The Black Hole

[gmanpaint]

:bsnicker:

Dont get that Gizmo wet... NO, wait soak him down, he will Multiply and I can get my own Black Hole with Nice Cans! But I will name him Mogwai...

 

[CDW6212R]

Mogwai, hey that will fit on a license plate. Interesting.

 

[lynchy wa]

Hahahahaha, so will GREMlLIN but I wouldn't want to invite them!

 

[gmanpaint]

Newest Mod to the rig.

After installing the F-150 leaf packs and having 7 leafs in each, they are a lot taller and the stock U-bolts were just to short for my liking. I wanted some BEEF to replace them. After looking around the interweb thingy, I got an idea of the costs of larger U-bolts. I then called the guy that I talked to about the leaf packs, and he told me to come by and he would take care of me.

Glad I listened to him He made me a custom set of grade 8 U-bolts to my specs for the rig. 5/8" x 3.5" x 8" plus 24mm grade 8 deep nuts and double thick washers for less than anything I found on the webs.

Alright so today was the day to tackle this simple bolt on Mod...(so I thought )

The 1/4" skids I have (made by boogerwelds) have always been one of the coolest things on this rig to me, up until today These made this mod a royal PITA! You have to drill out the plates for the bigger U-bolts, no biggie right? Nope, major biggie. The skids have large holes to get an 18 mm deepwell socket in, I needed holes large enough to accommodate a 24mm socket. Let me tell you, this wasn't an easy thing to enlarge 1/4" plate with 1-3/8" already in them. A 1" drill bit was the largest I owned, and I needed a 1.5" deming bit for the drill press. ACK! Look some up online for pricing...wow!

Anyways, I got the guy who helped me with the bumper fab work to pitch in a hand and save the day. He used a BURR bit with a 13 HP gas powered compressor to power a die grinder and enlarged the holes in no time. Woot!

After fighting the axle and having to run down a thin wall 24mm deepwell socket, I got it installed.

Here is the old stock U-bolt, the new HD U-bolt, the plates with the enlarged holes and a 24mm socket to show why the hole has to be so big on these things.

Installed and ready to tear stuff up.

For any of you that want to upgrade to a 5/8" U-bolt set up, remember when you drill out the larger holes to also go to the outside another 3/8" to accommodate the larger bolt thickness. Otherwise they won't fit. The width of the leafs (2.5") and the stock hole centers are made so the stock bolts are snug to the sides of the leafs.

 

[lynchy wa]

Holy s*** mate!!! Awesome. How long 'til you go SOA???

 

[gmanpaint]

Holy s*** mate!!! Awesome. How long 'til you go SOA???

When the SAS is done silly.

 

[lynchy wa]

.

 

[gmanpaint]

The rig got a little mud on it this weekend. The front locker was a nice addition to it. The 35's might be just a tad too much for the 4.56 gears tho. I was stuffing them meats pretty easy and rubbing the fender flares everywhere on the trails.

Had a brake mishap again. The pedal liked to lose pressure intermittently and drop to the floor when it felt like it, mostly at the worst possible time. Going to have to bleed the entire system with new fluids again. Might be that reman master cylinder has gone bad...IDK.

Even though there is around 30" of rear shock extension, I managed to limit the axle with them. Time for some limit straps asap.

Stuffed that puppy in there.

 

[lynchy wa]

Great photo mate and at least the limiter's are a cheap piece of kit.

 

[gmanpaint]

Great photo mate and at least the limiter's are a cheap piece of kit.

Yes sir, they are cheaper than new shocks, thats for sure. I think that is the most front to back opposite flex & stuff this rig has ever seen.

 

[Foxracin]

The 35's might be just a tad too much for the 4.56 gears tho.

One word. Doubler. You will wonder why you didnt do it sooner when you do do it.

 

[gmanpaint]

Getting the doubler does seem like the best option for this rig. Cheaper than an atlas, will save my clutch, and not have to re-gear. Taking on such an endeavor is scary to me as it is completely unknown territory. Getting the shaft/plate made, doing the linkage, how much shorter the drive shafts need to be, and what to cut off the extra case is the parts I will have to learn about. Things unknown, like does the gas tank have to modified for it? Do I have to lose the full console for the shifters?

I have found that just reading how to do mods is not the same as actually doing them. I will always learn/retain more by doing, than imagining doing it. I would definitely need help from someone that has actually built and installed a doubler to take on such a Mod.

