Mn Mountaineer V8 SAS

[crazyflights]

great work! i've been thinking a lot about doing another but mine next time might only narrow front 3-4 inches instead of 6. So many options looks great!

 

[2TimingTom]

Nice work! Now get out and enjoy it!

 

[johnny499]

Great job!! Looks great all done. cant wait to see some off road shots when you get a driveshaft in it.

Thanks!
Real off road shots are going to have to wait until i get some real bumpers made for it, the front one is just a glorified license plate holder that keeps the Po Po happy. I am going to hit that snow pile behind the shop again to get it flexed out soon.

 

[BKennedy]

Nice work! Now get out and enjoy it!

Ditto!

 

[johnny499]

This morning i started making the new rear shackles. I need to make boomerang style shackles because of the rear cross member. I made a template and set it up with pivot points at 1" and 2"s longer.

I radius-ed the corners and beveled the butt joint as with everything.

Then welded them together.

However my plans were changed when i couldn't get the shackle bolt out of the frame bushing. I will get new bushings and then tear back into it another day. It's hard to see in the picture but the front spring clamp has been hitting the bolt in the frame where the old mount used to be.

Problem solved, the ear on the clamp is just a little shorter now.

With the suspension at full droop the shock's have about 3/4" of travel left. This will probably change with the new shackles. I also replaced the axle breather hose and routed it with the brake line.

I put it back together and decided it was time to test the four wheel drive. So back to the snow pile at work.

It really stuff's the rear tire.

It put the drivers side spring into negative arch, I have new bump stops on order to stop that from being an issue.

The front stuffed pretty well to.

It was on the bump also.

Even twisted this far it felt completely stable which was kind of a surprise considering all of the tires were on ice.

This looked a little more impressive in person but the tire was almost completely clear of the wheel well.

After that I shifted the t-case out of four wheel drive and found out why you don't want to drive a Detroit Locker with just the hubs locked in. The ratcheting racket is horrendous, i thought i had destroyed a lockout. I took them both apart to make sure that wasn't the issue. Then took it back out to test and same thing no noise in four wheel drive on the snowy driveway but terrible ratcheting sound with just the hub's locked in.

 

[johnny499]

Oh did i mention the perma-grin I had when i crawled out of the truck to take the pictures. I'm still pretty jazzed. I knew it was going to flex pretty well but this was pretty darn cool. I didn't know how stable it was going to be while flexing like that. I can't wait to take it on some trails and see what it can really do.

 

[johnny499]

Last night i had the tires balanced. One tire took over 5 ounces and another only took an ounce, what a spread. It rides better and the slight vibration in the steering wheel is gone. When i got home I wired the speedometer correction module in place of the ABS computer and after several tries i have it reading about 2 Mph high which is about where it was stock. I have one more setting to try, i would like it to be right on. I thought i hurt something when i first took it out, it was reading about 4 times faster than it should and it shut the engine off at about 20 miles an hour actual speed so this must have a speed limiter programmed into the ECM. It started right back up but when i slowly got back up to that speed it started to cut out again. With it hooked to another output and the speedometer running closer to actual it never hiccuped again. I still need to figure out how to make the ABS light go out. The obvious way would be to pull the bulb but i already had the cluster out and replaced all of the bulbs. I want to do it through the wiring if i can figure it out.

 

[johnny499]

Wednesday evening on the way home i discovered that i had no windshield washers, however the rear washer worked so i knew it wasn't out of fluid. I spent a while trying to trouble shoot it. I was pretty sure the pump was good because it worked for the rear. I could here a relay click but was not getting any voltage at the pump plug for the front washers. Without any real schematics i was just spinning my wheels so i called it a night. On the way to work i tried the cruise control and that did not work, so two things to look at. I searched the forum and found a good thread about the windshield washers which turned out to be the problem. I had a bad relay in the aux box on the passengers side inner fender. I replaced both of them for good measure. I also found some trouble shooting info for the cruise control which is pointing towards the vehicle speed sense i.e. the speedometer correction module. I may need to use the ABS computer after all.

 

[RockRanger]

Nice build. I think you could use a few more lights in your garage though.

 

[johnny499]

Nice build. I think you could use a few more lights in your garage though.

Thanks!
I could actually use a couple more in what is usually my parking area for when it is being used for fabrication. It's nice not needing a drop light for everything. and it is only 14 light fixtures after all. I do have them switched in pairs so i don't have to turn them all on at once.

