Build Dusty the mini truck that wishes it was a Land Cruiser

[gpfj40]

I finished up the front bumper and trimmed the winch mount. This whole process took a lot longer that I thought but I’m happy with the outcome. These pics are at full stuff. The steering box is just waiting on new bolts and I’ve welded up the new drag link. Once the steering is on and I weld up the steering shaft I’ll flip the truck around and get busy on the rear suspension.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That looks pretty sick.

 

[gpfj40]

I flipped the truck around so the back end is easier to work on and proceeded to torch the brackets off the 80 series e locker full float rear axle. Next up was to pull the axle shafts and hubs to do the bearings and seals. This is when I noticed the ds spindle was bent. CRAP.

This had me running through a bunch of different scenarios on how to deal with it. During this research I also realized 15” rims won’t fit on these axles. CRAP.

I have most of the parts needed to do a ruffstuff ff conversion (wouldn’t really be a conversion in this case but it’s what they call it) by welding those flanges on to my 80 series rear axle and bolting on some front spindles/callipers and sliding the stock axle shafts back in. Ordering those flanges takes time and I was thinking I’d rather just buy a fab’d housing with the flanges already welded on which takes even more time. I also have a 60 series rear SF axle, could just switch to that but then I’d be buying an ARB or doing a FF conversion to use the e locker, and still end up with a weaker housing than planned.

In the end I attempted to straighten it. There are too many reason to not try and fix it: e brake, e locker, probably buying bigger beadlocks anyway, spacers will make 15” wheels work and strength(80 axles are stronger than 60 axles). Below is a pic of how much bend I was dealing with and how I went about straightening it. It is pretty close to where is should be now and the hub seams to sit fine on the straightened spindle. Time will tell if this fix works. Maybe down the road if the project turns out or I bend an axle a fab’d housing will be in order.

Then I cut the stock IFS width axle, leaf and brackets off and cleaned up the frame rails. Once again I’m impressed how rust free this frame is for a Canadian truck, basically just surface rust.

Next up is rear link design.

 

[cruisedeisel]

Yupp Im loving it so far. Im digging your fly-by-design as I like to work in similar ways. I really like the tucked in winch basket. I just finished my front bumper for my mini truck but now I wish I built it more like yours. All better!

 

[gpfj40]

That looks pretty sick.

Yupp Im loving it so far. Im digging your fly-by-design as I like to work in similar ways. I really like the tucked in winch basket. I just finished my front bumper for my mini truck but now I wish I built it more like yours. All better!

Thanks guys!


Here is my first mock up at the rear 4 link. I’ve included a screen shot of the front 3 link numbers entered into the calculator as built. If you recall from earlier posts my goal is to keep the roll axis as close to 0 as possible. I believe letting this number gets too high contributes to twitchy handling at speed.

Front 3 link as built and measured:

Now bare with me here. As I conceptualize this it seems to me I should shoot for 1* roll oversteer in the back to match the 1* roll oversteer in the front. If I tried to off set it with roll understeer it would make it worse. Said another way: if the truck rolls to the left, the front lower link pushes the left side of the front axle forward slightly there by steering the truck to the right. With roll over steer in the back roll to the left would push the left link back causing the rear of the truck to move left, roll understeer would cause the left link to shorten there by steering the rear of the truck to the right keeping the rear of the truck behind the front of the truck. Do I have this correct? Or backwards? Feedback is encouraged.

Do I need to be concerned about the 8* roll understeer and full bump? Thinking not.

As far as anti squat goes anywhere between 50 and 100% was the goal, not super concerned about it at the moment.

Any other feedback on the design? It’s in my nature to over think things so any feedback from real world experience with Roll Axis and Anti Squat would be appreciated. Thinking I may ad more separation between upper and lower links at the axle since there is more room.


Rear 4 link 1st Draft:

Here is the masking tape mock up at ride height:

 

[cruisedeisel]

Nice frame too!

 

[bigfj62]

Why not just buy a new Spindle?

