Shran's '86 Build

[88_Eddie]

i like the bumper nice work

 

[036speed]

I like the bumper! I am a fan of the strong simple ones.

 

[Shran]

Thanks for the compliments!

Some updates, I relocated the winch solenoid pack under the hood. Figured that would keep the moisture out of it somewhat better, and also I hard wired in a switch in the dash for winch in/out. Works great, much better than stringing out the winch remote every time I need to use it.

I also just got back from my club's yearly event, the Dakota Territory Challenge. What a blast! Three days of solid wheeling in some of the world's best rock crawling. I got to run a VERY cool trail called Cheerios - lots of tight turns, drop offs, big rocks and climbs. Broke my track bar bracket and destroyed a lockout hub, no big deal. I borrowed a drive flange from a buddy and also finished a trail that has been my nemesis for the last few years, Calamity Canyon - never was able to get through it since I had no lockers. The Lockright in the front made it super fun and challenging.

Couple pics - truck flexed out on a big rock in Calamity:

Track bar bracket - the welds broke on the other side (not shown) and it pulled almost all the way off the frame during the first of three sections of Cheerios. I was not able to finish that trail but got to ride along with a buddy to see the rest of it. Really excited, we got a conditional use permit from the Forest Service for this trail and very few have been able to run it over the years!

 

[88_Eddie]

^

i'm rebuilding my upper track bar bracket b/c of that pic

 

[Shran]

Don't rebuild yours because of the way mine failed, it was not designed well to begin with! I should have welded it onto the frame but it was just bolted. Honestly I seriously thought about rebuilding it completely before the trip but didn't have time...thought it would be fine, guess not!

The ONLY reason mine failed was because one weld had very little penetration. If it had been welded a little better it would not have broken. But years ago when I built it, I only had a 110v MIG welder. Quite frankly I'm surprised it lasted that long, after seeing how it broke.

 

[88_Eddie]

i did weld mine to the frame....maybe i'll just beef it up before i start beatin on it

 

[Shran]

I'm sure yours is fine but some extra gussets, bolts, and weld will never hurt. A good solid track bar mount is IMO the MOST important part of your front suspension.

I am basically going to use the exact same design I used before, just with thicker steel and welded to the frame. It worked fine; the fatal flaw was my welding and nothing else. Fortunately, literally every other piece of the front suspension was built much better.

 

[Shran]

Fixed it, built out of 1/4 plate instead of 3/16 this time. Same exact design, just built a lot better.

 

[Robert_1967]

is it just me or the picture, or is your spring really bowed out bad???




Robert




sent with a starter and NOS.

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Nah, his track bar isn't hooked up. The frame has fallen to the passengers side.

 

[Shran]

The springs on both sides are like that. I dunno what causes it, slight difference in width between the axle and frame perhaps. Just looks weird is all.

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Well if that's the case, fix it before you get a spring through your tire.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2

 

[Robert_1967]

I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think someone on here in a different posting said that will cause your springs to fail sooner then later, and could cause one to fly out sideways on the trail if the hold downs failed.



Robert



sent with a bottle of Prozac, and a sweet tea.

 

[Shran]

I'm not too worried about it. My buddy has an Early Bronco that did the same thing with similar (Duff) progressive rate springs. Only difference is mine are 6.5" and his were 4.5".

Also, I'm not entirely sure HOW to fix it, other than buying a set of stiffer springs. I would sure hate to have to redo the track bar and steer linkage to accommodate for different springs.

I'd like to just ditch the coil springs and put in coilovers or ORIs but it won't be in the budget for a while.

 

[kris97ranger]

either space the coil buckets off the frame some or in board the lower mounts