RJ's B2 Build

[R.J.]

Taking penny pinching to whole new level haha. So are you not using that rear bumper anymore? I have another friend who might be interested in it if not.

The rear bumper is on my "list" of things to do. In the next couple weeks I'll probably work on it. It's just been on the back burner cause it'll take a bit of time and work cutting and welding and drilling and making sure it lines up and is level and etc. But that bumper will be on eventually.

 

[R.J.]

Did some more work on my fender trimming. Previously I had just cut the metal and filled the gaps with expanding foam. But the tire was catching the edge of the metal and tearing up my tire. I made note of it in a post #35 of this thread

The metal refused to bend up out of the way, so I cut little slits in it, bent it up, and did one of my worst welding jobs ever connecting the wheel well to the quarter panel.

Once it was tacked up, I was able to hammer it out a little more. So clearance should be good. Next was trying to seal everything up.........
So I used several tubes of steel stick from jb weld and covered the slits and gaps and such. I have no idea if this will hold up in the real world, not even sure if I should be posting about cause it might be too redneck. But it also might work... And I'd be smart. Right?

It was starting to get dark, so the photos are not great.

 

[mounty71]

Hopefully it holds, that's one of the next things for me to do too.

 

[R.J.]

Went to Azusa ohv park again

 

[R.J.]

Was in Johnson Valley for the king of the Hammers race, and took the dirt roads out to see giant rock. Even got my tire up on a piece of the rock.

 

[R.J.]

I didn't break anything or replace anything on the car. So nothing new to post about that. But I did pick up some more parts for the car. I'll post about that later, but the trucks gonna go taller. Just slightly.

 

[Stic-o]

I didn't break anything or replace anything on the car. So nothing new to post about that. But I did pick up some more parts for the car. I'll post about that later, but the trucks gonna go taller. Just slightly.

Sounds like you're going to need that 4.0 back soon

 

[R.J.]

Sounds like you're going to need that 4.0 back soon

No not soon. But if I have it by the summer, I might start on in it in July/August.

But the 4.0 would've helped on the drive home. A heavy head wind kept me in the slow lane until the wind let up.

 

[R.J.]

Scored these lift brackets from another member on here. They've been repaired once, so I will add some reinforcement to them before installing. I currently don't have axle lift brackets on. Just stock brackets and 2" lift springs. These brackets are 2.5" lift brackets from rancho. So the plan is to install these along with f150 spacer seats under the springs. That should put me around 4" of lift, and then I'll install the superrunner steering too. For the rear suspension, I have another set of springs left over from the Navajo that will hopefully level out the car after I do all that.

 

[R.J.]

Oh also, I did install a light bar on the front bumper. You can see it in the pics above. Not much to say about it. It's a little guy. Works good. Was $25 on Amazon.

 

[R.J.]

I think I figured out my noise.....

I've had a clunking noise coming from the rear of the car for some time now. Especially on left turns.
So I was messing around with some different shackle lengths today, thinking they might be the problem (which didn't work out very good) but I flexed the suspension to check some things and I noticed that my body mounts were lifting off of the frame.

So now I need body mounts. And hardware since mine are rusted out.

 

[R.J.]

Haven't posted anything in a while. Haven't done much to it other than chasing down a brake issue that was finally figured out.

But now I finally have something to post. Spent the money on some decent shocks

They are Bilstein 7100 10" short body shocks. Hopefully they'll be decent for a mix of different trails.

 

[BKennedy]

Those shocks should work well for the B2. You get the body mounts changed?

 

[R.J.]

Those shocks should work well for the B2. You get the body mounts changed?

Not yet. I have the body mounts and hardware from James duff sitting in a box. Waiting for me to get to it.

 

[R.J.]

I went with the Bilstein shocks because they make them with a short body option. So fitting them under the floor of the bronco and keep the mounts high on the axle for ground clearance. Which to me was more important than having a larger shock body, like a 2.5" shock, which would work much better for desert and high speed stuff. At least this is mono tube, has a reservoir, and is revalveable. Valving is a difference maker on shocks. I had to take a guess with bilsteins weird valving numbers as to what would work well for me. I got them in 275/78 valving. I know desert suspensions like lots of compression valving and quick rebound valving. But not sure what works well in rock crawling. So hopefully this will be a good starting point.

First thing I had to do was swap the heim for a bushing for the upper mount. My upper mount is larger than the 1/2" heim.

Looks so cool!

 

[R.J.]

Now my shocks are no longer the limiting factor on my rear suspension. It's at around 11" of travel now.

 

[BKennedy]

Cool. I would put the rod end back and get spacers to make up the difference. It will reduce the strain on that single sheer upper mount. As far as rock crawling and valving. I took the advice of @sirhk100, a guy who is rarely on the forum anymore. He walked me through valving, springs, etc. He is the shock guy for a racing team in Vegas. He said when building a multi-purpose rig, to valve shocks for going fast and not worry about the slow stuff. Good shocks have bypasses to allow the oil to pass freely when there is little to no pressure on them, like when going slow.

 

[R.J.]

Cool. I would put the rod end back and get spacers to make up the difference. It will reduce the strain on that single sheer upper mount. As far as rock crawling and valving. I took the advice of @sirhk100, a guy who is rarely on the forum anymore. He walked me through valving, springs, etc. He is the shock guy for a racing team in Vegas. He said when building a multi-purpose rig, to valve shocks for going fast and not worry about the slow stuff. Good shocks have bypasses to allow the oil to pass freely when there is little to no pressure on them, like when going slow.

The rod end wont physically fit the upper mount. I had to take the rod end out because the upper mount stud is a larger diameter than the 1/2" rod end. It works with a standard rubber bushing without the sleeve in it. A lot of Toyota guys have to do the same thing. And I am worried about that mount breaking and ruining $175 shock.

 

[mounty71]

I ran those same shocks for a while and did the same thing using a bushing. Worked awesome, you'll be happy with those.

 

[RockRanger]

Who did you order them thru? New shocks are on my list.