Build Lynchburg Lemonade, matzell's STW

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matzell said:
I will not have the coil mounts on top of the axle and planned to put my gussetts up top and then build shock mounts on the back side of the axle housing. Angle iron has been used for along time on axle housing, drag links, tie rods, control arms etc over the years. Always good stuff.

Keep the suggestions coming. This will not be "hard core" to some but this truck was built to wheel, so it will see some action.
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I was told angle iron was not allowed in any way shape or form.
Now bent flat is ok, extra points if it’s not bent to quite 90, way extra points for dimple dying, and automatic blue ribbon for scallop cuts.
 
Ditcherman said:
I was told angle iron was not allowed in any way shape or form.
Now bent flat is ok, extra points if it’s not bent to quite 90, way extra points for dimple dying, and automatic blue ribbon for scallop cuts.
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I live on the East Coast with all the red clay mud. holes would fill with mud and be a pain to wash out. I may do a square tube truss on top and angle or something on the bottom side. I will also box in the radius arm mounts.
 
I need to set the angle before I burn them in, but the weld washers are on. I also took a pic so you can see how much room is to the diff. Plenty.

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The steering linkage needed to be stretched 3" to match the 60 series axle. Some short pieces of DOM and some grade 8 bolts and they are now good. Steering is all DOM .250 wall.

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clrussell said:
Just ordered the frame side radius arm brackets on the Toyota sale. $102 shipped to my door. Thanks for the part numbers!

I wish I could locate the number for the axle end of the brackets and spring buckets.
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EPC is your friend. Just track down a relevant VIN, make sure you’re set to US market, and start digging.

Toyota parts catalog

Electronic spare parts online catalog for Toyota. Toyota engine, chassis, body and electric parts.
toyota.epc-data.com toyota.epc-data.com
 
I made a bump mount and starting to mount panhard. I need to get a flat pitman arm to get angles and clearance correct. I also mounted the inside mount on pass side and plated. Stopped for lunch.

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Observation from a plebe....that could maybe help someone else reading along ...

Because I have made a thousand mistakes fabbing metal stuff up, I have learned (the hard way) to always put tacks in places I could get to with an angle grinder easily to un-tack, to fix my fabbing eff ups.

Looking at the bump plate tack on the lower forward edge made me think of that .

You obviously have way more suspension fab experience than I do, and that is a low probability of removal part, but maybe a lesson worth mentioning for other would-be fabbers reading along.
 
Augustiron said:
Observation from a plebe....that could maybe help someone else reading along ...

Because I have made a thousand mistakes fabbing metal stuff up, I have learned (the hard way) to always put tacks in places I could get to with an angle grinder easily to un-tack, to fix my fabbing eff ups.

Looking at the bump plate tack on the lower forward edge made me think of that .

You obviously have way more suspension fab experience than I do, and that is a low probability of removal part, but maybe a lesson worth mentioning for other would-be fabbers reading along.
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Very good point. Yes the pad is not going anywhere. I usually do try to put tacks in places that can be easily cut out if i am not sure it will stay in place, or may have to be moved.

I am going to get creative with my panhard mount so it does not look like a 100 pieces put together. I have one side tacked to the axle and am working out the frame side. The factory shock mount is in the way. I need the pass shock mount as it hold my battery in place. I may just weld the factory mount to the frame and build off it. Give me a few hours and we will see how it turns out...:)
 
I finished up the frame side mount. I welded the shock tower to the frame, then plates the frame and burned the mount in. I had to drill a hole to allow the rivet to pass so it would sit flat on the bottom of the frame.

I do plan to stitch weld the frame together so it does not twist.

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Random pics of full bump to full droop with 10" shocks. YES the axle mount will get supported. I had to weld up a few things while I could get to them and once it cools, I will make some gussets.

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So keeping up with time, I have about 16 hrs in this swap starting with taking old axle apart. I imagine. This will take 35-40 hrs by the time I get the axle back together. Still a lot of welding on the axle housing. Turn stops, brake line mounts, more gussets etc.
 
So winding down and looking at things with a cold one. Some more thoughts.
The 9.5" diff is so much bigger than the HP 8" I had to really raise the frame side panhard mount to clear it. It is still close.

If the 80 panhard did not have the upward bend at the end near the axle, I would have a lot more room at the frame. It may contact on articulation. There is just no flat spot to cut and sleeve a straight section on.

Factory 80 series radius arm mounts are $$$ and they are thinner than what I used.

Factory and even 60/80 steering boxes may cause other issues. I have installed all and I still like the Saginaw set up.

There is a company out there making a kit to do this. I tried to buy the brackets but they will not sell them and only install in house.

I think I will have a lot less bump steer with my panhard set up compared to theirs, mine is quite a bit longer.

By no means is this going to be the perfect set up. I am not a professional fabricator. I am doing this in my home garage, I just happen to have some cool tools and a nice place to work. This is my interpretation of how I think it should be done. I would have 3 linked it but it was easier to package this and I only planned on 10" shocks so this should max out with those. Anyone looking for more travel should 3 or 4 link the front.
 
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Something did not look right on steering. After staring at it for a while. I figured it out. I extended the drag link and tie rod 3" to match extra axle width.

Draglink should have been half that at 1.5" as it only goes out to one side. I will have to address that later. Whoops! Mess up sober and takes a few beers to figure it out!
 
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Tech tip. Use poster board to make a templete. Trace on metal to be cut.

I use my 4 1/2" deep cut porta band on a Swag vise mount. You can cut it out 90% and then flap sand the final 10%.

These have not been tuned up. Only porta band. I use a zip tie that I slide over power switch for hands free operation

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Love the OSHA approved switch lock.

Old school was cardboard aided design before computers were a thing.

I still find use for my mechanical drafting tool set, for laying out curves with the compass and measuring using the divider's with a scale
 
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