Aaron's Long Travel TTB "Prerunner"

[bobbywalter]

See if I wanted to I could ditch the steering box and pitman arm setup all together. Although I do not trust solely hydraulics to steer my truck.
Rams are great for hydraulic assist or a a-arm vehicle. Swing set steering is the only way for a beamed truck.. There is just no way around it..

swingset controlled by a ram with no mechanical steering box would be the best imo with big tires. properly tuned and calibrated the steering would be unreal strong for guys wanting to run 35 to 40 inch tires in harsh conditions.




i have broken 3 sector shafts off over the years on my ford boxes...and have seen all normal manufactures truck/car boxes failed.., so i always am concerned about them.

hydro fails too, but is best for bigger rubber unless your getting a steering system off a semi.

 

[AaronC]

Thanks always floored. It's all mig welded.. Most of the welds are continuous passes. Although there are some "pulsed aka trigger welds" on the truck. I tend to use that technique on thin long plate sections but have recently got away from it. I have a junk lincoln machine with the typical A B C D and E heat settings. The reason I pulsed is because I would warp long plate sections and if turned the welder down a heat setting, I wouldn't get the penetration I was looking for...

As far as the steering goes. There are different steering boxes that will work well in these trucks.

Hydraulic on brakes- If you lose a line at 70+ in the desert you can still steer to safety.

Hydraulic on steering- I would be frightened to have my wheels choose one direction and to yard sale the truck.

So I vote hydro assist...

Even if you were to lose the sector shaft, you would still have the ram to get the truck under control.

and.. If you were to lose anything on hydraulic side.. You can still steer..

 

[AaronC]

swingset controlled by a ram with no mechanical steering box would be the best imo with big tires. properly tuned and calibrated the steering would be unreal strong for guys wanting to run 35 to 40 inch tires in harsh conditions.




i have broken 3 sector shafts off over the years on my ford boxes...and have seen all normal manufactures truck/car boxes failed.., so i always am concerned about them.

hydro fails too, but is best for bigger rubber unless your getting a steering system off a semi.

Oh and Bobby.. I think full hydro is the way to go on a crawler.. Your at low speeds and you need the extra steering force to push against rocks etc..

Believe it or not, a rock crawler/trail rig will probably see more force on the steering than a desert truck.. Hell, we only go in a straight line the majority of the time.

 

[bobbywalter]

Thanks always floored. It's all mig welded.. Most of the welds are continuous passes. Although there are some "pulsed aka trigger welds" on the truck. I tend to use that technique on thin long plate sections but have recently got away from it. I have a junk lincoln machine with the typical A B C D and E heat settings. The reason I pulsed is because I would warp long plate sections and if turned the welder down a heat setting, I wouldn't get the penetration I was looking for...

As far as the steering goes. There are different steering boxes that will work well in these trucks.

Hydraulic on brakes- If you lose a line at 70+ in the desert you can still steer to safety.

Hydraulic on steering- I would be frightened to have my wheels choose one direction and to yard sale the truck.

So I vote hydro assist...

Even if you were to lose the sector shaft, you would still have the ram to get the truck under control.

and.. If you were to lose anything on hydraulic side.. You can still steer..

i am sure i will have assist before full hydro.

easy for me to go to 2g with full hydro with a straight axle. assist can work well for 5-700 for what i do...so thats a big chunk that can go to other necessary parts.

i certainly agree with your assessment for racing in the desert, mine was biased towards slower work. there is no one size fits all with steering...i know better then that.


in any case, i do like what your doing here.... i probably should have mentioned that first

 

[AaronC]

i am sure i will have assist before full hydro.

easy for me to go to 2g with full hydro with a straight axle. assist can work well for 5-700 for what i do...so thats a big chunk that can go to other necessary parts.

i certainly agree with your assessment for racing in the desert, mine was biased towards slower work. there is no one size fits all with steering...i know better then that.


in any case, i do like what your doing here.... i probably should have mentioned that first

Well thanks, I am going to need help when I go to hydro assist.. I am just a suspension geometry guy.. A lot of the members on here, including yourself, fill the knowledge voids I do have..

 

[AaronC]

I'm stuck.. Will someone see my thread in urgent help and get some measurements for me? THANKS!

 

[AaronC]

Thanks for the measurements Benny...

Well Im off work for 12 days..

This damn truck will be driving soon...













Hopefully.....

 

[AaronC]

Ok, Does anyone know how hard it would be to change out the tail shaft bearing on a electric 1354 t case? I can move the yoke all over the place.. :/

 

[nooch450]

I really appreciate what you have done here...

This build has taught me alot, Id like to know exactly what you have done to your TTB's and what kind of shafts you are running between your spindal and Front Diff!

And am wondering if i can do the same thing with a stick welder.....

 

[AaronC]

Well thanks nooch..

Well as far as the TTB's go. I took a stock D35 housing. I made a verticle cut straight down the beam about 3-4" in from ball joints. I extended there 7".. I made a makeshift jig for this.

Then I built a jig.. To hold the ball joints and beam pivot. (You can use a stock spindle for the ball joint end). I cut the lower ball joint out of the beam.. I then took the beam pivot point and moved it up 5.5" on the jig. The lower BJ was had a gap from where it originally was.. This is what corrected the camber alignment for the "lift". This is how I built 5.5" of lift into the beams..


From there I started laying plate everywhere to reinforce them...

The axles are not done yet.. I got qouted $550 for a set of 7" longer axle shafts... I think I am just going to sleeve two axles together to make one long axle shaft.. (Its been done time and time again) Plus I don't do the whole rock crawling stuff so I shouldn't have a issue.

 

[AaronC]

 

[AaronC]

 

[AaronC]

 

[AaronC]

Cage to cab plate work / light bar actuator mount..

 

[prerunnerwannabe]

About time you updated this thread! It is looking AMAZING!