1994 mazda b3000 SAS w/leafs

[KMRS87]

Yup front leafs are from the BJ40(diesel) land cruiser and the rears will be stock extended cab rears i dont have them in yet. as for the steering thats the main reason it isnt hooked up yet im hoping by setting it up with all the weight at ride height it will minimize the steering issues down the road the plan is to run the factory ranger box with high steer. but its one thing at a time.

since i got a bit more done might as well throw an update in here.

made my transfer case mounts last night. started with this. 4x4x1/4

after some cutting and grinding i had these 4 brackets made.

which i then welded to the crossmembers i had installed earlier.

weld shot

and what it looks like mocked into place... again lol. still needa get a bigger drill bit and stepper bit this week to get the bolts to work and need to clearence the front crossmember for the trans to tcase shaft.

didnt really get anything done today because it was 20c out and i was on this all day

probley start back on it tomorrow or tuesday an go from there.

 

[MountainMike]

I noticed you said 20*C, where are you from?

 

[RavoHimself]

mid garage looking back

is that an old xl250?

 

[KMRS87]

I noticed you said 20*C, where are you from?

Sydney, nova scotia er cape breton island if your local lol i should probley update my location.

yup an all original minus paint an tires 1980 XL250s. i use it all the time to go back an forth to work and light trail drives hasen't seen much use this year with having the 750 vulcan. both are licenced and insured an i wouldnt have it any other way

 

[RavoHimself]

cool. i have the same bike. just bought it a few months ago from my uncle. 1980 xl250s with 1200 miles for 600 bucks. no scratches, new tires. this thing is in perfect condition. and it gets over 55mpg. yay.

and on a different note can't wait to see the truck done

 

[KMRS87]

only a small update tonight but an update none the less.

decided to clean up the frame of any unnecessary brackets starting to get it ready to be boxed also realized i have a shit load of holes that i gotta weld up that i wont be using.

this is how it looked when is started.

and everything i removed tonight. minus the crossmember i had taken that out previously

and how it looks as of now.

I hoping to make a trip to the metal yard tomorrow an pic up enough 6inch flat stock to get me started as well as 8 more feet of 2x4 square tubing to finish my last 2 crossmembers. i realized tonight i gotta restock my cutting/welding supplies as they have been taking a beating lately lol. enjoy

 

[KMRS87]

different kind of update tonight. as you know im using the body panels as well as the motor an trans outta my dd and my tailgate has needed to be replaced since i bought the truck. unfortunately theres very few step sides locally an almost none that are rust free. so i picked up a tailgate off an 06? fleetside and sectioned 8 inches out of the center. leaving me with not only a smooth tailgate but a RUSTFREE one at that even scored new cables too. now on to the pictures.

my old tailgate. it had some major issues. the pictures speak for themselves.

new tailgate.

comparision of new an old side by side so you can get an idea off the difference between them.

what i did was measure them both an took the difference out of the center. it was 8 1/4 but i took 8 an left it 1/4 inch longer to get rid of the god awful gap i had before. so i hung my laser level above the door.

measured, made my marks an lined up the laser with them an used it as a guild to set the tape across.

i kinda slacked off here because my helper had left an i wanted to have the tailgate mounted before i left to drive home started at 4 finished at 11. but heres the finished product.

and the inside. again was in a rush so sorry for the quality of the pics. notice tho there is zero fill on the back side of it an you cannot see the seam. theres not even primer just some rattle can red to match until i paint the whole truck.

and the difference BEFORE

and AFTER

 

[MountainMike]

Really digging the smoothed out tailgate. Going to run an internal latch to open it I see, slick

 

[Josh40601]

Looking good brother! Can't wait to see it all done.

I was also wondering, do you still have that emblem of the new tailgate? Are you going to use it?

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

impressive work!!
looking good. waiting for more pics lol

 

[bobbywalter]

might want to rethink that.

 

[KMRS87]

might want to rethink that.

which part? the steerings not connected theres just over an inch of clearence between the springs and the links with less angle then the factory 2wd ttb? i can't shorten them til i have the full weight on the springs to minimize bumpsteer. so there just resting there. plus im looking at trying to find a better adjuster sleeve to use then the factory ranger ones i have.

see no worries. an if you meant switching to high steer setup thats coming in the near future. who knows with the way im being picky it might get it instead.

 

[bobbywalter]

no worries? you ever drive a sas with steering setup like that? with the links dead flat its real workable, some old school rigs are actually like that. but at those angles it may not be overly friendly on the road. possibly non-drivable at speed.

 

[KMRS87]

no worries? you ever drive a sas with steering setup like that? with the links dead flat its real workable, some old school rigs are actually like that. but at those angles it may not be overly friendly on the road. possibly non-drivable at speed.

I'm confused your worried about the angles? too much? in all the pictures its dissconnected theres almost NO angle with everything set up. Picture BOTH arms 2 inches higher at the end an you get the idea. the picture your seeing of the steering straight on is with the tie rods/links resting on the springs like in the other pictures they actually were taking 30 seconds apart of each other. also the weight of the engine will drop the steering box down futher reducing the angle & another reason why its not a full mock up yet. so the links will be ALMOST dead flat.

However if I dont like the steering i will change it using 2 driverside Cruiser Tie rods one passenger side tie rod and 1 factory ranger tie rod to make a crossover steering set up.

 

[bobbywalter]

if its dead flat it wont be bad, i did account for the disconnected ends though.

it will have pretty decent bump steer even dead flat, but imo will be easily managable.


a crossover will eliminate any of those temporary issues, so a moot point really...give er a whirl and let us know