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Ricks Bronco: 1and 1/2

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What a difference it makes driving in the snow with the winch moved to the back receiver.

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Going to modify the front cowl for more air to the radiator. Not that's it's running hot while DD and trails. But it does warm up quick on a hot Aug. day in low and doing some rocks.
Now when I add the Atlas and do more climbs and trails running in low I want as much air as possible going through the radiator.
As you can see it's blocking the very bottom rows.

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Here I go again cutting metal ha ha. The center section is cut out.

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Next was to fab up some new mounting brackets for the two end pieces that have the turn signals.

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Just increased the flow rate by a few CFMs. Like one member suggested, I'll find some expanded metal and cover the whole front of the grill. Not that I haven't poked a who through the radiator yet ha ha.

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Now onto the next mod. Anybody who has followed this thread knows that I like removing the quick disco doors and front fenders for trail rides. Plus removing the fenders really helps in cooling that V8.
But the hood has always stayed on due to having to unbolt the hinges. Now the stock hinges have been replaced long ago with Jeep hinges that are on top of the skinned hood.
Not only does the hood hold in heat, it really restricts my line of sight due to it's height. No problem on trails, but on rocks it makes it hard to make a tactical approach.
Here's what I mean. Sitting in the seat and truck on level ground, objects any closer then 20' I can not see directly in front of me that's on ground. This was longer then what I thought, untill I actually measured it.

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So here's what I did. This is the stock jeep hinge that I modified long ago.
My idea is to re-modify and make into a lift off rear hinge.

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Out for the zillionth time come my cut-off grinder and sliced off one weld puddle at end. Now you can see the faint lines of the stud that the hinge rotates around.

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Then a few smacks with a drift pin tool and the hinge comes apart.

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Cut the one tang off, drill and tap for Zerk fitting. This was done just so I could see the look on the faces of the jeep guys ha ha. Seriously though, it was rust bad and had to sand the pin after separating hinge. The water repellent green grease ought to solve that problem.
Here you can see how the bottom piece just slides off the top part that would be mounted on the cowl below windshield.

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So now all I do to remove hood is to pull the front two hood pins, lift up and slide hood to left. It's off in about as much time as it took me to type this sentence :D

now with the few seconds it took to remove hood, I just increased my SH or Sight Horizon from 20' to 17'. Now I told you I had too much time on my hands :D

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Just for your information. Those two front fenders with the large tubed fenders weight 9#s each. The skinned hood weighs 25#s. If you don't think a stock B2 hood is not heavy, just weigh one. One day I'll weigh the skinned,vinyl window doors also. Their was really a weight reduction there.

Oh ya, one other thing. Trying to locate a Ford Taurus 3.8 fan that I might even add behind radiator. Be great for some real slow trail runs.
 



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I could just not stand it no more...Even though I'm looking for an open carrier for the rear 8.8 so I can install an Aussier locker in the rear and reading all the pros and cons on a fully locked rear. And never actually knowing how a locked welded rear will do in this light rear end truck if I install the Aussie first. I decided, what the crap, going to install a different carrier anyway, why not weld the crap out of of this one. So that's exactly what I just finished doing this morning :eek:
Total cost. Non-flammable parts cleaner $7, 7018 rods about $3 and one can of primer to coat ring gears and all other parts not to be welded, $5.
Not to mention...No more Friction additive ha ha. Now I do have another LS carrier with the same ratio as in the truck now. Just hope I won't need it.
Now remember I do have a front Aussie coming.
And this will be first person knowledge on this Hobarted rear...no second hand.
All the stuff I've read about more strain on the drive train is usually for lot heavier trucks. This thing is a Bantam weight in the rear weight dept.

My first outing was to make the hard rt. hand turn out of garage. Nothing but a little rear wiggle and the sound of the freshly sprayed salt on the blacktop being crushed by the one tire turning faster the the other, cool.
Now why would I weld this with a some snow on the ground having heard all the stuff about driving with a locker in the snow. Reason...I just need to know how it handles.
The I turned even harder into my back yard with snow about 1.5 deep. In two wheel only it went right up the slight hill, where as before with the LS it basically just spun the one tire. Now it went right up with just a little side to side weave.
Next was lock the front hubs. Now that was cool.
Once the battery in the camera charges back up I'll post some pics.
 






OMG, parts went every where, spyder gear here, cast steel housing there. People pulling off the Interstate from flying shrapnel. Ha ha. Just kidding, but that's what you think when you read posts from people with...What's that Nursery rhyme the sky is falling by Chicken little mantality.
Could hardly tell it was even locked. I even had to pull off the road and go through the snow just to make sure.
I'll post up some pics of the install and then do a little wheeling later.
 






