Front end work

[Tbars4]

...call home depot and see if they still have the dewalt twinpack grinders for $100 bucks..2 for the price of one...

 

[cybergasm]

noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! my grinder stop working! the world is coming to an end!!!

lol have a Monster and breathe everything will be ok.

and oh yea Home Depot also sells twin-packs of grinders under the Ryobi brand too

 

[R.J.]

since the navajo is away, i decided to pull apart the extra explorer thats in the garage and test fit the beams and axle. and i must say clearance sucks! the axle fits, but there's a ton of movement from droop to flex. the axle bottums out on full droop and limits droop travel and it also pulls pretty far out when its flexed. the diff does end up right under the frae rail, but what sucks more than that is the drive shaft might hit the frame too i'll have to see how it really works when i put it on the nav.

pulling it apart

beams on

diff clearance

the stuff with the diff hitting the frame

the stock radius arm brackets are in the way, so i cant tell if the drive shaft we'll work

the axle at full droop

and full flex

 

[Dannyboy]

3 comments
1) nice, you have lots of time on your hands
2) are you going to notch the opening on the passenger side? "the Winter Mod"
3) nice Dr. Pepper placement

 

[Dannyboy]

and look at your coil bucket in that pic. are you moving those out 2" as well? There is no way your coil would let your diff get that close to the frame. I'd measure that distance.

 

[R.J.]

the axle window will be opened up at the inner corners, once the grinder gets a new cord on it

coil springs are old school, who uses those anymore

im thinking about cutting the end of the long axle down a little bit to get some more droop. i think winter mentioned shortening the axle before, too.

the navajo is supposed to be back next week. im gonna have to do mucho grande work to get this ready for t-haven

 

[Dannyboy]

ah ha, I guess I didn't see where you were jumping into coilovers already. That's going to be slick. I assume you will have an engine cage in your rig when it comes back to the U.S.

 

[Burns]

Wow a lot of work for a test fit. Got to give it to you for planning this out really well.


Looks good man

 

[R.J.]

heck yeah it is alot of work for a test fit!!!! i just wanted to make sure the axle and the axle housing lengths worked out before putting more work into it.


ahhhhh danny where do you come up wiht these crazy conceptions

its time to skip the everything inbetween and jump to the end, with c/o's

 

[Dannyboy]

your ride is going to officially be pimped.

 

[mounty71]

Skipping right to coilovers now?! Psh, big deal. I, uh, got a new windshield today. Now who's gonna be bombing down the washes.


Well as always, i'm looking forward to seeing your truck kick all the trails in the balls.

 

[R.J.]

as long as this thing actually works and the drive shaft doesnt hit the fram rail and the axle limit the travel at 14-15"s. but whatever the case, im going to make this work!

 

[DB_1]

Are the beams being cut and turned at the pivots? That would give you a little more clearance between the diff and frame no?

 

[R.J.]

the beams are already cut and turned at the lower ball joints. no more geometry changes will be made on the beams... hopefuly

 

[R.J.]

about 3 hours to swap back to stock

 

[CopyKat]

coil springs are old school, who uses those anymore

im thinking about cutting the end of the long axle down a little bit to get some more droop. i think winter mentioned shortening the axle before, too.

I do!:

I trimmed about 3/8" off the end of the one I have in the Bronco. Along with the 1" of extra width, this helped in stopping the axle shaft from bottoming out on the cap at the center joint.

Mine still bottoms but I have it set so that the springs and shocks are fully extended before bottom.

 

[R.J.]

3/8" is my plan too. there's already about a 1/8" at the end of the shaft that has no splines, it tappers.

 

[R.J.]

withthe navajo back, we mounted up the beams, axles, drive shafts, radius arms, steering, and springs to see how everything is workin out. of course the springs are crazy lookin with the widened beams and the springs themselves being bent, but i put them on just to get an ideaof travel and what ride hight looks like.

the drive shaft clears the frame but i need to move the fuel filter bracket

the coils springs at full droop (moe than my limits straps could reach)

this looks awesome

ride hight, sitting without jack stands

looks like everything will work good. and the bushing radius arms let the beams droop plenty far

also looks like the axle won't be limiting my travel, probably the steering will if i keep with the stock pitman arm.

 

[R.J.]

hopefuly i can get this much travel, this pic would be 16"s on the diff side and i could get 18" on the pass side. thats about max for the steering and the axle.

this is with the diff hitting the frame, i might clearance it a little for more bump

 

[CopyKat]

Looks good. Needs some plate work now!!!