Ricks Bronco: 1and 1/2

[janderson4010]

Eric and I were talking about tools the other day, he said when he first started wheeling he put whatever tools he thought he could possibly ever need in his rig and then wheeled for a year, at that time the tools that he had not used in that year of wheeling were put back in the shop. Seems like he never has the right tool for the job though so take that with a grain of salt, lol. Sounds like you are gonna have a blast man, I knew once you started really crawling in earnest you would be hooked.

 

[rookieshooter]

I'm just so glad I can get a few good trips in this year. If it was just wooded trails I would not have even bothered going. Not even going to take the fenders, hood or doors. Let it rain. The visibility when doing the rocks is the important thing. Then after noticing some of the guys doing the trails while leaving the heavy spare at camp. I'm going to do the same thing, way way lower COG. No big deal for some one to go back and get it. I just finished making a tire carrier for the spare as you can see. Plus it's a whole lot easier on the suspension when coming down hard less all that weight.

Just got my first edition of, you guessed it...Crawl

 

[janderson4010]

Crawl is the only decent offroad mag in print IMO

 

[janderson4010]

with regards to the spare I think I'm the only one with a spare, all my wheeling friends just carry a plug kit.

 

[rookieshooter]

I agree about Crawl mag. As long as I keep some plugs and there are people who can get my spare off the trailer for me, that's where it's going to stay on the trailer.
Had a blast last Fri and Sat. Especially the night run. One guy rolled over and busted his head. Had to bandage him up. He had a 4pt harness but only had the lap belt on, and this was our guide lol. He even said he would have not even got bruised if he was all strapped in his buggy.

Funny how things that seem ok in the garage aren't worth a crap once you get all twisted up on the rocks like a pretzel. I was watching my spotter (AK Whatley of Whatley Motorsports) who is sponsored by ORI while navigating some challenging rocks when all kinds of noise came from the engine compartment. AK told me my fan was hitting the new shroud
You can see the marks on the inside of the shroud and also the damaged fan tips. It was easy for him to see as I had no hood or fenders.

So off comes the fan (again) and mounting the electric fan back on the inside. I still have the front two on. Going to mount the fan this time a little lower down on the radiator as the front two are mounted high. But there is a small problem with the pulley. Need to cut off the un-used pulley. Enter sawz all.

Then some buffing with a flap wheel.

Done.

Next area suffering from conflictinitis is that under extreme stuff my lower rear link just does hit frame. I thought that this might be a problem, I spray painted the link with primer and sure enough...bang. When I designed the rear dbl Tri link, I thought this might be an area of concern. But I wanted the degree of angel from the axel, enough that it centered the axle without using a track bar. And if need be I could section that part of the frame. Form follows function.

So next project is to C section the frame, especially with the longer travel ROI struts coming soon. Had some nice compliments how this rig flexes by the jeeper guys I was wheeling with. Just wait until later.

Here I'm reinforcing the outer part of the frame after removing the area that was hitting the link. The plate is .250" with angled cuts so I don't have 90 degree welds with the frame.

http://i1224

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Need to knock off slag from the 7018 rod weld.

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Here I'm bending some .250" x 3" steel plate for the inner panel that will follow the C section that was removed.

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I left about 1/2" over hang the front (long sides)and 2" in the back to line up with the top leg of the frame. Next I'll box the back side in.
The over hang is to give it structural strength like an I beam.
This area of the frame does not have as much pressure on it like you may think. There's no leaf spring mounts supporting the rear. All the 4 Pt's are connected about three feet forward of the axle and the coilovers are supported to the cage.

Also talked to Jay at Reid Racing and I should have the knuckle and C by next thur. Then some serious work on that 60 to follow. As if I don't have enough to do, I also just received an auxiliary vacuum tank to install for better braking.

 

[rookieshooter]

The truck now sits more level since the sectioning of the frame. Also the limiting chain is maxed out on the pass side. This will have to change once the longer ORI's are installed. Wait, might not even need those limiting devices with the ORIs. The cool thing is that I can now grab the exo and push up and down meaning there's even more room for travel. Now do this on the passenger side and very little movement occurs when the ramp is on that side.