 

[Elessar65]

Getting the doubler does seem like the best option for this rig. Cheaper than an atlas, will save my clutch, and not have to re-gear. Taking on such an endeavor is scary to me as it is completely unknown territory. Getting the shaft/plate made, doing the linkage, how much shorter the drive shafts need to be, and what to cut off the extra case is the parts I will have to learn about. Things unknown, like does the gas tank have to modified for it? Do I have to lose the full console for the shifters?

I have found that just reading how to do mods is not the same as actually doing them. I will always learn/retain more by doing, than imagining doing it. I would definitely need help from someone that has actually built and installed a doubler to take on such a Mod.

The first step is to figure out what you want to use as a doubler. Bolt pattern and ease of building/mounting should be the first priority. What pattern does your 1354 have? Is it the same or different than the usual Ford 6 bolt circular pattern? Its probably different, cause I think??? only fullsize trucks have the 6 bolt circular. So if you go with a fullsize case half to use as a doubler, you will need another adapter to mate it to your trans.

If you use a 203 you will have a 4 speed doubler, (doubler gear/case gear) low/low, low/high, high/low, and high/high, because a 203 is 2:1, and the 1354 is 2.6?:1.

If you use another case with the same ratio you will only have 3 speeds, because with 1 in high and the other in low is the same no matter which is in low.

Don't worry about your new driveshafts until you get it all built and installed. Measuring for, and getting new shafts built is pretty easy. That being said, don't forget completely about them. Just use a broomstick or something as mock up, to make sure you have clearance and aren't hitting something, for shafts before you get it all in.

As far as shifters, you can get cable shifters for a couple hundred bucks. Then you can put them anywhere, and won't have to lose your console.

Stazworks is where I am getting my stuff. $600 for the adapter and a new billet shaft. D.D. Machine, Behemoth, N.W. Fab, O.R.D., there are a bunch of people out there making adapters and shafts and shifters.

If you decide to go with an atlas, I personally would just spend the money on a Klune V or N.W. BlackBox. Then you have 4 speeds, whereas with an atlas you have high, and super low. With an underdrive setup or doubler you have high, low, lower, lowest. Just more versatile...

 

[gmanpaint]

Thanks for the post Jason

Was thinking of using the 1350 for the other half. 5 bolt pattern.

The drive shafts would be made after the fact and balanced at a driveline shop here for $100/pc.

The cables sound nice, but a little steep in price to me.

I might be able to get the plate made here for cheap, and I heard the shaft can be had for around $150 for the 1354/1350 combo. This is all hear say tho from talking to others.

All I'm after is a higher crawl ratio in low range, and nothing more.

 

[gmanpaint]

Thanks to Techiman33 for taking a couple vids at the park over the weekend. These were posted in the Smorr thread, but thought to share them here as well.



You can hear the "AWE" from the crowd and being called a "Rookie" for killing the engine in the 2nd vid.....lol!! I'm still learning to wheel with a manual as you can tell.

 

[Glen4X4]

Looks like it did well Gregg.

 

[Elessar65]

Thanks for the post Jason

N/P man, I got nothing but time on my hands til summer classes start in a few weeks. I'm bored to death and trolling the boards all day, lol.

I think there is a write up on RROC about a 1350/54 doubler. Check Pirate too, there is a TON of information there, way more than here about hardcore stuff like this. Just don't ask dumb questions there, its not pretty, lol.

Getting the plate machined locally will definitely save you some $, it just has to be designed properly. I would take your case and the doubler to the shop to get it made. Have them drill/machine it so that the cases are clockable. That way you have some flexibility as far as interference from stuff with both the cases and the shift linkage.

The linkage might be a little more complicated for the 13 series BW cases, and I don't think you can get a cable shifter for them anyways, just because the shift pattern isn't a straight line like a transmission, or 203/205. Its easy for me cause the 2 shift rails go straight in and out to change gears. I am going to use a modified E-brake lever and cable for the doubler.

 

[gmanpaint]

Umm, yeah, Ive been a member over on Pirate for a long time now, I know how they can get. :shifty_ey
There are a couple threads on EF about them too. Foxracin has a wicked shifter set up on his, so I know at least 1 person here that has it working...lol

 

[Foxracin]

Works great to and the shifter setup only costed around 50 bucks all said and done and the shift knobs was like $30 of that. lol

I would the the D.D. Machine doubler like mine. Its right and it works. Plain and simple. Takes all the guess work out of it and has a nice chromo heat treated shaft.

You could do the shifter like mine just bend the handle more and get it around your console so you can keep it.

Only doubler you can put behind a 4.0 trans is 1350 combo.

Anymore specific questions about doublers just ask.

 

[gmanpaint]

Anymore specific questions about doublers just ask.

Thanks! I'm pretty sure you can count on that.