The 4.0 Swap was chump change compared to this - Look inside...

[rookieshooter]

Great looking flex.
I bet the grass is already tore up from the inside rear wheel when turning? Just wait when you gas up and drive around the pumps with some aggressive meats.

Been getting a lot done, I'm impressed. Nice to sit back for awhile and watch all these fine builds going on. Keep it up guys.

 

[janderson4010]

thanks Rick im pretty stoked to drive it, everything past the firepit is mowed down weeds so I wasnt to sad to spin through there a little bit. Know I thought that I didn't have anything to do last night so I was sitting there bored as all get out, I walked out in the garage with the idea I was going to get sanding on a fender or something. Well I got looking at that driveshaft for the front, measured it and it was 2", I figured well im replacing the whole tube anyway so I may as well just cut this in half and see what the wall thickness is, maybe I can get some tube and just build it myself. Lo and behold it is .120 wall, which means the ID is 1.75, and I have about 30 ft of 1.75 hrew sitting there. so I just cut a peice 10" long, pounded it in 2" on each side of the existing shaft to extend the total length 6", viola! i have 4wd again! well as soon as the paint dries.

 

[janderson4010]

went back and looked and you can't see my firepit bk im standing right next to it lol. Anyway all that is weeds so no big deal running them over. The first thing my son asked when i got done was if his dirt hill was still there, he had the impression i squished his makeshift sandbox haha

 

[janderson4010]

ok got the new driveshaft in, looks good in there and I have officially joined the 4x4 club once again. also started working on capturing the springs, on the driver side I was able to drill a hole in the coil mount and build a small bracket that goes over the spring itself and bolts to the mount. the other side is not so easy, the place where i mounted the retainer on the drivers side is taken up by the panhard mount. And on the back side there isn't access from the bottom. So what i came up with was I drilled a 1/2 hole in the top of the coil mount so I could fit a small nut inside. I welded the nut to a washer and put it in the previously drilled hole and welded the washer to the coil mount. So now I have a captured nut in the coil mount with which to mount my retainer. hope it works the threads on the nut got a little messed up and I don't have a tap of that size, so ill have to wait till tomorrow and run to the store and get one.

 

[janderson4010]

got the retainers in and went back out and flexed it a little(kids wanted a ride). they work pretty well, it still flexes just as much but the coils don't pop out now. I am noticing a real disparity in the amnt of flex I have front to back. the rear will keep up but im really keen to 4link it. that is unfortunatley going to have to wait. I can also see a lot of boredom coming my way soon bk I don't have anything else to work on for a while, guess ill just have to fig something out...

 

[rookieshooter]

but im really keen to 4link it.

Yes...I know the feeling well, the restless nights, family asking, "why are you staring aimlessly into space at the dinner table", trying to erase that quote out of your mind, something about... Sitting on the porch If you can't run with the Big Dogs. But nothing is worse then when the kids say..".when daddy, when are you going to link the front end"?

 

[janderson4010]

well my alternator isn't alternating and I get horrible scary death wobble at about 50 mph. the alternator is taking a back seat while i figure out wtf is going on with my rig. the steering gets a little squirrely but the drivetrain shakes really bad, the stick was moving side to side 2" either way. I suspected my front driveshaft but I took it out and that wasn't the problem, so i put it back in and removed the rear, that wasn't it. so now im thinking something im my steering or in my actual suspension design. Im at a loss right now just trying to figure out what im doing wrong

 

[rookieshooter]

Read your PM. I took great pains to eliminate this when I designed my 4 link. There's just so many things to look into. Caster, condition of tires, all rod ends. Is the steering box bolted solid where you did the frame modification? How are the shocks. Not to mention trail angle. A steering damper is just a band aid fix.
I could make long list but the PM may help.

