Poor Man’s RZR build

[fordpickupman]

In the fall of 2017 the state transportation department decided to use salt on the highways instead of sand. My daily driver is a ‘71 F250 4x4 with a Cummins that I am slowly fixing up. Driving it in the salt would destroy any progress I could make. So I decided to buy a salt eater beater. Forum member Travisasch was just finishing up that snow-balled white explorer and I had fallen in love with the platform.
So I found this cheap XLT on CL.
It appears I need to figure out the pics thing. It’s bern awhile since I posted pics on a forum.

 

[fordpickupman]

Aha! I think I figured it out.

So this is what it looked like when I brought her home. The brake pads were literally gone. The pistons were chewing on the rotors. The radius arm bushings had been gone for quite awhile too. The holes in the frame brackets were very elongated.

I scored rotors, pads, and locking hubs from the Jalopy Jungle and got her road worthy.

 

[fordpickupman]

To fix the radius arm mounts I cut them off and built heimed long arms for it. This improved the ride considerably. Then I found a cheap set of 33” tires so I needed a small lift, but I wanted increased travel and a smoother ride. So I went through 3 sets of Jeep XJ lift coils trying to find the correct rate. Jeep coils are too soft and settle out. Instead of using drop brackets for the TTB I did the cut and turn.
To lift the rear I built some laminated shackles. But then I decided to swap in a set of 64” Chevy leaves and do the SOA. I moved the front hangers forward to compensate for the additional length out the front of the Spring center pin. To adjust for the length behind the center pin I welded in a set of RuffStuff sleeves/bushings higher in the frame to get the shackle angle closer to vertical.

 

[fordpickupman]

I am scheming to build a new shackle mount set-up that will put the bushing above the frame allowing for more shackle angle (more droop) and a longer better looking shackle than the 3/8” square cut bar stock.

 

[fordpickupman]

I forgot to mention I scored a good deal on a set of 50% 35x12.50 MTRs. So I swapped those on. This is when the factory 3.27 gears really started to be a bummer.
We took a 3 day backcountry expedition trip this last summer. While I was preparing the salt eater beater for this trip I decided I should change the gear oil in the rear diff. I ended up installing a “Miller-locker”. Wow. Awesome in the dirt. Sucks in town.

 

[stephen93Eddie]

been waiting to see this up here!

 

[410Fortune]

Very nice! I like the dimple dye hood heat holes
Can we see some pics of the cut and turn ttb?
I was fully expecting to see a Polaris in here lol

 

[fordpickupman]

This fall I traded some fabrication work for 4.88s and Trutracs. While I was waiting for the parts to come in, Motobilt had their Black Friday sale and their diff covers were a great deal. So I snagged one. Motobilt makes some nice parts.
The gears and lockers are awesome. I should have forked out money for gears and lockers on lots of previous projects.
Last winter she kept overheating if she got worked wheeling in the snow or sitting idling too long. I replaced the thermostat and it didn’t fix it. I decided that maybe the 175,000 mile cat could be falling apart inside and plugging up. So I built a resonator to delete it. That helped a little bit. Sounds way better.
I ended up replacing the radiator as it was leaking around the plastic tanks. Apparently that was plugged. Now it only overheats with the AC on while idling.

 

[fordpickupman]

410fortune the Polaris and the Arctic Cat are in the other barn. I haven’t ridden them in 2 seasons.
There’s not much to see on the cut n turn. I cut around the lower ball joint hole and moved it out 1” I think. It works really well. I like the ride of the TTB, the steering I’m still figuring out. I have the toe set so that when I’m the only one in the car it drives stellar. When I get my family in with me it toes out and grabs ruts. I need to figure out how much toe in it needs with the herd loaded up.
This weekend I’m going to install the Saginaw Pump. I’m pretty excited for the easier steering while snow drifting corners.
A buddy and I are headed to KOH and we are going to tow this down there behind a motorhome so we can drive to where we want to watch from.

 

[410Fortune]

I have my toe set at 0
with big tires I find it works well
You can do 1/8" per side toe in if you want, the theory is on a RWD vehicle when you hit the gas it straightens out to 0
I find with large tires any amount of toe gets exaggerated so I simply set it at 0 and it works well with my 35's and long travel TTB

 

[fordpickupman]

I’m currently set at 1/16” toe’d in with no weight. The Jeep coils are super sensitive to weight. 240#/in.
I have a set of JBG Super Flex Dent Side coils for it but haven’t decided how I want to build the lower mounts for them. They are 330#/in.

 

[fordpickupman]

It took about 3.5 hours to get the Saginaw pump installed. I haven’t driven it yet. I’m hoping this will work way better. Granted I’m gambling that the GM pump I snagged from Jalopy is in good shape. It’s not noisy at all. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Lol.

 

[fordpickupman]

The turned up Saginaw pump is worth the effort. It turns super easy now and keeps up with my shenanigans.

I finally wired in my USB power ports and trans temp gauge tonight. I’ve had these parts stashed for several months.

 

[fordpickupman]

This thread was a big help. Thank you Maniak.

Saginaw power steering pump conversion journey

 

[410Fortune]

those are some soft coils! I am pretty sure my Skyjacker coils are 550 psi and they are considered soft on these trucks. The Superlift coils which are very stiff on these trucks are like 700 psi
I would think 330 is still tooooo soft
Where are you taking your trans temp? In the pan?

 

[fordpickupman]

Yes I’ll be sticking the sending unit in the pan. I picked up a cooler off of an E350 that is about 3x the volume of the factory cooler. I’m tempted to bypass the loop through the radiator.
The soft coils sure ride nice though.
If I remember correctly the factory coils are either 400 or 500.

 

[fordpickupman]

I swapped the transmission cooler today. I snagged this fat sucker off of a late ‘90s early ‘00s E350. It is pretty much the same face area as the factory cooler so it fit in the factory location. I was able to utilize 2 of the 3 factory mounting points and added the upper hole in the radiator support.

The other cooler I have propped in there I grabbed for a power steering cooler. It might be overkill. My only concern is if it will slow down the air flow too much causing overheating. Any thoughts?

 

[fordpickupman]

410Fortune mentioned the dimpled holes in my hood, so I thought I would show a closer shot of them. I bought the sheet metal dimple die from Speedway for a handful of projects I had been thinking about. I really like dimpled holes. I snagged a speaker grill from Jalopy Jungle for the screens. I dimpled the screens with the same dimple die. I then cleaned the bottom of the hood with brake parts cleaner and glued the screens on with black RTV. So far it’s holding really well. It’s 3* here this morning, hence the frost on the hood.

I think it would look cooler if I had used a smaller dimple and had the screen poking up from the dimple instead of being flush across the bottom.

 

[fordpickupman]

We had a blast at KOH19. We watched some of the racing, cruised around looking at some of the cool builds, and hit the trails. The sploder earned some rock rash and in my opinion performed well considering what it is. The Saginaw pump died near the end of Claw Hammer. Armstrong steering is a bummer in the rocks. It never moaned once.

We had a good time. The 20 drive was a bit of a haul.

 

[fordpickupman]

And this is what I came home to Sunday night. 1.5’ of snow for 3/4 of a mile.