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Project: Moose Knuckle; Part III


LittleBigFoot

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Here's the run down as of 11/9/09:

Front axle / suspension / steering:

Full Width HP Dana 44 Front, 4.30 gears, molly shafts, SORD high steer arms w/ chevy flat top knuckles, 52" leaves, 8" shackles, SOA, 5/8 U bolts, home built high angle drive shaft, 3/4 ton van PS box, home brew shock towers, 22" of useable wheel travel, tom woods BW1350 flat flange adapter, 1330 U joints, tacked caps, long ass brake lines,

Rear axle / suspension:

31 Spline Big Bearing 9" in the rear, molly shafts, 4.30 gearing, 63" leaves, 8" shackles, 2" block, home brew drive shaft, 1350 yoke at axle end, 1350-1330 conversion joint, home made tone ring/vss mount, 24" of useable travle, cantilver shock system,

Bed / Bumpers / Sliders / Tire Carriers:

Custom 1.5" 120 wall HREW front tube stinger bumper w/ 2" receiver hitch,
2" 120 wall HREW sliders,
home brew "flat bed" made of 1.75" square stock w/ .120 wall, diamond plated,
Hinged swing up/out spare carrier off top of bed
submersable and annoyingly bright LED trailer tail lights, some cheap ass Baja lights up front,

Interrior:

sound deadening rubber undercoating floor, died black bucket seats, 40/40 bucket conversion, ammo box center concile, old ass Cobra CB w/ 40" whip out back, factory head unit tapped for iPod hook ups,


Other stats:
WB cut to 112"
8" of suspension lift, 3" body lift
82" wide stance
35x15.5r15 SuperSwamper LTBs on 15x10 cheapos
33 gallon gas tank
2.5" exhaust (stack)
1.5 of 7 factory crossmembers



That seems to be about it so far.... so far....




















They say 37s are about as much as ya wanna push on a Dana 44. Well, I've been blowin up shit with a 3.slOw, 4.30 gearing, and 35x15.5r15 TSLs. I've decided to go with 1 tons. As this is still my daily driver, nothing too funkin nuts, but a bit more extreme.

The plan:

A 14 Bolt FF DRW, with SRW ends. Supposedly this'll get me a 96" WMS-WMS track width. (I got a buddy who masturbates to this shit) With some hard core wheels and some fattys I could be sittin as wide as 120". Not that I would, but I could.

A Chevy D60 front. I know it's a Chebby part, but they're cheap and easy to find in this neck of the woods. I'll get to the passenger side drop later.

Diffs will be gettin 5.38s. Rear will get a detriot (as long as I can make rent) and front will be gettin a no slip. (Not the most hard core, but should be easy on the axles and help a bit with little problems)


The interesting shit:
I've got a set of Rad Arms for a HP D44 from a 79 Bronc. I'm plannin on extending, wristing, and rockin in the rear! With some weld on wedges, a few things fabbed up, I can run air shocks off these rad arms in a factory nature.

For the font I'm lookin at air shocks or keepin the leafs. 22" of travel ain't too bad out of a leaf pack.

As for engines, I'm debating.

A 351 stroked to a 427 small block using junk yard shit OR:

Keep the 3.0 but super charge it. The high revs do great in the mud but suck for the rocks. Could be done for cheap.

To take care of the P side diff, a divorced Dana 300 flipped.

An ag ram mounted to the axle will take care of the whole left/right thing. I'm lookin at an orbital from a tractor w/ a re-build kit. Cheap and easy. Just how I like my women.

I'm still debating what to do about the exhaust. It's lookin like it'll get a half baked flex pipe job.

My goal is to run some where between 40s to 44s or what ever I can afford.



The built 44/9" under the truck now are going to a 4x4 go cart in the future. Yes, a budget buggy. 63s all the way around, a 2.3 turbo, built half tons. Coming one day.



Now I've also debated a 14bolt front axle. Dana 60 C's, knuckles, and custom shafts. That'd be tits. I've got a few 1 ton GM rears and my disposal.

Happy Fabbin!
 
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4x4builder1

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You seem to have a pretty stout rig already Id just throw some $$$ into the axles youve got and possibly start another build. That way you dont lose your wheelin rig and you can take your time budget wise and it turns out like you plan it to not what your budget makes it. By the way do 14 in the front high clearanced too. that would be sick just take a lot of pics so the more novice guys see what goes into that
 

feellnfroggy

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LOL I just noticed there was an SAS 2 TOn group, sick.
 

crawlin91

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theres a d60 rear on c-list and co4x4.org with 5.38s and a locker for $450

good luck
 

oatmealman

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theres a d60 rear on c-list and co4x4.org with 5.38s and a locker for $450

good luck
60's aren't as strong as a 14bolt ff rear.Plus 14 bolts are ridicously abundant and are indestructable from the factory
 

Bronco_Chuck

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sound fun, cant wait to see it come together.
 

86ford

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60's aren't as strong as a 14bolt ff rear.Plus 14 bolts are ridicously abundant and are indestructable from the factory
If you dont mind dragging a boat anchor around they are great! The 14 bolts are HUGE.

Adam,

I recall you giving me shit for keeping my d35 TTB. Its WELDED and I have broken 2 hubs and 1 axle so far. All junk yard parts, I find junk yard hubs and junk yard shafts with good joints and will continue to swap them after they break until the d44 knuckles/hubs go on. I am running 35 12.5 SSRs up front. I hope you can spend more time on the trails this year than you do in the garage. You should seriously think about welding that front and rear axle to avoid the wheel spin issues. My mini spooled rear and welded front seem to keep me from having to dump the clutch as much.