 

[rookieshooter]

I don't know what angle you have on your lower link but if it's not near level then when you hit a bump instead of lifting up nice and smoothly it will push hard into the frame and it will want to push the axle forward some before the link becomes parallel with the frame. Even if this is not causing the DW it does cause for a rough ride and plenty of force on the joints.
Also wondering about the angle of the top link in relation to the bottom link.
If you remember I even made a working model of a 4 link and played with the angles of the links until I thought I had it right.
How about the angles drag and panhard bar, near the same angle so they're not fighting each other when it cycles? Getting them at a shallow angle helps also in not pushing the frame sideways. All this may or may not add to DW but does make for a better ride also.
Now if the tie rode ends are worn and couple that with the above then it could lead to DW.
If it was just one magic bullet type fix there would not be pages upon pages on Off road sites dealing with this problem.
There's guys that have more experience then you and I combined and still there is not one cure written in stone. Sure one could say design flaw but that is a broad subject, trying to pin it down to one or more causes can tax the best brains.
My hunch that it's a combination of small things adding up that starts the oscillating and once it reaches that speed...hold on

 

[janderson4010]

I think it must be my steering, I knew going in that the steering set up that I was using wasn't the most ideal, and indeed i didn't give it very much thought in relation to the rest of the front suspension design, which was obviously a glaring oversight. With regards to the caster that I set I just put a level on the spring mounts and adjusted the top link until it was dead level. Ill check the specs for a Jeep tj in regards to caster but im sure im fairly close. the other thing and the main suspect is that the tre that is attached to the steering box is not the right taper, I have a washer in there now as a spacer to suck it up tight but im sure that it is causing a large portion of my problem, once again my steering set up is less than ideal, I guess far less than Ideal. I just didn't think that it would cause this dramatic of a problem. so its back to the drawing board, ill change some things around and see what kind of results I have. good news is apart from the problem with the alternator the engine is runing great.

 

[janderson4010]

passenger side ball joint was loose with no cotter pin in sight. Just glad it wasn't a design flaw, so easy to second guess yourself.

 

[broncobra22]

Whew!

So glad it was something basic! I had my fingers crossed that you wouldn't start moving everything around & making major changes without first checking the basics. You showed some good common sense in solving the problem and a great deal of honesty in sharing your concerns about your design with us. Now how 'bout getting that alternator on line & hot, so you can get back to the doubler project?

 

[janderson4010]

yeah im going to pull the alternator apart this afternoon to see what parts i need to replace to get it alternating again. Then yes its doubler time! gotta get my parts from my dads house and get the peices for the shaft shipped out.

 

[janderson4010]

got the alternator fixed, come to find out the wire that goes to a voltmeter needs 12v in, I didn't have it hooked up bk I don't have a voltmeter. now time to start putting the doubler together

 

[janderson4010]

went out and played in the woods at my dads house, the bronco started sputtering and running really rough. I think something was going on with the spark plugs or wires. Since the plugs are new im going to look at the wires next. my brothers pickup has an off the shelf 4" lift kit that uses blocks in the rear and drop brackets and longer coils in the front, therefore it does not flex at all. we are going to do a shackle flip to eliminate the blocks in the rear and use 63" chevy springs. in the front we are extending his radius arms and using the same joints I used on my 3 link, trailgear creeper joints. gotta have someone to compete with, of course in exchange for all the work im going to do for him he is hooking me up on a set of 33x12.50 goodyear wranglers that ill run until i get 2 more 35" baja claws. good to have a little bit taller tire with a more agressive tread pattern to play with until its time to get it back in the garage.

 

[rookieshooter]

B2 has come along way and all the work is showing.
Thought there was snow there?

 

[janderson4010]

It melted, we are in a heat wave, supposed to be 45 here today. It will snow a bunch of times in december but it doesnt stick until right around christmas. Its too bad it would be more fun out in the woods if there was some snow

 

[janderson4010]

went out on thanksgiving again, took my wife, came very very close to rolling too. all good fun. ive got my brothers pickup in my garage replacing pinion bearings and putting a mini spool in. after that I can get the bII back in the garage, I want to make some final caster adjustments, bk although it runs down the road ok it wanders. also need to move my coils around in the coil bucket, they are hitting the forward side of the bucket on compression, but I think there is enough adjustment to get them straight in there. I think my spring shackles in the back are frozen up, well in fact I know they are, I couldn't get them out with a breaker bar and cheater. So Im going to hose them down with pb blaster and go flex it out repeatedly, hopefully that breaks them loose and allows the back to keep up with the front a little bit more.

 

[rookieshooter]

So Im going to hose them down with pb blaster and go flex it out repeatedly...

I like your way of thinking on this one!

 

[janderson4010]

I like your way of thinking on this one!

I like the testing phase