Big Muddy's Buildup...

[caper]

I' ll have to try the carquest one , ya like I said there was no groove for the clip , it was just smooth on the 38009 line I bought. Thanks

 

[twoturtlesracing]

I' ll have to try the carquest one , ya like I said there was no groove for the clip , it was just smooth on the 38009 line I bought. Thanks

That's weird! Sorry man! I was a little confused when I bought mine because it wasn't like the original and I thought that maybe that's what you were running into- but it sounds like that is not the case.

 

[Jonny Tsunami]

Great thread, keep up the good work!
Dave

 

[Oakley40]

Wow that color looks familiar!

 

[subzali]

Hey Coe! How did you like your new gearing in Moab?

 

[twoturtlesracing]

Wow that color looks familiar!

Ha! ha! Almost look like twins! Yours looks like it might be cleaner with less rust though!

Hey Coe! How did you like your new gearing in Moab?

Hey man! I really enjoyed the lower gearing! I hardly ever had to feather my clutch and with some careful tire placement I did just about everything that was within my pucker tolerance! It even got me into trouble coming out of the smaller hot tub on Hells revenge because I was running in 2lo and doing so good I forgot I was in 2lo and couldn't figure out why I couldn't make it out! Easy fix though!

However, it is not so low that I couldn't see an Orion in my future; while not necessary for a lot of things, there was one climb at the very start of Behind The Rocks that lower gearing still would be VERY nice and probably at least one locker. A little winch work got me up the other 2/3rds of it though, so not impassable- as long as someone can make it up ahead of you that has a winch. (This is the same hill Pappy rolled his 'Cruiser on if I'm not mistaken. What a beautiful cruiser too!)

I think the biggest thing that I noticed in Moab was the rough ride. I know it's a 40, but I know it could be better too. It's pretty rough for the , and quite frankly, I can handle it, but only because I love the sport and the rig so much. After about 4 hours, it's not much fun in between obstacles. I have decent shackle angles (Although I have read threads on here that say shackle angle has little to do with the ride- it's all about spring rate) and I think that my spring rates aren't that bad- although the longer rear shackles I made right before Moab may have stiffened the rears a little more. So, between wanting a certain look that I think a springover would give me, wanting a less harsh ride, and a little more articulation capability, I am tossing around the possibility of going spring over with 60 rears like Stumpalama in his ROTW thread: STUMPALAMA I know that I could run 35's on the what I've got now, but I think that those running low springovers and 35's have the rigs that appeal to my eye the most. I know there's all kinds of controversy about going SOA or not- and I certainly haven't decided FOR SURE yet- but it is something that I am researching and thinking about. Either way though, it's not going to happen until I do some rust remediation which will hopefully happen this summer- between weekends wheeling the living daylights out of it in it's current configuration.

Right now though, I'm in the middle of replacing my inner axle seals with the Marlin HD seals I bought and didn't have time to replace right before Moab- I already put some caster correction shims in that I had laying around for awhile to help out some wandering issues, and I'm going to throw in mini truck power steering to get rid of my sloppy steering gear box; and because I have all the parts just laying here. Then I'll try to have it in the mountains every weekend!

And one last thing... I've kind of got a fire lit under me to complete the Cruiser in it's entirety... My wife and I are expecting our first little Cruiserhead in late November and I want to be able to spend many years wheeling the Cruiser as a family with out spending a ton of time working on it. We'll see how much progress I make though, and I'm ok if it doesn't get totally done: I would just like to have a lot of it done.

 

[twoturtlesracing]

Just for fun till I can get some progress made...

Wheelin the Crack

 

[subzali]

<snip>

On the vacuum, the FSM for a 2F states that 16.5 in. Hg at idle is what you're shooting for. But that will drop with altitude, I believe a lot of us in Denver see in the 13-14 in. Hg range. With a little higher elevation I'd say a steady 12 would be pretty good.

