extended 4wd beams

[love2rideyz]

just curious as to see if anyone else has extended there own beams, i will be extending the d35 4" per side in both my 91 ranger and 92 explorers over the next few months, alos how did you guiys extend your axle shafts. once i do my first pair i will post some pics for all to see

 

[rookieshooter]

Why can't you use a full width dana 35 from what ever year full size truck?

 

[410Fortune]

Rookie, you mean the axleshafts?

He is talking about extending the torsion beams 4" at the ball joints. Similar to what Camburg, Baja Shop, Mcneil, Autofab would do. The reason for the 4" over stock is because dana 44 TTB outer axleshafts can be used. Also be extending the beam after the radius arm the pivots and radius arms dont have to be changed.

However the ball joint must be re-located to correct camber for the new lift height.

It sounds like you are on the right track but it also sounds like you are just getting started. Do you plan to truss the beam as well for strength?
Do you know how far to extend the beam in order to be able to use D44 axleshafts?
Doing so can save you ALOT of $$$.

really Long travel TTB's can have $1500+ just in custom axle shafts.

Basic:

Super expensive really long travel ultimate TTB:

Also you can buy beams from shops already extended correctly fairly cheap when compared to trying to fabricate your own. Its not nearly as fun though Plan on building a couple of sets before you get it right at least it took us 3.

There are a few ways to modify the TTB, cut and turn and extend the beams. Even equal length has been attempted.
Autofab now has a kit out that allows you to mount a modified long travel D44 TTB UNDER your D35 TTB equipped truck drool drool......

 

[love2rideyz]

yes i plan i doing exactually like the camburg beams, mine are already cut and turned (lower ball joint moved out 2") and i plan on extending eather 4 or 6". and i will be replacing the bushing with uniballs. 4 is the standard so i figured it might be easier for axle shafts. but my rear is from a f 150 which is 6" wider perside, and i would like to match widths. yes i plan on trussing, plating and rewelding the beams. the front allready has coilovers truck is fully caged front to rear and frame boxed in also its on an explorer chassis. also equipped with a 32 gallon fuel safe cell, foxes on all 4 corners, deaver long travel leafs, master craft seats and so on. just trying tp put the finishing touches on the truck so i can start my new one

 

[sn0border88]

Super expensive really long travel ultimate TTB:

 

[love2rideyz]

yeah camburgs beams are very expensive $1800 now days and $2100 if you want them trussed. Thats with out the axles or anything just the beams they want like $1200 more for axles and then $1000 for there hiemed tranny cross member ones, if you were to take them a stock 4wd and wanted extemded long travel with coil overs and a bypass and bumps your ticket would be around 9Gs for just the front end, but worth every penny

 

[410Fortune]

Autofab now makes a kit to run lightly modified D44 TTB beams under your D35 TTB equipped truck, around $3K installed.

D44 TTB = wider, keep stock shafts, no drop brackets, bigger brakes, 18+ travel and me happy.

I want this kit.

 

[love2rideyz]

do you know how the made the front diff fit between the frame rails, because i thought about doing those im my truck when i first started building it, but i think the diff sits right under the fram rail on the driverside. ill have to look at ther esight and see what it says i guess

 

[410Fortune]

not on the website.

It has been done in the past, but never in "KIT" form

You can stuff the diff without hitting frame.
I believe the pivots are uniballs because the diff to frame clearance is so tight.

Also believe AutoFAB must do the install. I am waiting on more info on this kit, it is still very new from them....

 

[love2rideyz]

yeah site doesnt say, but i will go to my pick-a-part up the road and see if i can wast a few hours seeing if it will fit, measurements first ofcorse. install some uniballs with hiemed radius arms would be really nice have the beams cut and turned extend the sterring then i could just use an f150 trans and bolt in that nice 351w i have sitting in the garage ahh great here we go again

 

[rookieshooter]

Like to see pics of your truck now. and again after axel ext. sounds like a real beast.

 

[410Fortune]

It will not fit easy, no. Plan to notch the frame.
The D44 TTB has been done many times, it is not a easy fit AT ALL, but can be done depending on how willing you are to fabricate.