Now this pic shows how much room it has for even more articulation. Plenty of room behind the link also. The tire is still on the ramp. Plus I boxed in the back of the frame.

Now to fix the pass side.

ORI called and said my shocks will be ready by next week They're shipped with no nitrogen. So by the end of next week or early the week after I should have my Reid knuckles and ORI's.

I'm booked up for another rock crawling trip, this on to Doe Valley Pa in about 2 weeks. Now this will be my first trip to this off road park.

 

[janderson4010]

awesome things are happening man, very awesome things

 

[rookieshooter]

Thanks about the awesome comment.
I've spent hours and hours on the brake system on this rig, from larger booster, braided lines, re-doing brake lines but nothing has helped more then installing this vacuum booster. It's a totally different animal. When doing the rocks in low low gear. I had to push all the way down to the floor when coming down off a rock and sometimes I still could not stop going down. My buddy who was riding with me at Big Dogs noticed my vacuum would go down below 5. So what I tried before going to Hydro brakes that he mentioned was a remote vacuum canister, and Bingo! Felt like it will now throw me thru the windshield

Made a 1" x 1/8" support that is attached to one of the master cylinder studs.
The canister comes with two welded studs that I attached to the support.

In the below video you can hear when I hit the brakes (clunk) and the vacuum never goes below 10! The only time it goes below 10 is when I give it gas to jerk the truck forward, but as soon as I hit the brakes it never goes below 10. The problem is that the cam has an aggressive grind profile as in too much split overlap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KixiNUd9Q1o
Click on link

 

[rookieshooter]

Other side done.
Also I got an email that a shipping label has been created for those ORI shocks.

 

[rookieshooter]

Look what came today, just like promised? My Reid Racing knuckle and C for the upcoming Dana 60 build.
Here's their link http://www.reidracing.biz/

These beauties are massive compared to the stock ones. The C is forged and based on the Dana 70 C. Note the 5th hole on the knuckle as opposed to the 4 holes in a stock knuckle. This can be used on a High Steer if I want to add another hole on the High Steer kit or just plug up. Plus they have a cool decal.

Check out how the area where the infamous driver side crack is in the old knuckle compared to the beefed up area of the new Reid knuckle.

Other then also being more robust then the stock knuckle, note that there is no bolt threaded into the knuckle for a steering stop. This is a problem area in the stock knuckle. So what Reid did was to cast a stop into the knuckle. Then one can just grind it down if need be.
Plenty more pics and info on install to follow. Plus easy to read instructions especially on how to install the C so that almost anyone can do in their garage.

 

[rookieshooter]

Prepping the end of the axle tube for the C fitting. Main concern was where some brackets on the axle tube had to be cut off. Reid says the main concern for axle preparation is that there can not be no high spots at all on the tube. Reason being once the heated C contracts on the tube and there were any high spots it could crack the C.

Here's how I heated the C using a portable kerosene heater. It was heated for about 45 min. Reid instructions say to use a gas barbecue grill. No charcoal cause this puts carbon in the steel.
The C is machined .0025" smaller then the axle tube.

To make sure the C was installed with the same angle as the other side. I first set the axle on some jack stands, one at each end and one on the snout of the center section. Next the axle was rotated until the flat area of the stock C that was on other side was perfectly horizontal. The jack stand under the snout had to be adjusted for this.

Next was to lay down some weld. The instructions say weld only the diff side of the C not the other side. Also Reid mentions to weld the C while it is still hot.

 

[rookieshooter]

Took the D60 outside on pavement and took a high pressure washer to it after soaking in degreaser. Only after on hour it already started to rust.
So a trip down to Tractor Supply for some black paint. It's a satin black.
Those ORI's are going to have to be mounted practically on top of the Cs.

Then installed the two inner axle seals. Piss me off that the master kit does not come with two flat sheet metal oil pieces. One goes directly behind pinion gear which acts as a slinger and the other a little further down in the housing.

