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The rig gets some much needed TLC

Josh S - rear glass, suspension, manual tcase

Hey guys I'm back! Well it's been a while since I've done anything major to my truck and it's high time! For starters, I've been running off of one shock in the rear forever and the shock will bottom out if I hit too hard. It was just a thrown together setup cuz I got some free 5150's so I slapped em on.

Anyways, it now has 1.5" per side widened beams up front with rigid bumpstops, kings, eibach coils still. The front end hangs pretty good right now minus the jacked alignment, but that's alright for now cuz I haven't been driving much.

The imminent plans include:
1) Cleaning up the rear fender hackage, round the corners and trim up the body straight so it looks cleaner, then maybe wrap the edges into the wheelwell.

2) mount the rear fiberglass quarter panels. These will be ordered in the next few days from Fiberwerx. I have the mounts already for the fenders, courtesy of Camburg. These are preferable and less of a PITA that dzus fasteners, and I like the look too.
Fenderwasherkit.jpg


3)finish rear suspension. This will involve the most work. after a lot of thought over the past year or two(while not having any spare $$), I have decided to keep the shocks under the bed instead of coming up through the floor. I have been in Sirhk100's old X that was set up this way and it hung hard enough for what I plan on doing. I just would like to bomb around the desert mildly(not fullon race speeds) with a bit of jumping in the mix, with also doing trails of course.

Having Kings up front I would like to stick with em, and also match them with 2.5s. I'm having trouble finding some used right now so they may have to be ordered new :( I'm estimating that I will need around a 10" stroke, but cycling will tell the truth.

I will disassemble the Deaver leaf pack that is on there currently, and just have the main leaf to cycle the suspension, and get some rough measurements off of an "imaginary" upper mount, then I will know the right length to get. A crossmember will need to be fabbed for the shocks to mount to, as well as some of the stock spare tire mount cut off. gooood, my sawzall is getting a bit of dust settling on it :D

in this same time I will mount my Radflo 2" stroke hydro bumps in the cans I just picked up from Camburg. These will be nice for the harder hits in the whoops or on dropoffs or mild jumps. The short stroke and bodies of these custom bumps work great for mounting under our explorers and fitting underneath the floor. After this is complete I will measure for and order some limit straps to keep my leaf pack and shocks together at droop.

While this doesn't sound like a whole lot, it's going to be a lot of work for me but I know it is going to be awesome!

One more current event lol...I ordered a manual t-case from a guy that will be waiting for me when I get back to Chico. Just need to track down some linkage and a shifter and I'll toss that baby in to get rid of these darn shift motor blues :rolleyes:

I'm down in OC right now and won't be back up home to the truck in chico for another week or so, so not really any pics of the stuff...but you can count on this thread having mad amounts of pics once the work starts!!!
 



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Well I got the motor crossmember bent back into submission(still need to gusset). Found out that the passenger side beam I made was messed up so we grabbed another from the junkyard and I got that finished up yesterday. The rotors and bearings got all cleaned up and the beams thrown on the truck. Started on the radius arms a little bit so that is next up!

Truck with beams patiently waiting for radius arms
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Had a buddy helping me out for the afternoon:)
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First step towards the radius arms:D
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All the fiberglass on the truck was made by McNeil.:thumbsup:

We got started on the radius arms on Friday between rainstorms and made some good progress. Numbnuts me picked up the wrong size misaligns so I'm gonna have to exchange those:mad:

We are going with a different style than normal, but I really like it and its going to be strong as hell;)
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Buddy's dog guarding the chopsaw:D
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Thanks for helping out guys!
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We ran out of tubing so I need to head down to the metal shop sometime this week. Hopefully this weekend they can be just about done!
 


















Derk derk allah!!
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[/hijack]
 






ohhhh, baka-laka daka
 






Super bling! That bender mount is siiiick!!

I may be hauling an empty trailer up to wa this summer... I'll keep you updated. Should find out more this weekend.
 






Super bling! That bender mount is siiiick!!

I may be hauling an empty trailer up to wa this summer... I'll keep you updated. Should find out more this weekend.

Shoot man seriously let me know! I need this pig hauled up there. I lined up something from that dude on Pirate that hauls but it's gonna cost me a few bones. Name your price;)

School and work are kickin balls this week so I probly won't be able to make any progress until Friday. Should be ordering the plasma sometime next week:smoke:

Oh yah johnny any chance of gettin some dimple dies in these blingers? It's either that or I'll plate in with 3/16" and just drill some holes:rolleyes:
 






Hey Josh S. -- two quick questions if you dont mind: what are the dimensions on the tubes you used (diam, wall) ? Any difficulties bending it?
 






Think I'll be home Sunday Night/Monday morning.
 






nice to see the progress Josh get her back on the sand!
 






Hey Josh S. -- two quick questions if you dont mind: what are the dimensions on the tubes you used (diam, wall) ? Any difficulties bending it?
It is 1.75x.120 wall DOM. No problems bending it with the JD2. Well except when you mess up it gets expensive fast haha.

Think I'll be home Sunday Night/Monday morning.
ok man, for sure? If so I will cut plates and get them drilled and ready for dimpleage if you're for sure! Otherwise it would suck to do all that crap and just end up using 3/16". Thanks! Let me know man. I don't have class till noon on monday. Oh and what size holes do i need to drill? 1/8" steel is good for that thing right?

nice to see the progress Josh get her back on the sand!
Thanks buddy! She has a long way to go!
 






It is 1.75x.120 wall DOM. No problems bending it with the JD2. Well except when you mess up it gets expensive fast haha.
Gotcha, thanks!
 






Don't you have an update? I recall seeing these things leaving my shop last night... :shifty_ey
 






you made me get up

Don't you have an update? I recall seeing these things leaving my shop last night... :shifty_ey

That place is pretty haggard but if you wanna call it a shop I guess I'll go along with it:confused:

Rare spy pic of the 3/16" plates welded in...
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Before
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After some lovin on Johhny's press with a dimple die:D
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They should turn out pretty nice when I can find some time to weld the suckers up;)
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And before anybody says anything about one arm having two holes in the bottom plate and one having three, the one with two had to be shorter to clear the pumpkin junk on the driver's side;) Real busy this week but I should be able to get these suckers done and mounted on Friday.

Thanks for the help with the dimples and the torches Johnny, you're a life saver:chug:
 






Well I guess all you EF dudes are only into SAS swaps but I will still continue to post my desert junk in here in hopes of inspiring someone to build up D35 prerunners;)

Here ya go Johnny, Marc's triple EXXXtreme bumper works great as a paint booth...
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another
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SAS is for girls:D
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Wow-
That's some nice work there.
I don't have nor understand a TTB, but I do know when I see nice fab work.

can you show me the tube bender and mount please? That is the best idea I've seen all day.
 






Thanks Jon:)

Here's a side view of the bender stand my buddies made. Just some square stock and rectangular tubing they had lying around then the bender bolts to a piece of 1/4" plate I believe. Let me know if you need more pics. You can catch some closer up ones of the bender at www.jd2.com. It is the Model 3 bender.
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Josh, you guys going to be doing any more work this week? I've got a lot of free time...
 






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