D60 and 14b build

[68Mercury250Ranger]

Wow an impessive build. I even like the truck it started out as.

I have a 94 explorer that I was planning to put 60/70 in but I'm only running a max tire of 38 12.5s .
I already have the axles ,gears and lockers from my previous fullsize 4 wheeling but wanted to try an explorer.

I will be needing it as a driver to/from work as well, so it won't be as big as yours or as cool

I bet those Tbirds won't break as many parts as swamper or boggers

any bare ground out there yet? a nice mid winter thaw makes for some fun easy wheeling.

 

[brendank]

Wow an impessive build. I even like the truck it started out as.

I have a 94 explorer that I was planning to put 60/70 in but I'm only running a max tire of 38 12.5s .
I already have the axles ,gears and lockers from my previous fullsize 4 wheeling but wanted to try an explorer.

I will be needing it as a driver to/from work as well, so it won't be as big as yours or as cool

I bet those Tbirds won't break as many parts as swamper or boggers

any bare ground out there yet? a nice mid winter thaw makes for some fun easy wheeling.

Thanks. Your right, I probably won't break as much with the turd's than boggers. They're still quite heavy though. Bias ply doesn't help. BTW, this truck is my only vehicle.

Got the spare housing in. Going to change up the shock mounts in the rear again, for probably the 3rd time Mudflaps are almost done as well. They're a pain to design a mount for, because I want them to be study, and not have to rely on the bushwacker flares at all. If I tied them into the flares, it would surely crack them.

Here's a pic of the winch mount, from the bottom. It was a pita to get a better pic of it. This should at least give an idea of what was involved.

I also canceled plans for the BTF truss. I'm going to build my own, and use their poly bushings to do the anti-wrap.

 

[wahlstrom1]

Can I ask what the hefty chunk of angle iron is below the front bumper? My guess is thats the 'legal' bumper height?

-andrew

 

[brendank]

Can I ask what the hefty chunk of angle iron is below the front bumper? My guess is thats the 'legal' bumper height?

-andrew

For plowing snow

lol, I was wondering if anyone would post up about that. Yeah, in Sask., a bumper must be at least original manufacturers track width, no more that 29.5" to the bottom, and have at least a 10cm face vertically. Before I put the shims in to correct the coil spring bow, I was right on 29.5". Since now I'm just over 30", I need something that will meet the above requirements.

In early spring, SGI will be coming out with new lifted vehicle specific regulations that will more closely address some of these issues. I know, because I was involved in the discussions with them over what kinds of modifications should be considered reasonable. This "bumper" was made to meet the current rules, and will be changed when the new laws are released and put into effect. The mudflap that you can see in the back is another thing that needed to be done to meet regulations.

Basically, I didn't want to put a bunch of work to build a new bumper to meet the current laws just to be told a month later that it's no longer legal.

 

[brendank]

I had some spare time today, so my brother and I went to his work shop and built a truss that will be the main mounting point for the antiwrap bar. It was certainly nice to have all of the tools that a large metal fabrication shop has lying around.

I also meant to take my camera with me, but i forgot, so you guys are stuck with my shitty camera phone pics.

The truss was built with the basic design of the BTF truss in mind. I really liked the strength of it, the simplicity, and the ease in reproducing it. We were going to do a pinion guard as well, but decided against it.


3-40 tonne cranes, anyone?

First, we cut a piece of 3/8" plate to the proper width. Since we were using free scrap, we had to compromise with what was laying around. It's diamond plate, but whatever. Cutting with the 100 amp Hypertherm plamsa.

Bending:

Oops, too far.

Cleaning up the ends after cutting the piece with the shear:

Notched for the tube. 1/2 done the main part.

Figuring out the last 2 bends. New exhaust is still lookin' good!

Last bend done.

This shear is an amazing machine. Definitely on my list of machinery/tools that I want to own someday. Who needs a drill press?

Seems to work on the bench.

Works on the axle, too!

Episode 2, building the antiwrap bar, crossmember and shackle should be coming soon! I've also got a surprise for the disc brakes. I decided not to go with the crappy generic 14B disc brake setup that leaves you with a pathetic parking brake at best. This truck is driven on the street, so I need one, no excuses. Custom brackets should be done getting cut at the end of next week!

 

[SAS_RANGER]

That is a great looking truck that can go anywhere. I love the d60 and 14b axles and want them under my ranger. Also that is one of the cleanest rangers I've ever seen.

 

[Evan]

Good call with the h.p. 60 and 14 bt.

Get rid of those Thornbirds!!!!!! That thing is too awesome to run crappy tires.

 

[brendank]

So I did my first gear install on the weekend. Finally put the 5.38's in the 14B. All went well. I had a good drive pattern to begin with, but the coast was too far to the toe for me to be comfortable with. After some adjusting, I got it fairly close to centered. Backlash is at .007". Sorry, but no pics. Good thing the Yukon kit came with two crush sleeves, because I crushed the first one too far.

The instructions on setting carrier bearing preload via the adjusting nuts is a bit of a joke. It's certainly very convenient compared to shims, but the instructions were a bit vague in each place I looked. It's definitely nice for setting backlash, though.

I'd like to do the D60 myself as well, but I think I need to do alot more reading before then. This whole case spreader and carrier bearing preload adjustment via shims thing is freaking me out a bit.

 

[dangeranger01]

Wish I had a D60...... Nice build.

 

[brendank]

So I went ahead and did the 5.38's and lockright in the D60 this weekend. It wasn't too bad, but after having that carrier in and out about 20 times without a case spreader, I don't really want to ever do it again.

Up on jackstands. (Steering stabilizer is temporary. I had it laying around and wanted to see if it would help with the wandering/tramlining. It didn't -> it must be coming from the bias ply tires. Almost every component in the steering is brand new. Toyo Open Country M/T's are on order, anyways.)

Diff cover off and steering out of the way:

Close up of the 4.10's and open diff:

Calipers off:

Spindles and shafts out:

mmmmmm D60:

Carrier out:

Almost empty housing:

New 5.38 ring & lockright installed:

Drive pattern:

Coast:

I'm happy with the drive, but the coast was still not perfect. It was way better than what I started with, though. At that point, I had spent hours adjusting it and just wanted to put the damn thing back together.


Testing

 

[JohnnyU]

Check the preload on your kingpins. If they're too loose, they can cause some wandering/wobble going down the road. Usually it's more like death wobble than wandering though.

What's your toe set at, bringing in in a bit might also help.

 

[brendank]

Check the preload on your kingpins. If they're too loose, they can cause some wandering/wobble going down the road. Usually it's more like death wobble than wandering though.

What's your toe set at, bringing in in a bit might also help.

I call it wandering, but I should really use the proper term which is tramlining. It follows the grooves in the road. When I switch lanes, it takes quite and amount of steering to get out of the grooves, and then it jumps out and pushes hard into the lane I'm switching into. Trying to stay in the grooves is difficult at times. It tends to bounce back and forth in the bottom of them.


I've actually went over everything in the steering at least 3 times. I took a very small amount of play out of the steering shaft(where it meets the column and box), checked the meshload on the box(which was good), checked tie rods which are all brand new, and checked the kingpins, which are springless due to the H/S arms. I'm pretty sure that they're tight enough.

It's gotta be in the tires. Inflation pressure seems to make a huge difference, and so does the temperature outside. Lower(~15psi) and warmer is better.

IIRC toe is set to 1/16" in, and caster is ~6.5 degrees.

 

[Danger-Ranger96]

wow brendan, that thing just looks bad ass!

definately didn't think it would be that good!

whats with the thorn turds? lol

 

[brendank]

definately didn't think it would be that good!

Actually, I'm kinda unimpressed with the front flex. It's not maxed out in any of those pics, but it's not too far.

When I picked the coils, I bought ones that I thought would be on the soft side. I'm sitting @ 5500lbs with me and a full tank of gas. IIRC they are supposed to be around 240 lb/in. It looks like I need to get the weights of both front corners and start doing some calculating in order to find some coils that are a bit better.

 

[Bray D]

I'd say the pinion is still a bit shallow, but you'll be fine. The flares and mudflaps for street legalness eh?