Well after almost 2 mos. I have a progress report.
It looks like the Navajo should be finished in 2-3 weeks.
A lot of problems have been solved and progress made.
For you Tech guys I'll try and list problems and solutions and for you visual guys a ton of pictures.
When I started the SAS one of my main goals was to get as much travel as possible. With The IFS travel was 60% rear and 40% front. My goal was more like 50-50% to have a more balanced rig. Droop in front was no problem, the trick was improving up-travel. The problem was further complicated by the 37X12.50X17 BFG MT size tire and wheels I wanted. Those suckers are huge.
Some of the problems and solutions:
1-At full stuff the tire was rubbing the floor board and inner fenders. The inner fenders could be cut away but the floor board was more complex. We tried moving the axle as far foward as possible but the limiting factor were the coil buckets. On the driver side the frame bends out limiting how far you can move the bucket.
Solution:
We decided to go with King coilover shocks and build the hoops up into the engine compartment (that was another problem). This permited the axle to be moved as far foward as needed and avoid tire contact with the floorboard. The inner fenders could be cut out. Pics.
2-The engine compartment is so cluttered that installing hoops looked impossible. The 3 main problems were
a-Battery was in the way
b-Airfilter had to be moved
c-Master cylinder plumbing
Solution:
a-We tried relocating the battery under the rig where the stock fuel tank used to be but that didn't work. The solution was simple. We made a new battery bracket and changed the direction of the battery. Factory position is length wise side to side. We moved it length wise front to rear giving us lateral room. I'll post pics.
b-Airfilter was in the way. We iliminated the box and tried moving it foward but battery was in the way. The solution was building brackets and moving open air filter and MAS to driver side. Pics.
c-By moving the axle foward and some tube bending we were able to keep the master cylinder in stock position and not interfere with the hoops. Pics.
We had some secondary problems that we solved and I took pics of.
1st. pic is front view high steer and rods.
