Damarble's 01 Sport, coil sprung HP D30 SAS, SOA, 33s, 4.56s, lockers

damarble · August 8, 2008

Just finished the rear axle today, SOA with Aussie locker and 4.56 gears. Rear springs are shot from towing and still need to be replaced. Also I need to weld shock mounts on the axle. This will all be done after the front axle is installed. It is a HP Dana 30 with gears and a locker to be added in a few months. Front suspension will be a Y-link with XJ coils and Ballistic brackets. Steering and panhard will be stock XJ for now. Tires are 33/12.5/15 Interco Truxus M/Ts on Soft 8 wheels with stock Ford center caps.

lifeguard379 · August 8, 2008

what steering box do you plan on useing?

damarble · August 8, 2008

Was going to use a Nissan box but it might be too big. If so I'll use the Toyota box.

damarble · August 8, 2008

Well after the lift my bumper mount trailer ball was stupidly high and useless for towing. A search at the junkyard today yielded me a heavy duty receiver for The sum of $9. Got the rust scrubbed off an hit it with Rustoleum and mounted it up.

I cranked the torsion bars to about the max to try to level it up somewhat. Still not even close but a little better. I don't care about the CVs since it's all getting ripped out.

Tomorrow I'll begin mocking up the front suspension.

damarble · August 10, 2008

Front links measured out and mocked up. The upper link on the passenger side will be removable for more flex off road.

zainyD · August 10, 2008

LOL, the latest in off-road technology, wooden links!

94 Crawler · August 10, 2008

wooden wooden :burnout:

Ok that was bad. Good luck I love sased vehicles. :popcorn:

damarble · August 10, 2008

Ha ha funny. I'm using 2"x2" 1/4 wall tubing for the lowers and 1.75" ID 1/4 wall tubing for the uppers. Wood 2x2s are perfect for mocking it all up without wasting steel.

Today I welded skids on the LCA brackets and plated the diff cover. Tomorrow night the X will be put on stands and the IFS will be cut off.

damarble · August 13, 2008

Lots of cutting and grinding the last two days. The suspension and axle is out and the brackets are 80% removed. The new crossmember is almost done, just needs a little more reinforcement.

94 Crawler · August 13, 2008

Looking good. If I dont have to work this weekend I hope to see some progress on mine. :thumbsup:

damarble · August 15, 2008

More grinding....

Maybe an hour more and then the welding starts. The passenger side is ready but the driver side still needs the torsion bar/crossmember bracket needs more clearancing to fit the link bracket. I have the next three days off so I hope to hammer the rest out by then.

damarble · August 15, 2008

Spent the morning getting a Toyota steering box and fittings to adapt it. Got some F250 shock towers too.

damarble · August 15, 2008

Ready to weld the link brackets in.

damarble · August 18, 2008

Progress not nearly what I had hoped for. Need to buy some more steel to finish my "upper" links, the "lowers" are completely done but I may have run into a problem. I have the adjustable flex joints turned nearly all the way in and the links still are a bit too long. Might have to redo them, or see if it grows on me.

IZwack · August 18, 2008

damarble said:
..adjustable flex joints turned nearly all the way in and the links still are a bit too long. Might have to redo them, or see if it grows on me.

Hehe the old "measure twice cut once" deal -- we all make that mistake

damarble · August 31, 2008

Turns out my links were not too long. One was, because when I aligned my frame side link brackets to the crossmember I didn't catch that the crossmember is bent (factory). So that has since been cut out and rewelded back into the correct spot.

Since the last update I have the upper coil buckets welded in, track bar bracket fabbed and welded in.

Steering box bolted up and plumbed in. I finally ended up using a 92 Explorer steering box. The frame is reinforced with 1/4" plate by the steering box and trackbar bracket and the bolts are sleeved.

I made a hybrid steering shaft with the 01 shaft, the 92 shaft, and a 94 ZJ shaft.

Steering knuckles and pitman arm have been reamed for Chevy TRE's. Knuckles were reamed for over the knuckle steering.

Bought a steering kit from Ballistic and managed to bugger it up because my friend helping can't do simple math. Waiting on new tube inserts to redo it.

lifeguard379 · August 31, 2008

pics!

damarble · September 1, 2008

A few crappy pics for now. And before I hear anything about the upper link, it's temporary! Just for the mockup.

redranger4.0 · September 3, 2008

damarble said:
Turns out my links were not too long. One was, because when I aligned my frame side link brackets to the crossmember I didn't catch that the crossmember is bent (factory). So that has since been cut out and rewelded back into the correct spot.

i did the exact same thing too.

damarble · September 4, 2008

One step forward, two steps back. Finished my tie rod and then found out you can't run the tie rod over the knuckle on a D30 with stock brackets. So back under the knuckle and back the the junkyard for another set of knuckles since I already reamed these.

Damarble's 01 Sport, coil sprung HP D30 SAS, SOA, 33s, 4.56s, lockers

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