69 Travelall lifts, etc...

["Jason and Maria Colavecchia" <jasoncolavecchia@domain.elided>]

My recommendation for lifting the '69 Travelall would be to consider a few
options....one is not necessarily better than another, or any cheaper...
Keep in mind the 1969 year was the first to have the "new" body style, that
was touted to be "lower" than previous models....

1/ If you look under the T'all, you will see the rear spring shackles are
slung "over" the mounting bracket, unlike a Scout.  With a little creative
work, you could flip these brackets over (probably best done by fabricating
new ones) and make new front (rear) spring mounts, probably increasing your
overall stance by at least 4 inches...the front would require more work,
since it is in a standard position, but could be modified easily by making
spring mounts similar to on a scout II and extend them down to give you a
few more inches.  All of this would allow you to keep the stock springs....

2/  You could opt to stay with the standard spring mounting arrangement and
try modifying the stock springs.  My front springs are pretty worn out, so
my plan (initially) is to have them rearched with a new leaf or two put in
to help keep it there.  I'm sure the ride would be improved somewhat with a
little stiffer front springs.  The rear springs on mine are REALLY tough,
and  have a great overload spring on the bottom which is really beefy. 
With such a setup, you could easily add a "block" to the spring pack to
lift the rear up.  Don't go for more than two inches of block, however, and
if possible find a SOLID 2" by 2" by about 4-6" SOLID steel block to use as
a spacer. I've seen alot of poor lift jobs relying on simple 2" square
tubing or BIGGER, and this is NOT strong enough to handle the forces of on
OR off road use.  Even the front could be lifted one inch or so with a
small solid block, but as you get taller, the steering action will tend to
put alot of force on the front axle and u-bolts, increasing the possibility
of failure....

3/ with a spring/mounting lift, you could try the more complex BODY
lift...it can be risky if the body is not in good shape, but if it is
stable enough, it  usually provides good results.  I really suggest NOT
simply adding rubber blocks to the existing hardware.  The travelall body
is HEAVY, among other things, and adding more rubber is going to allow alot
more twisting and stress on the body structure.  Things like hockey pucks
have been known to disintegrate over time, as they are too hard to handle
the constant vibration and shock loading experienced by proper body mounts.
 A solution is to have enough SOLID metal blocks made up with holes drilled
in them to accept the mounting bolts to allow you to WELD them to each
mounting bracket on the frame.  If your frame mounts are in good shape,
this will provide a very STABLE arrangement, which then lets you use a
normal sized rubber biscuit between the top of the new LIFTED mounts and
the body.  Keep in mind, the body lift itself is not very hard, but MOVING
all of the other components can take the bulk of the time needed to do
this.  Things like Fuel lines, gas tanks, brake lines, Grounds and other
electrical stuff, cooling lines (for automatics) and radiator hoses, the
all-important FAN SHROUD, STEERING LINKAGE, all and more have to be
adjusted to achieve satisfactory results.

4/  I believe "TRAILMASTER" offers a NEW spring kit for the Travelall (4X4
only)  I don't know what the ratings are, but I have one of their kits on
my Scout, and it is quality stuff.  However, i suggest calling them to find
out what the load ratings are, as you might find they only have "half ton"
types available.  IMHO, I prefer the ratings my stock T'all has, and if I
was to replace the springs, i would want to keep my 3/4 ton rating (or even
go UP).

I hope some of this helps, and of course anyone is welcome to jump in to
add to this...the possibilities, I guess, are truly endless...

Jason and Maria Colavecchia
1979 IH Scout II,  V304, modifications ongoing
1969 IH 1210D Travelall 3/4 ton, V345,  restoring slowly