I disagree. I'm running the TC idler now, and that does not allow the centerlink to twist. Still toased a TRE and a centerlink.

 

Thanks! Painting today, should have some pics up later on.

 

So, bummer thing about having a house now is that sometimes I get wrapped up in house projects and the truck sits for a while. But, this weekend, I got some time, and Baby Beast is driving again! Though, in desperate need of an alignment.

Couple pics:

Painting:

I trimmed down some of the gussets because there was going to be clearance issues. Also, a little lighter this way LOL





I then spent some time taking off the nuts on both the idler and steering box, and put on loctite, and torqued them to 70 ft lbs. Hopefully that is good. But I'll be checking them from time to time.

Then, it was assembly time.

HUGE thanks to Ben and Christo at Slee for running taps down my threaded inserts. They are a good product (the inserts), but I do not think the sets for the 80 rod ends are very practical. They warp too easily.

Anyway, all assembled:










Much beefier. These shouldn't bend (I hope)



And, the truck. I gave the T-bar's a couple of turns to level things out just a bit. WAY out of alignment now.

 

Wow Isaac. Looks Bad Ass! Tippy and I are doing Holy Cross Friday.... She'd love the company of a certain Baby Beast

 

Sorry man, but no can do. Gotta get an alignment first, and Brian only has Friday open. Also, I need to finish a bunch of other stuff on my brother's bumper and my old man's locker.

Cheers!

 

pretty cool. Love checking in on this thing every now and than....probably one of the most capable IFS rigs out there

 

Thanks man..

Yeah, its pretty good. With the manual hubs and the ARB, I have been able to keep the front end together really well.

The steering was really the last issue. If the rest of the front lets go, it'll just be swapping parts until it gets swapped.

 

That's the way that's done!

It looks well over-engineered to me.

I'm gonna rig up something like that eventually. I'm happy with my gusseted idler and brz bushings for now though. I've replaced the rod end on it with a sleeve for a 5/8 grd 5 bolt like the TC. It hasn't bent on me yet.

I've never had issues with the stock TRE's bending, but I have bent the center link real good once. Oxy/Acet torch and an 8lb. hammer took care of that quick like. It'd be alot better not to have to though.

Edit:

I've busted the PS gearbox upper mount from the frame once too. Looks like you thought about that maybe happening at some point. So good call on those beefed-up frame mounts/brackets on both the idler and the gearbox. Now that's thinkin' ahead!

 

Yeah, I took out both the center link and the tie rod end. Didn't see the center link until I pulled all of this off. Bent quite a bit, I was surprised! I'm hoping everything will hold up well.

So far I love it. But, I've driven around the block all of three times to adjust the torsion bars, so, yeah, not a lot of experience yet. I'm hoping to start hitting the trails hard here in a week or two.

 

Nice!!!! A real sleeper on the trail, no doubt.

Just a question of curiosity, why don't you have a skid plate that meets all the way down to the IFS crossmember? Or, have you just not put it on, yet?

 

Yeah, I have a MUCH abused 3/16" reinforced skid plate that goes from the bumper to just past my Sonoran Steel second IFS xmember at the back which fully protects my front diff.

I'm just leaving it off until it gets aligned.

Here's a shot from a few pages back that shows it in place:

 

Ah, there it is. Swanky!

Thanks, Isaac.

 

Try a do it yourself alignment, I've had good results with the stringing method.

 

Yeah, I have tried that too, but for whatever reason, cannot get it to work right, and always end up wearing out tires WAY too fast.

 

Good job on the beefy steering Ike - any thoughts on gusseting the steering arms?

That's an old welding trick - preheat thick metal for better penetration. This also works well if the machine you're using isn't big enough for the metal you want to weld.

 

How'd the alignment go BTW? Was Brian able to get it dialed in?

 

I was just in Boulder yesterday, great town

 

Thanks man. No thoughts on gusseting those yet. I'm still working on getting the alignment dialed in.


Sorta. He got the camber and toe dead on, and caster is out a bit, which is what I asked for. However, the camber needs to come down a bit more, and the caster needs a bit of work.

At high speed (60-70) its VERY responsive. Almost too responsive. I was constantly over steering and having to correct. This is not helped by the roll oversteer built into my rear suspension, but thats okay.

Its not bad, but, if possible, I'd like to dial it a bit more.

However, I'm going to rebuild my steering box first. Its got a little play, which bugs me.

 

Dude, that set up turned out awesome! I should probably do something similar to mine...but I'm too lazy Are you having trouble aligning it because the new set up or just cause it's being a pain in the ass?

 

Thanks man!

I dunno on the alignment. I did a bunch of research on Ackerman angles, and decided that I wouldn't be changing too much by doing this. Most of the Ackerman angle is dependent on the steering arms, but on IFS, some of the road manners have effects from the center link/tie rods.

The other issue is ball joint spacers and a beat sub frame. I've pounded this suspension, and its starting to show a bit.

Essentially, my concern is for the tires. I am willing to deal with some quirky road manners to get strength and tire longevity.

However, if its possible to tune out the quirks, I'd love to do that.

Right now, the truck tracks great straight down the road. Its only at high speed that I start to notice a bit of a strong over steer on curves on the highway. Especially left hand curves.

FWIW, I was out camping with buddies this weekend, and got way back on some 4wd roads, that aren't specifically destination trails. I ended up having to engage both lockers in some muddy, steep, rocks in order to turn around. I was fully weight transferred onto the front (rear end was WAY up in the air) on rocks turning into the locker, while the PS box was howling at me, and when I got back to the highway, the alignment was still dead on. It was a good first test, and it passed with flying colors.