Builds "It's Huge" New SOA

[Cruiserdrew]

Looks great - Did you have those brake lines made? (sorry if that's elsewhere in the post, I'm too lazy to look)

Yes-Made by a local "Brake Quip" guy. They are very nice coated stanless braid, and each one gets tested to 3000 psi while you watch. They have tons of fittings, and can pretty much match up what ever you want. Note that the strain relief is integrated into each crimp. I'm totally sold and not using any more Napa lines for anything.

 

[CaliCruiser]

Looks great dude. I like those brake lines on the front, I did the same thing and they came out sweet. You don't get any tire rubbage with those front shock hoops set up like that?


Dylan

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Looks great dude. I like those brake lines on the front, I did the same thing and they came out sweet. You don't get any tire rubbage with those front shock hoops set up like that?


Dylan

In my local speed bump driving it doesn't rub, but it's definitely a risk when twisted up.

I'm going up to 4x4 labs tomorrow and flex it and look. i also need to see what happens to the pittman arm. I'm taking my spare 80 Pittman arm and will cut the taper in it if the 60 pittman hits the spring under flex. The 80 Pittman has the same splines and does not have as much drop. It looks like there is just enough room for the bolt holding the drag link end to clear the frame when steering.

Dylan-Can you post a pic of your Pittman arm set up?

 

[chicago]

HOLY NO CLEARANCE BATMAN!
That is a TIGHT FRICKIN FIT in the ole garage!!!!!
Looks great Andy!
Im curious to see what you come up with for a traction bar.
I get what youre saying about the drive shafts...thats what I was trying to say, but it just didnt come out like that...
Either way, its a great idea that I might steal when I the shafts resized when the Vortec etc. goes in. Beefing up the tube is also very attractive as well.

Chicago

 

[CaliCruiser]

Hmm, I just searched through all my pics and don't have any pitman arm pics. I'll check it out tomorrow and post up.

So you have your h55f in there right now correct? And you are going to pull that and run the h41 with a toybox and split case? Sounds like a badass combo to me.


Dylan

 

[Trapper50cal]

Quick Question

I didn't read every post but...

I also deleted my steering stabilizer once I rebuilt my knuckles.
And I also have hysteer even though I'm SUA

Do you plan on putting one on?
If so...where will you mount?

I was thinking of stock frame position and a tab tacked onto draglink
Where do you think is best?

 

[pismojim]

This is exciting Cruiserdrew!

It was about 9 years ago when I went to the dark side. No regrets!

Let''s compare pitman arms:

The short side, (I'm leaning toward this approach again for my 1/2 SOA)

And then the fun starts, checking the shock length and bump stops...

The above is with 35x12.5 MTRs, I would hit the stock a bit on the trail. The shock mount is tipped in enough to require a little cutting of the inner fender. Since then, the 36x13.5 Iroks hit a little more often and the current 37x14.5 Toyo's required lowering the bump stop. And hopefully some fender trimming.

It's worth the trouble when you can drive over 3ft rocks

 

[pismojim]

You are going to love the SOA flex and wheel travel. Notice the range of motion and angle of the tire.

Gratuitous photos offered for Cruiserdrew's motivation...

BTW, I'm happy to announce that I offer a leaf spring de-arching service. Just send me your springs, I'll de-arch them and send them back.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I didn't read every post but...

I also deleted my steering stabilizer once I rebuilt my knuckles.
And I also have hysteer even though I'm SUA

Do you plan on putting one on?
If so...where will you mount?

I was thinking of stock frame position and a tab tacked onto draglink
Where do you think is best?

I am considering adding back the steering stabilizer by making a bracket and some small U-bolts and mounting to the drag link. But...I've been driving the beast everywhere the last 4 days, and I'm not sure I need it.

If I do put one on, it will be at the stock frame bracket spot to the drag link.

This is exciting Cruiserdrew!

It was about 9 years ago when I went to the dark side. No regrets!

Let''s compare pitman arms:

The short side, (I'm leaning toward this approach again for my 1/2 SOA)

And then the fun starts, checking the shock length and bump stops...

The above is with 35x12.5 MTRs, I would hit the stock a bit on the trail. The shock mount is tipped in enough to require a little cutting of the inner fender. Since then, the 36x13.5 Iroks hit a little more often and the current 37x14.5 Toyo's required lowering the bump stop. And hopefully some fender trimming.

It's worth the trouble when you can drive over 3ft rocks

Jim-Funny, I know just where that spot is on the Rubicon. In fact, I think I was there at the time!

Anyway. thank you for all the pics. The Pittman arms in particular are not all that different, though you have a longer front shackle AND it's anti inversion, both of which help prevent contact.

I'm thinking the simplest and strongest approach to the short side U-bolts is what I did. Then you get u-bolts that fully wrap the axle, and come into the plate at the right angle. The other approach works OK too, but seems needlessly complex.

Looking forward to your pics of the hydo steer.

 

[chicago]

You are going to love the SOA flex and wheel travel. Notice the range of motion and angle of the tire.

Gratuitous photos offered for Cruiserdrew's motivation...

