Builds Flopped My Rig, Time To Chop The Top! (1 Viewer)

[VCCruzr]

I freaking love the rear tube work. I may have to steal some idea from you now that I finally got my bender working.

Where were those pictures taken? Looks familiar.

James,
If you're gonna wheel your beast on any tight trails, the rear exo will come in handy. Do it!

The pics were taken at camp just east of Split Mountain rd. aong the railroad tracks in Anza Borrego. The group I go with likes to shoot there. The one pics is in a dry lake bed between camp and Superstition Mountain.

Derrick

 

[baja1d]

I second the rear tube bumper. After ditching the stock bumper and tow hitch I'm confident that I gained at least a foot of clearance. Rarely hit in Moab. Love what you did to your rig & please let us know the numbers if you ever drive over a scale.

 

[VCCruzr]

I second the rear tube bumper. After ditching the stock bumper and tow hitch I'm confident that I gained at least a foot of clearance. Rarely hit in Moab. Love what you did to your rig & please let us know the numbers if you ever drive over a scale.

If I ever get the opportunity I will. I just wish I had some "before" numbers.

 

[VCCruzr]

Looks awesome. Looking forward to some action shots.

I got some video uploaded to youtube. Not my best wheelin', a little to agressive on the skinny pedal

Ignore the exhaust leak, I lost a nut where the y pipe attaches at the manifold and had to deal with that noisy beast all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq7-OIfVHCE&feature=g-upl

 

[VacMan]

I got some video uploaded to youtube. Not my best wheelin', a little to agressive on the skinny pedal

Ignore the exhaust leak, I lost a nut where the y pipe attaches at the manifold and had to deal with that noisy beast all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq7-OIfVHCE&feature=g-upl

Haha awesome! Looks effortless. Love that front bumper too.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using IH8MUD

 

[devildogcruiser25]

Derrick, that looks awesome! I guess since yours is all black now, I can half line mine?

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD

 

[SIZZLE]

This is just freaking awesome! I love everything you've done to your truck.

 

[VCCruzr]

The 3 Link Has Begun

Got the rig set up after work one night last week and got a head start by removing the radius arms. Today, the goal was to remove the radius arm brackets at the axle and the frame and grind smooth as prep for the new mounts. A lot more work than expected, took me six hours with a grinder W/cut-off wheel and sawzall. I cleaned things up with the grinder and die-grinder with sanding disc. Man this kicked my A$$! I must be getting old

Here are the results of today's hard work:

 

[VCCruzr]

More pics of today's progress:

 

[Delancy]

Are you seeing need to reinforce the housing simcha the stress points will change?

 

[VCCruzr]

Are you seeing need to reinforce the housing simcha the stress points will change?

Right now I don't plan on it as I haven't see it on any of the many threads I've been looking at. But I am going to be open minded and be willing to take suggestions as I build this up. Once I get all the mounts and links ready to weld up, I will just tack in place and take lots of pics so I can post up. If anyone sees anything drastically wrong, I hope to hear about it.

 

[Delancy]

Are you using an "off the shelf" frame mount?

 

[VCCruzr]

Are you using an "off the shelf" frame mount?

Yes, I am using the 3-Link Kit from RuffStuff. A slight modification is required for a good fit on the axle mounts and link tower. Here are pics of the 3rd link tower just tacked up and being test fitted and the frame mounts for the lower links.

 

[Delancy]

Nice.

I'm proactively searching for means to completely armor the entire undercarriage and eliminate the proverbial weak links.

Frame mounts seem to need some attention and only after three trips out, so reason for query. Will check out RuffStuff's offerings, since Synergy ( Poly) doesn't seem to offer much.

 

[VCCruzr]

When I purchased this 3-Link kit, I upgraded the hardware from 9/16" to 5/8" so I had to drill out all the holes. Also picked up my .250 wall 2" DOM. Man this stuff is heavy duty.

 

[VCCruzr]

Well, I didn't quite get as far today as I had hoped. Started with drilling out all the bolt holes for the upgraded 5/8" hardware. Then, after welding together the 3rd link tower, getting it to fit nicely was quite a chore. Finished the day welding it on and tacking on the lower link frame mounts.

 

[Wrench]

Are you doing all the welding yourself?

 

[VCCruzr]

Are you doing all the welding yourself?

Yup! I have a Lincoln Pro Mig 175.

 

[VCCruzr]

Welding Done, Time For Paint

So yesterday I finished up the welding, starting with the lower link axle mounts. The PS mount is a tight fit. Even with the mount welded tightly against the OEM shock mount, the bolt would hit the front locker actuator, so I had to trim about a half inch off of it. The DS axle mount has plenty of room, just had to pull the hard brake lines out of the way. Then I moved on to the upper link frame mount. I temporarily attached the driveshaft and links to test out the flex to make sure there was plenty of room and no binding. Everything looked good. Pulled off the links and finished the night welding the bungs to the tube.

Today, I will prep and paint and hopefully get it all together so I can post up some flex shots. Here's a few pics of the progress:

 

[VCCruzr]

More Pictures

Here's a couple more: