"Big Darla" Build Thread

[Kage]

Lol, I was scratching my head looking at my P4WOR thinking I reconginzed that turck! Looks like its turning into a nice little truck, keep up the good work!

 

[dieseldane]

Just seen you in the mag, thought I'd get on here and give ya some props!

 

[AgPete139]

Nice truck. Just found your thread while doing a search...

Keep up the work, man.

 

[XionicWaste]

03-04-2012 02:49 PM
dieseldane Just seen you in the mag, thought I'd get on here and give ya some props!
03-04-2012 03:09 AM
Kage Lol, I was scratching my head looking at my P4WOR thinking I reconginzed that turck! Looks like its turning into a nice little truck, keep up the good work!
03-02-2012 06:22 AM
Josh40601 That's a good deal buddy. Keep at it and you're truck will be on the cover before you know it!

Thanks for the recognition guys, I do appreciate it!

So its been too long... Update time!

Before I put the truck on jack stands I received a call from my buddy who said he got sucked into a ditch and he needed the phone number of a tow truck. I told him Ill try and pull him out first. Once I arrived on scene he was STUCK... An F150 had come along and pulled him about 10 feet but he kept getting sucked in the ditch. Well I hooked up my lil ranger and pulled at several angles and I actually pulled him out. The kicker is that he drives a Dodge Cummins (8500 lbs truck)

Moving on!

I ordered some ChroMos from Bronco Graveyard (399 plus slingers and ujoints) I am running the early bronco shafts since I narrowed the axle they are the exact same length +- .25 inches. They were selling Yukon ones on the site for 500+ and I was pleasantly surprised when they were actual Yukon shafts! The tags were also a Yukon Axle serial number too. I wish I would have taken a picture of these shafts because they were burly! They didnt taper down anywhere. The thinest place they were is where the spines were cut down, legit.

The shafts would only slide in .25" so I pulled the carrier, made sure the shafts and spool was 30 spline, they were, and had to pound in the shaft. The spool was fully powder coated so that might have been the reason it was giving me a hard time. I pulled the shaft, put the carrier back in, checked my clearance's again, all was good, and buttoned it back up. I had to pound the shafts in and then put the ujoints on inside the knuckles.

I then decided to put the truck on jack stands and pull the old axle out.

Then off with the coil buckets!

I then finished installing everything on the axle except for my brake calipers. (I got new Warn Premium locking hubs, new hubs, rotors, seals, the bearings were fine I just repacked them.)

I then cut off the old track bar mount and the steel ridge that was on the knuckle/wedgie assembly:

I purchased the Ballistic Fabrication adjustable coil buckets and boy are they handy!

I also got in my Johnny joints and my Flex Joints:

I purchased some control arm brackets from Ballistic also:

Then I started welding to the truck, lower control arm:

The frame side control arm mount I decided to run closer to the axle. The tubing (2x.25 DOM) was cut to 2 feet and the joint and lower wedgie bushing make it closer to 3 feet so its more of a mid arm then a long arm.

Here you can see where my coil bucket will sit. Its about 5.5 inches forward from the old one (center to center). If you notice you can see my relocated steering box. I ended up welding a plate to the inside frame rail to make my surface level then running 2 thick washers under each "foot" of the steering box. The box came forward about 2.5 inches but rotated level a lot more. The steering box is fairly close to the radiator now. I did not put posts/columns inside the frame rail, I believe it will be fine sense the steering box is under rotational force not a sheering force. That I will have to keep an eye on. Also if you notice the engine shock absorber is taken off. The coil buckets come away from the frame a decent amount and the shock absorber will be put back on, I just need to grind the mount to clear the side of the coil buckets.

The SAS is basically done... More updating later.

 

[XionicWaste]

More updates...

Ill start off with something fun. A restaurant in town was selling a 96oz burrito and the challenge was you had to eat it in 45 minutes to win a t shirt. Well guess who won?

Here is where the axle is going to sit, its a 4" stretch.

Im running 1 ton steering with 1.5" x .25DOM tubing for tierod, draglink, and track bar. Here you can see the relocated pitman arm and where the axle sits in relation to it. I think it turned out perfect.

My frame side track bar mount had larger holes than my johnny joints so I welded them closed and re drilled to the correct size.

I got my tie rod done.

Heres how it sits so far. You can see both track bar mounts. The axle side mount I ended up changing.

For the lower axle side mount I cut up some 5/16th plate and triangulated a offset perch for the track bar mount to sit on:

I got the trackbar done and steering finished too. Im off about 4 degrees from the steering and the track bar but currently have no bumpsteer.

More to come later today!

 

[Grunizzle]

Looking good man! Are you using and special bushing on your wedgies? Have you thought about going over the knuckle on the steering?

 

[brinker88]

Lookin good!

 

[kroussinoffroad]

why did you go under the knuckle with the steering?

 

[Kage]

why did you go under the knuckle with the steering?

Ditto? Flip that dude!

 

[AgPete139]

Ditto? Flip that dude!

+1

Most people flip them, with some getting better steering geometry in the process along with ground clearance.

 

[XionicWaste]

Looking good man! Are you using and special bushing on your wedgies?

Im running the 7 degree poly bushings from Bronco Graveyard.

why did you go under the knuckle with the steering?

I would get better geometry and clearance but the taper on the knuckles are that way. If I would do it all over again I would have gone HEIMS for the steering... Would I have to drill and run a tapered insert?

 

[Kage]

...If I would do it all over again I would have gone HEIMS for the steering... Would I have to drill and run a tapered insert?

Having run Heims, do not do that for your steering. You will hate it. Ruff Stuff sells the inserts you can use which are a bit cheaper than buying a reamer.

 

[Grunizzle]

Having run Heims, do not do that for your steering. You will hate it. Ruff Stuff sells the inserts you can use which are a bit cheaper than buying a reamer.

Wouldn't you still need to ream the pitman arm?

 

[Kage]

Wouldn't you still need to ream the pitman arm?

Depending on how you build your setup. But yes, you'll either need to use a tapered insert or re-ream the hole on the pitman arm as well (if you want the larger joints anyway).

 

[Josh40601]

Having run Heims, do not do that for your steering. You will hate it. Ruff Stuff sells the inserts you can use which are a bit cheaper than buying a reamer.

Completely agree. I'm actually going back to TREs for my Ranger. I have replaced more heims than anything else on my truck.