ESME - 98 REBUILD

[bluecruiser]

@reevesci no problem at all. Sounds like not a lot of fun for you. Hope it all works out going forward. Your products look great.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

@reevesci no problem at all. Sounds like not a lot of fun for you. Hope it all works out going forward. Your products look great.

It happened for a reason... AND I like the results.

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Pulled the rack and got the trim paint color matched. Mine is 1B2 Toyota paint code. I order it and will paint everything in due time.

Tube should be here for the rack build next week. The modified mounts will put the rack about 5/8" off the roof crown and adjustable to 1-3/8".

Light bar is here and waiting as well.

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Pulled the trigger on a small, but sturdy lift kit. 1.25" lift, 9 stage adjustable rear shocks, TBs and rear heavy springs. Going to bump up to 285s and it should be just about right for me.

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Swing arm spindles arrived. Man are these nice. Fully machined, aluminum caps, Timken bearings, grease zerks, and DOM hubs.

J

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Are you switching all of your bumper designs to a bearing/spindle assemble?

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Are you switching all of your bumper designs to a bearing/spindle assemble?

Kurt,

NO!! I want to use these on my personal bumper and see what I think of the material I've chosen. Most bearing spindle shafts are soft/medium material at best and I've seen TOO MANY swing arms on the trail broken off... (trailer bearing spindles are designed for a horizontal load.. not a vertical pre-loaded application). Hence the reason you keep seeing "MONSTER", "BOMB PROOF"... ETC... titles in the sales description of these bearing style spindles. They keep making them larger and larger because they KEEP FAILING! Bigger is not better, you know this as an ME. Design and strength of material are the only key factors. I've gone with a 128K tensile material on these and they require a different weld procedure with the 70k shell to 130K spindle weldment. The proper control of heat input, travel speed, amp/volt input.. etc produces the best tested end product. I have 17- D1 and D2 Rover bumpers built/installed and running a machined 118K material based shaft with no failures to date BUT! because of the failure history of this type of spindle and my experiences... I'm still leary and still use the solid shaft/bearing spindles in my production bumpers. The 118K material has only been out a little less than 14 months. More often than not the failure is due to embrittlement (break/snap off) related issues because the fabricator or DIY'er thinks more weld is better and it actually, severely weakens the base material and causes failure.

I'm watching how it all comes together closely. Even the slightest bit of wear on a shaft due to stress and the bearing style will be "File 13'd". I'm using a 1.500" shaft for both styles, but the bearing style reduces down significantly for the acceptance of the bearings, so the swap out will be easy on my personal bumper.

Most "OFFROAD" fab and some structural shops I've ever been in have never even seen or heard of a WPS or PQR , etc... Let alone quality test their welders. They have a guy(s) that makes a nice looking weld and can burn wire, but it couldn't hold two pieces of 10 gauge together if God wanted it to.

All in all, I'm experimenting with MY personal armor, but I have a feeling the solid sleeved bronze bearing spindles will be on there soon.


Jason

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Cool, good to know.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Cool, good to know.

This is for my personal use as well.. I don't know if I will even look at a 100 series production bumper except for a one off consignment.

J

 

[lcwizard]

and to think how much flak I received for using shaft and bronze.... since 1996.
I'm well over 2000 carrier between 40, 60 and 80. One spindle break that was reported back.
The 40 was rear ended ....by a fire truck. In retrospect, the carrier fared better than the 40. I fixed the arm in a couple hours

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

and to think how much flak I received for using shaft and bronze.... since 1996.
I'm well over 2000 carrier between 40, 60 and 80. One spindle break that was reported back.
The 40 was rear ended ....by a fire truck. In retrospect, the carrier fared better than the 40. I fixed the arm in a couple hours

Dave, there is a reason YOU and I use them and only a handful of others as well. We want our products as strong as they can be build and still be aesthetically pleasing. As we have discussed before, cruisers are brutes and their armor should be indicative of that.

Pretty, artsy-fatsy armor belongs on mall trolling G-wagons................ NUFF SAID!

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

1-1/4" tube arrived for the roof rack. I had just swept the shop when it was delivered so I will get to bending and cutting tomorrow when I have some spare time. I've cut all the mounts down to make it as low profile as I'm comfortable with.

Suspension kit has shipped from Australia and I should have it in the next 10-12 days. I'll try to get everything situated where I install the lift, Harrop front E-locker and TOYO U-joints.

Color matched paint will be ready later this week for all the armor. I have plenty of epoxy primer on hand.

I will be pulling Esme's bra and panties off shortly and start to molesting her. Front and rear bumpers. I'm probably going to buy the belly and intermediate skidplates from Christo and build my own front skid.

J

 

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New hood struts.

J

 

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I got most of the rack tacked out today. I only had a couple hours to work on it this afternoon.

1.25" x.083" and 1.00" x .083" tube

Currently as pictured the rack with 6 mounts is 67#. The front light bar will add another 7.8#s. Overall it leaves me a 26" Expo depth for extra water cans and duffel bags when the RTT is in use. I don't use or like the sunroof (wish it didn't exist on my rig) I beefed up the sunroof area instead of leaving it open by making a smaller tube grid to support smaller duffels, jerry cans, and Pelican/ActionPackers (useless space, IMO and causes damage when wheeling when left open) Also added a plethora of tie down tabs as well (13), you can never have too many. I will probably add a few more to be honest.

I'll finish the Lo-Pro mounts tomorrow and get the light bar tabs welded in as well. If all works right I will be low enough not to worry about a wind fairing. But a 65-85mph run down I-80 will tell the tale....

This rack is 52.50" wide x 86.50" long.

More tomorrow..........

Jason

 

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Andrea bought me a Trasharoo for the rig.

J

 

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The Strongarm hood struts were installed this morning. Its nice for the hood to open by itself after about the first 12-15"

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Made all the adjustments to my new Lo-Pro 100 EXPO RACK today . I'll pull it off Esme in the morning and weld it out.

Total weight with light bar and mounts came in @72#s.

I'm sending the new measurements to the laser cutters for yet another rack mount. I'll have to double check, but I think if this was a flat rack it would be the lowest profile rack out there. Then the top of flat rack to top of EXPO is 3".

Highest point of the roof to lowest point of rack measurement-- 11/16"
Rear -- 1-1/2"
Front-- 1-7/8"

My light bar is 1-3/8" thick/height.

Jason

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

A few more.

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

10.9 wheel studs arrived for the rear bumper tires carrier.

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

So right now at the top of the rack its 76"... So, I have 5" to play with on tires lift.

The first lift I'll put on will be approx. 1.25" and then once the T-T Flexi-Coil suspension has run through its testing phase I will be swapping springs and cranking the front a little more.

Tomorrow I'll get the rack knocked out and then trash the running boards and test fit the sliders. I adjusted my jig on the sliders.

J