Camburg Radius Arms!

[Josh S.]

Yo hos, I finally got my Camburg extended radius arms on. They are much longer than the stock ones. These are made out of chromoly tubing and lets just say that they are pretty damn sexy looking. The rear ends of the things sport some bigass heim joints with some sort of space shuttle bolts they gave me when I bought them. At the tune of nearly $900 with bolts and everything, they were anything but cheap, but I had to get rid of that bushing crap. The holes in the stock radius arm-frame bracket where the bushing sits were wallowed out, causing destroyage of my poly bushings I installed in there. This was from replacing my bushings a few months too late and offroading on metal to metal action. The moral of the story is: change your bushings when you need to, and if you hear a new noise on your truck, scope it out...it may end up costing you a lot.

The installation was no less than a total biotch. I figured that they were just bolt-on...little did I know that I would have to chop the heck outta my frame rails to get them dangol' brackets on.

First, I had to grind off the lip on the bottom of the passenger side frame rail so the bracket would sit flat. After this was done, we eyeballed/ measured the bracket placement and drilled the bottom 2 holes. Even with a cobalt drill bit and a plugin drill, it was still hellish. After beginning to drill the second hole underneath, it was apparent that something was wrong. The hole just kept getting deeper and deeper, not pushing through to the other side. I stuck my head up there and realized that a section of reinforcement is on the inner side of the frame rail, right in front of the stock tranny crossmember. This piece came off the rail, went straight for about 3 inches, then merged back into the frame. Needless to say, this had to be grinded off/ sliced up with the angle grinder. Me and my friend later adopted a new saying; if its not workin, grind it off! After this was over, the brackets were still not lining up properly so extensive grinding/ drilling was again enlisted to make things fit. Btw, before the grinder could fit up inside the frame rail, the catalytic converter and resonator had to be removed. By then, I was glad I had already chopped off the muffler some months back. This made things easier and the three 15mm bolts that held on the cat came off and things opened up for grinding.

After the passenger bracket was on, the drivers side one had to be tackled. This one I thought would be easier with no grinding needed. After some inspection, it was made known through much cursing and swearing that the drivers side frame rail needed to be modified as well for the bolts to be able to hold on the brackets. in short, we grinded the held outta the frame again and drilled the 4 holes needed for the bracket to be on.

I'm sorry but I gotta go to geological sciences 101 now, so the story will continue tonite. Thanks for reading and don't worry I'll take some pics and maybe someone can upload them for me...peace

 

[Josh S.]

story cont'd

So aaaanyways, after we got the radius arm to frame brackets on, we took a last look at everything to make sure it was ok. It almost looked like the passenger side bracket was not lined up with the drivers one. with some more eyeballing and measuring, it was discovered that the passenger side bracket was an inch farther forward than the drivers one. To say the least, this really pissed me off. Sooo, we ripped off the bracket, measured everything out for real this time, and drilled four more holes. Finally got it lined up and all good.

Note: The camburg radius arms DID NOT come with shock mounts. I had to get mounts welded on.

Oh and when I get the radius arms home from dertwerks in riverside, I discover that the shock mounts are about 4 inches to far back! This fuuuureakin pissed me off even more. In short, I sucked it up and bought a mig welder and me and a buddy cut off the old ones and fabbed up some new ones. This was our first experience fabricating anything, but it turned out perfect. The only thing is that my friend's welds look like ass, but thats ok. I'm happy that its on the road. That was our 900 dollar experiment, with my friends welding.

Once everthing was bolted on and the heims were properly adjusted, it was pretty straight forward. Just throwing all the old **** back on.

Hopefully this story didnt bore everyones ass off, and I will take some quick pics when I get the truck home from being aligned tonight. If anyone has any questions about the install or the radius arms themselves, just ask. Thanks for reading, and I guess this could probably go in the exploder projects forum once I get some pics...Later

 

[Josh S.]

attempted pic

http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=300438&page=2

 

[sirhk100]

Looks *****in man... Sounds like you had fun but at least you scored a welder out of the project. Now you can really have some fun. I get to buy new arms, I bent both of mine and one mount on our excursion that night. I'll get some pics of mine bent up and email them to you when I get a chance. It's gonna be awhile before I get mine though cause money is tight right now...

Khris

 

[jimbo74]

sweet!

 

[ld50]

Those arms are very beefy looking, good job.

Never heard of the brand, only about people making their own joints for other arms.

Offhand do you know if you need as much suspension lift as you have to use those?

- I just love drilling on the frame, It`s like a stamina test

 

[sirhk100]

I don't think you need the lift to run them. I've seen stock height rangers running them around here.

Camburg

Khris

 

[Josh S.]

Khris-dude that totally sucks that you bent yours! I can't really remember how hard we hit for some reason...Are your beams ok? I'm gonna work on my welding skills as soon as I get a chance...maybe even make myself a db carrier.

Drilling the frame DOES totally suck. Luckily I had five other dudes over at one time during the project. Almost all of them were working on the truck but some just couldn't resist the all too available bud light

 

[410Fortune]

With the swiss cheese job you did on your frame you might consider some sort of re-enforcement, like additional brackets, bracing, or a plate to mount on the backside of the frame rail............Also you could fill in the holes with the welder and then grind them flush.......

Dont worry I did a swiss cheese job on my Skyjacker bracket on the drivers side too, still holding fine a year later........

 

[Derrick C.]

