Ricks Bronco: 1and 1/2

[rookieshooter]

get a little mud on the tires as the fella says

Ought to incorporat that song in a video I'm going to make this summer of some trail rides.

 

[janderson4010]

4x4 videos are always made better with country music, haha

 

[rookieshooter]

With all the modification to the tank, it would really be easy to build a 3 point rear suspension. But only with my usual "out of the box" style.
Tell my your thoughts on this.
Couple benefits would be even more flex and then getting rid of the track bar all together.
No more sideways push.
Granted I now have a wristed radius arm suspension . Now I love the way the radius arm handles on the street and then pull the pin and you have all kinds of flex.
So here are my thoughts. Having a 3 point only would be too flimsy for the street just like when driving my radius arm with pin removed on the street. I don't like it.
Now here is where I can utilize the wristed radius arm coupled with a 3 pt.
During trails add another pull pin to the other side of the radius arm in rear. I have one now at the top of only one link. Then I would pull both sides letting the 3 point do it's thing. Now here's the beauty of it. Now if I put both pins on either side back in, it now becomes a radius arm or Torque arm suspension for better road manners and there are times that a radius arm in the locked down mode is a better option on some trails.
Not mentioning the fact it would be just so fun to build.
The added two links at the top would join at the center section and < out towards frame.

 

[janderson4010]

you gotta keep busy haha, might as well go for it. my buddy who owns an offroad shop had a fit at me when i told him how i was going to build a radius arm suspension for my bII, he suggested a 3 link with 2 arms above the axle and one below the axle, more ground clearance and better something something, i don't really listen to what he says most of the time lol.

 

[rookieshooter]

If I do do it, it will be a rather slow process, nothing new here.
I love the radius arm suspension. It transmits a lot of torque to the frame and times it is very helpful in driving over obstacles. But it's the road handling that makes it shine.
It so strange how sitting at a traffic light with brakes on and then give it some gas and the whole truck lifts up. Even when turned off it stays up untill you let off the brakes.
Then the truck just lowers down a few inches. Now a smaller engine might just not do this.
Then if you do the same thing with the pin pulled on the rear axle and you give it gas..nothing happens, no torque is transmitted through the frame.
With the radius arm suspension I do not even need any sway bars either.
If it was just for trails then I might not even worry about pining the top link. But it's just too flimsy the way it articulates on the street without being pinned.
If you could only drive this truck with the radius arm suspension on the street.
It's so strange when you bump the gas and the whole front of the truck lifts up and moves over to the left. Viewed from the front it's darn funny looking.
Of course solid motor mounts and a full cage from back bumper to front bumper and body tied into cage might just have something to do with it also...You think!

Also sent money to Advance today to get the ball rolling on the case.
If I have to make a new drive shaft for rear, the right thing would be to relocate the axle back even further. What a difference it has made allready in the weight transfer when slamming on the brakes not mentioning Off-road up and down hill driving capabilities.

 

[rookieshooter]

Go ahead and laugh ha ha. This may look a little silly but it's Dead Drop accurate in measuring the volume of gas in this tank which is a perfect rectangle...26" long 14" wide and 14" deep. No calculating for any curved surfaces. Just sit on a level ground which is hard to find in my area

The problem is my gas sending unit does not accurately tell me how many gallons of gas is left in the tank, especially since the float does not hang all the way down to the bottom of tank. And it does not float all the way to the top either.
So enter one aluminum rule.

So upon pulling it out it reads 8.5". Right there tells me it's over half full.
I can also note where the needle on the gas gauge is in relation to this.

Going to figure this out, since there is 5096 CI" in 26x14x14" tank (231 cubic"/gal) that means that every inch in depth is 1.57 gal. (1.5 gallons per inch is close enough) of gas in tank. So now 1.57 gal per inch time 8.5 equates to 13.39 gal in tank.
Now if there was no sump, and only 1" in tank, it would be hard for the gas to be picked up unless you had one of those swinging filters. But I like the sump with small hole in the top better.
So now all I'll do is to strap this State of the Art sending unit to the cage ha ha.
And at 10 mpg I now no about how much I can travel.

