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

[janderson4010]

drove the bII over to the shop yesterday, my buddy was putting a new set of axles in his dd gmc jimmy. walked out into my driveway and noticed the tire on my dd was flat so I just hopped in the bII. drove great except for a vibration that I put down to driveshafts since I had shortened the rear and lengthened the front myself. well I got there and instead of working we decided to play with the bII so I drove it up on to hortons tire, yes it will sit on top of a 42" tire with 31's on it, thats how flexy it actually is, I did lift the rear tire though in the attempt. well he wanted to drive it so we took off down the road, when he got on it the vibrations from the rear got pretty bad and we heard a thunking noise from the tcase. got it back to the shop and found that the output flange was loose on the shaft. pulled the driveshaft out and tightened the nut down, haven't driven it yet, I hope that fixes the problem, but if not I have the rear half of my other tcase and they use the same bearing etc. im hoping to get some used 33's this weekend and go out and play a little more, keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[janderson4010]

my rear driveshaft is a pile of junk. good news is I re started on the plate for the doubler last night, once I get the doubler in I have a double cardan drive shaft that will go in, then ill have a good balanced driveshaft in the back.

I marked out the center of the hole that I need to cut in the plate. I can't decide if I need to cut it out with a torch or go get a 5" hole saw. on the article I read about building a 1354 doubler the guy used a hand drill and hole saw to cut the hole in his plate, I may have to do that myself as im not the best with a cutting torch, it always looks really crappy when im done, and the hole saw will be a clean hole. here is the link to the article for all you lookin to do a doubler in an rbv http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/spring07/BW1350_1354_doubler.htm

still need to get the shaft shipped out and have it built for me, im very fortunate to have a friend that will be able to do it and understand the stresses involved, he has done some research and sounded pretty confident that when he was done the shaft would be pretty strong. if this doesn't work ill have to contact dd machine and see if he still makes the kit at 500$, obviously ill try to avoid that as best I can

 

[rookieshooter]

would be pretty strong.

No no no, get it Coyote Ugly strong!

I don't think DD still makes those kits. Like I read on another site, there's been so many guys that have come and gone on those kits.
But one thing is for sure, your truck is begging for a gear reduction box of some kind.
Make sure after installing it that your brakes are in good order, not that it won't override them anyway.
On mine I really need to modify the shifter so when I have the C4 shifter in low which on my C4 it stays in low and won't shift up and the Atlas in low that I can quickly shift into neutral which quickly brings it to a stop. Not that I have that low a gear in the axles but eventually I will.
May have to go to a different shifter if I can't do this one.

 

[janderson4010]

no I don't think duffy makes them anymore, too bad his work is top notch, thats where Eric got the kit for his 203-205 doubler in horton. if you read his threads on other sites you can see where he would get fed up with the 1354 set, seems everyone and their dog like to nitpick the crap out of him. there is no doubt in my mind that a dd machine shaft would be stronger than a 2 peice shaft but so long as you only run it as a reduction for low range, ie don't run the range box in low w the tcase in high they are supposed to last a long time.

its kind of a bummer bk ill get the gear reduction i need but ill miss out on some of the cool things about a doubler, for example you can't twin stick a 1354 so I won't have 2wd double low or front wheel drive double low, and bk of the shaft I won't even have 2wd low. but it keeps me from really having to regear my axles at a very low cost. all I have in this doubler is the plate and shipping on the shaft so about 70$, the plate was 48 and shipping there and back was 20$. Ill need to get a 5" hole saw which isn't going to be cheap and then hardware. I think if I do break the 2 peice shaft I may see what a machine shop here in town wants for a new machined shaft built to spec, ill bet thats expensive.
on kind of a funny note when my wife was shipping it out the guy at the post office helping her recognized the parts as peices of a transfer case and asked what I was building, of course she had no idea but it was cool that he recognized what they were. still got to get bigfoots little brother out of my garage, we got my brothers spool installed and we are setting up the pinion preload and installing new carrier bearings tonight, depending how long that takes we may bring the 3rd back and start reinstalling it. gotta get that thing out and my rig back in the garage.

 

[janderson4010]

No no no, get it Coyote Ugly strong!

should be strong enough to not have to chew my own arm off hahaha

 

[janderson4010]

ran out to the parents on sunday, had to grab some snow tires for the wifes car I had stashed out there so I took the bII for a pleasure cruise, easier and more fun than starting my pickup and driving it. I did finally get my brothers junk back together and got the bII back in the garage to address the problems ive come up with so far. The main one was the driver side spring was rubbing on the front of the coil bucket. I ended up taking the retainer out and grinding one side off so I could move the coil back, then its just a matter of lowering weight back on the spring and tightening the retainer back up.

I don't think ill do much wheeling in the coming weeks, winter has set in full force here, it was -5 when i took my kid to school this morning, and I don't see it warming up much any time soon, so I guess im going to be back in the garage turning wrenches.

 

[blazinzuk]

We get any more snow and we are going wheeling every weekend!!!!!!

 

[janderson4010]

yeah well your only allowed to get in the bII if your fingers and toes actually fall off in that chebby buggy of yours.

I started taking the tires off the explorer rims i have with the intention of mounting my 2 baja claws so I can mount them on the rig and trim the fenders accordingly. good news is I had a helper out in the garage,

that kid will mess around out there for hours at a time, its literally his favorite place in the house. neither of my other 2 kids showed that much interest in beign out in the garage that much, hopefully he will build cool things for his dad later in life.

 

[broncobra22]

Fine looking boy & I know he makes you proud!

 

[rookieshooter]

Fine looking boy & I know he makes you proud!

x2

 

[blazinzuk]

yeah well your only allowed to get in the bII if your fingers and toes actually fall off in that chebby buggy of yours.

