Mn Mountaineer V8 SAS

[johnny499]

So it took almost a week to get the front end back together. The carrier bearing set I ordered turned out to be a set of inner wheel bearings. I was fuming when I went to put them on the diff. I had turned the new take offs into setup bearings before I discovered that the new ones were wrong. I tried pulling used ones from two old diffs. including the original one from this axle none of them were in good shape. I finally gave in and picked up new cones from the local parts store to get it back on the road. I was so frazzled when I put the spindles back on I managed to put the camber shims in upside down and the tires looked like narrow front tractor...lol So I didn't tie up my dad's shop any longer I drove it home that way and spent two hours the following night correcting it. Then the axle seals started leaking gear lube. So I decided to lock in the hubs and drove it that way for a couple hundred miles. Funny the effect the posi had on steering feel and response. It was worth it the seals came around and no more drips. I refilled it , it was only down about half a quart.

Then a couple weeks ago my dad and I were going to get up early and head up to the iron range for the day or weekend to really enjoy it on the trails. that was foiled by a call from my dad at 2:30 a.m. needing help getting my mom to the hospital because she fell and ultimately has a broken ankle and heel on the same foot. now my dad isn't available to be gone till the middle of the month.

 

[johnny499]

About a month ago my dad was out in the back yard with his skid steer and had the left side drive fail. it has been raining off and on non stop ever since and he could not get out there with the fork lift to get it. yesterday we decided to take the car trailer back with the mountaineer and see what we could do. We went past it and turned around but there was no room to drop it and use the mountaineer to turn the skid steer side ways to be pulled onto the trailer.

So i backed the trailer up to it ran the strap over the trailer and hooked it to the skid steer and center clevis point on the rear bumper. This worked after a few tugs to get the loader lined up with the trailer. Then we tipped the trailer and drug it onto the trailer 8" at a time with the cheap little 5,000 lb winch on the trailer.

Got it loaded with probably too much tongue weight but it went back down to the house without spinning a tire.

The drop hitch and bumper worked great. the bumper came back up a full four inches when we took the trailer off. It was definitely on the bump stops.

 

[johnny499]

I have decided that the front end needs to come up now that i have the front bumper done with the winch. I am thinking about two inches higher. I currently have wild horses 3 1/2" coils on it, one option is to get a set of 5 1/2" coils. The other option is cut out the buckets and put in coilovers which would eliminate the coils rubbing on the frame but would cost probably $500 more. I'm not sure which way to go.

 

[SWIGIN]

Did the Wild Horse springs settle?

I bought WH 3 1/2'' springs because of this thread for my project, I hope they didn't settle.

Do you have any current side shots of your rig to show how it's sitting now?

 

[johnny499]

Did the Wild Horse springs settle?

I bought WH 3 1/2'' springs because of this thread for my project, I hope they didn't settle.

Do you have any current side shots of your rig to show how it's sitting now?

I just measured them again and no not really, maybe 1/4 to 1/2" with the addition of the winch and bumper. They are not by any means compressed at full suspension compression.
With the way everything came together on mine i would like more suspension up travel.
I could cut the spring towers off and lower them but then i would have to redo the bump stops also. The easiest and quickest fix is longer springs.

 

[SWIGIN]

What are you going to do to the back to make it level again?

It seems to sit level in the last side shot I saw.

 

[johnny499]

What are you going to do to the back to make it level again?

It seems to sit level in the last side shot I saw.

It actually has better than an inch rake, so i was planning on putting the overload leaves back in the rear which should level it out. If need be i have the extra hole in the rear shackles yet to give it more lift

 

[rabbit91]

Thanks!! I agree the headlight guards made it uglier, but i wind up on a fair amount of really narrow/heavy brush trails. If they really bug me i can cut them off and repaint it.
I finished the hinged license plate mount last night and pulled the bumper off to cap the tube ends and do the finish welding. I thought it was going to be much heavier than it is. I can pick it up no problem without the winch in it. Which reminds me i need to find a spot to cram the winch control box yet.
Another item showed up today from brown santa. So there is more fabricating in my future.

Hydro assist ?!

 

[johnny499]

Hydro assist ?!

Good point!
The hydro assist is on my short list again. It should help immensely with the front being an electro locker now with zero overrun.
Life keeps happening!!!

 

[johnny499]

Still on the fence about just doing 5 1/2" coils for about $245 shipped or coil overs for $750+.
I did manage to start making brackets to mount the ram on the front axle but then life happened again, i will get it...

 

[rabbit91]

Still on the fence about just doing 5 1/2" coils for about $245 shipped or coil overs for $750+.
I did manage to start making brackets to mount the ram on the front axle but then life happened again, i will get it...

If I did a SAS again I would do coil over instead of coils and shocks. The cost is not a whole lot more and in both cases need to be fine tuned after being put together.

