Cage construction

[Jump This]

Did something change?

No...nothing has changed.
A builder friend of mine said you need to build three houses before you can say you have a good idea on how to build one. I think the same thing can be said about a good crawler.
The next time I build an axle or suspension I'll be much better.....

 

[cracker]

No...nothing has changed.
A builder friend of mine said you need to build three houses before you can say you have a good idea on how to build one. I think the same thing can be said about a good crawler.
The next time I build an axle or suspension I'll be much better.....

You know, that builder friend of yours is SPOT ON! That statement is so darn correct.

In retrospect after the first (couple) of builds one realizes cheaper/easier/better ways of doing things. The only 'defense' against that is doing ton's of research looking at other builds but experience really makes the biggest difference.

I can say my MJ is a significant improvement of many things that were not done correctly on my old XJ at 1/8th the cost and I can say in the next two months it will be 100% done!!!

My buggy build will be just as painful as yours has been so you'll have your opportunity to through flaming turd bags back my way here soon enough.

 

[jmaxj]

so do you know what your doing then rick?


or you just going with what the voices in your head are telling you?

 

[Jump This]

Voices....I hear voices!

 

[Jump This]

Damn...I had a vision! All I wanted was a crawler with the lowest center of gravity I could get (reasonably.) To that end I worked on tight tolerances, channeled the frame rails and spent many hours making sure things fit 'just right.' Well, they do fit just right, but...

This is how the axle fits with a tacked in ram mount. You can tell that the ram sits slightly in front of the center line of the steering arms. The goal is to have them sitting behind (in my case, by 1".) In order to achieve the one inch behind center line goal I'd need to redefine the axle location at full compression. A quick tape measure job indicates I'll need to bottom out two inches sooner than it is now. You have no idea how many hours it took me to GET those two inches (keep you sexual innuendo to yourself!)
Oh well, I guess all that I need to do is relocate the lower shock mounts.
There wasn't going to be enough room for a track bar anyway...

 

[cracker]

Didn't you push the axle forward?

 

[Jump This]

Didn't you push the axle forward?

Yes, but I couldn't tell you by how much now. Its set up to have a 105" WB at static. Once I had the rear set I just measured forward to locate the axle.

 

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Work is progressing. Parts have arrived and its time to fab up the track bar.
New track bar mount.

Ram mount and some detail on how I got it centered.

Die arrived for the bender...now to bend 1 1/4" .250 wall.

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Ok, I'm having trouble understanding what you wrote about the ram location. You said it was sitting approx 1" in front of the steering arms in the picture but you want it to sit 1" behind the steering arms. So far so good. However, how does moving it back closer to the axle tube make your full compression less than with the ram sitting where it is in the pictures? Also, what does moving the axle forward have to do with anything when the ram is mounted to the axle? I suppose by moving the axle forward, you also push the ram forward which perhaps provides the clearance you need? Finally, why do you need to redo your lower shock mounts?

I do know what you mean about designing for full compression and then something else dictates that you can't compress that far! I had designed my front axle placement at full stuff both sides and did what I needed to make things fit...including the steering. However, when I did a flex test I found out the steering rose into contact with the oil pan before the track bar was at full compression when both sides were compressed. So, the only way to deal with this, other than redesigning the steering again, was to limit compression such that when flexed, the steering would clear the oil pan and call that full stuff which just happens to be 2" or so less than full stuff with both sides stuffed at the same time. Jeff

 

[Jump This]

In order to move the ram back it had to move up relative to the axle (its that tight.)
So...since it moved up I need more clearance for it, necessitating relocating the upper stop.
Moving the axle forward played no role in it at all (that was a comment by Cracker.)
I still want to use all the travel of the shocks (12") so I'll relocate the lower shock mounts rather than just limiting the up travel.
Make more sense now?

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Yeah, I guess that explains it. How are you going to attach the ram to the steering arms? Once you moved it back and up I'm guessing the center of the ram is pretty close to being on the same plane as the steering arms? Or, is the center of the ram above the steering arms therefore allowing a heim to sit on top of the steering arms and be in alignment with the ram? Jeff

 

[Jump This]

Yeah, I guess that explains it. How are you going to attach the ram to the steering arms? Once you moved it back and up I'm guessing the center of the ram is pretty close to being on the same plane as the steering arms? Or, is the center of the ram above the steering arms therefore allowing a heim to sit on top of the steering arms and be in alignment with the ram? Jeff

The ram still mounts below the steering arms. There may be a 1/2" spacer between the ram arms and the steering arms. That has yet to be etched in stone.

 

[Jump This]

Finally....go the track bar built and all the brackets fabbed up. Getting the
1 1/4 .250 tubing centered up in the press was a bit more difficult than I would have expected (had to drill them out for the bungs.) OH well, its done now and I'll get them all welded up next week.

 

[Letterman]

Getting the
1 1/4 .250 tubing centered up in the press was a bit more difficult than I would have expected (had to drill them out for the bungs.)

Any good tips on how to do that?

I have to drill all four of my steering ends and the four spares ends too.

 

[Jump This]

I turned my drill press plate at a 90* and clamnped the tube to it. When I get back today I'll post up a picture.

 

[knucklehead 61]

Any good tips on how to do that?

I have to drill all four of my steering ends and the four spares ends too.

do you need lathe work?
i have one with 1-5/8 spindle bore.
pm me if you want some help.

 

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Here she stands on her own, for the first time in two years.

 

[jakeWI]

looks real good.

 

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The most recent difficulty was in redrilling the cross member mounting holes.
I had to relocate them in order to be able to use 1/2" hardware. That meant welding the old holes up. Redrilling welded holes is difficult, but this morning I finally got through all eight of them.
Now to drill 1" holes in the frame rail and weld in the .250 wall tube. That should prove to be much easier.....right.

 

[Jump This]

Production is back in full swing. As my sig notes, I have until Thanksgiving to get it finished. To that end I've been spending a couple of hours most every morning in the garage (after I get back from work the garage is way too hot.)
Once I get a task fitted I move on to the next, not spending time torquing down or lock tighting anything in.
This pict shows the orbital valve location as well as a small cooler for the steering system. If you look just below the stock fire wall tin, you can see the new radiator hose (tube in this case) running to the back. Right now that tube is 12ga. I'm thinking I'll build that S bend out of .090 wall DOM. It would not be good to suck a rock up between the tire and it and get a hole.

There wasn't going to be enough room to relocate the steering pump lower, so I located the res as high as I could. I'm not anticipating any issues there.

The custom radiator (side exiting inlet/outlets) will have to wait until next summer. This is what I get for now.

Tomorrow I'll work on a cross brace for above the engine and finish the return side cooling lines. I have a triple electric fan set up for it also.