New guy old builder album

[GRNMACHINE]

"Grnmachine you got some things on your bucket/got to do list?

To Do List has become a Someday List or Still in Progress List... Pretty much never ending. A few years back they were getting rusty, had them sandblasted, Matrix Paint 3 part primer epoxied, and sprayed with Bedliner. Came out Great. Recently noticed some rust bubbles on the top of the passenger bar. Decided to get the dremel out and make a quick fix. Kept sanding until there was a Snicker Fun Size Bar hole... Since the nerf bars have been discontinued I have tried to repair it. Ended up using a product called POR-15 epoxy putty. Seems like it will do the trick, still need to sand it perfectly smooth and primer and paint... Getting cold out. Also found what seems to be minor rust, on the bottom of the tailgate inside where the Ford "caulk?" is. Really hard to sand that with the tailgate on. Finally finished painting some Konig wheels that were badly pitted for my other SUV I will be using in the winter. Took way too long to sand them, prep them, spray them etc. They came out pretty decent, used a Duplicolor Performance Wheel gunmetal color. Would have been a whole lot easier if the wheels were unmounted! Have also been working on adding Dynamat to the Explorer and changing the 5x7 speakers to 6x9's. No matter what, hit snags, have to modify things, and never seem to have the right tools, time, or skill. Has been fun to some extent. Sure would be great to have a mentor like you close by!!!!! Sorry for the long post, I should have just said Yes there are a few things in my to do list (there are Tons more, those are the only ones auto related I am currently working on).

NOW back to your work, repair looks good, I really need some metal skillz!!!!

 

[broncobra22]

Chem miracles

Amazing products from paints, powder coats to adhesives and resins & all things in between. A guy can spend a lot of time just trying to keep up to date on whats available not to mention $$ to try them out. It helps when we share info and I had wondered if anybody had tried the POR-15 putty...now that I have a first hand feedback I'll try it out. Glad to see your staying busy and have plans for the future.
Grnmachine a lot of metal work for the hobbyist is one time or once in a while projects that just don't justify the expense of a complete tool up to complete. That puts a lot of what would be considered "easy jobs" in a well equipped shop into the category of drudge work to the hobbyist. I have a friend in the trucking business and he is also an experienced trailer builder and knows aluminum as well as steel. He is equipped to repair and polish aluminum and stainless. He can clean and polish aluminum and stainless on his Peterbilts in a few hours, which would take me days and they turn out looking like new. He knows how and what is required and has everything he needs to do it...a real pro. I struggle just to polish little automotive rims! Sometimes it just comes down to the best we can do with what we have and what we know and theres not anything wrong with that.

 

[janderson4010]

have you been getting hit by earthquakes? read about oklahoma earthquakes in the news. prob just the rumble of the broncobra haha

 

[broncobra22]

Tremors

Thanks Jon for your concern, but I'm actually about 150 miles West of the epicenter...although it was definitely felt here, thankfully with no damage. Today we have had heavy rain, hail & are now under tornado alert with possibility of baseball size hail! Rain is much appreciated as we have been in an 18 month long drought but the earth quakes, hail and tornados are not.
10 years ago the town I live in was hit by an F4 tornado and over 100 homes were destroyed...thankfully no lives were lost, so storms are taken very seriously.

As to the Broncobra, been parked for about a week...windscreen is getting to the point of being dangerous and a beacon to the cops. Hate to replace it just now as I have proven that I am not to be trusted around glass, as most of the cracks were caused by my reckless operation of a power tool!! As long as the mild temperatures hang in here I will wheel my rig, but I'll need to Duct tape the glass (yeah it's that bad) and trailer the little hoss down to the river.

I'm kinda busy at the shop so no real progress on fabrication, but keeping track of all subscribed builds at night, instead of building my own...really just a bit lazy!

 

[janderson4010]

are you going to cut and turn the ttb arms? better than a drop bracket Im sure, im no expert on ttb stuff of course. Coilovers on a ttb system would be really cool, ill bet it would really soak up the bumps, just got to build the rear to keep up. I saw some stuff online can't remember where about using chebby 63's and flipping the shackle for better suspension travel, that coupled with some good shocks on the back would be a really good start to making a go fast bII. I think that must have been on the ranger station.

 

[janderson4010]

found it
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/64-inch_leaf.html

 

[broncobra22]

Go fast

Yep Jon that's the plan...eventually. 63" bowtie leafs, rearched about 7" on a flipped custom 9" shackle, may have to leave in the middle of this post as my scanner just reported a Tornado on the ground 5 miles South of town coming North, already had the first warning siren. The flip actually lowers the back end which is one reason for the re-arch. Shackle design is adjustable. I'll build shock hoop cage behind the spare rack & run 31" shocks. Before I tackle all this I want to get the CO up front located...really don't want to get any taller and don't want to run a drop bracket. I can run CO towers almost to hood level so I have enough room for progressive springs and long shocks. Running cutout fenders without splash panels allows at least the 33"x11.5" to travel. I actually prefer the 33"x11.5" in the river sand at least I do with my current whimpy suspension,lol!!!

Initially I am planning to cut and turn my spare Dana 35, but proceed with the changes previously outlined first. Reason for this is that the cut TTB will be quite a bit wider & I will want the rear width to match the front. I will use my spare 8.8 with the 4.10 ratio & spacers to match the front. This will give me something to wheel on now and not rush the work on the cut axle & 8.8". I have to admit that I'm a little uncertain about how I want to cut and turn...I've looked at several examples that are not impressive, especially after checking out the quality of Camburg's TTB work! I want a TTB that really works! Yeah I hear you SA guys laughing, lol!!!

