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Project Rat Rod V code 70 Charger R/T is about to begin.

Is that a schwinn stingray krate bike in your trailer? I always wanted one of those, had to make my own, similar anyway..
 
Yeah, I got a few of them, some are replicas, a couple are original, and a few are ones that I custom built. I was riding one today! The weather was warm.
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The replicas can still be bought for reasonable money, the best ones were the first ones made around 1997/1998 that were actually sold in Schwinn stores. The quality is not as good on the later ones that were sold in Walmart stores in 2007. This Lime green one is one of my hand build custom Stingrays, it is painted 1970 Dodge Sublime green. Original Krates are in the 1 to 5 grand range depending on which one and what condition they are in. Custom builds and replicas are much more affordable.
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I went out to the garage this morning, and broke all the bolts loose to remove the old rear axle. What a difference breaking bolts loose on a western car! I did spray them down with WD 40 last night, but no heat wrench was needed, I am getting spoiled on this one for sure!
 
cool thread, good info. My sister had a schwin like the yellow one with the shifter, I remember those seats also, that was 1972 when she sold it.
 
It was so nice out this past weekend, that I rode the yellow one two days in a row. Since I broke my heel when I was building my garage, it's easier for me to ride a bike than it is walk.
 
I just got new neighbors ,I will let you know if they wish the were or weren't my neighbors as soon as they get settled in! Lol
 
I customized my stingray with a tall padded sissy bar that had a german cross on top, titty grips, and two speed kickback hub. I was easyrider for a while, then it was stolen. I got a minibike after that and thus began my motorhead/speed addiction.. circa 69 I was 13.. hehe
 
The Stingray is the bike that I always wanted as a kid,but never had,so I have many of them now. My friends older brother had a sweet blue 5 speed Stingray when we were kids,and he used to keep it in the stairwell outside their second floor apartment door. One day he woke up to find it gone from the stairwell, never to be seen again. I loved that bike! It was the coolest bike I had ever seen.
 
My plan, weather permitting, is to get the Dana 60 rear axle installed on the weekend. I was under the car removing the brake lines from the 8 3/4 axle,and if I position the lift pads onto the frame rails, I should be able to roll out the 8 3/4,and roll the Dana right back in its place. I lubed all to fasteners, and broke them all loose already. I have to get the front leaf springs mounting brackets off the original springs and install them onto the new leaf springs. I am hoping that the bolts are not rusted into the bushings. I already broke the bolts loose, but they were pretty tight in the bushings. I am going to use the impact wrench to try to break them free. On most New England cars,I usually have to cut the bolts to get the leaf spring mounting brackets off,but this car being a California car, I might be lucky, and they may come out!
 
I had one of those "chopper" Schwinn bikes. It had a slick rear tire w/2 grooves in the tread and was a 5 speed IIRC.
 
I got back to work on the Charger today, I pulled out the 8 3/4 axle,with worn out springs, goofy 80s traction bars, and shock extensions, and bolted the Dana 60 in with new R/T leaf springs, U bolts and shackles. It came apart nicely, no heat wrench required! That big ole Dana sure looks good under there. I have a new adjustable pinion snubber,and the correct Dana bump stops to install too.
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I got my lazy azz back out to the garage today, and got a few things done to the Charger. An often overlooked thing on most b body cars that have a Dana 60 rear axle installed in place of the factory 8 3/4 axle are the bumpstops above the axle on each rear frame rail. 8 3/4 equipped cars have much smaller bumpstops that come to a point, where the factory Dana 60 rear axle have much beefier rounded bumpstops. So I swapped out the 8 3/4 bumpstops for the correct Dana 60 bumpstops. All 68 to 70 b body cars that came with a Dana 60 rear axle had the heavier duty bumpstops, but there is an exception to the rule, as 68 to 70 b body convertibles also had the heavier duty bumpstops as well reguardless of what rear axle the car was equipped with.
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I also installed an adjustable pinion snubber for the Dana 60 rear axle as well. The factory snubber on a Dana 60 bolts on with three bolts, whereas the 8 3 / 4 axle snubber bolts on with two bolts. I had two adjustable snubbers for a Dana, but one was missing the bumpstop. The other one had the bumpstop on it,but it was one that I had replaced with a bumpstop from a front lower control arm. The bumpstops that the adjustable snubbers come with usually fail because they cannot take the abuse of them hitting the floor board reinforcement plate on a regular basis. I have had good luck with the front lower control bumpstops on the snubbers. These adjustable rear snubbers are much more effective on a Mopar than a set of aftermarket slapper type traction bars. The traction bars usually cause wheelhop because they do not allow any spring windup under hard acceleration. The snubbers can be adjusted to take advantage of positive spring windup,but do not allow the center of the rear axle to lift to the point where positive spring windup becomes negative spring windup,that is how come they work so well. The first photo is the factory snubber plate,the othersare the adjustable snubber.
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Here are photos from each side of the adjustable snubber, and the Dana bumpstops. It was 34 degrees out there so I didn't stay out there too long,but any forward progress is good progress no matter how small the task is!
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Do the bigger dana bump stops bolt into the same holes for the smaller ones?
 
How much space do you leave between the pinion snubber and the body?
 
The larger bumpstops bolt roght into the same holes. The snubber adjustment depends on how you want to drive the car. On the lower setting it is more effective than the stock snubber, but will still allow some wheelspin. On the upper setting it's much more effective as a traction device, it allows the leaf springs to wind up just enough to prevent wheels hop.
 
Looking good. Now get it out and do some cruising once the weather breaks.
 
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