3 Link, Currie Rear Axle, Rear Coilovers and Long Travel IFS FJC Build (and more)

[FJNewb]

Update from Dave. Big improvement over the issues which we were having with the RCVs before. Great work by the RCV guys in getting us setup. We can actually pull 14" of travel unlike it says in Dave's qoute below.

We got the half shafts back from RCV, with the 1" longer splines like we asked. I wanted to get the long splines so I could find the "happy spot" where the inner race likes to ride, then cut new snap ring grooves, and chop the remaining shaft off. I also played with working over some of the inner CV parts to gain more angle. I was able to pull a clean, smooth 13.5" travel, got greedy and wanted the full 14" like advertised, and screwed the cage up. Now the cage just wants to turn and lets the balls fall out. So, we decided that we're going to settle with the 13.5", and have it strapped at 13" so we're not pushing the CVs too hard.

Also, I started clearancing the fenderwell. Started with just taking an inch out all the way around on top, and about two inches in toward the engine. Now that it clears at full steering lock, I have about 3" up and 6" in at the front of the fenderwell, and was able to beat the snot out of the firewall to make the clearance needed there.

Long splines

Dana 60 outer bell for the FJ

930 inner joints, getting a little love so they can handle more travel

Finding the happy spot

more finding happy spot, tried to tack the race in place, but it has to have a little float in it, say 1/4"

 

[FJNewb]

passenger side hoop mocked up

 

[FJNewb]

Passenger side is wrapped up.

 

[FJNewb]

Well it turns out 14" of travel is possible and the CVs still turn fine....as long as you just want to go straight. If you actually want to turn you'll basically need to fabricate a whole new fender well and figure out who to relocate everything on each fender well. Don't forget to cut the firewall and refabricate a new one where the firewall meets the wheel well.

Different tires will solve that problem.

This is close to where it will be at full bump. Wheel still spins at full lock

Slightly past where we will bump it. Need to start reworking a lot of stuff to turn the wheels at this point.

Reference picture between front and rear at bump. While the rear gets more travel most of its down travel. Front will be getting several more inches of uptravel than the rear once we set ride height. Not ideal for high speed stuff to have the front pulling more uptravel than the rear but I can live with it until I actually learn how to actually drive the thing. So many limitations with the platform I'd probably move onto a buggy build if I manage to push this hard enough and scare the crap out of myself without a cage.

 

[Mtbcoach]

Thanks for the update, glad to see it moving ahead, dispite all the challenges...

 

[FJNewb]

Currently awaiting new tires which aren't as wide. Thats the main issue with the pitbulls..to get any more travel you need to start cutting away and rebuilding the firewall and all of the fender well (body lift could work, but then we'd need to rework other stuff as well)...width and side lugs just create to much interference so it would need to be limited at 13" of travel. 35" general grabbers fit much better and allow for full steering at bump and lock (14" of travel). MTR's are supposed to be nearly sized the same as the grabbers so going to give them a shot.

Pitbulls will either be sold or put on some spare wheels and come up with a removable/adjustable bump stop so the MTRs and Pitbulls can be swapped out while still allowing for max travel for each tire.

 

[Tapage]

sweet .. !

just wonder why you choose Heims over JJ in your rear links ..?

 

[FJNewb]

Everyone has their likes and dislikes as far as joints go, I'll leave it at that. These heims are cheap (compared to other heims with similar strength ratings), have a decent life span, and allow for easier sparing than running different joints at each end. It was an educated decision and we fully realize there will be a bit more vibration than you'd have with a bushing or johnny joint.

 

[Tapage]

Everyone has their likes and dislikes as far as joints go, I'll leave it at that.

thanks .. I respect that .. just wanna know if you know something that I didn't about that ..

 

[FJNewb]

Any joint would have been fine. Axle gets something like 18 degrees of angle at full articulation or something like that, worked out the numbers previously. Splitting that angle between two joints on each rod end and any joint setup would have been sufficient, heims all around provide something like 66 degrees of misalignment...overkill. Had concerns around the upper and how it loaded the bushing, decided to go with stronger links and rod ends when replacing the setup.

Didn't go with johnny joint because I've had them fail (snap ring) before on the trail. Makes it a pain to try and fix on the trail if you don't have the right tools (was an integrated housing into the link, so you couldn't simply swap with another joint/assembly in...had to press the cartridge back in). Having it as a seperate assembly/threaded rod end would have made life easier if spares were on hand. Just decided to mitigate the issue all together and run heims which should accept the loading better. Will carry a spare heim or two just to be on the safe side and its nice only having to carry one type of joint.

 

[Hornsfan]

Interested to get your feedback on the MTRs when you get this thing out in the field.

 

[FJNewb]

Seats, harness, and tires are in..rear fiberglass is looking much better. Ordered the last parts for the front this morning. Should be driveable by years end...camera setup and much of the wiring will probably be on hold till next year.

If anyone has interest in 35"x12.5" R17 Pitbull Rockers let me know - no miles on them and willing to let them go cheaper than you can buy em for. Prefer not to ship (located in Houston)

 

[puulboy]

Brian
Just amazing. We should talk sometime after my current camera upgrade, You may like whats in order. Something will be let out of the bag soon.
By the way MTR's will be my next tire choice.

 

[1911]

By the way MTR's will be my next tire choice.

Don, I've heard great things about these tires, but they don't make them in either of the sizes that I want.

Hope you are well. How are things over in the blue room?

 

[FJNewb]

Brian
Just amazing. We should talk sometime after my current camera upgrade, You may like whats in order. Something will be let out of the bag soon.
By the way MTR's will be my next tire choice.

