80 series Slinky/ICON Long Travel Suspension officially coming to the U.S.A.

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Darren,

How do you set up a manual switch lock up converter? Thanks!
 
Mieser said:
Do you have any picture of bracing for the front axle?

Thank you very much for information.
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Gusseting the housing to stop the axle tubes flexing is the best way over the top can take space, we do the swivel ball top and bottom as well. Cutting the swivels and rheeming the housing, and pressing thick wall tube up the inside, and plug welding the ends with 6mm plates bent with axle holes welded into the centre pumkin is the neatest way.

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thetoyotaman said:
Darren,

How do you set up a manual switch lock up converter? Thanks!
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On the 4 speed you need to modify the valve body if you want 1st gear lock up convertor, other than thats its just wire in the box and mount the switch for all the other gears.
 
Mieser said:
I do like the J80 chassis as far as axles go. They have nice fabricated axle housings that seem to hold up well in vehicles that are pushing 6000+lbs.
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i, and many 80 owners, wish our rigs were the skinny supermodel size you quote. many of the 80s out there are in the 7100-7400+ range. ;)
 
it is painful. this summer fat bastard goes on a diet. i've already lost the second row seats since i never have passengers and i'll be trimming the wings off my rear bumper and trimming the front bumper. looking at smaller lighter manual front seats to lose the 500lb stock power uncomfortable leather seats.
by getting rid of second row seats, i'll be able to move the fridge down which will help with cog and allow me to lose the extra weight of the slide for the fridge. getting a different air pump will mean the powertank will get moved to a different rig. slimming down my camping gear. looking at potential alum roof rack for the rtt instead of steel. every little bit will help.
 
nuclearlemon said:
it is painful. this summer fat bastard goes on a diet. i've already lost the second row seats since i never have passengers and i'll be trimming the wings off my rear bumper and trimming the front bumper. looking at smaller lighter manual front seats to lose the 500lb stock power uncomfortable leather seats.
by getting rid of second row seats, i'll be able to move the fridge down which will help with cog and allow me to lose the extra weight of the slide for the fridge. getting a different air pump will mean the powertank will get moved to a different rig. slimming down my camping gear. looking at potential alum roof rack for the rtt instead of steel. every little bit will help.
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The Prinsu designed rack is pretty sweet and quite light and has a nice low profile, plus looks to be the perfect RTT platform...
 
I didn't get to much this weekend on the new truck, I got looped into helping some friends move.....guy with the big truck and all that.

Anyhow. I spent most of my free time measuring a lot of stuff on the suspension. I was very curious to find out what the un-sprung weight was currently since I have all the springs out.

I saw some cheap 400lb bathroom scales on Amazon and figured I would give it a try.....



It was a good thing that I ordered two scales. My original idea was to stick a scale under each tire, but that didn't end up working out. I ended up having the corner weight pushing 400+ at each corner.

I found, through some trial and error, that the chassis needed to be near ride height to prevent any bind on the stock suspension arm bushings that may have an effect on the weight.



This is how I pulled all the chassis weight off of the axles with the engine hoist. I also found that the axle needed to be very level or the numbers would be very messed up by the sway-bar on the rear suspension and the sway/bind function of the front radius arms.

The final numbers where.....

RF 380 / LF 404
RR 402 / LR 383

I found it curious how close all the numbers where. I still have some doubts, but I think it should be in the ballpark at least. I have a 2000lb hanging scale coming and will run some of this again in a different way.

I also pulled one of the tires/wheels and weighed it. The tire and wheel combo was 137lbs.

If you subtract the tire/wheel weight from the un-sprung weight you end up with....

Front- 510lbs
Rear- 511lbs

Overall I find those numbers a little too close and convent, but I checked myself multiple times in separate sessions with some lunch time to ponder things.

The remaining un-sprung weight would contain the axle assembly and in theory 1/2 the weight of the suspension links, all the weight of the shocks, steering tie rod, steering arms, brakes,1/2 the steering drag link, etc. I checked to see if the shocks had any gas charge and could not detect anything and was able to move the shocks by hand.

