The "Mudhound" unde the knife

[Mudhound]

Okay. Sorry for the lack of build, but I managed to break my wrist, and finally got the cast off 2 days ago. I can do little piddly stuff for now, as I am going to a follow-up in a couple of weeks and want make sure that everything is still in the right place, and healing correctly BEFORE I get back to the drivetrain stuff.

 

[Mudhound]

Well, I couldn't stand just looking at the poor Ranger just sitting there on the jackstands anymore, so the TTB junk got yanked out, the passenger side pivot bracket pulled, and the rearmount swaybar, too. I will post some pic tomorrow, including of the new axle laying under the truck, and a problem that I happened to find with the motor...

 

[Mudhound]

I also owe you guys ALOT of promised pix of some of the underhood stuff, so just bear with me, as I decided to go back and read the thread to see where I left off on the pix for everyone.

 

[Mudhound]

Oh, okay. Enough interemission here. Let's show a little bit of the up armour for the D30 and discuss why, shall we. I will be posting some more stuff tomorrow, as I get my steel for the new control arms and get to work on them, along with a few other things.

This is a spot that NEEDS to be reworked for any serious, or even half way serious use. The factory hardly welds the brackets on to start with, so while you are at it, go ahead and finish the job, inside and out on the brackets. These things are thin, so any beef that you can give them is a major help. I will have some pix in the AM of what these look like after a "mild" day WITHOUT armour, at least, a mild day for me.

This is another spot that needs help. It takes ALOT of abuse for being a thin peice of stamped steel.

 

[Mudhound]

Okay. I couldn't resist sharing some of the pics of where I go play, so, to give you guys an idea of what my Ranger gets to look forward to:

Yeah, I know, nothing SUPER so far, but this IS a build thread, not the Wheeling thread. That'll be later, and be my BII and old XJ and MJ, mostly.

 

[Mudhound]

Oh, and one of the BII that shares the stable with the Ranger.

 

[Mudhound]

UPDATES. YEA. Okay, I got some of the steel that I ordered in and the only thing that was right was the tubing for the LCA bushings, 1/4" x 2 1/4". This way you can use stock type bushings for an XJ in a reloadable assembly. I don't know about you folks, but I HATE custom stuff because if you break, bend, or otherwise AFU it, you are going tobe down for parts for X amount of time for a new one. The sleeves that I got to make are 2 5/16ths" long, just enough for the stock bushing to fit into, without reducing the strength of the housing.

Up above I showed the up-armoured tabs for the D30, well, here is a picture of the "why", at least for the LCAs. This happens quite often, and easily. Kind of annoying to fix, too.

 

[Mudhound]

Now, for the coils. I got a set of coils from an F150 Supercab that I thought looked promising, so, home they went. Even the 2WD coils won't work for this, as you can see.

As you can see, the UCA mount is way into the engine cradle, so this ain't gonna work.

I made the shock mount extension when this was under the old XJ, so disregard it for now. The stock shocks for the TTB are actually just short of full compresion here. Really not a good sign.

THIS is way too close to the engine cradle, hence the reason that "most" people say that you need around a minimum of 6" of lift with a SAS.

Ah, yes. The "money" shot.

 

[Mudhound]

I guess that I will be swiping the 4" lift EB coils that I was trying to save for another project. As soon as my steel comes in (HOPEFULLY the right stuff this time...) I will be working on the arms some more, so in the meantime I am going to be working on the sway bar setup, tracbar frame mount, and the interior some more.
As Marvin the Martian always said "Delays, delays."

 

[dangerranger83]

So I HAVE to lift my truck to do this swap or the solid axle wont work. I was hoping not to have to but to the sky it is. So the truck can sit on the axle without the control arms mounted as long as you dont move the truck? If so then that will help to know where to mount the control arms without guessing as much.

Theres no way to get around the engine cross member hitting the UCA with that kind of height unless you were able to mod the cross member but I dont want to get into that though.

This just makes me want to rip my sh*tty TTB off and do it now but due to a lack of funds atm, I cant or it would be in the garage getting it done now or if worse came to worse in the cold outside on the driveway, and also I dont have my steering linkage yet I need to pm the guy to see if he shipped them out like he said he was!!!!!!!

But looks good so far dont stop!!!!

EDIT: just saw that you are using 4inch EB lift coils, does that mean stock f-150 coils wont work and I have to get lift ones for a EB or f-150?????

 

[Mudhound]

DR, the coils that my Ranger is sitting on in the pics. ARE the F150 coils (stock height). I am using the shocks and the weight of the truck to hold the axle in place. There are wheel chocks behind the tires to help keep it from moving, but the Jackstands ARE going back under it, as this was done to show you what kind of clearance you DON'T have with the F150 coils. Sucks, don't it? Having to lift it moderately high to clear the axle. I also re-measured to confirm my LCA length, and I am looking at 32", bolt hole to bolt hole. I am using bushing at both ends for the improved flex, not to mention the softer ride than a Heim or Johnny joint can provide. Hopefully, I can find some useable box or tube steel at the local recycler in the AM. I have steel on order again, but I am getting really tired of not getting the right stuff.

As for the EB coils over the F150, I feel that the Ranger, with a V8, is closer in weight to the EB than a FS truck.

Look at it this way, Dangerranger83. This is a GREAT time to go ahead and deal with any thing that you want or need to do to the axles while waiting on the rest of your parts. You know, weld the brackets on better, plate them, just make SURE to leave space for the bushings and the end of the arm in the axle mount for the bushing to be able to pivot, and the arm to be installed/removed. The brackets on the LCA mounts on this axle were welded on for AFTERMARKET/smaller than stock arms/bushings. MAKE SURE to include the space that your LCA setup will need when you armour up.

 

[dangerranger83]

I havent got the brakets made, going to re-design them, I havent even got the TTB ripped out. I have all winter to play with my 3D program to design what I need. Sad part is I will start this next spring, but if done during the winter it might turn into a rush job.

So I'm definatly not going for stock EB or f-150 springs. You know of any good springs that can work other then the EB or f-150? If not I'll work with what I have got cant hurt to try huuu???

 

[Mudhound]

I am going to be looking in my Moog Spring and Brake Catalog, and see if I can find something that will work, that is a normal production vehicle. I really am NOT wanting to use my EB springs, as they have been eramarked for a special project for some time now.

 

[dangerranger83]

So is there a differance between factory EB springs and f-150 ones? I want to find a set that I can get from a JY.

 

[NMB2]

dude coils are cheap. buy some.