Hey Josh, Looks like you did a good job. Keep the pics coming man. Are you doing anything else from Camburg? You should really think about the bent I-beams. Just my .02 cents.

 

[Paul B.]

Josh, your radius arm's look really good!! I haven't had a chance to talk to Winter yet about the other item's for your front end that we talk about the other day when you stop by my office, but I will soon. Hopefully you can make TDS at the end of this month.

 

[sirhk100]

You know, I've thought tons about that night and I think I fell asleep on the trail. We may have got REALLY LUCKY!!! I don't really know how hard we hit either but I don't think we were going that fast cause of the terrain. I think I did bend the passenger side beam though. When ever I get around to putting on new radius arms, I'll pull the beam and take it to BRP and drop it in their fixture. That'll tell me if it's really bent or not.

Paul,

Could you see what winter would charge to build a set of radius arms and mounts? I've already got Heims, just need the arms and mounts. I like yours a lot. Mine would need a pad for the air bump I have mounted behind the coil.

Khris

 

[Josh S.]

410- That sounds like a good idea to fill in those holes on my frame man...I dont really like the idea of a bunch of holes right next to my mounts. I can't really put in reinforcement right where I chopped it up cuz I need to have access to the bolts. I think I am going to box in my frame a bit around where the mounts go, just in case I hit something hard, I dont want to bend my frame at all. Thanks for the advice.

Derrick-Thanks dude. I really want to get camburgs bent reinforced beams that are widened 8". You can pull some mad travelage outta those. Unfortunately they are around 2k. We'll see what happens. I might just go with the baja concepts ones that are only widened 1-3/8". I haven't decided yet. I really need those turned beams though. I'm not gonna go offroading again until I have those on. This unfortunately will be around summertime.

Paul-Thanks for the shirt again man! Its cool. Yah when you get a chance, ask about the beams. If they are a better deal than camburgs nice ass ones, I'll probly go to him then. Thanks for the help

Khris-Wow dude, is that why you play the music so loud?! Haha, yah you should probly be a little more careful next time. Now your rigs all jacked up too. Oh well. We gotta go riding when I get my bike registered. I'm working out the details of the title right now(bought it from a dumbass with the red toyota pu)(he lost the title) and then I'll be ready to rock. Last night we gave it a little paint jobby job.

Alright guys, thanks for the responses and I'll try to test out the flex or at least get some more pics on my lunch break. Peace!

 

[410Fortune]

My buddy and I built some 3" bent beams for my truck last weekend. Very beefy! Not widened, no need for me, BII with 12.5x33's and offset rims = wide stance.
I dont want to mess with custom axle shafts for widened beams.

I plan to weld some heims onto my Skyjacker arms sometime in the future........

I will be installing the beams in two weeks..........free lift I am calling it. I am running a 2" Duff axle drop bracket witht eh 3" bent beams a 5.5 custom VR coil will work perfect.........

 

[Josh S.]

wow thats cool you built them. What kind of welding did you guys do? Also, what kind/thickness of metal should I use for some reinforcing of my frame(for boxing it in around some weak points)?

I want to do my truck the right way finally. No more monkey business for me man. I need some **** that won't break(as easily anyways) like all this stupid crap I'm in the process of phasing out. Its all crap man. When I was installing the rad. arms, I noticed the drivers side dd bracket is cracked now. I wasn't really po'd this time because I wasn't surprised, but ****...Its all about taking your time and earning the money and building it the way you want it the first time. Not many can do it all right the first time, but its all good. I think I'm gonna save up all summer when I work and get the damn nice camburg beams. They are 8" widened, they have massive reinforcment and gusseting, and basically they will give me mad travel and kick ass. Here they are:

Dead Link Removed

Then I will buy the camburg coil buckets/shock hoop/air bump can unit and bolt that on, throw some limiting straps on, work out the steering, and I'll be set. Oh and reagearing

In the end it will be worth it...

 

[410Fortune]

camburg is awesome, so id Autofab, but I dont have that kind of $$$$$..........

If you box your frame can you still get to the bolts?
You can make a plate to go on the rear of the bolts inside the frame, that will help.

We used a mig welder and built our own jigs for both the drivers and pass beams.

I dont wee the need for all that gusseting Camburg does, the beams we built are way stronger then stock. But then I use my truck for trails, not jumpin in the dessert.............

I plan to cut off my stock coil buckets and shock mounts eventually. I will use F-250 shock towers and move the bucket up for a 8" coil with only 5" of lift, Autofab fenders to clear the 33's, remember this is a BII.

 

[Josh S.]

Yah your bII is going to be the **** dude! Dont get me wrong dude, I dont really have the kind of $$$ for camburg either. But thats why I gotta save. I'm the worst guy in the world for saving money too but I'm gonna try real hard.

Yah I was going to weld on a plate probly in front and behind the bolts. In front might be easier because the tranny crossmember is in the way a bit. Do you think mig will be sufficient for some light plating of my frame? It wont be under much load or stress I dont think, so I would tend to think that it would be ok.

 

[410Fortune]

The mig we have will handle up to 1/4 plate steel...

Also I meant to just cut a plate with holes in it that will fit behind the frame rail, that will hold the bolts together and keep them from ripping, no need to weld......

You can also weld the holes shut.........I plan to......

 

[Josh S.]

oh ok, gotcha. Is the frame made outta 1/4" plate steel?