1988 BII Build

[88_Eddie]

went and exchanged the bushings for these flex joints yesterday, got a great deal on them at 4WP.

plus, my ruff stuff order came in, so i've got my 2 heims and the material for my driver side upper link. 1.5"x.250 wall tube.

ballistic order should be here soon, then i just need to run out and get the 2x2x.250 wall arm metal and i can start getting stuff installed.

 

[Stang5lgt]

Looking good!!! On that Dana 30 you might wanna consider moving the coil perches back over the tube. They sit a 1.5" forward of the axle tube center. Which will make your steering drag link tight in there. I figured this out the hard way when I built the Merc. I lived with it for a few month until my hydro assist came in and then I moved the perches back which helped a lot.

 

[88_Eddie]

yeah, i noticed that on yours. i've been thinking about doing it as well, except cutting off the factory mount altogether and installing these from ballistic:

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Coil-plate-mounts-with-retainers-_p_1179.html

only $35 for both sides, then i wouldnt have to make a lower retainer like i've been plaing on doing.

BTW, i'm probably stealing several of your ideas. after all, you've done this a time or two, so thanks in advance lol

 

[Stang5lgt]

yeah, i noticed that on yours. i've been thinking about doing it as well, except cutting off the factory mount altogether and installing these from ballistic:

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Coil-plate-mounts-with-retainers-_p_1179.html

only $35 for both sides, then i wouldnt have to make a lower retainer like i've been plaing on doing.

BTW, i'm probably stealing several of your ideas. after all, you've done this a time or two, so thanks in advance lol

Feel free copy whatever you like. The setup works great on Double R so it will be great on your truck. With those XJ coils and Rancho 7000MT I put on the front I don't really even need a sway bar truck handles great.

 

[88_Eddie]

Feel free copy whatever you like. The setup works great on Double R so it will be great on your truck. With those XJ coils and Rancho 7000MT I put on the front I don't really even need a sway bar truck handles great.

i'm not planning on running sway bars unless i feel like i need them. i work in claims at an insurance company, so i tend to be a very cautious driver lol.

started moving the coil perches today, only got the driver side plate on though.

driver side upper link is also made, i just have to cut it down to size.

ballistic order with the square tube adapaters should get here this week so i'm going to get my arm metal sometime this week, just need to figure out when. i also got my lower link skid plates installed, but i forgot to take pics.

 

[Kyle M.]

Is your upper link just butt welded or is there more holding it together? If it is, I would gusset it somehow.


Good work so far! Time to buy a bigger welder!

 

[88_Eddie]

Is your upper link just butt welded or is there more holding it together? If it is, I would gusset it somehow.


Good work so far! Time to buy a bigger welder!

yeah it's getting gussets once i get the main arms built and i know where everything needs to sit. i have a whole bin full of scrap 1/4" and 3/16" plate laying around, i try to overbuild if i can. i have crappy luck and the worst times lol.

i want a new welder, but not until we buy a house. i have to have something to run off of a wall outlet. my next major fab tool purchase will be a plasma cutter. it would pay for itself in a month with all the grinder disks and cut off wheels i go through lol. not to mention, i could work a lot faster.

 

[Stang5lgt]

Sweet! Yeah I have had my Miller plasma cutter for 4 years and it is a game changer for sure. I started with little Lincoln 110v welder, then got a Hobart 187 220v, now I have Miller 212 autoset. The Miller is well worth the money once you start welding with it you won't ever wanna use a different welder again. LOL I wasn't brave enough to build suspension parts until I got the Miller 212. Thing burns in super hot and will even burn through paint and rust when I can't get my flapper wheel in there to clean the entire surface. My Hobart would never do that.

 

[88_Eddie]

as long as i stay pretty simple, the little welder i have will work pretty good. i'll probably spring for a lincoln 180 when we buy a house. wire the garage with some 240 plugs and get a decent size air tank. i'd love to have a miller, but i dont think wife would approve of me spending that much on a tool. the 180 is much closer to my budget and will be overkill for what i need to weld. it says it'll do 1/2" steel in one pass and all i've had to do so far is 1/4" at the most. key word being so far

 

[88_Eddie]

i've noticed in a couple kits that the arms have a slight bend in them for ground clearance. like these:

i'm wondering if it would work if i did it with my square tube? like so:

i think it would hold, but i dont know if all the time it took to do it would be worth the effort

 

[crawlin91]

Depends how long the arms are and how much ground clearance you will really gain. Also might be hard to keep them straight and true after all that welding. Sweet sketches by the way.

 

[88_Eddie]

i have to buy 20 feet of the 2x.250 square tube, so i'm gonna make a new trans cross member. so i was thinking i'd take the arms back to it. i think it could limit my travel though, so i may just have to do some measuring first and see if it's possible

 

[4.0B2]

honestly i wouldn't worry with it.. the bends in the Rusty's Arms are minimal at MOST. when welding you're gonna get some warp in your metal and it might cause you issues.

plated like you have drawn, i don't see where you'd have a strength issues at all. might be something to look at...but i don't think its worth it.

make you a "bent" one out of smaller tube or some scrap stuff, or PVC pipe or cardboard or something so you can get a good look of what it would look like.

 

[88_Eddie]

i agree, think i'm just gonna forget about it. i've been doing some math and if the arm forms a 120 degree angle, then i'm gonna need to cut both pieces at 60 degrees to get the right fit. my metal chop saw wont cut anything higher than 45 degrees. so i'd have to use my angle grinder and that would take forever and probably not be straight/square. i think it would just turn into a waste of time/money/materials. would look cool, but it might cut into function and to me function comes before looks.

 

[Robert_1967]

Some of those lower arms are bent for clearance issues for when you turn your tires, I forgot who on here did some straight ones, and their tires would scrape the arms at full lock, of course they where running huge tires 40's or 44's, can't remember, I'm getting old.




Robert



posted from a Dell with a bad moon on the right.