 

[gpfj40]

Why not just buy a new Spindle?

the spindles are welded into the rear housing on this 80 series full float axle. It’s not a simple bolt on spindle like the front knuckles, it uses front end interchangeable bearings and hub tho. I’m not aware of anyone selling replacement spindles. These axles aren’t nearly as common in Canada. If you have a source to suggest please do, if i could buy a set of spindles I’d get ruff stuff to weld them on a fabbed housing and be set.

 

[bigfj62]

Sorry man totally spaced the fact that they are welded in the rear was thinking bolted on like the front. I know a front spindle can be sourced and used with a ruff stuff full float kit. Akella on mud could get you a front spindle or most dealerships. Not sure if there is a difference or not between the front or rear spindles.

 

[gpfj40]

It’s been 2 months since my last update. Dusty took the back seat to land cruiser repairs. It all started with ‘quick run’ to enjoy the fresh 18” of snow back in November and ended with 4 of 6 rigs not making it out the after a long ass 22 hr day. We underestimated the ice thickness on the mud holes under the snow and it turns out is was the worst possible thickness: not thick enough to carry a vehicle but too thick to break once you fall through. This made simple mud holes very difficult. I’ll spare you the details, but will say we learned a lot this day.

On to the update: First up I figured I needed some taller jack stands to make building the rear suspension easier and safer so I came up with these. I also got tired of working on portable benches made of plywood sitting on saw horses so I bought a 36” tool box and mounted a 2’x 4’ x 1/4” steel top to it and installed plugs with a grinder storage rail. These have been well worth the time and effort.

For the rear 4 link I started out with a subframe cross member that matches the front lower link mounts except it has a cut out for the drive shaft. I neglected to take a pic of this until after the full mock up. For the axle upper link mounts I opted for a 2” DOM tube rather than a heavy truss because I’m going for light weight on this project. There will be some gussets on the inside angles between the axle tube and the DOM.

The frame upper link mounts and fish plates are cut out of 1/4” flat bar with my hypotherm.

Here is the plan on the link numbers, I was able to move the lowers wide enough to stay out of the way of the driveshaft hoop. Super happy with the roll axis angle and the anti squat. I’m only allowed 5 pics per post so stay tuned......

 

[gpfj40]

Here are the rest of the rear mock up pics. Next step is to figure out how to mount the coils and bumps. I am planning on using TJ stock front springs for the rear which have about a 140 lb/in rate, if I have 1000 lbs of sprung weight out back that will have them sit at 14”, minus 5.5” travel to bump leads to a 8.5” compressed height. There is 10.5” between the axle tube and at the frame rail so that is about perfect to mount the coils. I’m not sure what to do about the bumps, they are too large to fit inside of the TJ coil.

Here it is at ride height:

Again at full bump:

Over head:

12” droop ps, full bump ds:

Rear view, ps full droop, ds full bump:

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Wicked. Love those jack stands.

 

[gpfj40]

Didn’t get a great deal done this week. I took my time final welding the rear part of the subframe to avoid getting too much heat into it at one time, almost ready to weld that in. I bent up the rear cab hoop for the exo cage. The green tape is where the next tubes are planned to go. Its hard to describe how the rest of the bed will go, it will be 2 tubes wrapping around the back end in place of the box starting on either side of the main cab hoop. I will connect that upper corner ‘node’ forward to the a pilar and down through the front fender to the slider with a tube between them just above the windshield. Exo cage and bed material is 1.5” od .120 dom, adding the 3 cross tubes to the hoop because the tube is only 1.5". The rear slider mount will get moved back a bit so it lines up better with the hoop. It’s a little higher than I envisioned but I will need the space to weld the front bars to the cab hoop.

I’m open to advice on cage, I’m far from an expert on this.

Next up will be to finish the cross tubes on the cab hoop and weld in the subframe. Then build coil mounts, been putting this off cause I’m still considering my options on the bump stops.