Don't need this thing anymore.
Got to tell ya a about a funny thing the next morning after installing tank with about 2 gallons of gas in it. Now this was about 5:00 in morning and I was not fully awake yet. Any way you probably know where I going with this. Un-screwed the cap on the Side of the truck like I've done thousands of times before.
Then I noticed that my left foot just became cold I guess sometimes I'm not the brightest crayon in the box. Sometimes old habits are hard to break. But I do like the way I can now drive up to either side of the gas pumps

Now that's better looking.

So 1.57gal/inch times the 8.5" on rule means 13.34 actual gallons in tank.
But remember that in the sump is another 1.5 gal of gas.

Still giving it some serious thought on my "Double wristed radius arm 3 point" for lack of a better terminology. Including moving rear back again, no reason not to, the benefits far out way the work, i mean play.
Double wristed I mean that one more pin would be added to the other side of axle. Now there is only one, but with the added 3 pt. configuration I could do the other side and then re-install both sides for a far better DD rig.
Once un-pinned the top link becomes a moot subject and the bottom link acts just like a normal triangulated 3 pt. At least that's what I'm thinking. A working model is in the plans. Love the way you can actually feel the binding in your hands as you cycle it through, just like I did when I came up with the angles and lengths on the front 4 link.
And if it sounds like I'm talking meself into this mod, then your right.

Any way I need some more projects for my soon to order tubing bender.

 

[rookieshooter]

Just ordered some of these Meats.
35x12.5x15. Might be here tomorrow. There are some good reviews out there.
I have some friends that have them and they love um. One guy said he can air down to 10 lbs. and the side cleats with those grooves are good on rocks. We'll see. Now if these were just for mud then there are better, same if just for rocks. The truck that I rode in that had them was not very noisy also, so this tire might be a good compromise, but like I said, we'll see.
I'm not married to any tire and buyer beware when it comes to reviews by people selling their brand.
Also need to call up Advance in regards to the Atlas case. Going to send the balance by the 11th of Feb

Also did some under truck measuring for a "maybe triangulation 3 pt".
If I do design one I'll incorporate this Bad boy. Like the lifetime warranty.
I could actually sit upright under the rear bed and take measurements due to removing tank.
Got a lot of things in the works plus some I'm not mentioning yet?

Where is the crap is my front locker I ordered?

 

[Kirby N.]

You will dig the KM2s. I think you will be very happy. From my experience, they are a lot better quality than some others out there like the procomp. Spendy though. We had them on our LJ in the 35" variety and we had no complaints. I hear people don't like the snow/ ice performance, but they seemed to have a soft enough compound that it wasn't an issue for us. My only complaint is they seem to wear a little faster than the BFG All Terrain (my favorite tire off all time). I like the looks of the KM2s better so I think the wear is not worth the small amount of extra life.

 

[rookieshooter]

Glad to hear what you had to say. I read on another site that after they tested them, the only complaint was that it did not have the sipes (sp) in the lugs for better snow, but overall they liked them. Most reviews that I read were by off-road companies that sold them...well that's like asking the Fox why he should guard the hen house ha ha.
Supposedly increased the side wall strength over the last model also.
Well two of the tires came in today, that's the good news. Now for the bad, they were both 33's :thumbdwn: So they sent them back and supposedly two 35's will be here Mon and the other two are on back order, just great.

 

[Kirby N.]

When I ordered a set for my sisters in 35x12.50x15, they had been on back order for months. My shop called and said there was finally 35 at the distributer and by the time I got down there with cash there was only 11 left. I guess they have been hard to get a hold of for a while.

 

[rookieshooter]

Hard to tell from this pic, but the road salt that's been layed down for the last few weeks is starting to show effect on the undercarriage.

I do not run any inner fenders so I'll just hose off the inside.
During hard rain or snow the ignition never misses a beat.

Saw this on the shelf at Auto Zone, going to give it a try.

A little too shinny for my taste, but may dull up after a day of drying.

By removing the tank was like getting rid of the Achilles heel for installing a 3 point and maybe even taking axle back a little further which would be a breeze now. The front Achilles was the engine brace so now both are gone.
I did a little measuring for the top Y piece for the 3 point as far as length goes to get an idea as far as pinion angle during cycling.
If I do this mod I'll most likly have just one large joint at top of pumkin, not two that are next to each other. Also I'll have the bolt that connects the joint to cross over brace over pumkin running verticle not horizontal like some that I've seen. And bushing bolt will be mounted double shear.

