Builds building a landcruiser for overland expedition (14 Viewers)

[rideglobally]

Suspension

thanks gil and crusher, i will do more research. the other thing i realize from your post is to take a more comprehensive approach in our decision on the suspension. i have a lot of research to do and other opinion from the ih8mud community are welcome. here are some of our current initial thinking.
1. we want to keep our leaf springs, pictured below.
2. widen the tracks with 1.5 negative off set on all four wheels.
3. we have already installed 3" shackles, which solved the steering issue.
4. in the future go to 315/75 R16 all terrain
5. we are leaning toward the Bilstein shocks
6. firestone air bags
7. replace steering damper

your ideas are greatly appreciated you ideas.

thanks

 

[rideglobally]

Mileage will suffer with that catalytic converter.

No reason to run it in my opinion.

agree with you but, global warming got me to install the catalytic converter, i like the sound and almost no smoke after start .......

 

[crushers]

a preburner will work the same...

you will need some caster shims in the front leaf setup, that thing must be like herding cattle.

after chatting with someone about the airbag idea, he mentioned he got rid of the airbags due to the constant failure, he said proper leafs is the way to go with air bags for temperary over loading. i believe he was from africa...

 

[gilghana]

more on airbags!

On my troopy build up thread Wayne asked why I was going HD leafs if I was running airbags - I answered that IMHO airbags are a palliative measure but are not the 'ideal' solution to a leaf spring that cannot deal with the load. I also mentioned that a lot of our logging trucks ran them and we had so many bursts that we swapped them out for leafs. So I think this is what Wayne is referring to.... However I must stress that I have gone HD leafs AND kept the airbags. On tarmac you can pump up the bags and reduce body roll, you can also 'tune' the spring rate so easily with 'em. I know people go 0000kms with them with no problem, and I like em a lot - but with a heavily laden expo vehicle I prefer knowing the springs I have can deal with the load/road air bag or no airbag! A few other reasons for them:
- If your rig (like mine) is parked up for long stretches with al lot of 'bolt on' weight on the springs you can pump them up to avoid springs 'memorising' i.e. taking a permanent sag from lack of use.
- It is a third point in spreading your load - in theory with the vehicle load over three points there is less likelihood of main leaf failure.
- they are very good for towing as you can easily level off the rear to deal with the hitch load.
In short if your leafs can reasonably deal with the weight then the bags are an extra help, but I would not see them as a cure for springs that are shot or just no where near able to deal with the loads. In the Firestone kit there is a t-piece that would allow both bags (assuming they are both on the rear) to share one line... Now this I would not do! I can easily imagine that in a corner the outside bag would compress and the t-piece would allow air to be pushed to the inner bag thereby making the car lean even more: kind of like the opposite of a sway bar... Not my idea of fun on a laden top heavy vehicle. Bilstein's have a very good rep. Maybe if you speak to a real good shock shop about your vehicle and weight and set up you could get the Bilsteins set up for your vehicle if they are not adjustable on compression/rebound. I believe that for most rebuildable shocks changing valving is not a big deal.
Gil

 

[crushers]

there you go,
this is the one i was refering to...although my memory is a bit... unreliable since i thought the bags were removed and what you refered to was not relying solely on them.
my bad.

i love real life experience vs an advertisment of how great something is.

 

[roscoFJ73]

I think the airbags work better with coil springs where you cant have an extra load carrying leaf.

 

[rideglobally]

power steering

this is a little off the current subject but, my power steering was working fine (my conversion was a bolt on), then yesterday it started squeaking, hanging up and spewing fluid from the reservoir. we have not done a trouble shoot cause we are focus on electrical now. just want to get ahead since i know there are advance knowledge about this issue. today i will check the power steering belt, beside the fact the reservoir may have been over fill, what else do you think maybe going on? .... thanks

 

[crushers]

air bubble

 

[crockett]

Diesel

Glad to see your up and running..Keep that Tequila in a safe place for snake bites when you head off on your journey..Best of luck and I will try to keep up with your great build. Dave in Spokane

 

[rideglobally]

Glad to see your up and running..Keep that Tequila in a safe place for snake bites when you head off on your journey..Best of luck and I will try to keep up with your great build. Dave in Spokane

we started our journey today back to Auburn, Washington Laser Cutting Northwest LCNW - Laser Cutting NW to install the 60 gallon diesel tank and other stuff.

this trip is also a shake down for the 12ht. so far it has been great, we just had to get out of town we where not able to complete all the electrical connections, we are traveling with minimum gages only the turbo boost and the speedometer (it would have been great to have oil pressure and water temp), the rest of the electrical stuff will be connected when we come back. we have been keeping the turbo boost at 8, cruising at around 60 to 65 MPH.

power steering is good but continue to make that squeaking noise when making turn, i hope it is because of air in the system and will go away with continued gentle turning. i check the fluid in every stop.

we can hear the turbo whinnying almost all the time, is this normal? we can really feel the power of the 12th. however at 4000 foot elevation there is a power change and i notice some smoke due to air to fuel mixture. today we may going up to 8000 foot elevation. is there a way to make the engine automatically compensate for the thinner air?

it has been a great ride so far....

