My 3 linked daily driver build thread

[LandCruisinMy93]

So I went from this

to this

And here is where I will do my best to document how this little project evolved into its current state.

I started planning and preparation after the parts were decided on, the object was to build a cruiser similar to Shawn Jackson's. I wanted something uncommon to my area code. Something that could Haul my family and I most anywhere we wanted to go. Something that I could daily drive and use for wheeling, hauling misc.. crap , and use to haul all of our camping gear.

After receiving the parts I had ordered. I assembled my links and took inventory of all the parts I had and checked for anything missing from The Bill of Materials I had made.
heres the lift minus the hardware and the brackets I had to make.

I lifted the rear and removed the front shocks and rear bolts on the front control arms , supported the frame at the front at the 7" lift height and took driveline measurements to determine pinion flange angle necessary for my Double cardan driveline.

then I removed the axle and got to work on stripping it.

More to come

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Oh wow, I really Fat Fingered that one LOL. Meant to preview not post

 

[93yotasr5]

Waiting for more pics

 

[nukegoat]

good luck

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Okay so here is my parts pile, ignore the tires
above

and here are some shots of the axle work.
So I Reference marked the coil seats to the perches and then removed the coils by meticulously cutting away the factory welds with my 4 1/2 inch angle grinder. Then I meticulously cut away the perch to housing welds. Once I had completed my cutting, I took my 24 oz. Ballpine and hammered along the edges of the perch until I saw a weld fracture begin. I then chased that fracture all the way down the weld until one side was separated. I then hammed my pry bar under the perch and leveraged it up and down being careful not to distort the other side until the other sides thinned weld fractured.

and then I was left with this

 

[Douglas S]

Awesome! I like that you're going with relatively short arms too. So many people jump to long arms when they aren't necessary for moderate lift heights.

 

[Rwhat]

I have a feeling this might be epic.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

So I had a clean start, I then ground down the welds at the knuckles.


I used a caliper to measure the thickness of the housing material and then transferred that to a Sawzall blade, painting the rest of the blade red so I knew how deep I was cutting. I used a large hose clamp to help make a nice clean straight line around the base of the knuckles and I I cut them free. Once I could shove a pipe down through the trunnion bearing holes and twist the knuckles I set the pinion flange at the proper angle and set my caster and camber. I set the caster at 4* pos and camber back to factory.

then I welded the knuckle back in place.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Alright, On to the rest of the axle. Knuckles turned, pinion angle set and I tacked checked and welded the perches and coil seats back on.



and then it was onto the brackets, I split a1 ft length of 3x6 .188 wall rectangle tubing lengthwise and used my contour gauge and my digital bevel box to help make the axle side contour for both sides. After I had the contoured sides done I a square along the spring perch and marked my bolt insertion spot and duplicated it to the other side. Its the only way I could assure symmetry. I then decided the final length which was an inch past the outer edge of the 9/16ths hole I had drilled on the drill press.
I then fit the brackets onto the axle housing and tacked them in place.



as you can see in the picture, I used the second half of the 3x6 to make my upper link tower. The center of the bolt hole is 5 inches from the top of the housing, this gives me apx 10 inches separation at the axle.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

so here it is sanded and etch primed.

and primed

and I cant seem to find the final paint pic, so use your imaginations.

So, after installing a full knuckle rebuild kit including wheel bearings ( all Koyo ) and fitting my new stainless lines I then positioned it under the truck. Photos also missing at the moment.

I torched off the frame brackets and cleaned up the frame, Ran out of time so I quit taking pictures. I then tried fitting my pre made brackets, also made from the 3x6 but then I realized I made a mistake in my concept and planning process , I measured in only 1 spot on the chassis where I planned to mount my bracket which was made to slide onto the sides of the frame and be welded the whole way around. My mistake reared its ugly head when the bracket fit perfect for the first 3 inches... and then the chassis necked down and left me with a 3/8-1/2 gap on either side for the other 3 inches of length . So I ended up cutting the sides off and welding the plates on and flaring them out to accept the joints. I didn't get pics of any of this either, due to some anger and frustration and really running short on time to complete this.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

So I don't have any pictures of the pre made mounts, but I have pics of the modified mounts on the frame, here are my lower link mounts.

Oddly enough, I don't have a pic of the upper link mount. Nothing fancy, just a piece of 3x6 cut into a 3x3x3 chunk and drilled on center through the mount and through the frame and welded in place with a 6 1/2 inch long 9/16 bolt to hold the joint in place.

There will be more to come, Do to the circumstances surrounding my build things didn't turn out as neat or nice as I had planned. Don't get me wrong, after a lot of small adjustments to dial everything in and square everything up and a couple visits to the Les Schwab alignment department for print outs, the suspension operates just awesome. I will be removing my old link mounts and replacing them all with new ones I have made, the new mounts will allow more use of the johnny joints and better movement. That and the upper joint has worn out rather quickly do to the upper link mount sitting flush and the upper joint being forced at full angle in order to line up with my slightly canted axle upper link mount. So here are the mounts I will be replacing my current ones with in the near future. I will get pictures this time around.

 

[KimoSabe]

 

[superstan26]

Streetability? I like the gains a lot!

I've been dreaming of 3 linking mine, but I figured lockers trump articulation at this point.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

oh yeah, and for those who don't frequent the 37 and above thread

here are a few more of how it has sat since July






As soon as I go to put the new link mounts on I will post the pictures up.

Im hoping to get the rock sliders on and test my bumper template so I can fab up a front bumper and possibly a rear, but those will be down the road a way and will have their own threads.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Streetability? I like the gains a lot!

I've been dreaming of 3 linking mine, but I figured lockers trump articulation at this point.

SuperStan...It drives like it did before the lift, it was just a lot of small adjustments to get it right, Has a little shimmy around40-55 and smooths out afterwards. One of the problems with such big tires, not a lot of places can truly balance them. I have sheets of 1/4 oz weights on the insides of my wheels from Les Schwab trying to balance the tires. I've been considering trying to find somewhere that can dynamically balance them for a smoother ride, all in all its just a small shake of the steering wheel at this point. I bought mine with lockers, so I wasn't worried about that.

 

[superstan26]

Sounds too good to be true. If only I could replicate your build! I may give it a shot when I pull my front axle for rebuilding?
Thanks for sharing, that thing is sweet!

 

[half k cruiser]

Great write up, I've never liked the factory radius arm setup on these trucks, way too stiff. I wonder if anybody has done this to a rig with 35's and less than 3" lift ?

 

[scrowley]

Looks great! Any pics of the center bar connections?

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Looks great! Any pics of the center bar connections?

Do you mean the Panhard bar? Or are you referring to the link mount for the upper link at the frame?

 

[nukegoat]

SuperStan...It drives like it did before the lift

1) It looks great and I like the cut & turn. Good attention to detail.

2) It's essentially impossible for a 3-link to behave the same as it did with radius arms. I'm sure it drives great, acceptable, whatever - but don't delude others into thinking a 3-link will feel the same as the radius arms. Others (including myself) with linked setups on here will tell you it's a big difference. Not a bad one, mind you, but not transparent.