Truckhaven, Jan 14/15/16 2005 Sign Up

[RangerX]

It was 14 trees!

We can do better this year.

 

[DB_1]

I'll do what I can, i'll be haulin parts down for Bill so that cuts down on the incindiary matter I can carry

 

[brianness]

While I'd rather wheel with you guys, will be at Truckhaven at the same time with CORVA (pro-offroad lobby organization). Stop by and say hi to Ed Waldheim, the org's leader. Man that giant bonfire sounds fun!

 

[BKennedy]

Why stop at 4-5? We had what, 11 trees last year, and boy, did it light up the area!

I meant for each Explorer or whatever you are driving. So that means a s%$t load of trees for the ultimate pyro adventure.

Dropping off the Explorer at my buddy's house on Monday. He is going to put hiem joints on the radius arms and do some rear bumper work. I am getting tired of replacing those radius arm bushings every other trip. Ordered a winch yesterday and the front winch bumper on Monday. The bumper should be in just in time to modify the mounts for the Explorer. Its made for a J#$p XJ, which is the right width, but the mounts are totally different. It sure is great having a friend with a tube bender, plasma cutter and mig welder, and the knowledge to use them.

 

[DB_1]

Oh sure, go and copy my heimed rad. arms huh Brian...lol j/k

I just got back from my friends in Victorville and went the back way through johnson valley and the views of the mtns were awesome. There's a ton of snow up on Big Bear right now. Made me wish I had driven my Ranger so I could go play in it.

I got my neighbors tree to burn so chalk up another one

 

[BKennedy]

Hey, DaVe!

What sized heims are you using? We are thinking of going with the 1-1/4" so I never have to worry about them failing. Baja Concepts in Fallbrook has them with a weld-in chromolly sleeve and the cone shaped washers (jam washers?). All we need to do on my old style Superlift arms is cut them off where the 1-3/4" tubing will slide into the ends, them weld them in, and make new mounts. My buddy figures it will take three or four hours. If he does it right, I won't even have to have it aligned afterwords.

I cut off the chrome pieces behind the rear tires on the Explorer and am having the bumper extended with 1" DOM tubing to take their place. We are using tubing to make a "frame" that matches the old body pieces, then filling it in with plate for strength and looks. Also cutting off the gas cans on my rear bumper cause I keep hitting them on the ground on drop off's. Am putting one can back on sideways, ala Jefe the Great's bumper setup.

 

[DB_1]

I'd go with what you have planned, that will be pretty stout. 3/4" heims were the biggest I could go...the DOM i used had to be 7/8" ID to sleeve over my radius arms and the largest OD I could find that had the ID i needed was
1 3/8", hope all that made sense If you can fit the larger Heims then go for it

 

[BKennedy]

Thanks Dave.

 

[DB_1]

No prob Brian,
One thing to consider also is that the bigger the heim you use the less degree of misalignment you will have (rotational twist) That is because the size of the through bolt gets in the way. My 3/4" heims are something around 14 degrees and I imagine those 1 1/4" heims would be a bit less. Johnny joints and RE joints have something like 22 degrees if not more.

 

[BKennedy]

Doesn't the size of the through bolt only get larger with the larger heims so it doesn't effect the rotational twist? It should twist the same as a smaller heim, unless I am totally off on this. I really don't know much about this stuff, I just listen when people tell me what works. I spoke with my friend Jason (shop foreman at my friend Marc's off-road shop), who used to own an Explorer until he went to the dark side and bought a J#$p. He says that heims are the way to go with radius arms because it allows so much more movement. It also makes it easier to go with coil-overs later cause that part is already finished. I got the same information from the fabricator, Brian. I should get a few more inches of down travel out of this as well. Can't get anymore up travel cause of clearance and binding (my u-joints bind and the right side I-beam mount rubs on the diff housing) issues.

Maybe I will just go with the 1" heims instead. They use a smaller ID weld in sleeve (1-1/2 instead of 1-3/4). It might be easier all the way around. On second thought, I will just drop it off at my friends house and let him figure it out. He built his front suspension from scratch for his 2wd Toyota pickup and its awsome. He used heims on all the A arms and steering arms, then tore it all out and made J arms for it cause he liked the geometry better. He flipped it end over end last month and the only thing damaged was a bent steering arm, which he fixed back at camp. The only thing left stock on his truck is the frame and the cab, minus the roof. This 18 yr old kid is really talented. He lives in Vista, which is in north San Diego county and charges $25.00 per hour if anyone is interested. He only charges for the time he works on the trucks, not for the time he spends figuring out how to do the work.

 

[Gopher]

From what i've seen, most of the ranger/explorers in their radius arms use a 1 1/4" heim when aftermarket stuff is used.

 

[BKennedy]

Yeah, the best bet is for me to just drop it off and then pick it up when its done, with you thoughts in my head but Truckhaven in two weeks. I will just tell him to put in what he thinks is best. He usually goes one size bigger than what he thinks he will need, so my guess is I will end up with the 1-1/4" bad boys. I will find out later today or early tomorrow.

 

[DB_1]

They have misalignment washers that are tapered and you use those get the most flex out of the heim joint...you have to use them anyways so the heims can move freely. Then there are high-misalignment washers that size down the bolt to give you even a little more flex out of it. For instance, I have 3/4" heims and I can use a high-misalignment washer which would require me to use a 1/2" bolt but give me a little more movement. So the size of the through bolt limits the movement in a heim...smaller bolt, more movement. In your case Brian, I think you'll be fine with any of the heims you mentioned.

 

[Felix]

I got two trees for the camp fire. Just waiting on my shocks to get here and the SAS will be complete. Took it for a test drive last night and all works well just need those shocks to be able to drive over 30mph.

 

[BKennedy]

Thanks Dave. I just got off the phone with Brian and he said the same thing. He wants to go with the 1-1/4" so he won't have to worry about me bringing it back broken. He just finished doing a 4 link on a Ranger and used the same heims on that. My new front bumper should be in by Thursday so everything should be finished by the the end of the weekend. Nothing like a little extra to worry about right before a trip.

Mark, thats great that you are coming out and you will actually have 4wd this time! Are you bringing your Wife? Maybe some of your fellow Devil Dogs? Those crazy Marines are really fun to watch when they go wheelin'.

 

[tdavis]

Weather forecast for the next 10 days - Rain, and Rain around here.. Hopefully dries out some by then!

Also read 2ft of snow in Tejon Pass, closing down I5 yesterday and partly today.

 

[BKennedy]

Seven day forcast for Borrego shows clouds but no rain after Tuesday.

Weather Forecast

 

[Jefe]

Also read 2ft of snow in Tejon Pass, closing down I5 yesterday and partly today.

There was snow all the way down to Castaic last night. And then driving home tonight it was pounding us with rain and then hail, and then snow. Makes for some nasty traffic coming out of LA.

 

[Stic-o]

Weather channel right now says The 12th (weds) PC in the Day and Showers next wendsday night with a low of 37*

Maybe it will just snow

 

[BKennedy]

I would rather it rain than have a wind storm. I mean, when its raining, we can just go wheel. We can have the potluck under my trailer's little awning. I will bring out a big tarp we can string from my awning to my Explorer's roof rack to give us plenty of room.

Christmas trees burn fine in the rain.