Project Baby Runner/Mini Crawler: R.J.'s Navajo Build

this thread is going to be just a thread posting any mods or work being done on the Navajo. I'll also make a registry which would kinda like a summery of whats in the vehicle and i already have a thread started about the work im doing to the front beams/axle. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206455

well here's whats up with it right now, its in mexico at McNeiloff-road to have a roll cage put in it

here's just some randome shots of the shop.

Chad McNeils shop

Perry and Jason's shop

this is a shot from the front gate around the buildings. on the right it is Chad McNeil's shop (McNeil Off-road) and towards the left is the building where Perry McNeil (McNeil Racing/Perrys fab n fiber) and Jason McNeil (Fiberwerx) shops are.

some sort of buggy

some trucks

a cool bumper

a sport trac

pictures suck, but here's some explorers

king pin, equal length.

a ranger

i forget how massive desert cars are till i see them. all the shocks, springs, tubing, reinforcing etc. is huge.

 

[IZwack]

(OMFG!) -- what happens to the leaves? Do they just flatten out or something?

 

[carlover]

Good points on the the leafs vs links. Im glad im getting a smokin deal on the link setup, or i would run leafs for sure.

 

[spotter guy]

One common thing for racing with leafs was to raise the front pivot witch lowers anti-swat and make them as long a possible. Cut or notch frame for a max de-arched and when you subject the spring to that amount of arch change they would fatigue and then crack. This is still practiced today and works very well in a racing app. National had a problem for a few years with racers only getting one or two races before total fracture. They have since fixed the problem...

 

[R.J.]

i guess this is progress. danny's shock mount still lives.... just reincarnated

 

[R.J.]

got the other side tacked up.

im using the shock mount i bought off of dannyboy bu ti had to flip it upside down and weld new shock tabs to fit 12" shocks in at a decent angle. looks kinda funny cause i still have the old shock tabs on too hahaha.

also re-positioned the lower shock mount to gain some ground clearance. does anybody know if this was part of a kit? possibly for superlift? cause i didn't make these. when we originaly bought the 4" superlift from one of the guys on this board, these shock mounts and skid plate/u-bolt mounts came with them. they used to have a little weld between the two peices but it wouldn' work like that with our 14 leaf pack.

 

[Dannyboy]

looks good. Now throw some gussets on those tabs for the way you drive. That's the point of the extra bracing on the original placement but I like the way you did that.

I think the original Superlift SOA kit had perches with shock tabs on them. Also weld up some steel or put a long threaded bolt with nuts on the inside of where the single shock is supposed to mount My stock mounting plate was really reinforced on the bottom plate, I can see that twisting up with 2 shocks and only support on each side of one, the mount will bend outwards.

 

[R.J.]

 

[Dannyboy]

That is a total teaser pic, it looks like somebody got some new shocks.

 

[R.J.]

new shocks? nope, those are the shocks tht have been in the rear for a while. 2.0x11 fox's.

almost ready to put it all together and then i realize i have a little clearance issue trying to use the fox's instead of the pro-comps

 

[R.J.]

aww man, putting things back together is beautiful.

and hooray for more clearance under the spring!

 

[Tbars4]

...When did you aquire that leaf pack????...:scratch:

 

[IZwack]

Awesome job on the bracket that attaches the shock to what used to be anti-sway bar holes -- well done!!

 

[R.J.]

...When did you aquire that leaf pack????...:scratch:

page 2 and 7 of this thread. originally a deaver g50 ranger pack, but had it costumized by deaver

Awesome job on the bracket that attaches the shock to what used to be anti-sway bar holes -- well done!!

turned out pretty good. i didn't actually design them, i already had them in my garage (they came with a used lift i bought once) before i put the triangular brace in it, you were still able to bolt up and run the sway bar. i could probably trim it down enough to fit the sway bar on again.

 

[lifeguard379]

looks clean and strong.

 

[mounty71]

So this thing's ready for saturday now? What else is there to do?

 

[R.J.]

the rear is almost done, tomorrow is time to fix the front. still have the front axle to fix from the "psimo carnage super wind" run.

 

[R.J.]

looks clean and strong.

hey hows your psimo breakage coming along? everything fixed?

 

[lifeguard379]

the "psimo carnage super wind" run.

hahaha thats great.

i welded the diff up got it all back together, then found the pass side seal went bad from all the play that was in it. so i have to take every thing out and replace it.but i think i will wait till the ring and pinion go for that.those teeth did alot of carnage in there lol, and trying to come up a way to brace up the bumper. but with they baby on the way, i will just run it like it is. lol

 

[R.J.]

hahaha thats great.

i welded the diff up got it all back together, then found the pass side seal went bad from all the play that was in it. so i have to take every thing out and replace it.but i think i will wait till the ring and pinion go for that.those teeth did alot of carnage in there lol, and trying to come up a way to brace up the bumper. but with they baby on the way, i will just run it like it is. lol

well as long as its runnin. thats all it needs to do for a daily driver

 

[lifeguard379]

it dose more then just driving daily, i still wheel it like it is lol.