 

[bronchole]

I am considering changing over to coil-overs rather than spending the money a good pair of shocks for my existing SAS. By the time you spend over $400 on a good pair of shocks, you are over half way to a pair of coil-overs... I hope

Funny thing, I was looking at this thread earlier and my wife say your front bumper. She said she liked it allot and wondered when I was going to do one similar. I know, I got a winner!

 

[johnny499]

If I did a SAS again I would do coil over instead of coils and shocks. The cost is not a whole lot more and in both cases need to be fine tuned after being put together.

I agree, I was trying to get by on the cheap. I already had the adjustable shocks and it would be fine if my educated guess on the spring pocket height would have been lower.

I am considering changing over to coil-overs rather than spending the money a good pair of shocks for my existing SAS. By the time you spend over $400 on a good pair of shocks, you are over half way to a pair of coil-overs... I hope

Funny thing, I was looking at this thread earlier and my wife say your front bumper. She said she liked it allot and wondered when I was going to do one similar. I know, I got a winner!

She clearly is a keeper!!

 

[johnny499]

I started to make brackets for the ram assist but got interrupted and haven't got back to it. I also haven't made any decisions on the front spring situation. I have thought about cutting 2 inches out of the spring towers as a quick and cheap option also. On a side note it is so nice to be able to lock in the hub's and switch in and out of 4wd in the snow without the front locker getting all crazy and ratcheting away.

 

[johnny499]

This weekend i did a full lube and oil change which motivated me to look at the ram assist again. I finished making the tabs to mount the ram and tacked them in place. I came up with a possible plan for the tie rod clamp. I tacked a bolt to the clamp and cycled the steering to check clearances. It fit with no contact issues so i welded the tabs onto the axle housing. i think i am going to add a gusset just because. Now i need to decide which way i want to go with the clamp. I can weld a bolt to it or i can weld a boss to it then drill and tap. the fun part is they are 5/8" fine thread bolts, i don't know if i have access to that size tap.

 

[johnny499]

I thought i would get the pictures of the ram assist caught up here.

The axle tab's just out of the shear.

The tabs supplied with the cylinder kit above mine freshly sanded and ready for the mounting hole.

I tacked the brackets to the upper panhard bar mount.

Then i tacked one of the bolts to the tie rod clamp and mounted up the cylinder.

I cycled the steering slowly checking clearance along the way. It will be tight at the pitman arm when at full left lock and full compression. I was concerned about the the tie rod clamp clearing the diff cover but that wasn't an issue.

Everything clears but it will be interesting getting the hoses figured out.

I still need to make a final decision on the tube clamp attachment point. If I can find a 5/8" fine thread tap i will make a boss to weld to the clamp and thread all the way into the clamp for that little extra engagement.

 

[johnny499]

I'm going to try to hit the off road park at the iron range with my dad on Saturday. It will be the first time there so pretty excited. It's a good 3 hour drive to get there.

 

[johnny499]

My dad and i made the trip Saturday to the Iron Range Off Road park. it was 3 hours each way and we ran the trails for about six hours. The weather was perfect and the park is great.

We were pretty cautious most of the day, I'm still getting use to what it can handle. It flex's really well.

We did do a bunch of the black diamond trails but shied away from the really intense spot's for now. I would have tried more if we had gone up on a trailer.

I made it to the exit of tailpipe alley when i miss judged the drop behind a large rock on the drivers side and kind of mangled the running board. Then I backed back up the rock and jockeyed to the right and slid down the side of it.

We went over a lot of large rocks with out dragging or touching any of them till that.

The views were incredible...
I will definitely be going back again..
Now I need to make sliders and finish the ram assist.......

 

[johnny499]

So after bending and knocking the running board loose on the trail i decided to make the rock sliders that i have had the material for since i started the project. You can see that 246,000 miles in Minnesota have not been kind to the rockers.

I started with 1/8" wall 2" by 4" tubing cut to length with tapered ends.

Then i sheared 1/8" thick by 3 1/2" flat stock to length.

Punched a series of 3/4" holes in them and started welding them to the bottom of the tubes for better impact resistance.

With that started i clamped the tubes together and stitch welded them together to minimize bowing while i weld on the plates. I welded a section at a time then flipped the tubes and did the opposite side to keep the warping in check.

 

[johnny499]

I got both of the tubes skinned.

Then i cut them apart. They did bow a little, actually about a quarter inch in the center over the six feet.

I ground the welds and capped the ends so the majority of the heating would be done and i could move onto straightening them.

I did a quick research on heat straightening, clamped the tubes together loosely.

Fired up the torch and heated the tubes in five spots each starting from the center and worked my way out.

This worked quite well but i ultimately wound up doing it one more time centering the next heat points between the previous ones.

That did the trick it pulled them just a little bit past straight. close enough for me i was quite please with the result. i haven't used that method to straighten anything before. It took time but worked awesome.