You'll have to let me know what the plans are for your next camera setup. I've got more cameras and wiring than I know what to do with from Total Vision. Unfortunately other than the one backup camera and monitor I installed temporarily...they've all just been sitting at the house. Every once and awhile Rod shoots me a message asking if I'm done yet .

MTRs look nice. My recommendation is if you see them in stock jump on them. Tirerack had them a month ago and the next day they had less than 5....2 days later they were all gone. Were able to get 5 from 4x4parts, but they were the last 5 they had in their warehouses throughout the country. I would have ordered these originally, but they weren't in stock back when we needed tires to check interference at bump and lock.

They are probably going to be under a true 35" tire. Pitbulls are right @35" when mounted and aired up. MTRs are ~34.5" unmounted...we'll see what they end up being when we get them on the methods. They should be nearly identical size wise to your grabbers...we actually used those to test fit and see if you could pull the full 14" since they are supposed to be the same width and height as the mtrs.

Don, I've heard great things about these tires, but they don't make them in either of the sizes that I want.

MTR's and Krawlers were my first choices. Unfortunately they don't make a 35" krawler for a 17" rim. Running a 37" krawler isn't going to happen unless you want to severly limit your travel and never turn your wheels near bump....frame & firewall modification could take care of some of this, but even further chopping (compared to what we did) of the wheel wells would be needed. Not to mention the need for a larger front differential.

Hope you are well. How are things over in the blue room?

I almost sent you a PM the other day asking where you disappeared to. Migz and I noted we hadn't seen you post much and were wondering if we'd see you at hidden falls last October.

My 2 cents...blue room is still the blue room. New faces, same questions, a few good contributors, and a few that will argue with you just for the point of arguing, even if they have no information or experience with something (recall said front locker thread earlier this year ).

I'm actually in the process of moving most of the writeups I did to here and a dedicated resource to try and mitigate the bs and herd mentality. Still is a good resource though for new folks. I know I got alot out of the site and with Don's contributions and a couple others it will continue to add value.


Anyways had hoped to get the seats installed today. Unfortunately my sparco order from last week still hasn't shipped and I received the wrong side mount brackets in my original order. Not sure if my motor mount gussets shipped out either. Guess I might tackle the upgraded fuel pump install....running out of parts to put back on the FJC....what a good sign!!!

 

[FJNewb]

Well scrap the fuel pump install. Looks like I'll be working on another vehicles fuel system instead. Had hoped that the 951 would have lasted until I got the FJC running again. Unfortunately the daily driving duties on a 25 year old car proved to be too much.

Noticed the smell of gas the past few weeks but nothing major...hadn't driven it since the Holidays. When I got in I noticed the fuel gauge was well below where it was when I last drove it. Hopped out and looked under the rear to see a steady pace of gasoline dripping off the tank.

Breifly looking online at the 2-3 day "garage mechanic" time frame to drop the tank leads me to believe that even though I love driving the 951 it will be a source of great frustration moving foward. Oh well guess I'll finally get around to repairing the coolant/oil leaks and knocking out the timing belt while I am at it. At this rate the 951 and the FJC will be drivable again around the same time.

 

[FJNewb]

On the bright side some nice looking DMZ product showed up today.

Tim's a great resource if you've got any questions about the various IFS options out there (wish I had picked his brain from the get go, rather than experiencing first hand). Great customer service...probably spent an hour or so with him talking travel and bump steer, pretty impressive he took to the time to discuss since he was trying to get a customers rig wrapped a post thanksgiving run.

Hopefully have them welded on next week.​

 

[1911]

I almost sent you a PM the other day asking where you disappeared to. Migz and I noted we hadn't seen you post much and were wondering if we'd see you at hidden falls last October.

My 2 cents...blue room is still the blue room. New faces, same questions, a few good contributors, and a few that will argue with you just for the point of arguing, even if they have no information or experience with something (recall said front locker thread earlier this year ).

I'm actually in the process of moving most of the writeups I did to here and a dedicated resource to try and mitigate the bs and herd mentality. Still is a good resource though for new folks. I know I got alot out of the site and with Don's contributions and a couple others it will continue to add value.

Thanks Brian; I still get notified by email if I get a PM over there, but that is about the only reason I ever log on any more. Say "Hi" to Miguel for me.

I didn't make it to WTF this year (first one I've missed in 4 years) because I was in Ireland during that time. Hope you guys had a good time and it wasn't as dusty as last year.

Didn't mean to hijack your build thread, which I enjoy reading and thanks BTW for posting it here on Mud as well.

 

[FJNewb]

Thanks Brian; I still get notified by email if I get a PM over there, but that is about the only reason I ever log on any more. Say "Hi" to Miguel for me.

I didn't make it to WTF this year (first one I've missed in 4 years) because I was in Ireland during that time. Hope you guys had a good time and it wasn't as dusty as last year.

Didn't mean to hijack your build thread, which I enjoy reading and thanks BTW for posting it here on Mud as well.

Ireland is a sound reason to miss WTF. Hope you had a great trip. Definitely didn't miss too much this year. Nice to get on some more of the trails on the interior of the park. It'd be nice to mix up the park location next year.

No worries on the hi-jack.

 

[FJNewb]

Must be some backups at speedware...company that makes sparco seat brackets. Ordered before Thanksgiving and haven't received any shipping information yet on the driver side. First order came with the wrong side mount brackets, so I can't install the passenger side which I already had the base for.

Ended up pulling the pitbull tires off yesterday and mounting the MTR's.

Full bump

Perfect fit

Unfortunately, in trying to be efficient and get other things prepped for Dave the steering shaft was removed so the motor mount gussets could be welded on. Which means I won't be able to confirm the clear at bump + lock until the gussets are on and the steering shaft is reinstalled.​