 

[White Stripe]

It’s been 2 months since my last update. Dusty took the back seat to land cruiser repairs. It all started with ‘quick run’ to enjoy the fresh 18” of snow back in November and ended with 4 of 6 rigs not making it out the after a long ass 22 hr day. We underestimated the ice thickness on the mud holes under the snow and it turns out is was the worst possible thickness: not thick enough to carry a vehicle but too thick to break once you fall through. This made simple mud holes very difficult. I’ll spare you the details, but will say we learned a lot this day.

View attachment 1616914


On to the update: First up I figured I needed some taller jack stands to make building the rear suspension easier and safer so I came up with these. I also got tired of working on portable benches made of plywood sitting on saw horses so I bought a 36” tool box and mounted a 2’x 4’ x 1/4” steel top to it and installed plugs with a grinder storage rail. These have been well worth the time and effort.

View attachment 1616916


For the rear 4 link I started out with a subframe cross member that matches the front lower link mounts except it has a cut out for the drive shaft. I neglected to take a pic of this until after the full mock up. For the axle upper link mounts I opted for a 2” DOM tube rather than a heavy truss because I’m going for light weight on this project. There will be some gussets on the inside angles between the axle tube and the DOM.
View attachment 1616918


The frame upper link mounts and fish plates are cut out of 1/4” flat bar with my hypotherm.
View attachment 1616919



Here is the plan on the link numbers, I was able to move the lowers wide enough to stay out of the way of the driveshaft hoop. Super happy with the roll axis angle and the anti squat. I’m only allowed 5 pics per post so stay tuned......
View attachment 1616923

I'm interested in your mud hole story details. That looks like a tough mud hole! Did u break anything???

 

[gpfj40]

I'm interested in your mud hole story details. That looks like a tough mud hole! Did u break anything???

It’s a long story, in the hole I broke the brake cam gear on my 8274, my rear locker started leaking, rear hatch handle broke, DS front inner axle seal gave out flooding the birf with gear oil. Earlier that day a large branch took out 2 PS windows. There was lots of water in gas tank after that night too. I can say that the 3” thick ice was exactly the worst thickness, buddy took out his rad in his TJ and other buddy took out an axle shaft and a inner C on a rubicon JK with chunks of ice.



As for the Update:
Progress was slowed by the purchase of a new welder, Miller Multimatic 215. I had tried out a millermatic 190 last month and was impressed when comparing it to my Lincoln mig pak 180 so I decided to upgrade. I went with the multi process version because I always wanted to learn how to TIG (that will come in time). There are plans to install aluminum panels in the bed so I would need a spool gun and I didn’t want to throw anymore money on accessories for my Lincoln. So far the new miller is awesome, much smoother arc, less spatter and goes longer before starting to feel the duty cycle limits and welds better over head. Auto set is interesting, not sure it is the answer though, it seams to feed more wire than Im used to. Practice Practice Practice.

The rear sub frame cross member is mostly in.

I cut out the materials for the rear coil buckets before mocking them up for this photo. Note the wider surface for the bump stops. Will be using the same GM OE bumps I used on the front only this time I will be mounting them in air bump cans for adjustability and in case I feel the need to upgrade in the future. TMR will be the source for the bump cans and limit strap double shear mount tabs. The lower shock mounts are from TMR.

 

[gpfj40]

I’ve pulled the axle out to final weld the new brackets and a ruff stuff cheap diff guard. Have taking my time to not cause warping.

I bought a cheapo magnum notcher, man I wish it would of just ignored all those guys who say just free hand the notches..... the notcher workes so much simpler, tighter and more repeatable. This particular model has bushings instead of needle bearings so I’m sure it won’t last for ever but really how many tubes will I be notching in my life? Pretty happy with this purchase.

First up was to notch the cross bars in my main hoop. Pretty happy how this turned out. the hoop is final welded but gust sitting on there so far, not sure I should final weld this in just yet.