How about every time you get stuck I get to sit in your little thing a ma jig and you can drive Horton.

I should stay plenty warm

 

[broncobra22]

X2

USPS did good....X2 is 'mo bettah even yet! Bowtie buddy raginya hard! lol Still I'd like to try wheelin that Horton in the rock...being a flatlander I'd probably put it downside up, still be fun, especially on another guys nickle.

 

[janderson4010]

well come out and ill just go steal horton, you can hop behind the wheel and Eric need never know about it. Honestly he would prob be more mad he didn't get invited wheelin hahaha. just don't let him spot you in it he has this weird desire to see horton sitting on its lid. hes tried to kill me about 1000 times while i was driving it, but ill tell you what that rig is not easy to roll, we have tried many times and it hasn't happened yet lol.

I challenged him and horton to a rti ramp contest, we need to find a 30 deg ramp and settle that, my front will kill his but my rear springs aren't flexing up to standard, i think my shackles are still frozen up. I think i might be seeing 63 chebby springs in my future.

 

[broncobra22]

Raceranger

Yeah that sounds like a trip, but on improving the rear flex check out racerangers TRS thread, it's a long one, but he has a really nice 63" chevy flip shackle setup on his dune jumper Ranger. It's slick...also TRS tech section on suspensions has an article that goes into depth, sort of, and racerangers setup is shown as an example, with some good photos...flip is not for everyone but it's explained as an option. Good range of motion is possible with the correct leaf spring and shock setup.

 

[janderson4010]

got the 33 goodyear mtr's mounted on the BII today, it was a long day of breaking down tires the old fashioned way, I think the change is pretty good but I reaaaaaally need to trim the front fenders more. prob need to go flex it out and see if any trimming is necessary in the back as well. I may wait until I have a sterling or a 14 bolt in the rear to switch over to chevy springs. I have a feeling I can get the back springs flexing ok if I just work them in a bit more. anyway here are the pics of the bII with a little more aggressive tire on it,

 

[rookieshooter]

Now go climb those lava rocks and leave the white knuckle grip home, well almost ha ha.

Yellow star is COG with roof.


White, no roof.

Bottom line...Once that spot swings outside your tire patch on off camber angles then it's belly up. Easier to imagine if viewed from the rear and that small COG spot that does exist has a pendulum hanging from it somewhere near the upper bellhousing or even above it. Once that string swings past the tire patch...Whoops
I know I'm probably preaching to the choir.

Trucks looking Good

 

[broncobra22]

COG/ unsprug wt.

Good post, Jon....been lookin' at those stars for the last 15 min., don't know if I was in a trance or had a stroke, whatever...most of us know but don't actually visualize what center of gravity entails and though we just joked about tipping your buddies bowtie truggie, it's potentially fatal and expensive!

Rookie has constantly posted his COG goals & progressive improvements to attain a 'mo bettah point of stability & I applaud this because for years the taller is better crowd just got dumb & dumber. As height increases balance has to be maintained by controling mass center.

Whether you crawl rock or blast sand it's important...hitting whoops 1 to 3 foot deep, greatly exagerated washboard undulations closly spaced, kinda like mogul fields for you ski guys, at 70 +mph will change your spatial perspective just as surely as tipping off a huge slick rock at crawl. Gravity is still a theory but it always works when wheeling!

My goal has been to keep overall weight down (around 3,000 lbs.), COG no higher than top of my tire height and unsprung weight as low as possible (relatively small tires 33x11.5, aluminum wheels, 8.8" axle) I mounted my engine as low and as far back as possible, as I rework the suspension I'm keeping my COG and unsprung wt. goals in mind and feel they are just as important as spring wts. and shock valving/travel etc. If it doesn't all work together then it just don't work period!

 

[janderson4010]

yeah the top has got to go, im going to buy some steel for boatsides coming up in the next few weeks, this will give me a mounting place for the cage that im building, once those are in plave ive got to cut the top off to accomodate my cage design. ill probably leave the top intact until around late feb or march and then work my butt off to get that stuff in place to have it finished by rock crawling season. I do want to have the full top for snow wheeling this year. I had never realized how much difference taking the top off will lower my cog, I guess if I think about it thats a lot of weight back there, ill be glad to be rid of it.

Rick C is also right about the more lift is better crowd, I just don't know wth all thats about, I guess im a function over form kind of guy, part of the reason I chose a bII. It always blows people away when I tell them im shooting for 3" of overall lift, when I go tons and 42's ill prob have to go to 5 or 6, but still pretty low. Heck Horton is only lifted about 4" from a stock chevy, that blows peoples minds when I tell them that.

 

[blazinzuk]

when I go tons and 42's ill prob have to go to 5 or 6, but still pretty low. Heck Horton is only lifted about 4" from a stock chevy, that blows peoples minds when I tell them that.

Not if we don't have too, but we probably will have to go a couple more inches.

If I measure Horton off a stock truck its actually 3" of lift ( without tires of course). The more I wheel it the less lift it has, man I hate leaf springs

BTW if any of you fellars wanna come out to Idaho and wheel with us. You can in fact drive my rig for a bit.

And I don't try to kill Jon at all just kind of want to see what the tipping point is. I do that when I am driving too.

Jons BII looks as good in person as in those pics. Its going to be a great wheeler

 

[janderson4010]

vid, click on it

had to go out and test the BII with the 33's on it. plus we got my little brothers pickup back together so we had to go see how it did with the rear spool in, lot of fun we werent out for that long. the slough we were driving on the ice in doesn't have any water in it, it just has a layer of ice 2" or so thick on it, that is completely solid, I actually didn't want to drive on it at first but we walked out on it and realized there wasn't any danger of falling through. I really need to trim up the fenders, Ill probably have to get that done before I go out again, the passenger fender is actually tweaked from the tire hitting it.