Builds The never-ending build: My 80 Series (2 Viewers)

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I was now low on garage time and decided to take a break from the front end. Thought I would jump on some easy stuff to make it feel like I was getting somewhere. I ordered a complete bushing kit from Specter Off-road. Hopefully one day I will buy some Metaltech lower control arms for the rear or beef up the stock ones. Right now I was just going to replace the bushings in the stock arms.

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The upper arms were toast so I went ahead and ordered the Metaltech adjustable upper arms.

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My intentions for the brakes were to rebuild the calipers and get the rotors turned. Upon removal I soon realized that all of these parts were beyond saving. I had read that people were having good luck with the replacement calipers from NAPA Auto Parts. One thing I really liked about these was that they were painted. Some come bare and they rust within hours of hitting moisture. I turned in my old ones for the core charge and took home brand new calipers and rotors. My research also told me that the hardware that came with these calipers was junk. I didn't even take my chances and ordered the banjo bolts and copper washers from my local dealer. I also bought new pads front/rear and new shoes for the emergency brake.

With no sleep and limited time I was in overdrive putting stuff together. However, this did not shake my OCD as you can see here. I painted the outer part of the rotors with high temp paint to keep them from rusting.

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During the nights when I couldn't be in the garage I spent that time hunting down parts. My original plan was to build my own bumpers. If any of you fabricate you know how long this takes. With that in mind I decided to look about buying bumpers. I landed on the 4x4 labs bumper for the rear. Great company to deal with. I asked them if they could customize something for me and they said "no problem". I ordered mine with a single swing out and had them make the tube that mounts to the spindle out of 2x3 tubing instead of 2x2. I like the look of this plus I believe there will be less twisting when I go mounting my gargantuan spare on it.

This bumper is awesome! The quality and craftsmanship is amazing. I wish I could weld like that. I didn't even want to look at my work after seeing this thing. Ha

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You're posting all this from memory? Wow, that's even more impressive than the build itself. I barely remember when I changed my oil last lol
Yeah I can't remember the simplest things sometimes but when it comes to anything with a engine and wheels I have a way of regurgitating all kinds of info. :) I'm sure that it's not all exactly in order because I'm having to hunt for some of these pictures but the pics do have the dates they were taken so it should be pretty close. Basically I see the pictures and it brings it all back. Lol. I'm like oh yeah I remember the countless hours that took from my life. :flush:
 
Got the bumper home and couldn't wait to test fit it. I also couldn't wait to shorten the whale tail these things have. I did have to cut more off than shown in the pictures. I eventually cut the frame at an angle to match the bumper.

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I failed to find any other pics of assembling the rear end. I now had everything installed in and on the axle. The third member was in, axles were in, control arms were done, and brakes were complete. I used Slee brake lines everywhere. I did take some time while everything was out of the way to take a wire wheel to the frame and axle to clean off the surface rust and rattle canned everything. Didn't spend to much time and I'm glad I did it. Anything to slow down rust.

Another thing I don't think I ever mentioned was how clean this truck really was when I got it. There was not a whole lot of rust on it. This truck started out in Utah and made it's way to the east coast over the years. The body had almost no rust. It was hard for me to cut the fender wells because of this but I did it anyway. Ha. The only significant rust I found was on the upper control arms and the driver side rear quarter panel right behind the tire. Quarter panel maybe due to the fill spout being on this side? Regardless this was removed when I made room for the 40s. The rest was just the typical surface rust. This thing was cleaner than the Chevy Silverado that my friend has which is 20 years newer!

My buddy stopped by just at the right time and helped me lift the bumper into position. It was actually really easy to mount once stuff was cut out of the way. All of the holes lined up perfectly.

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I really like this bumper. Best one on the market in my opinion if you are going for departure angle gains. I think I mentioned before that I didn't really want to go with a swing out. My original idea was to cut the frame even more and make the bumper flush with the tailgate but in the end I really just could not find a good spot for the tire and still have the function I wanted. This rig is designed more around rock crawling but I will still be doing some overlanding as well. All in all I am very happy with this bumper and think it will definitely meet my needs.
 
Getting the rear end sitting on the tires really gave me some motivation. Back to the front I went to try and make some progress up there. I already had the mounts positioned for the links so I fired up the welder and made it official. Man it was hard to grind and weld on this thing. Was one of the first bolt on items I had ever bought. Ha. It was all powder coated and so pretty.

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Had the Lincoln dialed in pretty good that day.

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Where I wanted the mounts positioned them a little high on the pan to where they were overhanging the top edge. I cut some pieces of scrap metal and made some plates to tie them into the top portion of the pan. 40s tend to roll over most obstacles fairly easy but I wanted lessen the chance of something bending. If I were to hit my front axle on a rock or come down on the links there will be a lot of force on those mounts. I really have no doubts that this set up will hold just fine but I'm still anxious so see what happens when I get some real pressure on them.

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Looks great!
 
Here is a picture of the upper mount on the frame. Don't mind the weld on the bottom. I had to grind it off and make another pass. I'm not the best at welding upside down. I didn't like that I could not get to the top but I was able to get inside of the mount pretty decent.

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I painted the links and the mounts on the belly pan with POR-15. Worked great. Very durable paint that is self leveling. I brushed it on and it by the time it dried it was smooth.