 

[MrQ]

Heh, I know a bit of that feeling about rust. I got under Red yesterday to assess how bad the tranny was and nearly every single piece of bare metal was covered in surface rust. I guess the daily driving helped keep the salt deposits from the ocean from actually doing any real damage.

 

[rookieshooter]

I know when I look at parts or trucks that came from north of the Mason Dixon line you can expect a lot of rust.

Also talked to Geno at Advanced Adapters and it looks like the week of Feb 13 the case will be shipped.

Well got to go, just got a call that two of my 5 tires came in a few minutes ago.

 

[rookieshooter]

View attachment 241023

Pro comp 33s

View attachment 241024

BFG KM2 35s which also pushed the approach angle to within a frog hair of 70 deg. Still plenty of room to stuff this meat.
And those parallel links are 8"apart at axle end (vertical) will help in controlling braking forces and torque.
Even though viewed from the side the links are not parallel, and I designed them this way, it is still a parallel 4 link. So tired of hearing people say to be a parallel 4 link the links must be parallel when viewed from the side. Wrong, it's just a matter of where you're doing the viewing.

 

[mynameisaric]

new meats look great !

 

[janderson4010]

those should do the trick

 

[rookieshooter]

those should do the trick

Those coupled with some more of these $$, which are getting scarce would really do the trick.

Appreciate your input as always guys
Just cleaning out garage and greasing up all the joints on the "Flex-O-Matic" 101" Bronco today.
May go up to the steel mill and bum around the inside looking for drop pieces that employees could trip over and sue the snot out of the Co. But I could alleviate that problem real quick by offering them pennies on the dollar for those pieces

 

[janderson4010]

May go up to the steel mill and bum around the inside looking for drop pieces that employees could trip over and sue the snot out of the Co. But I could alleviate that problem real quick by offering them pennies on the dollar for those pieces

thats a real public service you are providing Rick, your really looking out for people

 

[rookieshooter]

New 35s on the front and worn down 33s on back and sits perfectly level.
No way was I going to re-adjust my rear view mirror for the new taller tire and an added benefit, I can now back out the garage door opening.

That's one of the benefits of a coil linked suspension being able to custom tune the suspension.
The mark on the wooden dowel is where the bottom of frame was with the 33s. So after installing the 35s all I did was to adjust the ride height accordingly to bring it back down to the original height. Do not need to raise the COG any higher then what it is already. I'll have to make some minor length adustments to the drag and track bar now also.
Also by doing this I decreased the track bar and drag bar to even a shallower angle. Hard to see but the track bar is right behind the drag bar. This will even correlate to an even less bump steer.
The black horizontal bar above the drag bar is part of the tubed engine support that I took out and replaced to give much more room for the 4 link install.
One day I'll modify it so I can make it removeable in order to remove oil pan with engine still bolted to frame.
Looking back upon cutting that engine brace out was probably one of the most brain rattling mods on the entire build. I had to really plan my cuts and once started, there was no turning back. But it was just soooo rewarding to get it done and be such a beneficial modification.

The back I'll have to give a little more thought to the top shock mounting point due to the fact that another rearward push might be in order, Hmm.

 

[rookieshooter]

Here is how I'm going to do a suspension drop to the rear. The front was adjusted lower using the coilovers. The back I will lower the shock mount by adding another bracket. I'm lowering it 1.5"
Also the bracket is turned just enough to be exactly perpendicular to the shock bolt. The top mounting hole will stay for any future locations.

I did a vertical down weld using 7018 and went from 130 amp to a 120 amp setting and then speeded up the stick speed as I dragged the weld pool down. Some people do a vertical up but going down works better for me.
Also made up a 1.25" spacer that is the same distance I need for the shock.
Don't need the tabs moving while welding.

Who is that! Try doing this with the stock tank hanging down

The driver side is done and now getting ready to do the other side.

I could not wait to see how it would do on the same rocks with the 35s and that tread pattern coupled with the locked rear.
I had to get out of the truck to make sure I was still in mine, it was just that much difference.

Kirby N. You will dig the KM2s. I think you will be very happy.

And your so right, even with 30# pressures.