Ranger Sport Honduras official build thread

[escort_gts]

35" should be good. I think my IronMan arms are a little linger than that. They mount right where the transmission mount is.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

So negative caster is better than positive?
yeah i deff need to give the pinion a decent angle too.
considering this truck isnt that tall, i wont have a big issue there.

 

[escort_gts]

I have my caster set about 6* which is about perfect imo.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

different strokes for different folks.

and I'm backwards
upper balljoint twords the back is positive

bottom line is the upper balljoint should be trailing the lower balljoint by X*

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Ok nice.
when it comes to building the arms ill dig up more on the whole caster thing.
i hope tomorrow i can start putting my axle together.

 

[dangerranger83]

I have positive caster on mine but my truck doesnt seem to have a problem with it, no death wobble and my steering returns to center.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Whats the safest top speed u guys can get without feeling like the truck will go out of control?

I would like to atleast hit 80mph, or 90 on straight lines now and then...

I hope i can bring some updates today.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

for me thats hauling ASS!!!! 55-60 is safe as long as its not too windy. throw some high winds in and its all overthe place. but do keep in mind mine is much taller than your planing on going and am running much larger bias ply tires

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Well ill be happy if i can get 80 now and then lol

 

[escort_gts]

I don't dare going over 70 in mine. High winds I keep around 55, 60 tops.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

had a good scare passing a car that was going to slow for my taste. while merging into the other lane going in and out of the ruts in the pavement the truck started swaying pretty badly. tried to accelerate out of it which only made it worse. by the time i got back into the the right lane (infront of the slow car) my 99% of my seat was clenched in my ass and my steering wheel had a couple of handprint impressions in it. this was all done on a calm summer day and i might have hit 75 TOPS passing the car. will never again pass a car on the road unless they are doing under 25.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

here is a sas with homemade long arms using some square tube and tractor parts. i would never personally go this route since i have better parts available but if its all you have then you gotta do what ya gotta do.

in my eyes this thing is sketchy as FAWK!!! but he was going after HEIGHT and HEIGHT alone. had several issues with the truck including but not limited to riped the frame apart from his trac-bar. if you build somthing like this and DIE it's NOT MY FAULT!!! you might be o.k. due to going for a lower stance but it is what it is. truck was put together way to quickly and i believe that is why it was on the verge of self destruction. I dont think he ever really wheeled it after he did this so no idea of how it perfromed. did this after i did mine. actually used ALOT of parts i was throwing out.


http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2511141

 

[4.0B2]

^^i think that would be fine... IF it wasn't so tall..

 

[Kage]

I just went through the past few pages of the thread, so lets see if I can help out with my two cents here:

1) You will WANT at least two Heim-type joints to use where you mount the arms to the truck. You can use bushings, but I think even with 'mild' wheeling, you will be unhappy with the performance of the system. That's not to mention you'll probably wind up eating bushings on a regular basis at that end of the system (even if you only run mild trails). Do what you can to get some proper joints in that location, the rest of the system (axle end) you can use bushings without a problem.

2) I've seen alot of the clayton stuff first hand, and it works just fine. 1/4" wall square tube will work if that's what you have access too. Round is better, but I wouldn't be scared of square so to speak.

3) How much lift (if any) are you shooting for? If you're keeping the lift under 4 ish inches, a 35" arm should work just fine for ya with the things you want to do.

4) While its nice to have, adjustable arms aren't mandatory. It does make setting everything up that much easier though.

5) Shoot for 5-6° caster in the front end (Top ball joints leaning toward the firewall). This tends to be the happy spot, and if you're not running stuipd lift, you shouldn't have to worry about the pinion angle either as it'll be close enough (stock caster spec on the Dana 30s is 4-8° from Jeep).

6) What are you going to do about a track bar (Panhard)? For what its worth, I've never liked the feeling of track bars with bushings in them. I like systems that have heims instead (or similar type joints). It makes the system feel tighter/crisper. But I realize that this a mostly a personal preferance.

7) Granted I'm running an entirely different front end setup, but I don't have any 'sketchy' moments running down the highway at 70-80 mph, though it does take me a long time to get up to that speed.

I hope some of my ramblings help!

 

[4.0B2]

I've seen numbers of y link arms with bushings on axleside... Works great.. Was my plan.

Dave's TJ is a flex monster on arms with flex joints at the frame and bushing at the axle..

Yes the rear is 4 linked. But the front flexes just as good.
Personally I prefer bushings at the axle for a dd.