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Ricks Bronco: 1and 1/2




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Now don't get me wrong, I like legs, but I'll take a nice set ergonomically shaped ***** any day of the week. Especially with the proper amount of side swell ;) Of course a la nutural
 






lmao, nice, i was referring to your constant building of your vehicle. around here when someone likes to build it more than wheel it they are called a lego guy, like for the toy building blocks. haha everyone likes ***** man. lmao:D
 






who cares! he takes it out to test it. he just doesnt beat on it like some others on the forum do. all the ideas that go into this truck are amazing. especially watching it from practically the beginning. The fab skills and ideas have improved imensely. What a way to spend retirement!
 












Thanks Guys, and I did take it as a compliment.
My reply was a tongue in cheek post.
I still have about a zillion Legos boxed up somewhere Ha Ha.

th_MOV05521.jpg


Ouch!
Click on image.

I needed to check out to see if I had any clearance issues that don't show up while flexing with a floor jack in garage :D I needed to bounce it.
I knew it was close around the diff cover and track bar mount on pass. side of axle. I needed to stuff and droop the pass. side to find out. So I put the right hand side on an angle
You can see how far it droops as I start to go side ways on the hill and then it actually hits the rear fender when it briefly stuffs when I came off.
Now it I had of left the pin in the rear radius arm it would have never had hit or flexed that far.
But that's no fun.
Actually it's just too flexy to drive on the street without the pin.

So then it was back to the garage to check to get under and check for flesh wounds.
I heard it hit, but nothing that stopped the body from coming down, so I knew it could not be major.

DSC05523.jpg


OK, a little rear fender work is in order, nothing big here. Kinda suspected this.

DSC05526.jpg


Now this will take a little more work. This is where the extreme edge of the diff cover hit. It's one of those IRS ones that are aluminum.
It was more of a rub then anything. But there is room to modify that gas tank plate if need be.

DSC05530.jpg


Here you can see the rub mark on the webbing. I'll cut off some of the webbing first and then modify the plate if need be.
I think "need be" will be done also. I feel the urge to cut out the radius part of the tank plate and make it on a sharp 45 deg angle.
The gas tank is about 1" behind it.

DSC05531.jpg


And here is the diff cover before I start modifing it.


DSC05527-1.jpg


And lastly the little shiny mark where the rear axle track bar mount came up and hit part of the crossover frame. You can see that I previously cut it out where the L cut is made, but did not do enough.
I really do not have to cut the L-cut any more. The part of the track bar mount that hit can be cut off. I had to move the track bar on axle due to shoving axle back, so the part of the old track bar will just be cut off.

Now to start removing Lego's, I mean metal.
And Aric, your right about the retirement.
Just in case something goes south while testing, I have couple friends who have trailers that I can call just in case.
But I really have not wheeled this hard anyway, no desire to bang off rocks and trees.
But there will be a time that this will most likley be made into a %100 trail rig. But that will cost some big $$.
 






DSC05531.jpg


Before.

DSC05534.jpg


And after face lift. That was about 1.5" removal of aluminum that was hanging out.
Could have put on the steel diff cover, but I like the looks of the aluminum and main thing that it dissipates heat well.

DSC05539.jpg


May do a little massaging of this while I have it off. Really don't think it's necessary after the removal of the aluminum. But what the heck.
 






I would leave the skid as is to allow for any shift if it takes a hit.
 






I would leave the skid as is to allow for any shift if it takes a hit.

Oops, the post I made about the skid did not come out like I was thinking.
Yes I am definitely putting it back on. What I was trying to convey was that I don't think that I'll have to re-bend it on a sharper angle.
Thanks for pointing that out.

I would never never leave that off. I've been covered in gas two times, and thank the Lord there was no sparks. Once in a race car doing 150 mph and once in a 4x4 that rolled.
the one in the race car was absolutely terrifying while I waited for the car to slow down enough so I could bail out.
The one in the 4x4 was bad but not like the race car. I was hanging upside down and could not push the button in on the seat belt. A guy came over and had to push the button in with a screw driver LOL. All my weight was against the belt and the latch would not work.
I talked to a fireman and he said more then once they had to cut the belt when the persons weight was not letting the latch go in.
 






I figured you would put it back on. I meant I would not modify the skid to be closer to the tank. That way there is room for the skid to bend in if you take a good hit. (Sorry for the brevity before, I posted from my phone.)
 






DSC05540.jpg


Just to be sure there is no clearance issues which I don't think there will be.
I cut out the part just above the center section. This part of the skid plate is on the inside vertical part.
The flat bottom piece is only about 1/4" away from the bottom of tank.
This part that has been rolled and cut out is about an 1" away from tank where the radius is. So there is room to modify.

DSC05543.jpg


This is the backside of the modified skid plate. The new piece is fitted in and welded on both front and back. There is no roll here, just a flat piece of metal from cut to cut.

DSC05542.jpg


And here is the exposed side. This was done with a stick using 6013. The reason I cleaned it and flapped wheel down is because I'm going to start doing some sheet metal work on the truck and getting some practice on lighter metal that will be exposed.
 






DSC05545.jpg


Getting ready to bolt plate back on.
I think this pic shows the area that was modified a little better. There is no radius in this area.

DSC05547.jpg


Plenty of room now to strut it's stuff or to even push the axle back even more.
In the last few days you can see in this pic couple of the mods...(1) Being the shock mount mod and (2) The clearance issue with the tank plate.

