A peak at what a certain traitor has been up to

[ColoradoRaptor]

why .120 wall and not .250 wall?

:dunno:

 

[Skully]

why .120 wall and not .250 wall?

Other guys have made the comment already..................for a cage .120 wall, for control arms .250 or above.

You know how heavy a cage would be with .250 wall? Not to mention you need a really BIG bender to attempt to bend .250 wall.

I tried to put a slight kink in a .250 wall tube for an arm using my pro-tools bender and shattered the pin and broke the hydraulic ram mount.

 

[ColoradoRaptor]

Other guys have made the comment already..................for a cage .120 wall, for control arms .250 or above.

You know how heavy a cage would be with .250 wall? Not to mention you need a really BIG bender to attempt to bend .250 wall.

I tried to put a slight kink in a .250 wall tube for an arm using my pro-tools bender and shattered the pin and broke the hydraulic ram mount.

:scared:..................Damn!!

 

[YELLAHEEP]

why .120 wall and not .250 wall?

Yeah, this question puzzled me too. You DO realize that .250 wall is 1/4 inch thick right? That's steering/suspension grade stuff there.

If a person had the appropriate strength bender, .250 wall sure would make a great buggy frame foundation, but to build a cage and all other tube structure on a rig would cause it to be one heavy fawker......

 

[DutchVDub]

Got more done on the thing
Used my freebie bandsaw to remove the steering arm from the driver's side kingpin cap. Figured there was no need for it anymore so why have it

Then I installed my ARB

And topped it off with a BTF Diff cover

I also redrilled my centerpin holes to help match the slightly narrower spring width on my YJ

Then came the long process of mounting my DE Ram to utilize the stock steering points on the knuckles. I just don't trust high-steer arms on factory knuckles and don't have the quid for aftermarket knuckles

I still need to fully weld the tubing and add some gussets at the joints but there it is.

 

[xjcase]

how are you going to get that diff cover off? Good progress though, and if you do end up using the blue air lines through the engine bay keep em away from teh hotness in there

 

[mcantar18c]

X2, that diff cover ain't goin anywhere without some cutting.

 

[Kiefer316]

X2, that diff cover ain't goin anywhere without some cutting.

What would you have to cut? :dunno:

Looks like all ya would have to do is take the ram off? But really think about it. How often do you have your diff cover off?

 

[mcantar18c]

What would you have to cut? :dunno:

Looks like all ya would have to do is take the ram off? But really think about it. How often do you have your diff cover off?

Ah, true. Still, that's a bitch.
On rigs that most of us run, not a lot. But when you're wheeling the big stuff running 40's on a 44... shit breaks.

 

[DutchVDub]

With the ram removed the diff cover should come right off of my Dana 60 (not 44). Getting the carrier out might be a different story but I'm not worried about that right now. I do have some flanges on the way so all I have to do is slice the tubes and then weld the 4-bolt flanges on to make the entire setup removable.

 

[mcantar18c]

With the ram removed the diff cover should come right off of my Dana 60 (not 44). Getting the carrier out might be a different story but I'm not worried about that right now. I do have some flanges on the way so all I have to do is slice the tubes and then weld the 4-bolt flanges on to make the entire setup removable.

Whoops, not paying attention, thought I remembered you saying you were using a front 44 earlier in the build :dunce:
Good call on the flanges.

 

[hurley842002]

Looking awesome! Wish I had the Skills to do gears and lockers! :thumbup:

 

[jimgrms]

Looking awesome! Wish I had the Skills to do gears and lockers! :thumbup:

Don't the teach then in the slammer where you work ????

 

[DutchVDub]

Got some more accomplished
I relocated the front shackle mounts to get my springs and shackles sitting at a better angle. I also incorporated a shckle mount into the design and got to use some spiffy BTF gussets.

I also slapped a quick coat of black on the axle

Then I installed my PSC steering pump and resevoir

And then the orbital valve

I then made and ran all of my hydraulic lines and added in an 8core transmission cooler to keep the steering fluid from over-heating

Then it was tie-rod making time

And back on the ground with its tires, I also finished up the ARB line so now all the front needs is brake lines, shocks, and a driveshaft

 

[Hypoid]

Dang Dutch! He's running amok and getting into your tools already. Are you going to have this beast done before he graduates High School?

 

[DutchVDub]

Started working on my belly pan today. Didn't get as much done as I wanted but according the wifey its time to take my kid to the circus. Oh well, family time it is.
I'm using basic poly bushings for all the mounting points and I made some mounting tabs

Mounting tabs welded to frame, I'll be adding some gussets and boxing them in later.

And the first of a few crossmembers

All said and done I've got about 22" under this crossmember and it should be the lowest one. I'll be adding another behind the D300 that'll sit at the same level, then one under the transmission more tucked up and another just forward of the oil pan sump probably connecting to the frame near the motor mounts. Then I'll be hooking them all together and adding in some plate.

 

[DutchVDub]

Holy cow, what a pain in the arse and I really hate welding on my back.
Anyways, here is the main skeleton for my bellypan. I still need to do a rear crossmember for the D300 support (i'll be keeping it seperate of the main bellypan though to assist in maint) and add in the engine oil pan portion. Then I need to skin it all. The complicated looking bend area is for driveshaft clearance. Where al the joints is an internal sleeve of 1.5" OD .25"wall tubing.

 

[snowboard3r411]

dam she looks pretty

 

[DutchVDub]

Finally got some time to finish up the belly pan yesterday. For the first time in almost a year the drivetrain is fully supported by mounts instead of either jackstands or a ratchet-strap. Now I just have to make some driveshafts, do my brakes (master, make some lines, and rear disc brake conversion), build my traction bar, and get me some shocks.

And now for the fun part, measuring for shocks and poser flexing I stopped raising the tires because the other tire on the same axle was starting to pick up as opposed to the tire on the same side of the vehicle getting lifted. This leads me to think it'll be fairly stable. Overall I have a tad over 5" of uptravel and about 10.5" of downtravel for a total of around 15-16" of total travel. Not bad for leafsprings.

Its getting there for sure, I'm hoping to get it done by Turkey-Day weekend so I can go up and do some trial runs before the trails get all snowed in.

 

[XJNOOB93]

such a sweet jeep