Brian1's Suspension Upgrades

[Brian1]

I will probably make up some fully welded frame brackets and the transmission crossmember as a 'builder kit' in the future. Still a few tweaks I want to make to them after finishing the prototypes that are on my Explorer now.

I ordered front shocks from 4 Wheel Parts on Saturday, they should be here Tuesday. I hope to get it in the shop for an alignment check early this week as in less than a week I will be putting on over 1k miles for a trip to the Mojave Desert.

I measured how much the rear end has sagged this afternoon, about 1" so some 2" longer shackles are on the build list early this week as well to level it out.

 

[Turdle]

Need to make up some more of those radius arm mounts at the frame and sell me a set.

I was thinking the same thing

 

[DB_1]

I measured how much the rear end has sagged this afternoon, about 1" so some 2" longer shackles are on the build list early this week as well to level it out.

I've got a set of 1" zero rates if you're interested.

 

[Brian1]

I've got a set of 1" zero rates if you're interested.

Thanks but those won't work for me. Explorer is still SUA in the rear.

 

[RockRanger]

Nice job Brian.

 

[Glen4X4]

Nice work Brian, looks great.

 

[Brian1]

Took it in to get aligned. Camber is still out of spec by a little since I dont have drop brackets and the castor was in spec. Good enough for me.

Made some 1" lift shackles out of 3/8" plate. (1" shorter length than the Warriors)

Welded in a cross tube and installed. Wound up with 1.5" lifted but that should settle down a little over time.

 

[DB_1]

Thanks but those won't work for me. Explorer is still SUA in the rear.

Gotcha

 

[RockRanger]

well you drove out to socal, did the mojave road trail, and drove home. How did you like it.

 

[Brian1]

well you drove out to socal, did the mojave road trail, and drove home. How did you like it.

1300 miles on it and the only problem was a loose jam nut. I hand tightened it and duct taped it in place in Kingman, AZ on the way home (In the In-n-out parking lot . I didnt bring a wrench that big, whoops. I got a little rattle on the end of the 2nd trail day and I think it was just from the loose nut.

It works great! The Mojave Road didnt really test the flex of it but I did give it a pretty good workout especially over the 6-10 miles of nothing but whoops. It worked much better compared to last year. I never bottomed it out very hard and in some sections the faster I went the better it rode over some of the bumps. LOVE the Bilstein 5125s up front. Im keeping an eye out for some used 10" travel 5125s or 5150s for the rear now.

Im going to try and build some swaybar links soon for the front.

 

[Brian1]

Mailman showed up with my rod ends today so I spent some time on the lathe this afternoon and turned out some front sway bar links. 90% of the time I usually leave my swaybar connected so to go along with my new found flex I needed to get rid of the stock links with bushings and go with a new link with hiems that wont bind when the beam drops.

Still need to find a better pin than the clevis pin that is in there now but it is what I had to get it back together for now and still be a quick disconnect when needed.

Here you can see the tapered spacers I made on the lathe for the top connection.

 

[offroader_69_me]

how long are your links? they look short in the pics

 

[Brian1]

how long are your links? they look short in the pics

1/2" longer than the stock ones were. Something like 4"-5" eye to eye

 

[Brian1]

I was asked on another forum for some more 'finished' pictures so here are a few-

 

[RockRanger]

Brian you need to open your own shop specializing in RBV parts. Your parts are always well thought out, clean, and functional.

 

[Tbars4]

..Brian, do you have another picture like this with the tire off looking straight at your bottom shock mount?...

...Just curious as to where they wound up sitting after you cycled it...Thanks.:biggthump

 

[Brian1]

I don't have a picture like that. I can take one from the side a little behind the tire with the tire turned if that will help? The stud is about 1/4" above center on the arm. Once I got the shock tower on I measured using the shocks specs on extended and collapsed then marked it allowing about 1/2" of shock shaft to be exposed on full stuff just for a small safety factor.

Just got back from another short trail run that was quite flexy. Slight problem with the new sway bar links. More on that as soon as I get a few more parts...

 

[Brian1]

I tested out the new sway bar links on a trail as I mentioned in my previous post. They worked great with one exception. Since they allow motion side to side, I noticed the entire sway bar was shifting from side to side as well by as much as 1.5". I went to the hardware store for some shaft lock collars but they were $10 a piece for the small little part and they didn't have the right size anyway (~15/16"). I made my own lock collars and put 2 of them on the bar up against the insides of the bushings to lock it into place.

Picture for TBars-

Brian you need to open your own shop specializing in RBV parts. Your parts are always well thought out, clean, and functional.

Thanks Matt! I have thought about it but that is a big commitment. For now I will keep making a few things on the side. I do have quite a few products already and a few more up my sleeve

 

[Slowlyvverot]

Very cool. I agree with the others who have said it; you would have a good market for rbv parts between this forum and trs too.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Just found this build, your skills are insane! This is not "shade tree" DIY at all! Love it