 

[johnny499]

This weekend i took it for it's first road trip to my friends place which is 155 miles one way. I ran it between 65 and 80 mph on the way up, it got 13.5 mpg. On the way back it had switched from rain to snow to cold and it was very icy most of the way so i ran 50 to 70 mph, mostly slower and i got about 15 mpg. The miles per gallon isn't far off from my expectations and may be better when the cruise control is working again. It just goes down the road, the tires are a little growly, i am going to try lowering the pressure in them and see if that helps. No bump steering, death wobble or any of that. The brakes work as good if not better than stock. It also tears up the gravel roads better than stock and should be even better if i get a sway bar on the front.
Saturday evening i took it out into a pasture and played on some of the rock out croppings. It really needs real bumpers and sliders before i try too much but i had to play. I was really impressed with what it would climb right up. It only spun and slid side ways once when i tried to go straight up a rock face which i backed out of because the bumper was going to hit it and i know the plastic would have lost. It might have gone differently if i would have aired the tires down, then again the ground is frozen too.
Well on to the pictures..

I also crossed the frozen creek in the dark which just as i dropped the front tires into i thought hey that's ice I'm going to be trying to get traction on to get up and out of but no problems at all the front just clawed right into the side of the creek bed and up and out it came.

 

[johnny499]

I had a good laugh at the gas station last night. The attendant said it was the first lifted Mercury he had seen. He was a nice guy and suggested a few places to go that i had already heard of including one that i have snowmobiled a couple times.

 

[johnny499]

Friday i found the right wiring option for the speedometer correction module and got it adjusted to be nut's on with the gps. The cruise control works with this configuration also. Originally i was hoping to delete the ABS computer and pump assembly but the Dakota digital module does not seem to put out the right a.c. signal from the open collector input of the axle speed sensor. The speedometer worked off of it but the cruise control would not accept the signal as valid. So i wound up putting it on the vss output(gray/black wire) from the ABS computer which provided the necessary a.c. signal at the right ppm base line that could then be adjusted with the module. I just need to find a place to mount it now that it is wired and adjusted for the tires. I am also going to try to separate the ABS pump from the computer to clean things up a little and get rid of some dead weight.
This module is very flexible and can work with many applications but can require a lot of trial and error. It was half the price of the ford specific modules i found that were supposed to be very simple to install.

 

[johnny499]

Friday night my rear shackle bushing were sitting at my door. I didn't realize that they were just the bushings without the sleeves. Fortunately the sleeves from my chevy spring bushings were the right size.

The drivers side bolt was rusted into the bushing and would not come out. I pried the shackle off the bolt and bent it around the frame.

This allowed me to heat the bushing rubber up and pound it out of the frame.

Then on to the passengers side where the bolt just came right out.

I decided i wanted to link the shackle sides together so i bolted the bushing sleeves between them for alignment.

Then i welded a piece of flat stock between them.

Here's the old rusty shackles.

The new shackles painted and installed.

With extending them an inch it looks like i may not have needed the boomerang design after all.

Installing the extended shackles made a big difference on the ride. It does not have the little jarring kick from binding on bumps. The truck is really quite civilized now. I still need to get the correct bump stops installed in the back.

 

[99SportX]

Amazing build dude. I would love a SAS's mounty someday. I had a grin on my face as well when I saw the finished pics.

I took the easy route and got a ZJ for wheeling though.

If you are ever up farther north in the state, check out the IROHVRA park in Gilbert, MN. That is where we do nearly all of our wheeling around here.

 

[johnny499]

Amazing build dude. I would love a SAS's mounty someday. I had a grin on my face as well when I saw the finished pics.

I took the easy route and got a ZJ for wheeling though.

If you are ever up farther north in the state, check out the IROHVRA park in Gilbert, MN. That is where we do nearly all of our wheeling around here.

Thanks!!
That's funny i was looking at v8 zj's to build up before i found this mounty. It is already my goal to hit the iron range park in the spring to run this through it's paces. I have heard good things about the park. I may also have the opportunity to hit SMORR down in Missouri this spring if the family will let me take a day from the vacation down there.

 

[99SportX]

On one Saturday in mid-may, not sure of the exact date at this time, the park is free to anyone. The local off road club (North Shore Wheelers) hosts their open house on that day and leads trail rides around the park in the morning and then they also offer a lunch and sometimes give away small prizes. In the afternoon you can continue with what remains of the group and try some harder stuff or go do your own thing. I would recommend going on that day if you can. The whole idea of the open house is to have fun and generate interest in the hobby. There are a number of people with bone stock jeeps that show up on that day to give it a go. I used to wheel my 99xlt up there when I had it on 33's.

 

[johnny499]

Cool! I will definitely have to look into that. Sounds like a good time to ease into it and get a feel for the truck.