I thought when I welded to the pan that it was going to mess up more of the powder coat due to the heat. It was a pleasant surprise that it did not.

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My Huracan Fabrication tailgate storage had arrived! I could not wait to install it. Was another fun and fairly quick project. This took me around 2 1/2 hours. It comes with a template but I still taped around the factory carpet before removing it for reference. All that was needed was a grinder with a cut off tool and a few simple tools.

Huracan Fabrication tailgate storage includes:

-Install instructions
-Carpeted tailgate hatch
-Hardware
-Template
-Sound proofing/protective foam for in the bottom
-Beer koozie
-Bottle opener
(HAHA they really know how to win me over)

This is a great product and I would highly recommend it! High quality and a great price.

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Looks great!
 
So now the fun part starts. I’m ready to start figuring out how to get these coilovers to fit on the front. A lot of my process was looking at what other people had done and figure out how to get mine close. Did a little research on how everything should be angled. Got a lot of help from a lot of people. There are angled in toward the engine at the top as much as I could. I believe 5 degrees which is the minimum recommended. They are angled back about 15 degrees at the top which is also recommended. I know some people go a little more straight up and down due to the tire rubbing the coilover in the back. With the 40s this is no issue because I can’t turn that much due to the tire hitting the fender well. If I drop down to a 37 inch tire it may rub but I’ll cross that bridge if that ever happens. Ha

I had ordered the top brackets from RuffStuff. Modified them a bit to make them fit.

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I had to make more space at the top by cutting the fender well out around the coilover.

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Here is how it looks going to the belly pan.

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With these long shocks I had to mount the bottom on the backside of the axle. If I had it to due over I may have gone with shorter shocks and mounted them on top. A lot of weight to be resting on my welds but I really don’t think it will be an issue.

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I spent a lot of time cycling the suspension to make sure I was getting them in place the best I could.

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On the driver side I had to make space for the steering shaft to go behind the mount. I notched the mount and used some tubing and welded it in place. Worked out great.

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Now I was ready to make the lower mounts permanent. I believe I went back and made another pass on some of these welds to make sure they wouldn't go anywhere.

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One little hiccup I had was that one of the bolts on top of the passenger side knuckle had stripped out. Glad I found this out now! Took it to my buddy at the machine shop and had him drill and tap them to the next size up. Really wish I would have splurged for the Hellfire knuckles. Maybe at some point down the road.

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I used the POR-15 again to paint the upper mounts before welding them in. I knew once they were in place that It would be difficult to get paint to them. I did end up painting them when I painted everything else but thought this would help prevent against rust more that the rattle can I was using on the rest of the frame.

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Once I had them on I realized that I had room to add some gussets. Just one more thing I could add to help anything from flexing. Again another thing I might change if I had it to do over again. I may have used even bigger mounts. With everything I’ve done and the way these are welded in I have no doubts that they will hold fine though.

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All of this took quite a bit of time but it turned out pretty sweet. It was hard to weld on the backside of the mount but I was able to do it easier than expected.
 
Time for bump stops! It took me a while to figure out how to position these. A lot of tacking, then cycling suspension, then grinding off and repeat until they were right. I went for the pin style mounts for strength but I think the pinch style cans would have been just fine. The pinch cans have two bolts that you can loosen and tighten to raise and lower the stop slightly. The drawback to the pin style, like mine, is that once they are on there is no adjustment.

I burned these in a little hot as you can see the discoloration of the can in the pics. Nothing warped though and once cool the stops went in just fine. That was a relief.

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I made some bump stop mounts on the axle. Decided to incorporate the one on the passenger side into a truss as well. At this time I also added a brace onto the upper link mount for extra strength.

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Once all this stuff was on the axle the ends just looked so small. Ha. I went ahead and burned in some knuckle gussets too!

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A lot of this phase will be just pictures. Trying to show you all what I have done along the way. Most of this part is self explanatory. Pure wrench turning getting stuff assembled.

I did put together a nitrogen kit so that I could fill all my new “toys” as needed. Filthy Motorsports has a whole break down and parts list of what you need.

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Was fun to bolt the axle in this time being all painted up. This was the last time I bolted this in!

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Installed the front third member.

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I got a little side tracked with a small project one night. I just wasn’t into the center caps that came with my method wheels. They really stuck out further than I like. Luckily they are a two piece design and were bolted together. I used the part that goes into the wheel and modified it. I made some plates out of metal to bolt inside them. Then I found some really cool TRD emblems that were the perfect size! I only had to make two of these for the back because I have the lock out hubs in the front.

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After having my geek out moment with the center caps I was back on the front. Started installing the knuckles onto the axle.

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I took a little break to slide over the the Overland Expo East event last fall with some friends. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive for us.

There were some really cool rigs there. A lot of new products to check out.

I’m in love with this Roof Nest tent!

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Some well known YouTubers there too!

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One thing that I found out is that most of my favorite stuff was in the parking lot and the camping area! So many people with so many cool builds.

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Nice build, Thanks for posting
My pleasure. I’ve been wanting to share this for a while now just didn’t have the time. I have really learned a lot from others posts here on mud. Much of that information was the inspiration for this build and helped tremendously along the way. I hope that this build can maybe help others in some way or if nothing else at least be interesting to see. I love vehicles, love to build them, and especially like talking about them. Haha. This is what it’s all about.
 

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