'89 BII, startin with leafs

[buildinabeast]

I am interested in seeing some pics of your swap.

 

[alpinestar]

so i guess nows a good time to tell you i didnt take any huh? lol what did you wanna see?

 

[midget]

Hey bud how long are your shackles I got my truck to sit on its own weight on the leafs and they were at the right arc but my shackles are too short and went flat horizontal.... Mine are 5" sooo I was going to lengthen them to like 8-9" I think Im using a lil softer front springs but my truck wont see any highway time so its all good.

 

[alpinestar]

i have 9" shackles, for flex its definitly a must. and i have 2" rancho leafs for a wrangler. i dont know how much a wrangler weighs but its about half as much as a B2 or Ranger so they seem really super soft in my truck but their pretty stiff for a wrangler and i do 60 down the highway no problem. what springs are you gonna run?

 

[alpinestar]

The other thing is that my shackles sit fairly flat as well but not completely. its the perfect amount to stuff my tire but it stops just before it hits my fender and it allows it to droop alot. so dont try to make them too vertical or you will lose all your downwards travel. just my .02 cents, and it seems to work well. good luck!

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Your shackle angle should be about 90 degrees to the leaf at ride height for the best performace out of the spring.

 

[alpinestar]

ya thats about what mine is, probably a little less. thats what i was thinking when i posted last but i wasnt sure if that would be accurate or not. thanks for clearing it up.

 

[midget]

OOO sweet thanks I made mine 8" and was reall worried I was gettin carried away. I couldnt test fit them in the truck until my friend brought back my cherry picker jack doesnt go high enough. The springs I have are a 2" lift spring from a 70s Jeep CJ they look tiny but the Jeep have a V8 or straight 6 so I should be fine jsut need to finish gutting all the BS like AC, airbox, doors and teh other useless stuff I have. My truck isnt meant for any kind of highway use so FLEXY is where its at for me I think Im going to buggy leaf the rear and fill the rear tires with Lead shot or Fluid here soon.

 

[alpinestar]

the buggy leaf, like elliptical style? ya i was thinking the same for my rear. how does that handle on the highway? cuz my truck is a dialy driver and i never intend to make it non street driveable.

 

[midget]

The guy I got the idea off of has it on his Yota pickup with a flatbed and says he didnt notice much difference on the road but hes running boggers and what not. Heres a link to his build in case your interested. http://www.miobi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1021&highlight=

As far as streetability I have a nice street truck that I tried using as dual purpose but one smashed front end later I decided to get a trail only truck so I bought my ranger for less than I have in tires. You already have the B2 SASed now get a cheap toy hauler and have some fun.

 

[alpinestar]

well im 16 and gotta go to school everyday. plus having a job right now is nearly impossible. so money is tight and i just scrape parts together to build my truck. and in my opinion theres no reason to have a truck if you cant drive it through town and have everyone stare at you, so i dont have any plans to ever make a "trail only" vehicle. but its up to you what you want to do. if i were to go that route i'd have full widths already haha..

well thanks for the info, im thinkin about buyin all the mounts and building a trianglulated 4 link next. so i will probably give that elliptical a try to see if i cant get some flex out of the rear. but like i said moneys tight so its gonna be a few months.

 

[midget]

Yeah I get what you mean I didnt want to go this route but the trails around here are just to much for a truck you want to keep in good shape. I went with the smartest option although I could get plates and everything for the ranger to drive it on the street its just another insurance and license fee I would have to pay and I dont need to drive it on the street.

 

[alpinestar]

ya for sure, i can understand that... i dont think ive seen yours, got some pics?

 

[midget]

This is what it looks like now almost finished with the SAS its hard to make time to work on it when Im working alot of overtime.
This was before the SAS on the trailer behind my Xterra. Sooner or later Im going to finish the Exo Cage so I can pull the doors off and maybe cut the roof off lol.

 

[alpinestar]

wow thats a crazy lookin truck. looks definitly like a trail only rig haha. its cool. so i was wondering, you said you wanted to finish the exo so you can take the doors off, is it legal to take your doors off and drive down the road if you have an exocage? cuz here in washington any vehicle that did not come from the factory with removeable doors cannot have the doors off and drive down the road... sucks cuz i made mine removeable just for that reason....