Coe, I was just flipping through the pocket manual last night and saw that the spec for high altitude vacuum readings was 12.6 in. Hg. I'm not sure what Toyota defines as high altitude, maybe >6,000 ft?

 

[twoturtlesracing]

Coe, I was just flipping through the pocket manual last night and saw that the spec for high altitude vacuum readings was 12.6 in. Hg. I'm not sure what Toyota defines as high altitude, maybe >6,000 ft?

Good to know! Thanks Matt!

 

[ColoCruiserJeff]

You mean to tell me you haven't posted up SOA photos on here yet??

Here's some from CM11 runnin with me and the gang! What a blast!

Now that you're closer to Denver, you gotta make a trip up here to the shop...lots of Cruiser stuff goin' on!

Laters-

Jeff

 

[ColoCruiserJeff]

This thread needs more photos about SOA swap....but until Coe gets off his a$$ and gets around to posting up build progress photos....here's more of his rig from CM11!

Had to throw the one in with the ladies


Talk to you soon dude!!


Jeff

 

[twoturtlesracing]

Hey Jeff!

Was just thinking about you! Justin @ Redline mentioned you the other day. Something about diesels???? What's up with that? You gotta call me sometime!

Back at ya!​

Jeff enjoying the cush ride of his 80..​

Jeff's Dad doing an awesome job of wheeling the 80.
(Of many neat people I met @ CM He was one of the most!)​

Jeff showing how it's done...​

Airing down: Isotel leading the way​

THe 40's!​

Jeff- did you sell your 40? I think I heard a rumor?​

​

 

[subzali]

Coe, in this picture, is this an obstacle on Behind the Rocks?

 

[twoturtlesracing]

Coe, in this picture, is this an obstacle on Behind the Rocks?

Hey Matt!

Yes it is, it's the one closest to the highway. It's also the one that made me decide that an Orion was still a must have one of these days! Jeff and I were both winched up it. I tried to climb it, but only got a 1/3 of the way up before I decided I was pushing my luck and better have a safety line. MUCH lower gearing and I think I might have even pulled it off without a locker. Maybe. You know that this is where Pappy rolled don't you?

You must be familiar with it?

BTW, that beautiful young lady to the right is my lovely . I am a lucky man. I will get to bring 2 ladies to CM next year: My wife, and my by-then-4 month-old daughter!

 

[twoturtlesracing]

SOA Conversion...

Alright Jeff... Alright! I've been a little busy!

A little Flex:

So yes, as Jeff mentioned, I went ahead and did a spring over.

My biggest reason for SOA was a softer ride. Moab was rough! Secondary reasons (If you can call them that) were better approach/departure angles, longer wheelbase, and more flex.

To accomplish a better ride SUA, would have required a set of longer springs from Alcan (or some other spring mfg) to replace my front springs that had been set up for a Man-A-Fre style shackle reversal- and were therefore to short and didn't have enought lift to not have a bad shackle angle running them as I was- non SR. Also, had I stayed SUA, there was also the downside of still having stuff dragging below the axle.

In my mind, the positives for SOA out-weighed the positives of staying SUA, so I decided rather than spending money on new springs- I would just put that money towards a spring over!

My goal is a real-world, daily-drivable, four wheelin' rig that my wife or I can drive anytime of year with our growing family: Whether down the highway or trail; 2Hi, 4Hi or 4Low; snow, wind rain or otherwise.

It seems that those goals are what Mark W. designs and uses his rigs for. And who can argue with all the years of experience that comes with Mark's advise or the fact that his customers all seem to be quite happy with their rigs?

So, I decided that I wanted to do a "Mark W. style" springover. This basically means no C&T, but instead, putting the spring perches on top of the axle 180* from the factory and flipping the springs for longer wheelbase and relaxed driveline angles. Here's a thread where Mark lays out the basics: Turn the housing? Specifically post #11. Another thread that has some input on the the whole C&T discussion I enjoyed was: Spring Over

So, armed with the above, I set out to do a spring over as cheaply as I could on everything but safety.




