Dual purpose crap hauler

[jps4jeep]

Thanks for the Props!

It's not a 4 link front but rather a modified radius arm set up. The D44 will stay for now, but I did buy a D60 for the front. The D60 is out of a 86 F350 DRW and is rough, it needs a regear,l toss some TTB hubs on it, new brakes and everything plus brackets, but I will do this slowly over the summer. I need to get this truck back on the road ASAP since the beater that I bought is dying very quickly, I pretty much have zero compression in two cylinders. I am also about to three link the front of my YJ so I can get it back on the trails so I kinda want this driveable now and make the front 60 a weekend swap in the future.

 

[axisT6]

Haven't heard of frame cracking issues until you mentioned it. Haven't noticed anything on my truck...

I saw it on a couple builds on pirate and another on a thread on I think CK5. It appears to be prevelant in rigs that are wheeled fairly hard (not making assumptions about yours here) from what I gather the cause is;
your supporting the majority of the vehicle weight further forward of the frame than with IFS and it is simply more leverage on this location
also, drilling the frame to mount the shackle seams to also be a factor.

as with everything, don't believe all thats on the net.

Yup. Read the same thing on pirate. The solution discussed was to run a crossmember from bracket to bracket to counter the bending moment placed on that section of the chassis. I for one didn't like the fact that every leaf sprung bracket set I saw only attached to the thin inner boxed section. When I did my SAS, I actually ran bolts through the entire boxed section with sleeves. That way the whole boxed section is utilized.

 

[2000CCSB]

Yeah I really like your setup so far thats exactly the setup I want to run.
I was going run non adjustable
Radius arms like factory ford. But after looking at your setup. I am think I need to redesign my setup.
Crewcab Steve.

 

[jps4jeep]

well, one step forward, one step back. granted I am trying to keep this truck as low as possible, with the XJ pitman arm I am limited to 2.25" of up-travel. if this was a trail rig, I'd just run it, but for a street driver, this will be a harsh ride upfront. As I mentioned somewhere in page 1 or 2, I also have a 1st gen durango pitman arm. I am going to run this arm instead, has considerably less drop than a XJ pitman arm will fit and will keyway the same as the stock arm did. I have enough adjustment in the track bar that I can make up the difference to address bumpsteer so not super concerned.

Pics.

Lower shock mounts.

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Not the prettiest, but they will work.

Sway bar mounts.

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the sway bar mounts need some serious gussetting, but I will do this when I pull the axle for final welding and cleaning.

Full Bump without any trimming of mounts. you can see the top left of the pic the bracket is just about touching the frame.

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XJ pitman arm at full stuff

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and the durango pitman arm, heading over to a friends shop to use his bridgeport to ream this one out.

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SO.. by swapping pitman arms, I will raise the tie rod, I will lower the track bar at the axle end. Doing this will allow me to trim several inches out of the track bar mounts. as well as move the TRE up several inches, doing this will net me about 3 more inches of uptrave which will put me around 5.25" of uptravel, which is a number I can live with, especially since I can tune the shocks so I can dial in the rebound.

 

[Horns]

Need more crap hauler to feed the addiction! What's been happening with this lately?

 

[jps4jeep]

Sorry man, I have been in the United Kingdon since March 1st. (fyi, St. *****'s day in Belfast was unreal) I will be home in a couple days and will be getting back to work on this. I have been ordering the few small parts I need to button this up. Also ordered a set of Treadwrights the other day, but they won't be in for another 5 weeks or so.

 

[Solid94]

Truck is coming along nice! Sub'd for progress. I don't know how I missed this thread lol

 

[jps4jeep]

To mount the dampener to the drag link, I used a piece of 1.75-.120 DOM, I drilled two holes, then cut out the material between them, than just cut the very ends. I got some metal bushings from the hardware store and welded them on each side of the slice and spaced them out with washers. Then welded some tabs on.

The drag link is 1.5" OD DOM so this will slide right over it and allow me to fine tune where I want it, then tighten it down to lock it in. Plus if I need to make a toe adjustment, just need to loosen this, crack the jam nuts and make adjustments without having to pop off a TRE.

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Then off the track bar mount, made a simple axle end mount for the dampener.

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[Solid94]

Looks good. I like that concept for the mount. I really need to learn how to weld lol

 

[jps4jeep]

This is a 78 F250 slip shaft that I snagged when I grabbed these axles, I planned on using this and parts from my old drive shaft to make a new shaft. from full extension to compression it has ~ 2.5" of stroke.

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This is the stock shaft from my truck, it "had" about .5" of stroke to allow for install and removal between the fixed diff and the t-case. I assumed that is all it had. I decided to take apart the slip shaft seal to see what the splines looked like and low and behold, the splined section is far longer than I anticipated. Pics show full compression and extended. The length extended is still with a hair over 2" of engagement which nets me ~3.120" of stroke.

So I already cut the seal off and pulled of the seal cap. My plan is to lengthen this to fit my application. I have a couple old shock boots that are in great shape, think I am going to just grease the crap out of the splines and then put a shock boot over it with zip ties. If it fails, didn't cost me anything.

Bonus is the shaft is already balanced and the splines are keywayed so I can only assemble the shaft one way so the balance is maintained adn teh joints are always in phase.

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Lastly, I was treated to a beautiful story of some people using a file to try to pry out a pinion seal and said file almost stabbing some nuns in the neck.. My method to pulling pinion seals are to use a corse thread wood screw, hammer it in just till it punctures the metal, then screw it in a little, then use a claw hammer or pry bar and the seal pops right out.

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I also got everything is painted, got the axle put in for the last time. Set my bumpstops and burned them in. Pretty simple idea, just slipped some 1.5 dom inside the 1.75 used to center the spring.

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Also I got a email from treadwright. My tires are going to be another three week due to back ordering.