Front leaf swap

[tonysinnette]

Tony, looking GOOD! Now you are way out of my (our) class will you even ride with us again?
Can't wait to see it in person!

XJ's have to stick together, no matter how they are built

 

[Art101]

tony what is the width on those axles? i am wondering how my wide my project is gonna look with the one tons, i definately want to be WIDE... i know the wms on my 79 ford 60 is just under 70 inches, are your axles the same width?

 

[tonysinnette]

tony what is the width on those axles? i am wondering how my wide my project is gonna look with the one tons, i definately want to be WIDE... i know the wms on my 79 ford 60 is just under 70 inches, are your axles the same width?

The WMS on mine is 65. I am at 81 inches between outside side walls, which is actually pretty narrow for full widths.

 

[ExTankerGuy]

The WMS on mine is 65. I am at 81 inches between outside side walls, which is actually pretty narrow for full widths.

81 is narrow for full widths. I'm at 80 and 81 with mine (waggy front and XJ 44 rear).

 

[Exxon Valdez Jeep]

tony what is the width on those axles? i am wondering how my wide my project is gonna look with the one tons, i definately want to be WIDE... i know the wms on my 79 ford 60 is just under 70 inches, are your axles the same width?

You saw my jeep, its ~82" with the H2s. I have some newer dodge wheels with more backspacing that will narrow it another 2" or so. I dont have a problem with the width, but I do have a problem with the hubs sticking out past the wheel and tire combo up front. Its pretty annoying when you get hung up on those! :banghead:

 

[Art101]

my green wanted to flop way too easily, and its got a pretty decent suspension on it... so i blame the axle width... on the orange one i want it to be wide cuz i'm gonna be trying waaaay crazier stuff with it than i would on the daily driven green one

 

[tonysinnette]

It's amazing how just a little width will really help with stability.

 

[tonysinnette]

The following is what happens when you pull a bolt from a leaf that you think is under no load, to find out that it is still under tension. This happened 2 weeks ago now( The picture is how it looks today). The bolt came out half way totally fine, not tight, nothing. As soon as I pulled it the rest of the way the leaf unloaded on me. Not for the Squeemish.
http://i543.photobucket.com/albums/gg460/tonysinnette/2011-04-05150917.jpg

 

[Swamprat]

Oh shit!

 

[DeftwillP]

 

[tonysinnette]

Yeah... I have to go to a specialist on Thursday. Just shows what happens when you give a clumsy idiot tools and turn them loose on their own,

 

[xjintx]

DANG... That had to HURT!!!

Hope they gave you good drugs

 

[tonysinnette]

Unfortunately I was just dropped of at the ER, so they couldnt give me the good stuff than night. they numbed it up for a while though.

 

[rms692]

damn, quit stickin yer finger where it dont belong tony....

 

[magimerlin]

pencil sharpeners are only for pencils........

 

[xxmidianxx]

Reminds me of an 4" angle grinder I once had.

Needless to say, my wife was very happy when I told her I got rid of it. But it was short lived when I showed her the 7" grinder I got. lol

 

[Exxon Valdez Jeep]

Reminds me of an 4" angle grinder I once had.

Needless to say, my wife was very happy when I told her I got rid of it. But it was short lived when I showed her the 7" grinder I got. lol

4" angle grinder with 7" disc on it here!

 

[tonysinnette]

So with my original set up, I did not allow for enough room for the leafs to stretch, and at full stuff the shackle was hitting the bumper and making the tire stuff all the way into the fender tube. Everything else worked great, but I needed to fix it. After taking some measurements I decided the easiest way to fix it was to move the shackles up 5.5 inches and hang them from the bumper (the bumper, cage, sliders, and frame are all welded together).

This is the result, and I was immediately unhappy wit how far forward the shackle was. One decent sized ledge or rock and I would have stuff\ bent the spring.

So before I could take it out again something had to change. I looked around and found some HUGE slider boxes and started hacking again.

Here is what happens when you get too aggressive with a plasma cutter. This tube will need to be replaced lol

Frame notches had to be enlarged to hold the sliders

Front mounts tacked in

Here is one of the sliders mocked up. The slot is 10 inches, so I am going to end up with a lot of travel

Everything mocked up after final welding. I had a buddy burn them in with his gas powered arc welder, so they should be good and strong. I set them so the spring will sit 7\10th of the way back in the slot. I don't really want a ton of up travel.

Its still sitting on the lift because apparently here in Abilene 9\16th bolts are an unusual size, and no one that was open had them long enough to go all the way through the slider box. After I get the axle mounted back to the leafs I will have to re-design the shock mounts, but I should be in business tomorrow night. Hopefully this will be the last time the suspension is torn apart

 

[tonysinnette]

Oh and I did not hurt myself at any point other than a sunburn from welding!

 

[Sillyfast]

How much up travel will you have when you put weight on those springs?