Doing the extreme rear quarter panel to clear larger tires and even to clear these 33s during stuff on the fuel inlet side will be just sooo delightful if in fact I have to relocate filler to the bed :rolleyes:
There is a whole lot of sheet metal behind the gas inlet that will have to be addressed once I start.
But remember, the worst day fabricating on your own truck is better then the best day at work :p:
 






DSC05569-1.jpg


Well went out for my usual coffee this morning and thought I'd take the road less traveled ;)

And while I was at it, check out the latest mods to see how they're doing :salute:
This modifing and testing is starting to really be fun.

DSC05567-1.jpg


DSC05555-1.jpg


DSC05571-1.jpg


The rear pass side is stuffed and wanted to also check on how much travel the radius arm does with the increased flex. It is the side that is wristed and the pin is removed in this pic. If it was not then the driver side tire would want to come up off ground.

DSC05583.jpg


Stands to reason that the top radius arm traveled more then anytime previous due to the better suspension mods that I just did. This is stuffed,
Now it's easy to see why I made that brace that extends past bracket.

DSC05558.jpg


Now this is full Droop and it's moved toward the rear.
I'll have to keep an eye on the radius arm gong back anyfurther and hitting the shock brace. Looks very close now. When I go to different Coilover springs and or longer travel shocks I'm sure I'll have to relocate the brace.


DSC05546.jpg


Need to check out the clearance issue around the Diff cover/Gas tank skid plate modification.
When I do all this testing I also check on all suspension welds and so on.
So far from the very first weld about 5 years ago, everything is fine.

Pleased to see that there were no Tell Tale signs of hitting.
There is enough clearance that I still have a finger width between tank and plate.

Can't wait to get some longer springs for the Coilovers. There is just so much more flex in both the front and rear suspensions to un-leash.
 






DSC05618.jpg


With the unrelentless moving and modifying of the axles, wheel base, and shock angles, I knew the drive shaft angle had to be changed.
It is more suited now for a double Cardan joint. But I want to keep it a single joint at each end as long as I can try to get the Pinion angle and transfer ends close to the same angle.
Now the transfer is closer to parallel and pinion more up.
And this is the reason I developed a little vibration I'm feeling between 40 and 45 mph.

So first step was to raise the engine up 5/8" by shimming between motor mount and block. Really could not go much higher due to interference with other components.
It's just to the immediate right of the aluminum oil adapter.

DSC05614.jpg


Next to eliminate the Energy Suspension tranny mount and fab up an all steel seat shaking smaller one. This will drop the tranny down in the back another 5/8".
This is the new partially finished mount.
Tapping 7/16" threads into the bottom. This is where the bolts will come up through cross member and attach to mount.

DSC05616.jpg


Not only is the hole tapped like I explained above, but I also welded a threaded nut directly over hole so there is more meat for the bolts to hold on to.
DSC05619.jpg


The old and new of it.

After installed I'll fire it up and see what other things will be effected by this, like fan shroud for one.

If this is successful, then I'' address the pinion angle of the rear axle. It would be a simple fix to have it at less of an angle.
And who knows, might even push the axle back just a skosh more:rolleyes:
The added length of this wheel base coupled with a shallower angle is better suited for a doubler anyway.
 












http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=769275 with bushings at ends, second pic.

Going to get the height right first and then do something like above.
I'll sliip the new bracket over the existing tubed crossmember and check out everything first. No hard wheeling, I'm talking about driving around block. And then if it's OK, I'll make the new cross member with the lowered height.
 






DSC05620.jpg


This is how much lower the modified mount is.

DSC05624.jpg


Had to raise the fan shroud and now I'll have to take off the engine cradle if I want to take off the distributer cap.

DSC05622.jpg


Valve cover on pass side is really close to the heater box. I made the heater box anyway so no big deal to modify.

DSC05625-1.jpg


I like the fact that the oil pan is now even further away from the tubed engine cross member.

Now just to drive it around some.
 






What a difference in the ride by changing the engine/tranny angle. No vibration at 40-45 mph. But that still does not make it right. Being there is still too much angle due to the pinion angle being turned up by adjusting the coilovers to raise suspension.
Being this is a Radius arm suspension, when increasing the ride height it also brings the pinion angle up.
The closer I can get the transfer angle and pinion angle the more the front and rear u-joints will turn at the same speed and be in sync with each other.
It may feel fine by the seat of the pants driving, but that does not make it right.
It will just make for premature joint failure if not fixed.

DSC05638.jpg


The top link of the Radius arm was level when I first installed it. But after changing so much of the rear geometry and ride height, it is now 6 deg. pointing up, where as it used to be near level.
I planned for adjustments when I designed the mounts, that is why there are several mounting holes. No need to keep drilling holes into frame.
So correcting this is the order for today :D
 






DSC05643.jpg


OK, moved the radius arm mount lower on the frame. It's now perfectly level.
Had to cut off some of the mount that hung below frame. Scroll back and you can see how much I lowered it.
Of course this moved pinion angle down also.

Now for the vital statistics after, moving engine mount up, tranny mount down and then relocating radius arm mount on frame down.


DSC05666-1.jpg


Pinion angle is now at 9 deg. pointing up.

DSC05664.jpg


Transfer is now pointing 8 deg. down.
So It's only 1 degree of pinion running parallel with transfer.
With a little more tweaking I could have gotten both exact, but 1 degree is fine.

DSC05662.jpg


Very pleased with the drive shaft angle. But more importantly the closeness of the pinion/transfer working angle of u-joints.

And now I've had with this, going to do some trails. See ya.
 



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This whole rig is just full of WIN!! (Sorry, dropped back into my gaming slang. ;))

I hope one day to see it in person. You should really sell tickets for rides. Would be sooo worth it. :D
 






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