J-Robs truck saga

[fountainhead]

Yesterday we removed the rear seat, storage box, and tailgate, unbolted all the body mounts, and lifted the body off the frame so Jrob could weld in the top sections of the new offset frame pieces. While he was doing that, Fergie and I tore down the original front axle and pulled the third to have it ready for the new housing. Then Fergie fabbed up a new cross member while Jrob, Lash, and I worked on rear shock hoops. Good day fellas!

A few more pics including side view roughly at ride height...rumor has it someone was anonymously inquiring about this:

 

[fountainhead]

New cross member tacked in:

 

[fountainhead]

Shock hoops:

 

[fountainhead]

Be aware of rear steer. Sometimes you can dial it out. Just depends on how much adjustability you designed in. Also i built my upper links too stout.

We tried very hard to address this in the design using the calculator, but, after reading your comment, I realized we never checked this with the final links in place. Yesterday we sidetracked the awesome progress to take a few measurements. At full articulation the housing only skewed about 3/4" front to back. The movement of the housing along this particular 14" of the suspension arc is nearly straight up and down.

Other than some potentially unnecessary added weight, I'm not sure the upper links could be 'too stout'.

 

[southff4]

This thing is bad a$$! Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[MScruiser]

I definitely got some rear steer with the linked 40. Scared the s*** out of me on the highway!

 

[Bodean]

Does that mean you were scared to death all the way back from Cali?

 

[MScruiser]

Yes.

I tried hotdogging on Route 66 and almost lost control.

That truck scared the s*** out of me; it was squirrely and had waaaay too much power.

 

[fountainhead]

Holy s***. 10 days since the last post, and this thread is already buried in the depths of page two. Apparently I've been derelict in my documenting duties...even the non-documenting fabricator/owner brought it to my attention last night. So, today I bring you updates.

The rear shock hoops were fully burned in and the rear section of the frame and all the link brackets were wire wheeled, cleaned, and painted. I didn't take any pictures after paint as they wouldn't do it justice. I can tell you, though, it looks super clean in person. All the bracketry blends right in with the frame...it's like it was meant to be there all along.

Not much left to do on the rear save mounting the coilovers. This will come later, so we moved to the front since the new housing was FINALLY in. Had to wait on this puppy for a while, but damn if it wasn't worth it. This SOB is a work of art. First order of business was installing the diff, locating the housing under the frame, setting the pinion angle, and tacking in the axle end link mounts:

 

[fountainhead]

Then a considerable amount of time was spent trying to figure out the placement for the panhard bar. The Hellfire knuckles were built up, and a tube was tacked in place to simulate the location of the steering ram. The result was this initial mock up:

 

[fountainhead]

Then the tube was cut for the links (skipped the PVC step this time), the links were assembled and installed, and the axle was articulated to check for binding etc:

 

[fountainhead]

Finally, a tire was put on to check for clearance on the lower link. We believe there's enough clearance, both around the panhard mounts and the lower link, to turn the wheels 33 - 34 degrees in each direction:

 

[fountainhead]

This is the initial panhard setup:

The frame above the axle end mount on the passenger side is going to have to be notched to allow for full uptravel. We've pretty much known this all along. In this location, though, the panhard bar itself binds on the top of the diff housing at several points along the suspension cycle. Plan B is to move the brackets 1" forward and about .5" higher. This will require a bit more notching of the frame, but it should completely eliminate all contact with the housing.

 

[wct49]

wow.wow.wow.

 

[Bomar]

The diamond axle looks sweet.

 

[BMThiker]

I'm truly disappointed that y'all didn't manhandle that axle during the clearance/articulation check.

 

[fountainhead]

Ha...that dude's heavy. The housing is 3/8" wall and is heavy as hell by itself. Add the diff, the knuckles, arms, spindles, hubs, rotors, and 2" x .25" links...s***.

 

[Bodean]

If I had been there we would have done that...

lol

 

[wct49]

If I had been there we would have done that...

lol

I would have smoke and drank..

 

[wngrog]

If I had been there we would have done that...

lol

Fucyes