 

[rookieshooter]

I was able to salvage the slinger by cutting the bearing off the pinion. This slinger is just what it does, sling oil up on the bearings. Part of the outer diameter sits in the axle fluid and as the pinion turns slings the oil all over the place.
The one that I could not reuse was a baffle that is around the end of the pinion shaft that keeps oil in contact with the other bearing.
My local Ford dealer can no longer get either one. But a quick call to ECGS has the baffle on it's way.
Then another R&P + ARP set up to install.

My updated tracking # now says that my ORI's will be here tomorrow...Cool!

 

[rookieshooter]

Talk about being stoked. Look what just got dropped off.
The chrome shaft is 1.750" dia.

Gotta love it! Here's their Link
http://oristruts.com/ I'm sure I'll be giving them a call in the not to distant future.

Just couldn't help my self. It'll be awhile before they're installed. Need to fab up a lot of mounting brackets. Plus they have to be charged. But main thing is going to read all the techno pages about these concerning gas charge, oil level, ride height, softness of ride and so on and so on. All the info comes in a neatly bound pamphlet.

Put Samson up on both ramps (diagonal) and took plenty of pics along with measurements for all the re-mounting measurements of these struts. Don't want any conflicts between frame and any other items.
These 10" coilovers are maxed out.
I've read that the stability with these ORI's are next to none. Plus I'll mount them outboard just like my coilovers for even more stability.

I sure got a lot of work ahead on this rig between the front 60 install and these struts. But this just takes it to the next level lol.

 

[rookieshooter]

ORI highly recommends their dual fill gauge for filling both front or both rear at the same time. I'll probably go ahead and order this tool in a day or so.
The ORI struts list close or at $600 each.

 

[rookieshooter]

One of the benefits of the longer ORI struts will be longer droop along with some more stuff. Again I'm up on these ramps that I have used so many times getting the suspension set up. Now the truck still has the 10" coilovers and is about an inch or two from crawling up on the top of the ramps.
So far so good, all wheels on the ground. Ramps are 21" high.

But look what happens just a couple more inches further as the wheels get to the top of the ramp. One wheel starts to come off the ground. Now if it was just one ramp this truck could go way past 21" without any wheel coming up off the ground. It's when it's diagonal that this happens.
In fact when it's like this I can easily just push the truck to the side and then the opposite front tire will lift off the ground and the rear tire that was up will be planted on ground. Or just rock the truck back and forth. Of course there are other benefits with the ORI's then just adding droop. Longer coilovers would achieve this. But I'm looking for more then just longer travel.

Actually when I'm up on the ramps or rocks like this I can easily rock the truck sideways just by leaning in in the seat from side to side.
In addition I finally have it where the 40" IROC can stuff up in the wheel well with no rub anywhere.
But it ought to be fun learning all the ins and outs of the new struts. 27 pages of info to learn.

 

[rookieshooter]

Only thing left on the pinion is to torque the nut to 250#s. And then make sure the pinion still turns freely. Need to check on the specks. So many inch pounds or just a few foot pounds. Probably just go by feel ha ha.
Like a lot of cases I just used the same shim pack to get the right amount of distance from the center line of ring gear.

 

[rookieshooter]

Just notched the 1.125" sq tubing to round cage to form part of the upper mount support for the ORI strut. Later there'll be more bracing to triangulate the upper mount along with closing off the opened end.
The vertical piece connects to the top of the frame and then to cage.
Easy to see how much longer the ORI is compared to the top of the coilover. I'll use the existing bottom mount for the new ORI.
Until you actually pick one of these bad boys up, you'd have no idea how heavy they are.

 

[rookieshooter]

Made up some tabs along with the other support leg.
This time I'll have the top of the struts leaning toward the front of the truck.
The front have always had the top of the shocks leaning toward the back. / \

 

[rookieshooter]

If your wondering why the upper mount is shorter in this pic, it's because I had a massive brain fart. In the other pic I did the math wrong and reversed the 6" of chrome showing and the remaining 8" in the housing for more droop. What I did was a after brain fart had it so 8" was showing, oh well. Just glad it was tacked and not fully welded.
The back mounts are more difficult then the front. I'm thinking all I'll have to do is to add some tabs on the cage that runs into the engine compartment for the front. Unless I have another brain fart.