Autofab and Camburg 4wd kits

[Josh S.]

Well the guy who bought it is over on dezertrangers.com, says it does great! Might wanna search overthere, but I don't know about front end parts breakin

 

[Josh S.]

I'm pretty damn sure camburg makes their own arms

 

[prerunnersvo]

Yeah, I've seen that guy post over there. He said in a post that it just has stock bilsteins in the back, so he can't drive it hard at all. As far as I know Camburg makes their own arms, I've heard that about the 4wd beams.

 

[DB_1]

Josh,
I feel ya on the rivet grinding....just plain sucks! I cut off the shock mount on the coil bucket to make room for my longer shock mount, then I reinforced the side I cut off with 1/4 plate...seems to be working so far.
How much and where did you get those Eibach coils if you don't mind me asking and are they a softer spring rate than most of the lift kit coils?
Anyways, looks like a killer set up man!

 

[GIJOE]

Man that looks awesome.
Hopefully I can see your Explorer in action out at the MDR race in August. My friend and I are trying to get his 95 F150 ready to run in that race. But either way I will be out there.

 

[prerunnersvo]

I fully sympathize with anyone that has had to grind/drill/chisel/etc. frame rivets. I think I've tried every method under the sun & you know what? They all suck!!!

 

[sirhk100]

Josh, good man!!! Straight through the floor is the smart way to go and save an extra couple months and go straight to bypass. It's worth it!!! Did I read the word Plasma in your post??? You fawker, you got a plasma??? My shakes and goes crazy at about 65mph... I've got something going out in my front end. I'm throwing it up on stands next friday and doing the wobble/pry check on everything!!!

I've heard the exact opposite. I've heard Camburg builds the beams for baja... Who knows? Who cares? They work...

Rivets!!! Oxy/Acy torch as smooth as you can flush with the bucket. Then air chisel between the frame and bucket. POP, it flys off. BIG HAMMER pound rivets out of frame. Took me about 5 minutes per side!!! Too bad the rivets on the stock beam pivits weren't that easy!!!

 

[Josh S.]

Yah rivets suck, but the grinding was the worst part. It was about 90* out and sparks flying all over my arms and down shirt, in ears, etc. haha. wasn't bad with air chisel though, plus I've learned since putting on my 5.5 superlift back in the day.

thanks for the props guys, but something is still wacky as hell. I started a thread over on dezertrangers so we'll see. Khris, are your beams cut and turned or are they balljoint pull-out style like camburgs. I think mine hvae been f'd from the get-go. I blowing my second u-joint on the stub shaft right now from f'd up angles.

and yes Khris, I have a plasma cutter in my posession. It aint the best one made, but it SURE DOES beat the HELL out of any grinder or reciprocating saw. I may hack my rear fenders with it soon Yah the plasma is my buddies, he got a bomb-diggity-dank Miller now, so I'm kind of borrowing his old one. It is badass. anyways...

GIJOE-I'll see ya on the 14th man!!

thread about my f'd up front end:

http://www.dezertrangers.com/cgi-bin/ib/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=12;t=9822

 

[sirhk100]

My lower ball joints have been moved out. There's 1.5" of width added to the beams up by the pivits but the re-alignment for the lift is all in the lower ball joint movement...

You're talking about the U-joint on the pass axle near the diff?

 

[Josh S.]

yah that one

 

[prerunnersvo]

That's interesting about all the cutting you had to make to fit the coil buckets. I'm not going to argue for or against either company as I am tired of doing so, but I will say this. The Autofab 16" TRAVEL kit (and yes even John the owner of Autofab called it a kit) installed with relative ease and everything lined up just as he told me it would. Including all the holes for the coil buckets I think I've said it before, but I've never had any problems with axleshaft binding.

 

[Josh S.]

well after massive amounts of work, for me, the Kings are fully mounted and cycling clean. fabbed some mounts over the weekend and cycled it like Khris told me how to. It was a major PITA for my lazy ass to get them things to work with the camburg coil buckets(as they are designed for swayaways) but its all good. Ported out my beam with the plasma to rectify that problem of the shaft rubbing, hopefully it will bind less within the u-joint now. I'll throw up some pics later.

 

[sirhk100]

nice!!! So the race may still be on???

 

[Josh S.]

haha, well I sure hope so!! damn dude I thought I was hauling ass on the project, but I still have to fix the rear end!! That involves:

1. arguing with wicked creations about my shackles being too short
2. cycling suspension
3. adding those air bumps you hooked me up with and limitign straps.

1+2+3=PITA!!