My plan:

• Use my factory springs
• cut-off and reuse stock spring perches
• make a homemade double steering arm (thanks to Kurt at CruiserOutfitters for the extra steering arm)
• Rework my already modified shock mounts as necessary to accomodate my 13.5" travel Doetch Tech shocks
• Sell my stock steelies that I got From ColoCruiserJeff and had wrapped 33X10.50s around- and use that money to but a set of 315/75-16 TreadWright Guard Dog MT's and Cragar Soft 8's. I wound up with I think $150 into my new tires and wheels... Not to bad for 35" rubber!

(NOTE: I have been around welding all of my life as my Dad is a certified Pipe welder and fabricator. I learned much from him and I am very confident in my welding abilities. Please DO NOT try any of the following mods if you are not!)

More pics and write up to come soon...

 

[subzali]

My buddy and I went up that obstacle in his CJ7 on 31s during EJS 2005. I've heard it's gotten much more difficult since then, and it certainly looks like it has. I didn't know that was where Pappy rolled though

Congrats on the future new addition to the family!

 

[twoturtlesracing]

More SOA conversion...

Kind of a quick overview of how I did my SOA and what you'll need:

1. Take your driveshafts off (Probably have to get them lengthened and clearance U joint assemblies- more detail later.)
2. Take your shocks off
3. Take your brake lines off and plug them so you don't lose all of your brake fluid onto the floor. I use a sharpened twig. Works ok. (You will need new, longer than factory brakelines: Raybestos part number 38009, Napa BR38009, or CarQuest SP6310 are cheap alternatives)
4. Jack your vehicle up and set it on jack stands- I would recommend doing one end at a time for safety as well as simplicity.
5. Take off U-bolts and spring plates
6. In the front, disconnect relay rod from tie rod
7. Disconnect shackles from springs.
8. Roll an axle out from under the rig. Your project should now look kinda like this...

   
9. Unless using new perches, using a grinder or some other suitable tool, take off ONLY one perch. You'll see why in a minute.
10. Now that you have taken off one perch, use a level or magnetic angle finder (protractor) to make sure that the remaining spring perch is level. (I prefer to use a good torpedo level for simplicity's sake. Unless you have a good (NOT EMPIRE ) protractor, you will probably wind up cutting the perch that you just tacked on- off again. Either because you realize that the piece of junk didn't read accurate when you set it to zero, or because you set one side to a certain angle and then didn't realise that it had to read the angle on the other side of zero when you put it on the removed perch because your protractor is 180* from what it was and upright instead of upside down.) Use a jackstand or blocks to hold the pinion at the proper spot while you are making sure of your perches positioning. Should look like this...
    
11. Tack your perch on, double check that it is still 180* from the factory location, and then weld it up. Looks like so...
    
12. Repeat steps #9,10, and 11 for the other perch. One axle is now done!
    
    

Please stay tuned...


(Writeup continued in post #123)

 

[twoturtlesracing]

My buddy and I went up that obstacle in his CJ7 on 31s during EJS 2005. I've heard it's gotten much more difficult since then, and it certainly looks like it has. I didn't know that was where Pappy rolled though

Well, maybe I'm more of a chicken than he was... But in all honesty, I can't really imagine doing that now- unless MAYBE you were locked front and back and had super low gearing.

Congrats on the future new addition to the family!

Thanks Man!

 

[PixelWrangler]

11. Tack your perch on, double check that it is still 180* from the factory location, and then weld it up. Looks like so...

It would look like this if we all had your welding skills Coe, sweet looking bead man!

 

[twoturtlesracing]

It would look like this if we all had your welding skills Coe, sweet looking bead man!

Hey thanks man!

Very cool looking family rig in storage btw... Would LOVE to see that one finished!