Cam's FJ60 Gets Sprung

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desertdude said:
I like how solid that sleeve looks. Are you working with a written to-do check list?
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wngrog said:
I can answer this with a hell no. He's totally winging it
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It's all up here (points to dome). It works like this... I'll think I have a plan and the logical order to do things and then I find that something else takes priority, and while I'm doing that - SQUIRREL!!!

Maybe Andy can call me in some meds to help focus.
 
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fountainhead said:
I'm on the verge of a panic attack just having read that.
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Some of that is tongue in cheek, but you're probably still going to have a panic attack.

My approach is to study any and all similar projects I can find and burn the important points into my brain. I'm not very organized, so if I wrote it all down somewhere it would get lost. I'm an engineer (supposedly) so it would just be on a napkin anyway. So in lieu of a plan, I have some key ideas and starting points. For these types of projects, I know a plan would get off track early on in the process, so I try to stick to the main idea, remain flexible, and work in a semi-logical order. I know it's been done before, so there's that, and then the fall back plan is I can always stick some Chevy leaf springs in there.

I'm slow, so I have time to follow the squirrels and see where they lead me. This actually works in my favor, it gives me time to look for those inches that are at every step of the game, like Al Pacino said earlier.
 
wngrog said:
"The guy that did this on Mud finally PM'ed back and said the rear was a real pain in the ass"
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True story.

I have a few ideas to try out in the rear. But I won't know how it'll work until everything is out of the way and I have the pieces in hand. Should be interesting. Keep your paper bag handy JT:grinpimp:
 
Godwin said:
You should have set up a Cam cam so that we could've had live action video.:D
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Last night would have been the perfect time. I was welding the sleeve on the panhard mount brace over at my vice, where I don't normally weld. I was finishing up and noticed some smoke. A stray spark flew into a nearby plastic bucket that was full of greasy blue paper towels. That provided a few minutes of comedy as I had to run it out to the driveway, empty it out and stomp out the greasy fire.
 
Cool, but I think I found an easy solution last night when I was chasing a squirrel. It should get them dang near perfect. I've crossed that problem off the to-do list on my mental napkin.

(We were talking about the difference in frame widths in the rear, the 60's being too narrow to just slide the 80 right in without pointing the springs at an angle.)
 
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Probably a dumb question, but I'll ask anyway...

The steering arm (on the PS box) is "straight" when the line on the shaft is parallel to the frame, right? There are some faint lines on the arm that seem to line up with those.

Another dumb question... what's the accordion thing in the 80 steering shaft? Does it collapse in a crash? Is it hollow inside?

Anybody have a spare I can dissect? It looks like there's a weld I could cut and shorten it cleanly vs. the dirty method.

The ujoint on the 60 shaft hits the coil bucket, so I'll need to use the 80's.
 
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To avoid spraying paint all over the motor, I painted the sleeve before putting the brace in for good. I'll need to slide the axle out one more time to finish welding everything.

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The panhard is about an inch too short (that's what she said) due to the difference in frame width, plus whatever the lift adds. So I'll sleeve it like it did the brace.

For the drag link, I'll get Luke @ 4x4 Labs to make one that is the right length. I'll sleeve an old one to get it to the right length and get it functioning.

The tie rod doesn't change, so I'll run the stock one.

I can re-use my old steering damper clamp and bolt the other end to the frame where it was before.

Here's a shot with my old tie rod installed (it's too short) just to get an idea of what it will look like.

As said before, I can just run 80 series tie rods ends at all 4 locations for simplicity.

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wngrog said:
Accordion is a dust cover for the collapsible part where it slides. Cut off either end.
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Negative.

80 series version is not like that (say like the 60/40 series intermediate shafts). The according portion on the 80 series intermediate shaft is built into the intermediate shaft and is a rather important part of the entire intermediate shaft. Unless Cameron wants the spear in the chest!

The rubber boot is actually supposed to cover the rag joint at the input of the power steering gear box.
 
FJ60Cam said:
...I'm an engineer (supposedly) so it would just be on a napkin anyway...
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Hey, I know of several billion-dollar companies that were started with a drawing on a napkin.

From what I see here, you're executing this project to perfection. :clap:
And if its taken 10 years off your life, you'll regain that with 10 extras years of driving pleasure.
 
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:idea: When you slide the axle out for the last time, take the opportunity to weld on some protection for that front diff. Much easier to do with the axle out.
 
desertdude said:
I like how solid that sleeve looks.
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Hmmm...Those look like some old fashioned hillbillycountry booger welds to me. And I should know!

More seriously, you're using the 80 series steering box? If so, yes, there are very faint match marks on the pittman and sector shaft, and they do align fore and aft if I remember right. Very nice of Mr T to mark this because Mr Saginaw does not.

Great to see the pace at which this is progressing and the rear will be easy (well, easy to watch from 2094 miles away)!

Just thinkin' here, once you're done, you should look for a clean 80 body and swap it on your suspension.:D
 
I wish I had the energy to do all that! Mark was talking about doing plates on his, so might as well do two at once.
 
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