wow i like that nice and low sas, looks good man

 

That looks SWWEEEETTT!!! I have that same Ruler!! the yellow one. I may be coming up the hill saturday to get the high steer arms from dbcfr, if you home maybe i can pick up the hanger while i am there.. I will give ya a call friday after i talk to dbcfr. your rig is lookin nice!! you got skill!!

 

My hanger is at Dbcfr's shop. I should be around though. It would be good to see you, in any case.

 

Damn you've got a ton done!!! Good Going man!!!

 

flex her out!!!! haha

 

I found a few pics that my wife took a few weeks ago. These might be the last evidence of IFS on the truck. They are really an excuse to show off my co-driver.

 

My wife just looked over my shoulder and said she loves your co-pilot. As for me I love your runner ahaha.

 

she is a cutie..

 

I finally flexed it out on some pavement near Datsayota's shop. There is more flex in it, but this was a start. It was raining so hard, I would have rather been driving an ark, so I didn't take many pics or any measurements.




The highlight for me was the distance between the drag link and the tie rod. It turns out that my measurements were true after all. The RUF's work to push the axle back enough under compression, that I am fairly certain that the drag link and tie rod will never touch.



That is with the springs flat. I didn't bind on anything, and I had just a little shock left on the compression side. I will probably set my bump stops to this point. I will have to do this again when we aren't in the middle of a typhoon, and actually measure everything. The flex pics are at the point where the compressed springs front and rear and just about flat. I'm pretty happy considering I haven't even started messing with spring packs.

MC

 

That's what iam talking about! looks great. It has been coming down almost all day i wish the sun would come out and play again. I Think i missed it somewhere, but what shocks are you running?

 

Bilstein 5125s. 14"ers in front. 12"ers will go in the back. Right now I have a pair of 9" Pro Comp MX6s on the rear. They belong to Dbcfr, but I am using them until we have time to rebuild the rear shock mounting setup to fit my 12s.

I need to build my front drive shaft. Driving around in 2wd in the snow is not something I'm fond of. The Aussie got me home tonight without any trouble but if I'd had 4wd, I could have towed a friend's BMW to his house as well.

 

Got my square drive shaft done today. I'm back in operational 3wd (Aussie rear, open front). No noticeable vibrations up to 60 mph on pavement. We used the "cut and twist" method of taking up slack. It feels solid, and doesn't rattle at all, but it is still full of grease. Time will tell the tale. The worst case scenario involves me reducing it to a trail spare and having a proper driveline built. This will certainly work until I can get my crawler purchased and second case built.

No pics. I was too busy working. It's late. I'm going to bed.

 

Glad to hear you gott he done!! It was good talkin with you guys yesterday. Thanks for the deal on the hanger. I need to get back to work on my axle. Your rig is lookin good. wish i had the funds to get mine done before the season starts. Ohh well just have the winch ready LOL!!

 

I forgot to take pics of the drive shaft, but here is one of the truck sitting on almost level pavement. I still need to take final measurements, but the weather lately has been a little wet / miserable, so that will have to wait. Perhaps tomorrow.

 

That's awesome.... Your approach angle look killer!

 

Thanks. Now I have to start thinking about departure angle. A pickup tailgate swap is going to be needed soon.

 

Looks good! Love the stance!

 

I didn't have much time to play, but I did get my steering stabilizer on today. Bump stops are about all I have to do to be trail-ready, but I will be rethinking and rebuilding spring packs for a while until I get it right.

As it is now, everything flexes really well, but I can make the springs go negative at every corner and there is a little recurve in the front ones. I will probably switch out the front packs for Dbcfr's old rear packs or one of the other sets we have laying around and replace one short leaf with a longer one. I'd like to maintain this ride height, but I don't want to brake a spring on the trail. I'm also experiencing a bit of an odd short term instability going into turns; more than a normal leaf sprung truck. I'm wondering if healthier springs wouldn't help that.

I'm debating which bump stops to use. Air bumps are out of the budget, but I've heard good things about Isuzu Trooper bumps and Ford Aerostar bumps. I need to do some research there. The ones that came with the kit appear to be some sort of rock.

First- pics of the square drive shaft (hereafter, SDS)-




I wish I'd thought to take a photo of it out of the car. The photos don't do it justice. I'm fairly pleased with the whole thing. There is VERY minimal vibration at about 60mph in 4wd. It is inaudible in 4wd, unless the hubs are unlocked. With the hubs free, there is a bit of a repetitive squeaking noise, but it is pretty quiet.

I took a lot of pics of the truck flexed-out at each corner. The compressed springs were flat- to slightly negative in each pic.

 

the instability might be the angle in on the rear shocks. I think i read somewhere that the more you angle them in the more it sways makes it flex more but less stable. truck is lookin awsome. I wish i caould get mine done but the wife is not working so no play money. might have to get another job!! but then i wont be able to have any play time. Might have to get your help with the drive shaft when i get to that point.

 

No, I drove the rig as an IFS beast for a few months with the rear set up the way it is. The sway is new, and definitely in the front end.

The SDS will take way less time when I build the next one (If I build another one... I doubt that this one will break easily.) I wouldn't try to do it with less than a press, a band saw with a good blade, and at least a 4" grinding wheel and a 4" flapper disc, in addition to welding gear.

Clearancing the double cardan took more time than anything else. I think the next one could be done in about 4 hours.