I also fab’d up a protector for the elocker, I looked into purchasing one and figured it would be more that 170 polar bucks by the time the US dollar was exchanged and shipping. It turned out ok.

Next up I will be finishing up the rear axle by mounting the brake lines, finishing the gussets on the truss, then painting it. Then I will re install it under the truck and mount the upper coil buckets, bump stops, cross member and brackets for upper shock mounts. Then maybe the rad mount on the cage hoop.

 

[gpfj40]

Added a couple tubes for trusses. Finished with the brake lines and parking brake cable mounts. I bent the arms of the park brake levers up so the cable is behind the axle tube rather than below it, I will be using the mini truck cable to pull the 80 series axle, it will just take adjusting the cable length. Its hard to really see what the cable mod looks like unless you are familiar with them. I also painted this but no pic of that just yet.

Then I finished the other 2 DIY beadlocks and painted them. Interesting point to note, I was able to mount these 15” steel rims on the 80 series axles which many say you can’t do, I guess the back spacing works out for me in this case. Also some painted axle parts.

Tonight I started the rad mount: angle and flat bar, nothing fancy. The rad is a the biggest Summit brand cross flow circle track rad they had with outlets on the same side.
Summit Racing® Universal Fit Aluminum Radiators SUM-380343

 

[gpfj40]

Today I installed a 2” 120 wall dom cross member for the upper shock mounts by drilling the frame with a hole saw. It’s welded on both sides of each frame rail. The spare tire hanger crossmember was removed back at the beginning so this should more than replace the missing strength. Also installed TMR bump cans and finished my cheapo bump stops. The axle is drooping to the the full 12” travel bilstien 5125 on the DS and at full bump on the the PS.

 

[gpfj40]

So I learned there are 2 different sizes of 80 series rear disc rotors, who knew? I had ordered new rotors for a 93 80 series from rock auto since this axle didn’t come with rotors, they were the only size listed, 93 to 97ish. I assumed 93 because it is pre ABS axle which was the only year for this, or so I thought. Everything before that was drums in the rear, or so I thought. It turns out JDM 80 series such as HDJ 80/81 had smaller discs in the rear for 2 years 90-92 and this is what my 80 series axle came from. So I sourced them from a local landcrusier shop for 3x what i paid from rock auto. Here is a pic of the 2 different shoe sizes in the smaller backing plate.

Here is its with shocks installed and bump stops set at full bump.

Then I set out to bend up the tube bed out of 1.5 .120 DOM. They are just tacked in place here and the axle is at full twist to see maximum upward location of the tire.

Before I could weld in the tube bed sides in needed to install the tow points and adjust the height of my tall jack stands now that the rear spring hangers needed to be cut off so the truck could stay level and at ride height. Just drilled a hole in the right spot adjacent to the existing holes. The axle is pulled up to full bump here to scope out the exhaust and sway bar locations which are next.

 

[gpfj40]

I decided I’m not comfortable with just the crossmember at the front of the black box, there is too much weight behind that: blackbox and transfer case. So I decided to build another crossmember behind the t case. Initially it was going to be anchored at the centre output cover but after looking at it I made more sense to build it off the rear tail housing. I bent a 180 out of 1.5 .120 dom and notched the 90s.

Next up was the rear sway bar. I’ver read online about using the torsion bars from the gen 2 IFS and I liked the price so I gave it a go. The bushings and straps and end bushings are from a 80 series front sway bar which I saved from my 43 axle swap, too bad the width was wrong. The arms are 1.5 and 1” x 1/8 flat bar, I squared the end of the torsion bar in and stuffed some square tube on them and welded it all up. I attempted to drill and bolt the square tube through the torsion bar but the bar is way too hard so I just welded it. That probably isn’t the best idea but the fallout if it breaks is pretty small, and I have one more torsion bar to try again. It mounts in the rear behind the new gas tank spot, a pic of that will follow once the paint dries.

I’m working on the full dual exhaust now, pics of that tomorrow hopefully.