BTW, I'm happy to announce that I offer a leaf spring de-arching service. Just send me your springs, I'll de-arch them and send them back.

Jim,
You stared with 2.5in OME springs, correct?
I was the one that asked you about "dearching" the springs at SnT.
I love your rig BTW.

Chicago

 

[pismojim]

Yes, they were/are OME "heavies" originally without the short overload in the rear. Now, I've got some OME Dakars in the front with an extra (long) leaf added inot the pack and the short overload leaf in tha back. I'm going to add a random leaf into the rear left to try to help with a nagging lean. Other than that it seems to be still working great.

I sorta remember you asking me about springs, but honestly I don't remember much of anything during SNT. I do enjoy meeting the same people over, and over, and over...

My de-arch joke is a long story, basically if you load it heavy and wheel (flex) the crap out of it, they de-arch themselves. A few fast trip through the whoops at the dunes works pretty good too.

 

[Tapage]

Jim .. back in 2004 was the time when I decide go SO .. thanks for your pics was my inspiration when I was ready to take the desision.

 

[IrollwithTojo]

Gratuitous amounts of photos for Cruiserdrew's motivation and gratuitous amounts of photos for Irollwithtojo's jealousy...
I want to do an SOA so bad. But me being a highschool kid...I can't

-Carl

 

[Randy88FJ62]

Gratuitous amounts of photos for Cruiserdrew's motivation and gratuitous amounts of photos for Irollwithtojo's jealousy...
I want to do an SOA so bad. But me being a highschool kid...I can't

-Carl

If you really want it you can. Gotta get an extra job. Or start helping the local cruiser guys and get all their extras. it doesn't have to happen over night. Start collecting and looking for deals. I found Fj62 axles with arbs installed for cheap. Deals are out there, you just gotta keep an eye out.

 

[CaliCruiser]

Gratuitous amounts of photos for Cruiserdrew's motivation and gratuitous amounts of photos for Irollwithtojo's jealousy...
I want to do an SOA so bad. But me being a highschool kid...I can't

-Carl

Do it dude! I started my SOA conversion over the summer between Jr and Senior year. It took me a long time from start to finish to collect the parts and finish the conversion, but it can be done!

Dylan

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Do it dude! I started my SOA conversion over the summer between Jr and Senior year. It took me a long time from start to finish to collect the parts and finish the conversion, but it can be done!

Dylan

How come your dad says he did it?

just giving some crap, your truck is one of my inspirations to get this moving after 8 years.

 

[CaliCruiser]

Ha! He was the biggest critic, he thought I ruined it. Good ole dad has come around though, he's on board with whole SOA scene now.

Congrats on executing an 8 year old plan dude!

Dylan

 

[chicago]

Ha! He was the biggest critic, he thought I ruined it. Good ole dad has come around though, he's on board with whole SOA scene now.

Congrats on executing an 8 year old plan dude!

Dylan

HA HA! I didnt know that!?
What a funny little tid bit that is.
My dad pushed me my whole life to get into cars, do stuff for myself etc...When I finally started with the curiser, I taught myself how to weld etc... I thought he'd be so proud...I asked him if he wanted to see pics of the work I had done, he replied..."NAW" and changed the subject...
Its soooo cool that you and your dad have the wheelin/ crusier bond that you do.

Chicago

 

[Cruiserdrew]

More data

Since several people asked about the Pittman arm hitting the springs, I did some investigating today with the help of Luke Porter at 4x4 Labs.

The issue is that the FJ60 Pittman arm has a lot of drop, and puts the drag link at some risk of being hit by the compressing spring.

Now previously I have fit an 80 series arm on the FJ60 box, and amazingly the splines are exactly the same. It looked like there was enough room between the frame and the the nut that hold the end of the drag link into the Pittman arm.

So, today I had Luke recut the taper in the 80 series arm to fit the 1 ton taper, and test fit everything together. It looked OK. So once I got home, I installed for real and cycled the steering. It fits with about 2mm to spare. There is a sheet metal splash guard with a raised edge, and I did have to take the lip off of that with the grinder. You only need to remove about 2mm x 20mm to give adequate clearence for the nut on top of the Pittman arm.

The other option is to run a Marlin Pittman arm. It has about 1/2 inch less drop than stock FJ60, but almost 1 inch more than the 80 series arm.

My conclusion, is that using an 80 series arm gives the absolute maximum clearance for the spring and the drag link end.

I tried to show this with some pics:
-The first is comparison to FJ60 arm (the 80 arm is installed)
-The second shows how it looks in plcae
-The third is the 2mm of clearance between the hardware and the frame. It really does fit, and if needed, I could grind another 2mm off of the stud to make even more room.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Ha! He was the biggest critic, he thought I ruined it. Good ole dad has come around though, he's on board with whole SOA scene now.

Congrats on executing an 8 year old plan dude!

Dylan

I swear, last year at Death Valley, he took credit for your spring over. Maybe I misheard!

The 8 year plan-I bought that truck 7-8 years ago to make a trail wagon but it was too nice to do that, so I put on an OME lift and I used it as my DD ever since. It now has 70k more miles and it's time has come, even though it's still a very decent FJ60.