 

[sirhk100]

Yes, that is a PITA but it can be done in one weekend!!! I think you may actually take me in a race. I'm kinda guessing you'll be willing to charge it harder then me in the rough and with you having a manual tranny you're putting more power to the ground, I hate to say it but I think you'll be able to take me. Only advantage I have is driving experience in mine!!!

 

[Josh S.]

haha, well we'll see man. not sure I'm gonna beat the living heck out of it the first time out, but should get a bit outta control won't be doing much if I can't get that rear end in check in time...but I will. dude, do I gotta take the leaf pack apart to cycle the rear? I'm not gonna keep those shocks forever, so could I do kind of a temporary setup to utilize those shocks and the stock mounts they are hanging off of? I'm sure I can, but it will suck to weld on bump cans then tear them off later...hell, knowing me I'll probly have that rear end like that for like 6 more months, so screw it, I'll just do it.

1.your shackles are 2" over stock correct?

2.do your bumps just hit on the axle tube or did you throw a pad on there for them to hit? I'll look at your pics to try to see yer setup.

3. think I'm gonna sick the plasma cutter on my sheetmetal and do some body work while I'm at it!!! that offset on those rims you sold me is killin me man! I gotta ditch those wide-ass mofos soon for some cheapo 8" widers.

 

[sirhk100]

dude, do I gotta take the leaf pack apart to cycle the rear?

1.your shackles are 2" over stock correct?

2.do your bumps just hit on the axle tube or did you throw a pad on there for them to hit? I'll look at your pics to try to see yer setup.

3. think I'm gonna sick the plasma cutter on my sheetmetal and do some body work while I'm at it!!! that offset on those rims you sold me is killin me man! I gotta ditch those wide-ass mofos soon for some cheapo 8" widers.

Yep, but before you yank it apart measure how thick it is. Then yank it apart. Remount just your main leaf spring. Take some wood and cut it to mimmic the thickness of the leaf pack and drill a hole through it so you can hold the wood to the main leaf with the centerpin. Then throw the axle back in. Now you can compress the suspension and do anything you want just as if it was real. This would be a *****in time to toss on your rear wheels and see how bad they nail the rear fenders and such to figure out what all you have to trim. I'm using the stock lower mounts for my shocks and made new upper mounts. You can see them in the photos... If you weld in those rear bumps chances are you're going to get to cut them out and re-locate them when you put the shocks through the floor. I can almost guarentee that you'll need to mount them lower on the frame with shocks under the floor then when you bring some long badazz ones through the floor. I did weld just a little contact pad right onto the axle tube for them to hit on. Probably don't need it but it's just piece of mind. Be carefull cutting up the rear fenders... You realize if you trim up more then about 1/2" you'll be into the inside of your cab behind the plastic interior paneling right? Not much you can really trim if you don't have plans to build custom wheel wells. That's what makes up travel in the rear such a PITA!!! Even the fiberglass doesn't do jack, it's just a skin for looks, you still can't trim unless you don't care about the inside being exposed to dirt and water or you have to be willing to litterally tub the rear wheel wells!!!

LOL, no **** they're wide!!! That's why I sold them... $35 a pop for the cheapy black steel *****z I run!!!! Just sell them to someone and go buy the blackys for the same cost!!!

 

[Josh S.]

alright then...hmm, maybe I'll just make some fixed bumpstops for the time being until I'm ready to mount some pokers through the bed. I'd hate to have to f up those bumps or waste a set of cans for nuthin. Tubbing the wheel wells is defintely in the future for this thing. I just can't wait till I'm done f'n around with the front suspension so I can do other cool stuff like that! Yah so I'll probly just disassemble that leafpack, cycle it, throw on limting straps, fab some bumps, then call it a day until I'm ready to start throwing around some more $$ for some nice 16" long Kings in the rear or something.

LOL yah man I'm over those rims haha. once again, I learned never to buy from sirhk100!! :fire: Always gotta pass off your old **** onto me huh man? lol. what size/backspacing are your el cheapo rockcrawlers? I'll probly invest in some of those on friday or saturday then.

 

[sirhk100]

LOL!!!! Pass them on to the next sucker and then you can take my place on the totem pole!!! Not sure on the back spacing, just the generic off the shelf 8" black steel rims...

I'll look when I get home, I may have the bumpstops that I used in the rear of mine before I got the air bumps in... You'll like these cause they're WAY better then stock and can easily be spaced. If I can find them I'll ship them up to you or something...

 

[Josh S.]

great man. I would appreciate that