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Sprayed some Anti-splatter on the ring gear. In this case auto primer.


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Then at all four corners on one side, I filled in the valley with a 1/8" 7018 rod.
This rod is almost pushed into the puddle and then slowly dragged to fill in the gap.
This is done on all four corners on this side and then the axles are turned to bring around the other side.
I'll say that an axle will break before the welds. And yes I know how some people say it's the carrier that will break. But this truck does not have the friction coefiecent that most other trucks have due to their weight so IMO less stress on the drive line.
Now I did clean off all the oil and did do a pre and post heat weld. Next was to clean and clean.
You can see that a little splatter got onto the ring gear, but it just wiped right off with a rag.
 






This thread keeps getting better and better! Truck, or should I say buggy now, looks great!! Awesome sight horizon :D

Rick, thanks for being on the show this week, we'll have to have you on again:thumbsup:
 












Oh, and I vote you wire in a message center...LOL

Was going to do that over a year ago. Even bought an Ex center on ebay, but never got around to it.

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Here is an off-set pan hard bar attachment that is made for the same diameter axle tube as my rear 8.8.
Reason I'm posting this is to save a first time buyer of these "piece the puzzle together" laser cut brackets from Ballistic Fabrication any headaches.

Sometimes if you just clip them together and weld away, you may find that you can hardly get the bushing between the tabs. Don't ask how I know :rolleyes:

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Just happen to have 6" piece of D44 axle tube that I had left over from shortening the front axle. Came in handy many times.

So what I did was to clip together the 4 sides. When clipped together there is still some room for the bracket to tweak on way or the other, which I prefer. Then sat on top of axle tube and lightly clamped together. Next was to lay in the exact size bushing. In this case the bushing measured 1.75" with spacers at each end. Then tighten the clamps. No need to crank down tight, just snug up the sides.
Also make sure that all four sides fit nice around the axle. May have to tap one side or another.
Then tack around the bracket while sitting on the mock-up axle or the real thing with clamps and bushing in place.
Next is to weld away.

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No they're not the most gorgous stick welds. But the way my hand shakes from nerve damage, I can thread a sewing machine while it's moving ha ha.
Now while your laying on your back you don't have to bang the #$$% out of it for a perfect fit to the axle and or bushing end.
On some of my homegrown tabs I have on occasions even put a .005" feller gauge between bushing and one end of bracket and then cranked down on them before welding. This is exactly how I did the tabs for the 4 link hook-up on front axle that I made.

Oh ya, the reason for even doing this tab is that one day I'm going to replace the rear track bar bracket on axle due to me changing the WB a couple of times.
And one other thing, I hate the looks and placement of that stock tank. May just have to come up with another idea regarding that area.

Ballistic even makes up mock-up bushings just so you don't get bracket tabs too tight when welding.
 






Met an old friend of mine yesterday at Farm Supply. His name is Jack. This is the same guy that I posted about over a year ago about how I helped build his 4 link in his Boss Cool 41 Willys.

At any rate, this is how the conversation went... "Hey Rick, that solid axle looks sweet, but you still got that Gay looking gas tank hanging down in the rear".
"What do you mean Gay"
"just what I said".
"Well I always thought it looked pregnant".

But the truth of the matter, it is too low and has presented problems before. Fine for a Soccer Mom but not for an up and becoming trail truck.
So while at my local Sheets store and getting gas, instead of filling up with the ridiculous gas prices, I decided on filling half way up, do less driving and buy some 16 ga, steel sheets. Hmmm.
 






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Case in point...Just too low IMO. Thinking of making the tank no lower then the bottom rail of the frame.

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Here the hinged gas tank cover is lifted up.
Going to make so it drops in from the top and will take up most of the space between the frame rails. The left hand corner will be a 90 instead of the angle corner that is there now. The tank now is around 5" below the bed.
The top of the tank will be at near or higher then the bed is now.

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Been some time since I welded 16 ga. sheet metal with a stick so a little practice on some scrap is in order. In fact only one piece is 16 the other is one guage thinner. But the tank will be all 16 ga.

At first I did not move the stick fast enough and you can see that the very top is coyote ugly. But then upon moving stick in my estimation a little over an inch a second it went about as good as i can get.
The top piece has a 1/2" lip turned up and the side piece is flush to that.
When I first started building this thing, I had a used Hobart MIG that was just no good. But I really like the way this Old School stick does the job.
Just to document. The Rod was 1/8" 6013. Some say use a smaller diameter, but my experience is that I'll burn through quicker.
Welder was set at DC Neg 70.

