Buggy building on a budget

[BIGWOODY]

So you sold the MJ buggy? What's the rear axle in your new buggy? Must be a 9", but with that truss it looks like some sort of custom square housing. Jeff

alloy 35spline strange shafts, true hi9 center section with solid spacer, extra thrust block, 1350 forged yoke. It's a full width 9" housing from a late 70's F-series pickup with a bridge added for link mounts and a truss added as of last night(not pictured). I've got $2200 in the rear axle including disc brakes, it looked to be the cheapest route with the most strength. The front is an HP60, chromo shafts, 35 spline outters, Dedenbear knuckles, homebrew 5 on 5 1/2 hub conversion with half ton chevy brakes. I think this axle combo will suit my needs. I left them full width because I like riding a lot of off camber stuff and like the extra stability(and my wheels are 5" BS). I'll run a few comps. in it but it wasn't really built soley for that, more of an extreme trail buggy.

 

[xj4moab]

Richard i ran into the same problem this year put 37 on the XJ and beat the snot out of it or just keep it a trail rig just bite the bullet and build a full buggy :laugh3:
Narrow the front clip off of the MJ and slap it on

 

[Weasel]

Personaly I would like to play around with a mostly sheetmetal/buggy rig. Why not minimize the amount of extra sheetmetal, glass, ect and just reinforce the body or create ribs for added support to the existing body? Seems to me that tubing would be more prone to catching on rocks where a nice sheetmetal skin would not, of course it's going to dent but who cares. It's something I havn't real seen tried before an maybe theres a reason for it but I would give it a go sometime.

 

[Goatman]

Richard i ran into the same problem this year put 37 on the XJ and beat the snot out of it or just keep it a trail rig just bite the bullet and build a full buggy :laugh3:
Narrow the front clip off of the MJ and slap it on

Hey, all I need is $$$ for good axles and a winch.


That's a new buggy, right?

 

[Goatman]

alloy 35spline strange shafts, true hi9 center section with solid spacer, extra thrust block, 1350 forged yoke. It's a full width 9" housing from a late 70's F-series pickup with a bridge added for link mounts and a truss added as of last night(not pictured). I've got $2200 in the rear axle including disc brakes, it looked to be the cheapest route with the most strength. The front is an HP60, chromo shafts, 35 spline outters, Dedenbear knuckles, homebrew 5 on 5 1/2 hub conversion with half ton chevy brakes. I think this axle combo will suit my needs. I left them full width because I like riding a lot of off camber stuff and like the extra stability(and my wheels are 5" BS). I'll run a few comps. in it but it wasn't really built soley for that, more of an extreme trail buggy.

There is a lot to be said for a spooled 35 spline High9 as a strong, light weight, high clearance rear end at a reasonable cost.

Can you tell me more about how you did the 5 lug D60 outers and brakes?

 

[Goatman]

I haven't scrolled to the end of the thread, but that's the plan for my MJ. Front HP44 with D60 outers and 35 spline ARB/axles. Not exactly inexpensive though. I've already got the D60 inner C's at a buddy's who is supposedly going to open up the axle stub still welded in them so they'll fit on the D44 tubes. The rear is going to be a HP60 center section with the short tube replaced with a long tube and adapters to mount D60 front spindles for full float. Then add custom double splined 35 spline shafts and some sort of 35 spline locker. That one's not cheap either though. These axles will be labor intensive too I suppose. That's my plan for MJ buggy axles though. Jeff

Jeff, you gonna have any money left over for gas?

 

[BIGWOODY]

There is a lot to be said for a spooled 35 spline High9 as a strong, light weight, high clearance rear end at a reasonable cost.

Can you tell me more about how you did the 5 lug D60 outers and brakes?

I'll look around on my computer at home for some more info, but this is what I remember. I turned down the outter "hat" on the fron hub to fit a 5 on 5 1/2" wheel opening. Then turned down the wheel mounting surface to the size of (what I was told was an early CJ rotor, parts on pirate has the right rotors). I then opened up the center of the rotor to fit on the hub. Then redrilled the hub to 5 on 5 1/2" and welded up the old 8 lug holes. Made a custom bracket to use a 1/2 ton chevy caliper ( I still have the pattern and can make more). Presto! converted for a helluva a lot less than the $2200 Dynaripoff wanted to convert it. I think I ended up with about $500 in it totaly done ie: brakes and all. I've run it for close to 2 years and have never had any problems, the only issue I've had with the front end has been knuckles, I cracked two of them and have since become a dealer for Dedenbear, no more isssues. If anyone get serious about doing this I'll help all I can by either info or just ship me your stuff and I'll send it back ready to go..I'd have to do some figuring to see what it would cost though. The CNC time wasn't free.

 

[BIGWOODY]

Stock Ford knuckle

some hub pics

 

[xj4moab]

It is i started this one in May I took all of the drivetrain off of the commando.

Hey, all I need is $$$ for good axles and a winch.


That's a new buggy, right?

 

[Goatman]

Stock Ford knuckle

What size tires were you running whn the knuckle broke?

I've seen all the new D60 knuckles come out, but never paid much attention to the D60 stuff. Damn, you'd think that D60 1 ton knuckles would hold up. Anything else break with it?