I'm really working to keep my center of gravity low and unsprung weight at a minimum (which the lighter rims and smaller tires help with).

Haven't blown away yet but another strong rotation about a mile West, good thing is we keep getting rain which is desperately needed.

 

[broncobra22]

Veiw

I am not good at all this internet stuff...and posting photos is sooo frustrating to me love this forum and hate the resizing...nope, that's not it either Grrr.

 

[willindsay]

Dowload this program it will do all the converting for you. All you have to do is open it put the pictures in it that you'd like to upload and chose 800x600 for sixe and hit simple convert. It'll ask you to specify a folder to put them in then all you have to do is upload them to the forum.

 

[broncobra22]

Thank you etc.

Many thanks for the photo help!!! Now if someone could just get me a date or maybe just help me cross the street!

 

[broncobra22]

Fingers x

Here goes: Ahh, 1 tiny victory for the old guy!!!

 

[broncobra22]

Weather update

have you been getting hit by earthquakes? read about oklahoma earthquakes in the news. prob just the rumble of the broncobra haha

11-7-11 @8:50 pm Another tremor just moments ago, this felt stronger or much closer than the last one Saturday night (5.6)! What a day, 3.5" of rain (needed), flooding of roads and highways,fierce lightning, hail on three different occassions today, 2 tornados on the ground one 4 miles west of town & the other just South of town and now another strong tremor no damage reports as of yet and it's supposed to keep this storm system up for another 21 hours! Just hope the weather man is wrong. Bright side is it's 65 degrees outside & wet. ps Haven't had any blood flowing in the rivers, locusts or boils...yet.

 

[janderson4010]

11-7-11 @8:50 pm Another tremor just moments ago, this felt stronger or much closer than the last one Saturday night (5.6)! What a day, 3.5" of rain (needed), flooding of roads and highways,fierce lightning, hail on three different occassions today, 2 tornados on the ground one 4 miles west of town & the other just South of town and now another strong tremor no damage reports as of yet and it's supposed to keep this storm system up for another 21 hours! Just hope the weather man is wrong. Bright side is it's 65 degrees outside & wet. ps Haven't had any blood flowing in the rivers, locusts or boils...yet.

good hell and I was whining about a dusting of snow and being a little cold, i think im going to stay right where im at.

 

[broncobra22]

Back to work

Weatherman got it wrong...storms are already east of my location, but ended up being 5.5" to 6" of rainfall for the 24 hour period and very little damage in my hometown; though it was wild for awhile! Oh yeah just a 4.7 on that tremor at the epicenter.
Heading over to the shop right now and hope to get some work done on the Broncobra today.

 

[janderson4010]

well we are all glad to hear you didn't blow away or have a fault open and swallow your house, or worse, your shop... haha. what if you did a d44 ttb bk its wider, but if you used the coilovers you could angle them in to the frame a little, the only reason you really need to narrow a ttb 44 is to make the spring mounting locations correct, then you just match up a full width 9 inch or 8.8 out back with your prefered spring setup, then your a lot stouter and your wider. guess thats a wild idea haha, and you already have a spare d35. I really like that your doing it different than Rookieshooter or me, if everyone had a d44 sas in the front and an 8.8 out back, and satin black paint we may as well be the same person. I thought about not doing the waggy 44 front in mine so as to differentiate myself from Rick, but then I thought I guess I could do worse, and its pretty much free so I decided to go ahead with it, even if it is unoriginal, lol

 

[rookieshooter]

Ditto on being all right. I was worried that you might had to fight off the flying monkeys.

 

[broncobra22]

Good things

Jon thanks again, your post is insightful...I very much value input both positive and negative...makes me think & helps me stay on track. I know both you and Rick are on target with your trucks and if you do something he has already done your just using your head by understanding that it's right for your build also. Don't think I haven't gotten and borrowed ideas from a lot of others also, "imitation is a great form of complement", (paraphrased that one to make it fit). Your D44 TTB & 9" etc. rear idea makes good sense & I'm going to think that through...for my use. I am indeed building a go fast truck and not a crawler but if not for that I would have installed a D44 solid at the time of the original engine swap to go with my 8.8" rear & I definitely would have gone 3 link CO front and 4 link CO rear, doubler or Atlas...In other words copied Rookieshooters layout and others, yourself included, to the letter. Reason being it just works for climbing and crawling etc.

All you guys that do the rocks etc. I'm jealous, but I just don't live in an area that has the terrain to justify that kind of truck. Some of the guys around here have built up rigs that are "crawler posers" for the street but wouldn't hold up for an hour on a real trail like you've posted pics of. Just cause your lifted don't make a truck a rock crusher or for that matter a desert runner!

Again I appreciate all input as well as following the progress of all your builds and projects...thanks!

 

[broncobra22]

Epic

Ditto on being all right. I was worried that you might had to fight off the flying monkeys.

Geez, flyn' M's...one thing I didn't list was the day 11-7-11 started off with dense fog before the sh!! hit the fan!
OMG we are so blessed not to have the monkeys (terrible rock band & nasty little critters) on top of all the rest...lol.

Back to building something...Janderson is about the only one posting any progress during the last few days. I've just been lazy & guess Rookie's been hunting the fabled stag (venison roast or a nice stew of stag sounds tasy right now) at least I hope you been wheelin' 'lil Sampson some.

Well back to work after lunch.

 

[broncobra22]

Caging

Looking at the Bronc with dash out & really feeling good about building the cage up front, literally no obstacles from the dash or windshield / A column or firewall.

 

[broncobra22]

Cage

Using 1 & 1/2" Dom for the cage