But no matter what, the tank will be pressure tested. What I've also done in the past when making something water tight was just strike an arc on other side with lights out or dim. Any holes will soon be apparent.
I'll use some weld 6A fittings for the fuel line and have some kind of baffle that works as a maze or sump to keep gas in contact with pick-up.
I think a custom tank is only the right thing to do. Hey, even if it ain't the right thing to do, I'm going to do it any way ha ha.
But we'll see.

About the locked rear. I'll say this as short as I can. Should have done it long ago.
But do have an open spool coming this week in case I want to go to an Aussie in rear. But I love the predictability of the locked rear.
 






Oh jeez. I thought you were going to mod the stock tank. That is a bad idea. I almost blew myself up 3 times until I decided it was an awful idea! I know guys say to fill them with h20 or hook them up to an exhaust pipe, but any way I did it it went boom, with fireballs out of the end and expanded all the dimples in the tank like a balloon.
 






Oh jeez. I thought you were going to mod the stock tank. That is a bad idea. I almost blew myself up 3 times until I decided it was an awful idea! I know guys say to fill them with h20 or hook them up to an exhaust pipe, but any way I did it it went boom, with fireballs out of the end and expanded all the dimples in the tank like a balloon.

That had to be scary :eek: I'm going to the steel mill today and hopefully they'll have a piece of rust free 16 ga. in stock. No need to coat the inside with any paint or rust preventive paint, just as long as I keep gas in it.
Depending on what modifications I have to do to the length of the driveshaft after the Atlas install. I might even push the rear axle back another inch or so now that the gas tank won't be an issue. It's really no big deal to do. But there is not enough thread on the joints to simply unscrew the studs out any further.
So all I'll have to do is to unbolt the bracket at frame and slid it back further.
That's another reason I got the new off-set panhard bracket expecting another push back. Lengthening the wheel base had to be the single most trail enhancing and ride improving mod that I've done.
I think the fact that I'll be able to lengthen the wheel base alone is well worth the effort in making the tank and would look really cool being able to see all the way through the underside of the truck with coilovers, links and maybe even some of the Atlas case with no bulky gas tank hanging down. :cool: Not mentioning, no hanging up on rocks like I have allready done.
 












I would still coat the inside if the tank if I were you. Por15 makes a pretty good product for that.

http://www.por15.com/US-STANDARD-TANK-SEALER/productinfo/TSG/

I know guys on this thread have used por 15, but I thought it was just like a primer before painting. I'll check into that because where I welded the seams is completely gone of any protective oil that was on the sheet metal.
Interesting that they make a product just for gas tanks :salute:


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Here I just got back from the sheet metal shop after picking up the flat 16 ga. metal.
I used an 8' sheet metal brake to bend the main body of the tank including 1/2" flanges around the four sides to attach welded top.
The two L shaped pieces are for the bottom sump.
What I'm going to do is only drill about an inch hole in the bottom of tank and then attach sump to the flat bottom of tank. That way if things get a little tipsy on some trails the fuel pick up will still have some gas in the sump to pick up.

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Tacking the main body.

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This is looking down into the sump. The welds are on the outside and seems to have good penetration. So far I've put a 200 watt light under both the sump and the main tank and only had about 3 small pin holes to fill.
The por 15 might really be nice covering those welded areas on the inside. No way is there any protective oil on the inside where it's welded.

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This is basically how I'm thinking of laying out the sump. Still need to get all the hardware like, filler tube and some size 6 Army Navy fittings.

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With lid.

The stock B2 tank is around 21 to 22 gal which I like the large capacity.
So lets do the math..L26 x W14 x H14 =5096 CI /231 cubic " in a gal =22 gal.

Sump 7" x 7" 7" = 343/231= 1.5gal.
So 23.5 gallons is just perfect. And it's all concealed. :cool: And might add between frame rails on all four sides which is a more protective area.


Later I'll also add some internal structural supports.
 






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Now you can get a better idea about cutting a small hole instead of cutting the whole square out where the sump is welded to the bottom. Once gas is in the sump it will remain in the sump steep angles.
 






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Went out in some slushy snow/ice covered roads to check out driving the evil locked rear. Hmm, sure was un-eventful. Other then it puts the "Driving" back in driving. You figure out real quick on how to steer, when to let off gas and when to burp the gas. Love it. Now the front axle was engaged the whole time also and it just pulls you right around the turn.

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Now this is no means a good pic of the locked rear capabilities, but it does clearly show judging by the tracks that both rear wheels did not spin a lick going up the small incline. Once the front locker is installed and new 35"BF tires then some good pics will follow.

