I just started over on my tire fund, so it might be awhile. Hopefully Santa hooks me up this year!

 

The new pitman arm came in from Marlin , so I was able to get the steering finished up this weekend. Still need to align it though, and it looks like I may have some camber issues.


Also got the creeper joint shackle hangers burned in on the rear, but didn't think to take any pictures. My vato zone floor jack stacked with 2x4's just isn't cutting it anymore so I had to think outside the box.


I also got a start on the de-chroming process (that grill was killing me), and replaced the missing front signals with some from my parts truck.

 

Nice! That thing is quickly going from bad-scary to good-scary.

 

That thing is so flippin' sweet! I thought it looked pretty awesome before, but it looks 100x better now! What kind of tires are you thinking about getting?

 

great job, I like the welding job on the motor mounts and hoops..

 

Thanks for the comments guys! They're much appreciated!

For tires, I think that I've settled on 35x12.50 KM2's for price and drivability reasons, since it still has to be driven or flat towed to the trail. I ran the old BFG KM1's on my past couple of rigs and never had any complaints, aside from they lasted too long and I couldn't justify to the wife that I needed new tires.

 

I finally got the rear shocks mounted today and I'm pretty satisfied with how they turned out.
Homemade lower mount burned in with a slight downward angle.

My homebrewed adjustable upper mount.

All 1/4", so it doubles as a sturdy crossmember.

Here's the end result. I doubt that I'll be using the outer-most position, but it's nice to know its there.

 

cool, nice welding job.

 

I wasn't happy with shackle angle on the rears up front set-up. I overcompensated for the lazy shackle and instead ended up with an angle just shy of 90* with the springs flat. Options were to cut off and re-weld the front hanger (I'm not doing that again) or run longer springs. I decided to replace the 47" rears with 51" rears from a 3rd gen pickup.

Here's the old shackle angle.


The donor vehicle.


Length comparison. The 47's, donated by 3linked84, were mixed in with the 51's to build the pack.


New shackle angle, 46* with 7" shackles. The longer springs move the axle back 1 9/16" so I'll have to make some axle relocating plates to get it back to 3" forward, since that's what the steering and driveshaft are set up for.

 

Was Santa able to get the KM2's down the chimney?

 

Awesome job, really great welding, it looks amazing, love the shocks too :}

 

Nope, no such luck! I even asked Santa for your truck, he left me hanging on that one too.

Thanks, I really appreciate that!

 

Ten days since the last update, this thing is moving way too slow!
Anyway, got the steering gearbox resealed last weekend. Its not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Took me a couple hours to do, mainly because I was meticulously cleaning as I went.

Here is my lovely assistant holding the freshly resealed and painted steering box.


Back in it's home.


I got the front shackles rounded off to prevent snagging and trimmed the body mount so that they can run through their entire range of motion.


Had to add another leaf to the F150 packs on back to level the rear out with the new 51" fronts. The rear shackle angle was already too vertical for my liking and adding an extra leaf pushed them to near 90*. I ended up cutting the creeper joints off and pushing them forward about another 3" and making new shackles. Now they sit at 65* with the truck empty, should be close to 45* with a full combat load.


Also chased down an electrical gremlin that turned out to be a worn out ignition switch. I wired in a new push button switch for the starter to save some wear and tear on the new ignition switch and it's wiring.

 

That adjustable upper shock mount is bad ass! really dig that.

 

Thank you!

 

Wow your helper is alot stronger than mine! Haha. Looks like you are getting alot of little things buttoned up.

 

Yeah, I keep her around for opening jars and lifting heavy things.

Last weekend really got me motivated again! My goal is to start breaking in the gears by next weekend.

 

Sweet! So we are gonna start break in the body panels the weekend after that right? Firehole?

 

Hahahaha!!! I wish man! Still waiting on tires, the wife keeps blowing all the money on bills. Gonna need sliders before I attempt the Firehole, not that I mind dents, I just prefer doors that can open! (ahem...Travis)

 

If you want, you buy the steel and I'm sure the boss mind you cruising out to do some bending. Maybe Connor can come with and he and Brandon can catch up.... It's up to you...hell, we can even weld em up right there and then mount em. Should be a full days work with two or three men. Sound like a plan?

-Ted