Im Back!! and motivated

[spdcrazy]

looking good james... keep it up!

 

[dave@threat]

haha well njust scroll down a bit from here and you will see them on!



Yes sir! that was the first thing i did this mornin. worked out perfect first time through too!



This is the first ive ever heard of something like this. why did you trim it to begin with?




Well here are the beams/ radius arms and brackets all on the truck. i also busted the d44 knuckles off the old d44 beams so they will be ready to be put on the truck (not in any pics for today). I still need to get the steering all together but am waitin on a stock pitman arm from a fellow member. I also need to pick up a few more bolts and washers to get everything put back together (missing some bolts for the radus arm brackets and need bolts for the radius-to-beam connection) but wont be able to do that till tuesday since copperstate will be closed tomorrow.

One thing i did notice when settin up the radius arm brackets though dave. was that when i set the passenger side beam to 1/4-3/8" away from the driver side beam bracket bolt, then measured from the body mount rivet to the center radius-to-beam connecting bolt to set up the the driver side. The driver side had to be pulled back so far that the driver side beam would hit the bolt for the passenger side beam bolt on the beam to achieve the same measurement for the passenger side. So i jsut moved it a 1/2" forward to clear the bolt. Shouldnt hurt anything should it? also, without moving it forward, my wheel base on the driver side was 114" and the passenger was 115".


pics

Sounds like you just have a case of common Ford Frame rack attack.. It will be fine how you have but if you want you can double check the measurments. Set the beams so there is 8" between the bottom of the frame and the top of the beam. Thats going to be your ruff estimated ride hieght. Then measure from the corner of the body mount to the center of the "alignment cam holes" to see what you come up with. Its looking good so far!!

 

[84projectFORD]

Sounds like you just have a case of common Ford Frame rack attack.. It will be fine how you have but if you want you can double check the measurments. Set the beams so there is 8" between the bottom of the frame and the top of the beam. Thats going to be your ruff estimated ride hieght. Then measure from the corner of the body mount to the center of the "alignment cam holes" to see what you come up with. Its looking good so far!!

oh i got ya. Yeah thats how i measured it and to set it exactly the same i would have to put the driver side beam into the passengerside beam bolt. Ill probably set it another 1/2" forward (1" all together more than the passenger side) so it clears everthing all the way till it hits valley of the engine cross member.

No work done today, buddy got his off shore boat all fixed up so we had some fun on the lake. Ill be goin over to the shop tomorrow night to get the knuckles on and start on the steering.

 

[84projectFORD]

Did a little bit of stuff today. Mocked the fender up, put the kuckle, bearings, and tire on to see how it would sit at full bump and ride height. Fenders definitly aint wide enough but the tires dont rub! lol Taking the rotors and knuckles down tomorrow to get sand blasted so i can paint them. Also buying new ball joints for the kuckles, new bearings for the driver side, new calipers and pad, gettin all teh grade 8 bolts to finish the steering and radius arm brackets, and some other little odds and ends to finish the front end completely. Then its onto cage!


sitting at ride height

at full bumpstop

 

[RaceRanger97]

looks way good..that threat kit is beautiful

 

[84projectFORD]

looks way good..that threat kit is beautiful

I know, i love just starin at it in the garage. The bad part is my GF is wondering why i dont stare at her the same way i stare at the kit . BTW one of these days i need to call ya and get some stuff ordered up for the 9"

 

[spdcrazy]

ya know they make wider fenders that those 3in. maybe you should just donate those to me and grab a 6in set!!!



good work man! good freaking work

 

[84projectFORD]

haha thanks rob. Those are 4" wide fenders so even with a 6" i still wouldnt be able to cover the tire lol. Do they make a 6" in the old school style? i will not update my glass to a newer body style ranger as im goin old school body with new school under it.

Oh if any one knows of anybody sellin bed sides for i think 92 or older long bed ranger let me know. gunna need some to mock up when the cage starts

 

[spdcrazy]

haha thanks rob. Those are 4" wide fenders so even with a 6" i still wouldnt be able to cover the tire lol. Do they make a 6" in the old school style? i will not update my glass to a newer body style ranger as im goin old school body with new school under it.

Oh if any one knows of anybody sellin bed sides for i think 92 or older long bed ranger let me know. gunna need some to mock up when the cage starts

i do believe so!

and i like your thoughts with the old skool body and new skool suspension. hence why i drive a first gen!

 

[dave@threat]

Its looking good! I do know a guy that makes a nice wide old school fender if you are interested. Also if you can try to find someone to trade you wheels. Look for a 15x7".