 

[Kage.]

That’s for putting the effort in detailing your build on here. I’ve been through this thread several times now and it has been an immense help in preplanning my future build. While I’m planning on going on a slightly different route, I’ve been considering doing a Ford style radius arm setup with my full width 60. So your front end information has been particularly helpful. I’m hoping you can answer some questions if you have a moment.

-How much lift did you wind up with? Going by one of the earlier posts, it looks like you’re around the 5” mark?

-What did your frame/Belly height wind up being? Have any photos from the side of the rig?

-What Front coil buckets did you wind up using? They look like the factory full sized ones?

-Do you think it would be possible to run a High Steer setup? It’s hard to tell form the photos, but I’m thinking that there isn’t room there to make that happen without notching the heck out of the frame to clear the steering and track bar

-Any power steering issues? I’m running the same box you are, but with a 4.0 pump. That setup rarely has any issues moving aired down 37’s off-road and I’m wondering if the 5.0 pump and that box has the same amount of ‘umph’ or if I should plan on running a ram

-Any issues with the soldered joint leaking on the power steering?

-Now that you’ve had a few road miles on it, do you feel the need for a front sway bar?

-How close are the tires to the radius arm?

-I dig how you did the front brake line to the pumpkin. What is that soft line off of?

If you’re bored, here’s the build thread on my truck (Link to TRS). I’m planning on yanking the axles and such out from under it and sticking them under my Merc. I’m debating on whether or not to do leaf’s in the front again since they worked so well in the truck. So as I said, the information on the radius arms in this thread have been very helpful.

 

[johnny499]

That’s for putting the effort in detailing your build on here. I’ve been through this thread several times now and it has been an immense help in preplanning my future build. While I’m planning on going on a slightly different route, I’ve been considering doing a Ford style radius arm setup with my full width 60. So your front end information has been particularly helpful. I’m hoping you can answer some questions if you have a moment.

I have to thank everyone who posted their builds for me to research as well, so i could pull the information together to get this one where it is. One of my inspirations was Bray D's ranger for the low slung flexy approach as well as my spin on his radius arm's. I believe you've wheeled with him in the past.

-How much lift did you wind up with? Going by one of the earlier posts, it looks like you’re around the 5” mark?

My math say's I have about 6 inches of lift currently.

-What did your frame/Belly height wind up being? Have any photos from the side of the rig?

The lowest part of the belly is the crossmember for the transmission and radius arms. It measures 17 1/2" and the lowest point of the frame is at 21".

-What Front coil buckets did you wind up using? They look like the factory full sized ones?

They are '78 bronco buckets from the donor rig.

-Do you think it would be possible to run a High Steer setup? It’s hard to tell form the photos, but I’m thinking that there isn’t room there to make that happen without notching the heck out of the frame to clear the steering and track bar

I don't think the frame would be the hangup with doing high steer. The problem i see is getting the steering gear far enough forward and up to clear the tie rod. the lower radiator hose is right there in the way.

-Any power steering issues? I’m running the same box you are, but with a 4.0 pump. That setup rarely has any issues moving aired down 37’s off-road and I’m wondering if the 5.0 pump and that box has the same amount of ‘umph’ or if I should plan on running a ram

I have been very pleased with the power steering that being said i have not aired the tires down but on dry pavement it has not been an issue even at idle.

-Any issues with the soldered joint leaking on the power steering?

No it hasn't leaked a drop at the solder joint. I know it looked pretty gnarly when i was done with it but i went at it three times before i was 100% positive the solder had flowed all the way around the joint. Silver soldering is all about the joint preparation, beyond that it should be as strong as the material joined by it.

-Now that you’ve had a few road miles on it, do you feel the need for a front sway bar?

I think it comes down to personal preference on the sway bar. It does lean to and fro some times with irregularities in the road like man hole covers. Is it scary in corners, absolutely not. It rolls a little to the outside till the spring tightens up and then it's on a rail with no problems even if the corner is bumpy. I am on the hunt for a sway bar that will fit between the front tires and the frame rails with out hindering the turning radius so i can see how much better it can be and make the long drive more enjoyable.

-How close are the tires to the radius arm?

The tires have a little over half an inch of clearance and have never rubbed on the radius arms. I think it turns as tight as it did stock if not tighter.

-I dig how you did the front brake line to the pumpkin. What is that soft line off of?

Thanks! The soft line is for a '93 f350 4x4 rear. The bracket to the pumpkin is from the original line. I just ground the swaged area off and removed the old line. I used the same line for the rear axle. I kicked around a few different layout's before settling on the current configuration.