Build Silver Bullet - BJ74 Tough Offroad all rounder buildup

[Devils Paw 80]

Nice outing!

 

[cody c]

Thought I posted these photos up, but on a trip back in November last year doing my favorite trip I broke the middy again. Did the track, ARB compressor died again and due to low tyre pressures on the out track the rims slide in the sidewalls of the tyre and I hit a tree..... The damage is worse than the pics, cracks and tearing much lower, split from the inside etc etc, no luck finding a replacement roof.

Great thread!

I love the 74, but Im wondering if you got a couple more pics of the back of the hilux with the cool flatbed on it?

 

[Hulsty]

Here is the build thread on it mate

http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=55302&hilit=bushtuckerned

 

[Hulsty]

So a little bit more prep before easter, tried fixing an oil leak, still leaking. Cleaned sump pickup though and had a look at the bottom end, very solid. Also installed 3 degree castor plates. Car steers much nicer now.

 

[Hulsty]

Some photos form the easter trip on the Snowy River, these are just phone pics, will get some better ones from the photographer. Was a good fun trip.

 

[Hulsty]

 

[ForealBoreal]

I love this little middy.
Dale you did a nice job on this.

 

[Hulsty]

Thanks mate, its a good little rig, just dont look at the paint or panel to closely ahah. Only thing is I wish it had better high speed dirt handling. More on that in the next post....

 

[ForealBoreal]

I figure I should probably order some caster plates for my truck.
My mechanic friend once said it would probably help it out.
I would assume I need 3 deg as well.

 

[Hulsty]

They made a sizeable difference, the car no longer tracks as much along wheel ruts on the road, braking is more stable and can drive comfortably at 100-120km/h without fighting the steering wheel. Make sure you get steel plates, few years back I had ARB alloy plates, they cracked and fell to bits.

 

[ForealBoreal]

thanks for the heads up.
I need to replace the bushes soon anyway.

 

[maat]

great pics, looks like a sweet trip

 

[Hulsty]

I have noticed front and rear that the springs have been sagging, after the easter trip I had a look at the rears and they are toast. Bent "W" shaped, they are a 11 leaf pack too including the overload leaf. This is the 3rd pair I have "W"'d and the 4th pair wrecked (also snapped a pair).

Unfortunately my budget is very small and I would like to improve the high speed dirt handling of the car. I'm either looking at second hand packs from the wreckers, or build some packs up from spares I have or I'm looking around for a cheap 80 series rolling chassis to coil the rear end, bummer is a mate recently sold a rolling chassis for $700, would have been perfect.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Doesn't look like the end of the world.

Coils in the rear would be a permanent fix.

 

[Hulsty]

Found a big part of my problem, for a long time the drivers side spring was softer than the passenger side and sagged etc. I thought it was just worn out, judging by the break it has been broken for a long time. Pretty sure I am just going to re-use the backs with a couple of replacement leaves and load leaves.

Last weekend I re-did the front leaves, new leaves added and fixed some steering issues.

 

[cicak]

Crikey - that would do it.

I need to strip mine also in the YELLOW truck its sagging one side by about 50mm and has 9 leaves on each side.

 

[Hulsty]

These were 10 leaves PS and 11 leaves DS, going to add a leaf to each side.

 

[ForealBoreal]

These were 10 leaves PS and 11 leaves DS, going to add a leaf to each side.

Was this to fix the cruiser lean?

 

[Hulsty]

I can get parts cheaper and faster from summit racing USA than I can in Australia.



Something missing



Ready to accept new spring perches

 

[maat]