RockRangerII Refresh

[dkchrist]

How are the angles and length on the steering linkage (i.e. drag link, and straight line from frame bolt to axle mount on track bar)? Even with good components a little bit out can cause issues. And just to clarify do this start after going over a bump or does it start small and get progressively worse as you go faster? Rick may be on to something if it is a constant shimmy regardless of bumps.

 

[RockRanger]

Can't remember off the top of my head how off they were but they are close. Within a degree and an inch of each other. The truck didn't have bumpsteer when I first built it.

 

[Kirby N.]

Those angles look fantastic. Very little lateral movement through travel. I thought we were talking about death wobble not bump steer? Are you saying there is more stress on tre s at extreme angles?

I think I would start pulling components off and checking them individually. Pull of the tre s and look for slop, control arms, jack each wheel up and check ball joints by pushing and pulling on the top and bottom of the wheels. You can use a pry at under the wheel for this too.

 

[dkchrist]

I am with Kirby N. everything looks good. Larger tires have more advantage on the steering components than the smaller so that would make the problem worse.

What in the steering has changed since you built it?

 

[RockRanger]

Put in all new TRE's on both the draglink and trackbar yesterday and still have death wobble. None of the old ones felt loose when I took them off. I wanted some spares anyway so I will make the old ones my spares. I did noticed that my tie rod has a slight bow it. When I hold a strait edge against it there is about a 1/16" gap at the middle. Wonder what hit it was that bent 1.5 x.250 4130. Was running out of time last night so did a quick toe guess and drove it around the "block". The block is about a mile long loop with a road I can get up to about 60mph. All of it also has a nice wide shoulder so if I need to stop or pull over I can easily. I did the loop and had a bit of shimmy so came home and added a touch more toe in. Went back out and it handled great up to 55 mph. Instead of going home I decided to run up the main road a little farther and see how it did. The stop light turned green and as soon as I hit about 40mph violent death wobble started again. Came back home and parked it in the garage. Will mess with it more today.

 

[dkchrist]

Almost sounds like too much toe

 

[RockRanger]

So I messed with it more today. Jacked the truck up and checked the toe. My eyeball wing last night I had about 1.25" of toe in. Re adjusted it to 1/8" toe in. I also started measuring and found the wheel base on the passenger side was 5/16 in shorter then the drivers. I know my frame is bent from building the bed and squaring not working on it. So I lengthen the link on the passenger side and now have it within 1/16 of an inch.

Took it out for a drive and it does much better. I wouldn't say it drives perfect but for as soft as the suspension is it is livable. I was able to get up 65-70 on the freeway with the flow of traffic and did about 10 miles of driving. I do think a front swaybar, some stiffer springs and better shocks would solve a bunch of the driving issues. I will see how it does tomorrow as I have about 50 miles of road driving I plan to do with it.

 

[Stic-o]

It's interesting what you said about the wheelbase. Never would think about that. I agree a sway bar would solve a lot of issues.

 

[BKennedy]

Not sure if the bed is actually bent, or it was made that way. The rear section of the frame on my Explorer is different heights side to side. Right side is one inch higher off the ground than left. Leaf spring mounts are even side to side, just the frame is different.
Glad you are getting a handle on the death wobble.

 

[RockRanger]

Got a chance to make the spare tire mount. The tire is just taller then the mounting surface so all the mount is doing is holding in down while the tire is making contact with the rest of the bed.

20141216_154256 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

Painted it and will install it in the truck tomorrow.

20141216_185112 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

I also got sick of not having a good way to hang stuff to paint. The piece above is hung off the garage door and is in the middle of the garage in the way. So I made these brackets. 4 pieces of 3/4" conduits make up the legs and the a piece of 1" conduit will make the top that items can be hung from. Think of it looking like a swing frame. Once I am done with it I can pull it all apart and have 5 pieces of conduit and 2 brackets to store easily in the corner.

20141216_185058 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

 

[BKennedy]

That tire mount reminds me of a machine gun mount. Very cool.

 

[RockRanger]

Mounted the spare tire holder in the bed. Bailey gives it a thumbs up as she helped me install it.

20141217_125648 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

Here it is with the tire bolted in.

20141217_130316 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

Then this is the area between the tire and cab that I have available for storage.

20141217_130547 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

 

[RockRanger]

I have been having some electrical issues with the truck not wanting to start. Finally got around to fixing the issue.

20141217_154646 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

20141217_154702 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

20141217_154709 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

 

[RockRanger]

I have also been working on Tracy's Christmas present as well. She wanted some wall art and liked this. Cut it out of 16 ga steel then stained it using a mixture of bleach and vinegar. Also let it sit out overnight and get rained on as well. Dried it all off and then clear coated it with some clear spray paint. Measures roughly 26" wide x 24" tall.

20141217_193732 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

 

[BKennedy]

That is pretty cool. I aged some horse shoe rasps I made into a picture frame for a friend with a combination of bleach, table salt and hydrogen peroxide. Turned it a rich, dark rust color in about 24 hours.

 

[Stic-o]

Now if you figure out how to not age the short cute one

 

[RockRanger]

Took the ranger out on its first wheeling trip in nearly 3 years. We went up to local mountains and played in the snow. Ended up in snow a couple feet deep as we were breaking trail. Truck did great. I lost a mud flap somewhere so need to get some new ones and my windshield wiper switch isn't working right as they have a mind of there own. Breaking trail I did slide sideways and have to winch myself out.

IMG_0489 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

IMG_0493 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

IMG_0498 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

IMG_0502 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

IMG_0505 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

IMG_0506 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

IMG_0508 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

 

[Kirby N.]

Your ranger looks fantastic! Did it death wobble? I didn't realize you did an exo like that. I really like that design. I have to keep my bed though. I dig that double cab taco too.

 

[Rick]

Brrrr that looks fun!!!!

 

[RockRanger]

It still has a wobble. I drove it to and from the trail (50 miles each way) and was able to go with the flow of traffic. I think the tires have a flat spot in them from sitting for two years. As I keep driving it it seems to be getting better. I have done maybe 200 miles in the last month so I will keep driving and see what happens.

Temperature wasn't to bad. Mid to upper 30's with some drizzle. Colder would have been better so the snow would have been easier to get on top of.

The double cab is nice. He had a bit of trouble only cause his tires are nearly bald. I did hear him talking about wanting to link it with coilovers.