 

[84projectFORD]

Its looking good! I do know a guy that makes a nice wide old school fender if you are interested. Also if you can try to find someone to trade you wheels. Look for a 15x7".

hmm definitly! specially if he can do the rears as well cause im sure ill be loosing glass while im out racing. Well the ones on there are 15x8 with a 4.5" back spacing. i think at most ill only be sucking the tire in another 1-2"s which really isnt worth it to me, specially for as expensive as beadlocks can be.

 

[84projectFORD]

Well got the rotors, hubs, knuckles dropped off at the sandblaster. Have all the bolts needed to finish everything up front, buddy at fastenAll hooked me up royal. New calipers, bearings, seals, ball joints, pads and caliper hardware are all in at NAPA, jsut need to get them tomorrow and my stock pitman arm came in today. SHould have her all together this weekend other than puttin the coilovers in, all depends on what time i have to do it

 

[84projectFORD]

Shes finally startin to look like a racer! got the knuckles back and painted, rotors/hubs painted, put the new ball joints in the knuckles (gotta love harbor freight presses), put now wheel bearings and races in as well as new wheel bearing seals, all the beams and bracekts and tighten up into their perminate spot, and i alos made a cap for the back of the d44 spindle to keep dirt out. Just need to find out how the machined caps Dave was makin came out for where the manual hubs use to be. Here are some pics.

spindles with old ball joints after sandblasting and paint

spindles with new ball joints ( i love getting cost on parts at napa )

cap i made with a washer and welded up the hole. put RTV under the washer as well as all around the out side after i tacked it on. yes its only tacked so if jsut for some god givin reason i need to take it off i can

damn this thing is lookin cool! i just cant contain myself .

Only issue i may have is she is 85 1/4" wide at ride height in the front. Racing specs say no more than 85"s so i may have to add some preload before tech to pass then take it back out .

Tomorrow is install of the swingset steering and add a bar to hold her up at ride height till i start the engine cage and can mount the coilovers. I honestly cant wait to start bendin some tube for this thing!!!

 

[dave@threat]

Shes finally startin to look like a racer! got the knuckles back and painted, rotors/hubs painted, put the new ball joints in the knuckles (gotta love harbor freight presses), put now wheel bearings and races in as well as new wheel bearing seals, all the beams and bracekts and tighten up into their perminate spot, and i alos made a cap for the back of the d44 spindle to keep dirt out. Just need to find out how the machined caps Dave was makin came out for where the manual hubs use to be. Here are some pics.

spindles with old ball joints after sandblasting and paint

spindles with new ball joints ( i love getting cost on parts at napa )

cap i made with a washer and welded up the hole. put RTV under the washer as well as all around the out side after i tacked it on. yes its only tacked so if jsut for some god givin reason i need to take it off i can

damn this thing is lookin cool! i just cant contain myself .

Only issue i may have is she is 85 1/4" wide at ride height in the front. Racing specs say no more than 85"s so i may have to add some preload before tech to pass then take it back out .

Tomorrow is install of the swingset steering and add a bar to hold her up at ride height till i start the engine cage and can mount the coilovers. I honestly cant wait to start bendin some tube for this thing!!!

Order 2 thin jam nuts for the beams and your good to go.

 

[84projectFORD]

Order 2 thin jam nuts for the beams and your good to go.

Well ill be callin ya tomorrow then! plus i wanted to see how far you had got with those billet caps for the d35/d44 hubs .



Well shes back on all 4s! got most of the steering hooked up but found out the piman arm i had gotten from a fellow member is the worng one for my truck. oh well, ill have to pick up another here soon. Other than that i got everything else hooked up and made a a couple peices of tube to hold her up till i can get the coilovers in.

couple questions to those with the d44 kuckles and dave. How did you go about gettin a bolt to fit the steering knuckle bolt hole? the 1/2 bolt that fits in the misalignment spacer is too small to take up the slack in kuckle. SHould i jsut weld up the hole and redrill it? or is there something else im jsut not thinkin of. Also dave, (im sure ill ask you this tomorrow) but when i jack the driverside beam up the tie rod for the steering will hit the swinger for the passenger side tie rod. Ive tried adjusting all the bars and can get it to miss if the wheels are straight but if i try to turn hit hits really bad. Something not setup right?? pics are below if anyone has any ideas. Either way, front end is pretty much finished and now its cage time!! Man i love the way this thing is lookin. just cant get over the old school look with new school underneithe