 

[love2rideyz]

yeah i need to take some new pics of the truck this week and then i will post them, and yeah i think ill just extend the d35 i dont feel like cutting and welding on that frame anymore.

 

[Josh S.]

here's my **** as of now...1.5" per side widened beams...picked em up from a good buddy for a great deal. Baja Concepts but I guess Camburg makes em'. I just can't get away from Camburg lol

 

[410Fortune]

Josh, thats awesome, huge improvement over your old setup!
4x4 working? hahaha
Stock explorer pivot brackets?
Are those bushing type arms?

How it the tubbing of the back coming? you going fiberglass back there??

 

[Josh S.]

haha yah 4x4 is working...well sort of LOL. Last time I went wheeling the shift motor decided to pull a fast one on me, so i basically went to town on the thing and ripped out everything and threw it in the back of the truck. Now I gotta use pliers to shift it

I threw everything into the back of the truck and went wheeling thinking I was just gonna swap in a manual t-case, then I found out now that they are harder to get a hold of than i thought. Thennnnn I saw Robb's thread about his Atlas he was going to sell so I started planning, then found out it's already spoken for So i guess I'll see if I have all the parts for the shift motor left and service it and put it back together sometime soon. I don't think that it would go to well climbing under the rig everytime to shift it if I'm muddin or somethin. Plus I don't like getting dirty

The ghetto-fabbed tub job is going pretty good. I went on a lazy hiatus and didn't do anything to it for a while, then choked like hell on all the dust when i went wheeling so I patched it up the other day and sprayed two cans of undercoating over the inside of em. Also threw in a new amp and some speaker boxes so I have more than one speaker functional now!

The beams are great! It handles a lot better now around turns(I can really haul ass on sharp freeway offramps and three-wheel it which is always fun to do to someone who hasn't ridden with me before I just wish there was some desert around here to test it in. Guess I gotta go to nevada or something haha.

Still need to do some more sealing of cracks and small holes and stuff around the wheelwells and do some caulking...yes I use adhesive caulking haha, it works good!! I'll fire up a new update thread with all kinds of pics later on tonight when I'm working. keep your eye out in modified 1st gen exploder forum

 

[SteveG3]

The Autofab kit does not need to be installed in-house. It can be done at home in your driveway. As far as trimming the frame, it's minimal and not a big deal at all. Here is a pic of the conversion parts I'm using. The radius arms and radius arm pivot brackets are Autofab, the Passenger beam pivot bracket is an Autofab bracket that I modified and the Driver side beam pivot bracket is an OEM STX bracket that I also modified for the conversion.

Josh, is that last pic at full bump?

 

[410Fortune]

Thanks for posting the picture! When is the install?
coilover or coil sprung?

Long travel 4x4 =

 

[SteveG3]

My original plan was to use a coil-over, but I'm still going back and forth. I like the adjustability of a coil-over, especially since this thing is going to sit pretty low. But...I like to be different AND Autofab is making a really *****en coil-bucket specific to the D44 conversion. I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up with the Autofab axle housings and coil-bucket when it's all done. It's just so much easier to bolt stuff up and go pound the hell out of it....

 

[Josh S.]

Yah that pic was full bump. It looks like it could go further, but I'm happy that my tires FINALLY aren't rubbing anything at bump. Also that's with the shock having probly 1/2"-3/4" left on the shaft. I'm not really trying to go full-on race or anything cuz it's a 2-door, but it works pretty well. I just got back from smashing around at a local crappy offroad spot and it did pretty well! I'm sure it will be much better after I have more than one rear shock on there ...did impress some guys in a yota pickup and an oolllld school suzuki LC10(i think that's what my buddies said it was...ultra rare I guess) by crawling up a narly articulated muddy slick clay section. fun stuff!

the wheelwells leak a little bit like I knew they would, I just wanted to get some water and mud sprayin under there so it would make it more obvious where I need to work on.

I'm using stock pivot brackets, heimed radius arms with bushings in the beams...no fancy uniballs yet

I'm thinking about selling my xr50 pretty soon to pay for my rear glass and maybe some reservoired shocks to throw under the bed...I am thinking that this will be better for me because shock hoops would take up a whole lot of cargo room in the rear. work in progress