Project - Not so Nice (3 Viewers)

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Did some halfassed posing in the front yard ditch earlier...taking measurements to make extended bump stops. Looks like I have at least another inch of up travel front and rear (tons more down travel in the rear).











 
Extended bumpstops, meaning you actually plan to wheel this thing?

Whoa.
 
No no, extended bumpstops are a good thing if you plan to wheel it. Got to save that purdy paint!!
 
That thing is so damned sexy! I really envy that paint.
 
Finished my bump stop extensions. Shorter ones are for the front. Tossed them into the blast cabinet before paint...just cause I wanted to blast something! Paint is drying and will mount them up tomo.

Welding at a bench is so much easier then on a vehicle etc!







 
I like that "third hand" clamp!

Yeah! So simple but so useful!

D230FD4B-5764-44A9-9672-E38ED2342BE5.jpeg
 
Truck did good for it's first time on the trails, but I've accumulated a small list of to-dos.

1. Move rear spring shackle hanger back 1" - 1.5". With spare tire, cooler, some tools and dog, the rear squatted a bit and the shackle angle was at almost 20*.

2. Drivers side rear axle is leaking diff fluid at the axle seal (assuming since it's on the inner rim). Curious to see what I discover as I replaced the seal with OEM new when building.

3. Fuel tank leaks at the sender. Is a new OEM tank with new OEM sender and sender gasket. Ordered a new gasket and will apply just a small amount of Hylomar gasket sealer to it and see if that helps (I cranked down on the screws in an attempt to fix and squished the gasket to destruction).

4. Sheared off grease zirk fitting on the tie rod end attached to the pitman arm. Drivers side spring appears to have compressed into the TR end and the zirk fitting is on the bottom of the TR end. I plan to plug the zirk fitting hole and see if I experience any other issues with the spring compressing into it...cause the next fix likely requires moving the front spring farther forward or lower the hanger mount or extending the bump stop on the drivers side just a tad more.

5. Track down what I now am fairly confident is an exhaust leak, not ignition knock.

6. Check steering fluid, add the cooler I already had on the shelf and bleed. Experienced some notchiness or flat spots in the steering when idling and attempting to turn.

7. SM465 trans leaks...already have a spare and rebuild kit. Just adding this to my mental list.

8. Install longer front axle to caliper flex brake lines and adjust steering stops which should decrease my turning radius. I knew this needed to be done already but ran out of time before the trip.

9. Wash off mud...feels good saying it out loud.

Tons of positives. SM465 plus the Orion trans is amazing and having the option of 2wd low is nice. Still getting used to the random bang of the auto locker in the rear, but it works pretty good for the $$. York compressor is nice to have for airing up tires even with an air leak at my OBA manifold.

Also need to actually test the front ARB and make sure it works, didn't need it on the trail.

 
I moved my rear shackle as well with the fj60 springs, I got insane amounts of droop with the steep long shackle, and decided it was too much flex, so I have a nearly straight shackle angle now with a shorter shackle. When I tested the flex in the shop with one wheel on a lift, I stopped when the tire was around 50" off the ground and probably could have gone another 6" or so. I personally felt like that much flex would get a tire stuck in a hole or something. I have also had to play with adding/removing leafs multiple times to get the height right and cruiser lean fixed. But if you want to keep that shackle angle you have you could probably add another leaf to the pack and see how it handles the load. My sm465 has been a pain and loves to leak-especially the front seal. They are very easy to tear when installing at least on my sm465. The front seal leak leaked onto my clutch and caused chatter so I had to replace the clutch too since I didn't fix the leak right away. Sounds like you have very few bugs for all the work you have done. Congrats. Rig looks good with a little dirt on it.:beer:Looking forward to more videos if you got em!
 
I moved my rear shackle as well with the fj60 springs, I got insane amounts of droop with the steep long shackle, and decided it was too much flex, so I have a nearly straight shackle angle now with a shorter shackle. When I tested the flex in the shop with one wheel on a lift, I stopped when the tire was around 50" off the ground and probably could have gone another 6" or so. I personally felt like that much flex would get a tire stuck in a hole or something. I have also had to play with adding/removing leafs multiple times to get the height right and cruiser lean fixed. But if you want to keep that shackle angle you have you could probably add another leaf to the pack and see how it handles the load. My sm465 has been a pain and loves to leak-especially the front seal. They are very easy to tear when installing at least on my sm465. The front seal leak leaked onto my clutch and caused chatter so I had to replace the clutch too since I didn't fix the leak right away. Sounds like you have very few bugs for all the work you have done. Congrats. Rig looks good with a little dirt on it.:beer:Looking forward to more videos if you got em!

Good to know on the sm465 leak. Mine is from what appears to be the front seal too but luckily it seems to just drip down the trans and hasn’t gotten on the clutch disc yet. I do have some chatter when engaging 1st (2nd forward gear) from a stop. I’ve read the 3 finger style pressure plates are notorious for chatter in general.

On the rear springs, I had flipped and then moved the hanger and think I might get away with just moving it back some and still having a 50ish degree angle. Like you, the rear has droop for years but lacks some uptravel. If the above doesn’t work then I’ve got a couple spare sets of springs I can rob leafs from.

Unfortunately that video is the only one with any flex. A couple of us hope to make a trip out soon and I’ll take my go pro.
 
Good to know on the sm465 leak. Mine is from what appears to be the front seal too but luckily it seems to just drip down the trans and hasn’t gotten on the clutch disc yet. I do have some chatter when engaging 1st (2nd forward gear) from a stop. I’ve read the 3 finger style pressure plates are notorious for chatter in general.

On the rear springs, I had flipped and then moved the hanger and think I might get away with just moving it back some and still having a 50ish degree angle. Like you, the rear has droop for years but lacks some uptravel. If the above doesn’t work then I’ve got a couple spare sets of springs I can rob leafs from.

Unfortunately that video is the only one with any flex. A couple of us hope to make a trip out soon and I’ll take my go pro.
Where the oil comes out if that seal is leaking is in front of the throwout bearing onto the clutch disc splines. If it has not leaked onto the clutch yet you are fortunate. I use a lot of sil glide on the seal lip and on the opposing surface to get the seal lip over the edge.
 
Where the oil comes out if that seal is leaking is in front of the throwout bearing onto the clutch disc splines. If it has not leaked onto the clutch yet you are fortunate. I use a lot of sil glide on the seal lip and on the opposing surface to get the seal lip over the edge.

Hmmm...maybe that is not where mine is leaking. Wonder if it’s possible for the Orion case to pump oil from it into the sm465 like the stock trans/tcase does (and it’s actually leaking out of the top cover)? I’m using a plate adapter to mate the two.
 
You could clean it all off and run it for a little bit and then recheck it to find the source. Oil probably went all over the place going wheeling with it and made it more difficult to pinpoint. I run a lot of moly in my 2f and tcase which turns the oil gray. So as a side effect it makes it easy to determine what is leaking which is kind of nice.
 

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