I couldn't find a single thing on the internet of someone installing these things. So here it goes. This was done on a 67 Coronet [ NOTE: There are different kits for Plymouth and Dodge ], the kit is US CAR TOOL Relocation Kit [ http://store.uscartool.com/66-70-B-Body-Dodge-Spring-Re-Location-Kit_p_73.html ] Purpose of this write up is to give you guys some sort of idea on what your doing when either installing this kit or else one of the many other kits out there. I will say though, with doing this kit, everything was very high quality and nicely built, very happy with the out come. Now first off to begin...

Tools Needed:

- Marker
- Straight Edge/ Square
- Grinder
- SawZall
- Welder
- Correct size bolts to hold up front mounts
- ViseGrips
- Safety Glasses / Shield... Metal in your eye is horrible, as many of you can agree with.

First thing is first, Jack the car up and level it out. One thing is like to do is to level the car out before I start anything so I can use that level to my advantage. Make sure the car is also properly supported.

View attachment 231567

First we will start on the front spring mount.

View attachment 231568
View attachment 231569

NOTE: Originally when you order this kit, you will receive this bracket with the front 3 holes drilled in, I am going to be running Super Stock Springs, so I needed to get a set of holes drilled 5" back from the mounting plate, thats why there are two sets of holes drilled.

Get your square and your marker and butt it up against the back plate on your car and mark your lines. **Note: Holes that are shown are from the emergency brake bracket, you will most likely need to remount this in a different location like I had to.

View attachment 231570

Cut the lines out ensuring you are not cutting too much material off. Then clean off the metal with a grinder so you have nice, clean metal to weld to. Go ahead and give your bracket a test fit and use the proper size bolts to hold nice and snug. I think i used 3/8, but not 100% sure. Once you level it off, go ahead and tack weld this in place. Once you are happy with the fit, go ahead and finish welding. Make sure those bolts are tight so the bracket doesn't move while welding. Once your happy with your welds and completed welding as much as you can, go ahead and throw some primer on it and complete the other side.

View attachment 231574
View attachment 231573
View attachment 231572
View attachment 231575
View attachment 231576

Now you've completed both front spring mounts, next is completing the back spring mounts. First I put the bracket over the frame rail and adjusted my C-Clamp Vise Grips to kinda close it up against the frame rail. Go ahead and mark the holes and the outline of the bracket. After that go ahead and cut out a section so the bracket can fit with the sleeve welded in. Don't forget to clean all surfaces that will be welded before moving on!

View attachment 231579
View attachment 231580

I kept this setting on my vise grips and put the metal sleeve in the bottom hole and then put the vice grips back on to bend the bracket back to this tight setting. Now when you put it on the frame rail to weld up, it'll be nice and tight against the frame and will be a good weld. Finish welding and get your guide pin that is supplied in the kit.

View attachment 231577
View attachment 231578

Now place the guide pin in the old rear spring mount. **Note: It was a bit snug, so you might need to either sand or widdle away some of the guide pin so it fits a bit easier, I did need to use a hammer to help it though. Continue to send the guide pin though and line it up with the top hole in the mount. Once you have it where it is lined up correctly with the guide pin, go ahead and do some tack welds and continue to weld the bracket completely in. Do the same thing to the other side and you done... Drop a plumb bob at the same point on all 4 brackets, mark this on the floor of your garage with a sharpie and measure in a X pattern. I got 66 7/8 from corner to corner and matched up perfectly.

View attachment 231581
View attachment 231582
View attachment 231583
View attachment 231584
View attachment 231587
View attachment 231586

I will post welding on the spring perches later in the project, I still need to shorten the rear end and cut the old ones off... But that is for another day! Hope you all enjoyed and if you have any questions or comments feel free to add! I am not a professional nor do I claim to be, I'm sure there is a better way to do this job, but this is just the way I did it. This kit provided damn near nothing for instructions so I decided to make my own for the next do it yourselfer out there who wouldn't mind having some sort of idea what to do with this kit.

View attachment 231567 View attachment 231568 View attachment 231569 View attachment 231570 View attachment 231572 View attachment 231573 View attachment 231574 View attachment 231575 View attachment 231576 View attachment 231577 View attachment 231578 View attachment 231579 View attachment 231580 View attachment 231581 View attachment 231582 View attachment 231583 View attachment 231584 View attachment 231586 View attachment 231587
Very awesome write up, tackling this job on mine today. I also have caltracs so we shall see how it goes. Thanks!
 
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