 

[Volcano cruiser]

PS setup

I'm glad to hear that the Power steering is going well, except for the air bubble problem that is. I am curious which PS setup did you go with? Earlier in the thread there was a mention of bolting on the OEM ps setup from a 40. Did you do that or did you go with one of the other setups, 60 series, saginaw, scout or hilux/minitruck?
John​

 

[sdtash]

Great project, very infomative. Good luck

 

[joshoisasleep]

Ack driving with no pyro OR water temp gauge on an untested setup?? And with visible smoke? Don't do it! Sounds like you need to tweak your turbo as you should not be seeing a power loss at 4,000 feet... I don't even notice that WITHOUT a turbo. I don't EVER get smoke with my turbo (except cold mornings at high altitude), and BEFORE I had it installed I would never see any below about 9,000 feet at the lowest.

Please don't drive any higher without at least getting a water temp gauge hooked up!!!

 

[joshoisasleep]

Ack driving with no pyro OR water temp gauge on an untested setup?? And with visible smoke? Don't do it! Sounds like you need to tweak your turbo as you should not be seeing a power loss at 4,000 feet... I don't even notice that WITHOUT a turbo. I don't EVER get smoke with my turbo (except cold mornings at high altitude), and BEFORE I had it installed I would never see any below about 9,000 feet at the lowest.

Please don't drive any higher without at least getting a water temp gauge hooked up!!!

 

[rideglobally]

I'm glad to hear that the Power steering is going well, except for the air bubble problem that is. I am curious which PS setup did you go with? Earlier in the thread there was a mention of bolting on the OEM ps setup from a 40. Did you do that or did you go with one of the other setups, 60 series, saginaw, scout or hilux/minitruck?
John​

i got the bolt on 40 series OEM

 

[rideglobally]

Happy Holidays - Snow in the Northwest

The timing on our trek back to Laser Cutting Northwest LCNW - Laser Cutting NW came on the day of the greatest snow storm of the decade. What we were trying to miss came on the day of our ride. The region has not seen this kind of snow in 40 years. From Salem, Oregon to Auburn, Washington it was a very slow ride. We drove at 10 to 40 MPH (mostly 10 MPH). Our worry was the gas stations would be out of diesel but we got lucky. The good side of the ride is that it gave us the opportunity to test out our manual rear locker. We arrived in Auburn at 3 AM to a great meal and good wine waiting on the table. By 12 noon the following day we were cutting up the floor of the Nullacruiser. See us on u tube on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfluv6-oXdQ

Our main goal in the next two days is to install the 60 gallon fuel tank. The other goal is to laser cut parts such as side doors, spare tire wheel well, outside utility cabinets, etc… I will then finish the installation of these parts in warm sunny Los Angeles. We plan to purchase used welding equipment that can weld up to ¼” thick aluminum and steel.

We only have a total of about 4 work days so these are very ambitious goals.... we will see what happen. We are Happy to be back at LCNW again!!!!

By the way I reported earlier I did not have oil pressure and water temp, they are now working.

Happy Holidays!! Enjoy




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfluv6-oXdQ

 

[rideglobally]

More “toys” at LCNW for the build

Hey all, here are more pictures. The snow clouds are lifting and we have access to Internet so here are pictures of the last seven days. We always enjoy watching and using the endless number of “toys” they have here at LCNW LCNW - Laser Cutting NW .

First series of picture shows how the 60-gallon tank is positioned on Nulla’s rear cabin. The tank filler will need to be re-positioned, we will to do this in Los Angeles because time has run out. We have to start the drive to Los Angeles by Monday.

In the next (posting) series of picture you will see a machine (Virtech) that scans a paper template we created. The machine then turns the cut-out into a digital pattern that the laser uses to cut the aluminum. We then used another machine to bend the aluminum to fit the Nulla.

The last (next posting) two pictures is the fuel tank floor with the cross bar mounted to the chassis. This will help hold the tank up and strengthen the chassis. The last picture is Nulla in the “operating room”.

This Holiday we spent on the build except for a brief time off on X’ mas day. We want to take this opportunity to wish you all Happy Holidays and thank you for all the advice. With your help we have made major progress on the build. We have a long ways to go so keep the advice coming!

Happy Holidays !!! Enjoy…..

 

[rideglobally]

more pictures - virtech machine

 

[rideglobally]

Nulla at the LCNW "operating room"

 

[gilghana]

Great - been waiting for these Amado!
Your NullaCruiser is coming along VERY nicely. To answer your PM the castor correction IIRC is basically wedges that fit under your front springs to compensate for the rotation effect on the front axle as it is lifted - very simple and easy. I have never done them on leafs, but on coils yes... Others will no doubt correct me if I am talking rubbish, but I would imagine that castor correction on front leafs is a lot easier than pressing in bushings on a coiler?

And your second question re the airbag/shock combo I would also stay away - all you would need is the basic airbags and your choice of conventional shocks.

Got any pictures of Nullacruiser in the big snow storms you guys been having?

Keep it up!
Gil