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Speaking of tracks, this is how the tracks look when when making a sharp turn. This is looking down at the front driver side and is at the inside curve. Now being locked the inside back tire will have to turn at the same higher speed of the outside tire. Upon doing that you can see by the track left in the snow how it looks like it chirps the tire at certain spots. This is when you hear that noise on dry pavement. But there is still spots where it does grab.

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Can't wait to lock that front.

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Getting ready to weld on the top. When done I'll have to make up a pressure tester with gauge. Can't seem to find my old one.
The tank will be 100% welded with no attachments or supply holes, or vents when tested. Then later will cut in holes. At that point I may even add a large inspection plate on the top.
About the Por-15, I knew I heard somethings that I don't like. It took some time to do the research. Being most people use this product on tanks that have already a slight or even bad rust corrosion, it works fine.
The problem that I found not on one site but others that are not even close to each other is this. It's on new metal where the problem occurs, and it may not show for a couple of years. It can and has came off causing all kinds of gas flow problems to the engine.
Going to leave it just like it is and keep my eye on the inside condition. I have built tanks in years gone by and some where just as clean as the day i built them long afterward. But with a large access door, it would be no problem to add the Por 15 at a later time. Seems a small amount of rust is a good thing for the Por's adhering qualities.
 






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Now that the top is welded shut, it's about time to run a test to see if this tank is hermetically sealed or not :rolleyes:
Made up a simple testing tool. Next will be hooking up the air. My goal is to use no gas tank sealer on any pin holes, just plain old molten steel.
The fact that it is 16 ga. and the 23 gal capacity makes for a heavy tuff tank. It really needs some more weight over the rear axle anyway.

I used a 2 stage welding process. First was to tack the entire tank together using 1/8" 6013 rod. Then using same rod run a constant bead along all connections. Next was to clean welds and then lay a larger bead on top of that with 3/16" 7018 using same amp but now on Positive setting. Where as the 6013 was on Neg. setting. Now the 7018 layed a nice wide super strong bead over the smaller 6013 bead with out burning thru. And hopefully covering most pin holes. Still need to knock a lot of slag off.
Where the pressure gauge is installed I welded a steel pipe thread adapter that I can use for my fuel outlet.

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Bought this open 8.8 carrier from on of our fine members, may have some ideas for this later on.
 






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As far as filtration of fuel, I'll have a coarse filter housing just out side of tank which I already have and then the fine filter right before carb which is already there.

But now I'm thinking of a removable filter above the hole that goes into sump. I purposely installed the fuel line about 1/2" above bottom of sump just in case some crap got in the sump. But why have anything at all get in there :rolleyes:

Any ideas on some kind of removable filter media? Maybe something flat where I could make a frame around or something cylindrical in shape that would drop over hole?

This pic was taken before the top was welded on.
 






OK, got it all welded up. And after talking to some Old School Hot Rodders who really build some wild rides here in town about how some of the new fuels are playing havoc on tank sealers. They mentioned a product sold under then name of Bill Hirsch which they have had no problems with.
So seafarer76 I will be coating the inside to keep out future rust. :salute:

When I talked to Bill I mentioned about the new tank and should I prep it.
I explained that I degreased it before welding. He said "no that won't be necessary on new metal and that this stuff will cling to glass".

As most anything else on this build, the tank was built so that I can service/inspect interanl hardware and condition of the inside.
 






Nice tank, I'm really impressed you can weld that (16ga) with an arc welder. We've built a quite a few diesel and hydraulic tanks at work using 11ga + and MIG welded them. Have you thought about putting a clean out cover on the tank? We use them on all our tanks, but they are more important for hydraulic tanks because you really cant put filters of a decent micron on the suction side of a hydro pump.
 



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Nice tank, I'm really impressed you can weld that (16ga) with an arc welder. We've built a quite a few diesel and hydraulic tanks at work using 11ga + and MIG welded them. Have you thought about putting a clean out cover on the tank? We use them on all our tanks, but they are more important for hydraulic tanks because you really cant put filters of a decent micron on the suction side of a hydro pump.

Thanks Kert. Way back many moons ago before there ever was MIG, well at least before I heard of them and many Sheet metal shops I worked for, that's all we had was stick to weld the 16 ga. Sometimes I would spend weeks welding up 16 gauge Breeching duct. This was used to vent the hot gases out of commercial boilers. Then throw dozens and dozens of Kitchen exhaust hoods which code called for leak proof welded connections, again all stick. Then from the hood we had to run continues welded black 16 ga exhaust ducts. Inspection called for them to be as if you could pour water in them and not leak.
You could only imagine what kind of fire hazard if the hot grease came through the duct work.
On the top of the tank I will have a cover large enough so I can easily reach in, which should help in cleaning.
 






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