My 60s are collecting dust but once funds are available I will start slowly building them.

86
 
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LittleBigFoot

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With some 44" meats and a shaved 14 bolt it wouldn't be too much of an rock hanger.

What would be sick is some 609's. Sixty shit shoved in a 9. I don't know what's involved but i've heard of it.

Portal 9s front and rear would be pretty wicked too. Oh think of the crawl.


4x4Builder: I'll definatly keep a better picture log then Project: Mooseknuckle (v2) That was just a 24 page gay joke and fuzzy camera phone pictures.

Crawlin: If it sticks around till after I get paid for Sept I just might pick it up. I can get a 14 DRW for 200 and have another I can get off a bud for free. It just might be 14s all the way around. For a bottle of bushmills the same bud will do the gear and locker install for me.

Mitch: I love you in the straightest way possible. You talked me into all this you sick bastard.

86: You just watch. Watch and see. Through your telescope all the way from Ohio. I'll be 2,000 feet above timber line. You should be able to see me from 2 time zones away. I'll be naked.
 

86ford

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86: You just watch. Watch and see. Through your telescope all the way from Ohio. I'll be 2,000 feet above timber line. You should be able to see me from 2 time zones away. I'll be naked.
All I have to say is I am still rockin the 35s on the d35 and beating the piss out of it. I even let 4+ people take my explorer out last time and at least one of them gave it hell.

The 9inch axles at both ends are the BEST option for diff clearance and durability if you use 35 spline stuff front and rear. A friend of mine a few hrs away is looking to do a pair of 9 inch axles. The front will be equipped with d60 C's, knuckles, hubs, 35 spline stubs etc. The same guy was able to keep his 44 and 9 inch in one piece running 39.5s with it welded front and rear under a TJ. The person I am talking about has out wheeled both of us in difficulty and number of trips combine ten fold. I hope you can get your Ranger finally "done" long enough to enjoy a few wheeling seasons with only "trail side" repairable broken parts. Did mitch ever get that jeep abortion completed?

86
 

LittleBigFoot

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Well it's an 80 something. So i'm thinkin it's in it's 45th trimester.By CO state law that's wrong.

Dealin with a long ass drive train and a short ass wheel base it took some revisions to get some decent angle on the rear drive shaft. Now he's runnin a trans and t case out of an old cscv blazer. We just got the fly wheel, torque converter, and bellhousing all bolted. Trans/t case x member is being fabbed up now.

It's down to brake lines, drive shafts, wiring everything up, and bolting the body back on. Thing will be sick. Gotta love the rumble of a 350.


I'm still debating front axles.

HP 60 w/ king pins. 35 spline shit, and mollys.

14 bolt re tubed with 60 C's, knuckles, etc.

9" with 60 shit

A sterling front axle conversion would be sick

A D70 front axle conversion would be sick.

A D61 (Yes it exists. Just ask me) would be fun just to say i've got it.


Does any one sell 14 bolt or 10.25" or 9" reverse cut ring gear so I'd be on the correct side of the gear?

If I kept a rear ton front axle conversion I could plop the pumpkin where ever the hell I wanted. That'd be fun. Some molly shafts machined to my needs.

Most 14s had a gov bomb. I wonder how that would do in the front end when it finally kicks in.

What would be the most kick ass?
 

4x4builder1

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dont know your budget but just about the sickest way to go would be 14's with axle tech bolt on portals
 

4x4builder1

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just found pricing $6495 never mind would have been nice though
 

oatmealman

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If you dont mind dragging a boat anchor around they are great! The 14 bolts are HUGE.

Adam,

I recall you giving me shit for keeping my d35 TTB. Its WELDED and I have broken 2 hubs and 1 axle so far. All junk yard parts, I find junk yard hubs and junk yard shafts with good joints and will continue to swap them after they break until the d44 knuckles/hubs go on. I am running 35 12.5 SSRs up front. I hope you can spend more time on the trails this year than you do in the garage. You should seriously think about welding that front and rear axle to avoid the wheel spin issues. My mini spooled rear and welded front seem to keep me from having to dump the clutch as much.

My 60s are collecting dust but once funds are available I will start slowly building them.

86
I'm well aware that 14 bolts center is massive,you can shave them a fair amount without touching the ring gear.wanna get more extreme? shave the ring down to 10 inches and you've gained 2 and a half inches.That's almost the size of a 60 pumpkin but the 14 will hold up behind a big block with 44's
 

LittleBigFoot

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I've seen portals on a 9". Wicked sweet. Yeah, 6500 bucks is a little out of my range and close to 26 times the value of my truck.


I was reading a build on pirate. IHonlyNorth was doing a drive train and axle swap on an old scout. They went with coil overs in the front. The towers were bent into a hoop, and then actually ran completely through the frame rather then a flush mount. The top was tied into an engine cage with a removable cross bar that went behind the air cleaner. Bad ass rig. 609 in the front etc.

Looks like the guy used hrew. I've only been able to find hrew with .120" wall around here. Can it be found in a much thicker wall? And would that be enough to build a rear shock bar to run air shocks off of?

I've heard air shocks have limited amounts to what they can actually support. Somethin like 1,250 lbs? I think I read that on the Fox website. I knwo some are runnin these all the way around, but my truck gets weighed down with fatasses and beer and I don't wanna risk driving back on bump stops. How would some decent air shocks do in the rear?


I've been debating running a 3 link in the rear. More commonly know as a "missing link" system. I'll get some pictures of it. Either coils or air shocks, (coil overs are way the hell out of the question) to links running from chassis to axle, and one link from a link to the diff truss. Then a track bar. Could be done in the rear pretty easily. Just damn the price of DOM.

The planning continues
 

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