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The "Donkey" build/rebuild


alwaysFlOoReD

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A novel way of making a lowrider....lol.
 


Bracket racer

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So, I finally got a bit more work done on the donkey. My day job is too frigging busy!! Can't wait to retire next summer, but, I digress....
I didn't like the springs I cut down so I bought a set of 1500# trailer springs, that would be 3000# total for the rear...umm, yeah, way too stiff. So, down the road I'll pull a leaf out to soften them up. The main reason was the shorter length, they are 26" long and by welding the spring hanger tilted, I can get the spring up past it when I pull the bolt. The suspension goes up about 13" so once I figure the limit required I'll put in a stop.
And yes, the white piece of angle iron is just laying across the back.

Anyway, here's a few more pictures of next level hackery, lol.
32712
32713
32715
 

Bracket racer

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And yes, I welded the hangers on, I just had shoulder surgery and am not going to try and drill holes in the frame...course I'm not supposed to be doing any of this after shoulder surgery...hmmm... LOL!
 

Dirtman

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It's up there.
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It's down there.
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Those welds look a little scary. After you heal up I'd put some bolts in there!

Also why didn't you leave some room for axle droop? The shackles are at full extension.
 

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Actually they can move a tiny bit but right now there is zero weight on the rear end, its just bare frame I can almost pick up myself. This is the "most upright" it will be, when I put the box back on and add a winch etc it will drop down. Yeah the welds are boogers which look like crap but I did make 2-3 passes so what you see is the gobs on top. While I used to weld a lot (roll cages/etc) and had my stuff certified by nhra, in recent years I've found that I need to take my glasses off to see the welding properly. So if I weld up close and then 2ft away...anyway, they're boogers but they'll hold for now. Last night I welded on the shock mounts and then cut the driveshaft. Clean it up at dinner time today and hopefully take my time and weld it properly lol.
Actually I might have a few minutes I'll try to upload more pic's
 

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The camera on my BlackBerry sucks! lol!
1) Cutting the driveshaft
2) Grinding down the weld
3) peeling what's left of the driveshaft tube off the "head".
32737
32738
32739
 

Bracket racer

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Also keep in mind that it's locked in 4 low and 99.9% of the time I'm idling along in 1st gear. The trails here are very rocky and even the "swampy" parts still have a rock bottom. When I take it to N.B. there is mud up to the windshield, but other than roasting it in 1st (4000rpm) even there I idle along due to the 3.55 gears. All this to say, if any of the welds break it will never be a "holy shit" moment, just a "oh oh, what was that noise...something dragging/its lower on one side..."
 

alwaysFlOoReD

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I have bifocals for welding, and had the lenses prescription orientation flipped so the nearsighted section is at the top of the lenses. Since then I have bought single focal length glasses that have the focal length set to the most common weld distance I use, I like those better, and they are much cheaper.
 

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:rolleyes:I didn't know they could flip them/never occurred to me! Interesting...

Then all I would have to deal with is the guys cranking the gas pressure up so high I'm seeing the puddle being blown around (wtf is going on here? holy crap look at the flow knob!!!)
Or the guys running out of gas and swapping a different bottle on..."whatever, argon, nitrogen, blue shield, whatever it all does the same thing doesn't it? :icon_welder::rolleyes:
Or, why is it...holy crap the dials are wound right around full power, full wire speed!

In their defence, they are not welders they are mechanic's (myself included) but still...guys, you're killing me!
 

alwaysFlOoReD

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The flipped prescription works alright for when you're working under the dash too, but its still not perfect.
The con to these is that you will look like you're looking down your nose at people.
Not all places can/will do the flipped prescription. You will have to ask.
 

Bracket racer

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Allrighty then...to carry on with this shit show....
Here's full compression of the suspension;
32742
32743


it's about 10" vertical difference. That said, the driveshaft only has 4" of spline so it might limit me as to how far I go up. (The higher up, the longer the driveshaft needed)

Next is the driveshaft itself.
32744


I ground the weld down to see and I do have good penetration, made a second pass on top and built it up. BALANCE?? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BALANCE!! Lol.

And the completed shaft;
32745

Note the shiny "wear marks" on the shaft? That's where the cab was sitting on it's way out of the woods last time. Can't believe it didn't bend, the only thing holding the cab off the ground.
 

Bracket racer

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4.0 V6
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4WD
Total Lift
Crap load
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35X12.5 (bald so I don't break parts)
My credo
Low range in Nova Scotia on YouTube!
After wearing glasses all my life, my eyes got better? Yeah I know, "that doesn't happen" but mine did. Very weird. So while I'm still short sighted like before and my long vision never really changed, my short vision picked up a bunch requiring a prescription change. More than that, I can STILL see better without any glasses at all for small/really up close things. I can read the super fine print on the bottom of the kids electronics where everyone else see a faint yellow smear on the black box. Threading needles for the wife, etc? NO problem.

But...my welding has taken on a new level of suckage. It could be too, that while I've welded forever, (grew up on a farm with a stick welder building dune buggies, etc) I might not have the welder set right. I went from 17V to 9.6V and changed the wire speed around. The wire (.035) is burning off (pop, pop, pop) so I turn down the voltage or up the wire speed and sometimes it gets better but for the most part it doesn't. Another thing I've noticed is when I first start off its better than after a couple of 8" passes. It's like the wire is overheating. I tried moving the gas flow to make up for it but it doesn't seem to help. Anyway, 50lb spool on a frame aught to keep the bugger in one piece! LOL!
 

Bracket racer

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4.0 V6
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4.0
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2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
Crap load
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35X12.5 (bald so I don't break parts)
My credo
Low range in Nova Scotia on YouTube!
You know, one thing I'm bad at is fully cleaning rust off. Perhaps using a grind wheel instead of a flapper wheel is leaving too much crap on the metal. I try to "burn through" small amounts of rust/paint/etc like you would with a stick welder, that could be part of the problem too, now that I think about it...
 

alwaysFlOoReD

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Looks like your camera needs glasses too....lol. Nothing seems to be in focus.
You can try reading glasses as a cheap alternative t9 prescription glasses.
I don't think much of the angle on your shackle hanger. If the shackle goes too much the wrong way you will bend stuff. Maybe that's what you meant about putting in a stop? Personally I think the hanger should be moved forward an inch or 2. The shackle should be perpendicular to the spring in a neutral position.
Anyway, I'm liking your rebuild mostly.
 

Bracket racer

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Ranger supercab
Engine Type
4.0 V6
Engine Size
4.0
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
Crap load
Tire Size
35X12.5 (bald so I don't break parts)
My credo
Low range in Nova Scotia on YouTube!
Its hard taking pictures with a potato....lol. Not my phone, its my work blackberry and pictures was not one of the priorities apparently.
The hanger had to be tilted to clear the spring, but what angle its on, on the frame, is a moot point. The only thing I see is that the shackle has enough room to travel through its arc without bottoming out. Once I pull a leaf or two out and add weight to the backend, the spring will flatten out a bit and the shackle will be more vertical and in the middle of the swing. (perpendicular)
Yes I'm going to put limits on the amount the axle can rise (or ass can drop) Whether that's because the shocks bottom out, the shackle bottoms out or whether the driveshaft doesn't have enough spline left, either way, I will be limiting it before anything can bottom out and bend/break stuff.

Anyway, more to come.
 

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