510lbs for the front and rear axle/suspension/steering sprung weight strikes me as a bit odd, but I can't find anything that stands out as off.

The 1st time I tried to so this, I made the mistake of not having the axle level when weighing things. That causes some 'bind' in the swaybar system which has a large effect on the numbers for sure. I went back in the 2nd session and made sure the opposite tire was at the same level as the scale side.

Overall I find it interesting and a bit interesting to think about.
 
That's a lot of work.

Unless something was measured incorrectly could the "extra" weight in the rear be due to the 9.5" vs the 8" ring gear in front? Otherwise I would have expected the front axle to weigh a good bit more...

Also, those are some heavy wheels/tires!!!!! What size?
 
BlueCruiser84 said:
That's a lot of work.

Unless something was measured incorrectly could the "extra" weight in the rear be due to the 9.5" vs the 8" ring gear in front? Otherwise I would have expected the front axle to weigh a good bit more...

Also, those are some heavy wheels/tires!!!!! What size?
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I'm not sure about the front to rear weight un-difference. The rear axle does still have the sway-bar attached, while I have the front sway-bar removed. Overall, these weights should include about 1/2 of the suspension link weight, steering, etc. Generally, I think people never really see weights figured out overall on projects. I have seen reports of the stock 80 series being 4500-4850lbs STOCK depending on options. The engine alone in the stock vehicle is something like 900lbs? These are not light weight vehicles. It would be curious to stick a bone stock vehicle on a set of corner scales to see what it was. I have heard they where pretty close to 50/50 stock.

The scales I was using are not high quality units, but it seems they hold about +/- 3lbs. I can't imagine needing any more resolution than that.

The tires are 40x13.5x17s on 17x9 aluminum beadlock wheels. Not light.

I am very interested to see where I am at for sprung weight right now. I will have a hanging scale in tomorrow evening. I am curious to see where I am at with the new aluminum V8 set further back in the chassis....and basically not much body yet. It will be interesting to keep a log of the weights as I go. My general concern is that the sprung weight is going to be reduced to the point the stock coils are going to be too stiff/tall. I will find out! I am at 1570lb for un-sprung weight right now. I'd love for this thing to be less than 4000lbs when it was finished. I suspect that will be pretty challenging however.....
 
Mieser said:
. I'd love for this thing to be less than 4000lbs when it was finished. I suspect that will be pretty challenging however.....
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at 4k lbs, the 1fzfe would be almost peppy on little tires, but the 40s have got to weigh 110 lbs plus. still gonna be a lot easier to push than a fat 80 series.
 
nuclearlemon said:
at 4k lbs, the 1fzfe would be almost peppy on little tires, but the 40s have got to weigh 110 lbs plus. still gonna be a lot easier to push than a fat 80 series.
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I mentioned it in the post...tires and wheel package is 137lbs per corner.

I'm not running the 1fzfe though, I have a 2013 5.3L LC9 GM aluminum V8. It was 320hp stock I think...this one should do a little better with a new intake and exhaust. It should be fun even with the big dumb tires.
 
nuclearlemon said:
thanks, i love their racks, but i'm looking at custom to carry a curved 52" light bar, my maggiolina and still have enough overhang for fuel cans
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Ige you can probably make a 52" curved bar work on the Prinsu rack. I just changed how mine was mounted over the weekend so I can keep using the wind deflector. I'm only using a 40" but I'll get some measurements on my rack and see if I can see an easy way of making a 52" work. I'm a big fan of my Prinsu rack and it's super light.
 
Garfieldus said:
Slinkys have a particularly bad finish. Rust will be evident within a couple of months.
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nuclearlemon said:
good to know. easier to paint outside of the rig for those going this way.
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Someone might be a bit confused, dip coated, and 10 year + quality coating on them for us, as most paint dipped coils do after priming.

SNOWY has been CO for nearly 4 years now, and they wash up like brand new, over here even longer.

Lets not confuse rust and oxidization to stone chipping ;)
 
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