Thanks for the pics of the 5 lug hubs.

 

[davidt]

If you want to redrill your hubs, summit sells a nice for redrilling the hubs to the right pattern.

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Jeff, you gonna have any money left over for gas?

Heck, I don't even have money to get started hardly. I've got a nice MJ tub, the D60 housing that I'm building into a rear full float, a long side axle tube from a Dodge Dana 60 front for the retube, the Dana 60 stuff from the inner C's out, and a HP D44 housing to put the outers on. So far I've got less than $200 in it. Who knows if I'll ever get anywhere with it, but it's a start. Jeff

 

[Goatman]

Thanks. Couldn't find it on their site, though.

I would have the machine shop do it, anyway. I don't have a lathe, so when I got the hubs turned down they could redrill it to 5 lug.

 

[BIGWOODY]

What size tires were you running whn the knuckle broke?
.

38.5 SX's. The Ford knuckles are thin at the top, more so than the Chevys. My first thought was it was caused by the highsteer arm and hydro assist putting to much leverage on the top of the knuckle and they just weren't designed to have a steering arm up there. Then I've seen three others on Ford 60's either crack or break and 2 of them weren't running highsteer, they jusy got bound up in deep rocks. My buddy who runs a chevy 60 of course gave me the "haha Ford stuff is garbage", typical redneck comment and then proceeded to break his chevy one the next weekend. The fact the Crane and Dedenbear both make beefier knuckles for all 60's proves there must be a helluva market for them beyond custom axle building. I became a dealer for Dedenbear and my first order I advertised on a local board that I would cut the price a little for a large order, the response was crazy. I thought maybe one or two people may order them, I ordered 5 sets. All from people who had knuckle carnage with their 60.

 

[BrettM]

I've seen pictures of people plating the 60 knuckles, supposedly with great success. also, Welderboy on Pirate makes some knuckles.

 

[chainbrain]

hey goat, man i know i'm new at this and have no significant builds under my belt, but i believe i do have some basic knowledge about most of the principals of building a 4x4. and i know enough that when i blew off work for awhile to be able to read this entire post that, i made the right choice. now as for the actual point of this post as great as some of the ideas are( and believe me i know there are alot of em in here) that in the end we have gotten away from goats actual goal. all i hear man is the dollar signs racking up when i read all this. man what i would do would be to get ahold of surplus military auto parts stores or keep a close eye on the for sale adds in here. i just saw a few days a man selling 3 rockwells 2 rear and 1 front for 900 for all 3. thats the cheapest and strongest you will ever need. hell you could run 44"s on that light ass rig of yours. and with the extreme low range they have you could crawl that thing up a damm wall till it flipped. well i have rambled on long enough here. sorry for taking so damm much time. best of luck goat let me know how it goes. jay

 

[BrettM]

hey goat, man i know i'm new at this and have no significant builds under my belt, but i believe i do have some basic knowledge about most of the principals of building a 4x4. and i know enough that when i blew off work for awhile to be able to read this entire post that, i made the right choice. now as for the actual point of this post as great as some of the ideas are( and believe me i know there are alot of em in here) that in the end we have gotten away from goats actual goal. all i hear man is the dollar signs racking up when i read all this. man what i would do would be to get ahold of surplus military auto parts stores or keep a close eye on the for sale adds in here. i just saw a few days a man selling 3 rockwells 2 rear and 1 front for 900 for all 3. thats the cheapest and strongest you will ever need. hell you could run 44"s on that light ass rig of yours. and with the extreme low range they have you could crawl that thing up a damm wall till it flipped. well i have rambled on long enough here. sorry for taking so damm much time. best of luck goat let me know how it goes. jay

I was surprised enough to hear richard considering a 14bolt, now you're talking Rockwells?!? hahaaahhaa, that'll be the day..... or will it?

 

[BIGWOODY]

You ever moved a Rockwell around? Pulled the center section out of one? Yeah you can run 44's with them, you'd be stupid not to. I guess they are fine as long as your goal isn't anywhere near the sub 4k lbs. range. This one weighs just that, two people can barely fit in it and it's a yota powertrain.

 

[Goatman]

Yeah, Rockwells could probably be done fairly cheaply, and if you're really talking about building a budget buggy you would have to consider them. I would never run them because I have no interest in running 44's, and I like to go fast and jump dunes......not the stuff Rockwells are for.

Besides, I do nearly all of my building by myself. No way I could lug Rockwells around the garage by myself.

 

[Lupine]

Yes, IRFed, with a product. We're expecting Crash ver.2 on December 28th. And he's no little kicker - I've been feeling rather like one of those large blow-up castles since August. Right now he's bracing himself against my ribs and trying to blast off. I don't know if you're aware, but I was trying to wheel this past summer with Andy and ended up getting into big trouble with my OB/GYN. Apparently kids don't come with their own suspensions. Consequently, I intend to spend most of this next summer out on the trail. I understand you're not supposed to take them wheeling until they can hold their heads upright, but that won't stop me from hiking alongside with Jr. in a Baby Bjorn (God bless those Swedes.) He's going to need to learn how to spot quickly. I don't want him to end up like Dave Taylor.