Cruggy Progress II

Rich

Rich

Asshole at large
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Central PA
No pics, (forgot the camera), but I'll fill this in when I get back with the camera.

Made the battery tray, actually - modified the hell out of the one that I already had. It was the very first thing I fabricated on Blue, and I wanted to keep it... It's mounted up, nice and tight.

The cage is welded, slag removed, etc... That took a while! There is a BUNCH of joints on this cage...

The second mount for the tranny / t-case is done... had to support it a little farther forward than I wanted, but it came out well - the weight is evenly distributed between the tranny mount and the t-case mount. Came out very complex looking, but everything unbolts, and everything can be accessed.

The taurus fan is now mounted to the radiator, got it sealed up well... Now need to make a mount for the radiator, but that has to wait for the bodywork to go back in.. Damn that thing moves a TON of air!

Also started some bling.. cutting the diamond plate in the rear that will hold the propane tanks, co2, etc... DAMN that is a pain in the ass to cut! looks :huggy: though...
 
Rich said:
The taurus fan is now mounted to the radiator, got it sealed up well... Now need to make a mount for the radiator, but that has to wait for the bodywork to go back in.. Damn that thing moves a TON of air!
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Those Taurus fans ROCK ! (Ford did something right for a change :lol: )
I love mine and you're right Rich, they move a BUNCH of air. Cooooolness.

JB
 
Mikey said:
sounds like its coming right along. cant wait to see some pics! maybe ill get a ride in that thing sometime :) !!
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Yeah, since Nicole's not allowed to ride until sometime late late summer, chances are, I'll have a seat open...

You'll need to watch those business trip foods though... the Corbeau's aren't that wide! :flipoff2:
 
OK.. let's see...

Rob doing his best to burn a hole through the frame...er, cutting off the Ford shock towers.. Damn those things were ON THERE...
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This is where we started Saturday morning... the cage is mostly welded, but the bars going forward are just tacked so the cowl can go back in.
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The battery tray.. I know J-hooks aren't preferred, and I'll probably change them out for some kind of bolt... OTOH, they have been working for over 5 years.. Anyway, this is under the passenger's seat.
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Extended the brake pedal for 2 footed driving.. What isn't readily visible is that the brake and throttle have been re-shaped to be more comfortable as well...
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why did you cut off the towers? new shock location? and why are j hooks bad?
 
2 of the t-case support.. I wanted to go under what is now a skid plate of sorts, but it would cause the mount to hang too low, so this will have to do, and I think it'll do the job of taking the t-case weight off the 4 bolts on the 700R4. The mounts should move together, as they are both identical..
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Radiator guard/shock tower/hood pin holder installed... There will most likely be support form the bottom as well, but damn, this mount is solid, and I don't have to worry about the radiator flexing and cracking.
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So finally, this is where we ended up.. Lotsa progress, but still a few good weekends like this before she's ready again...
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Metto said:
why did you cut off the towers? new shock location? and why are j hooks bad?
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Longer shocks... 14" Bilsteins are longer than the 14" Doetch/Rancho's I had before. Also, less clutter.
 
Mikey said:
Looks real good man...its very deceivingly tall with those tires on it. Cant wait to see it finished
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Actually, it needs to come down 4"!! I've got 20" under the belly right now with the 26's... I usually run 21-22" with the 38's.

Height to the top of the cage is currently at ~78", so it *should* be ~80" at trail pressure, which is about 3-4" lower than before, but there's VERY little weight above the valve covers of the engine, so the Cg should kick ass.

Also, where the stock body tub got wider from the front of the door opening to the rear by several inches (and then the sliders stuck out a bit further), mine is straight back from the cowl, and then tapers in.. It's wide for a "buggy" at 60", but I wanted elbow room...

Metto - the shocks will just mount to some tube / tabs off that bar. Once I have 4wd again, I'm gonna twist the rig up and make the mounts. Shock mounts are always the last thing I do. :)
 
nice tank mounts :flipoff2: some thing to think about, you might want to leave enough room between your tanks for your tool bag or box. my tool bag almost fits nicely between the tanks it was an after thought though. you will have to get creative with your storage space .looks good , keep throwin money at it and it'll be finished before ya know it!!
scott
 
madmonk said:
nice tank mounts :flipoff2: some thing to think about, you might want to leave enough room between your tanks for your tool bag or box.
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:lol: fawker...

Actually, I was planning on putting a toolbox to the left of the driver's propane tank, near the edge of the frame... Was gonna bolt it down there, and keep the tanks approx. where they are, but with bungee's instead of that weak ass tape. ;)

I hadn't given much thought to how much room I need between the tanks for strapping them down.. any insight, since I won't have the brackets until Friday?

Thanks!
 
madmonk said:
I have 9" between my tanks, i wouldn't go any closer than 6 " to allow enough space to open the latches from the inside.I did turn the tanks around but I'm still not running all the propane out.
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Hmm, I was planning closer than 6.. figured my buckles would be on the outside though, if that matters.

I may know why you're not getting all the BBQ juice out of the tanks... the outlet is supposed to point straight down... not sure if you're doing that now, with them oriented the other way, but the siphon tube goes to the lowest point of the tank when the valve is like that... On alot of forks I've looked at, there's a pin sticking up that goes into the slot in the tank's rim, you can see one in your pic.

Thanks for the help Scott!
 
ya either standing up, or nozle pointing down is the usual orienaton, and rich is right about the notch or hole on the tank handle.. IICR the dip tube is curved to that corner to pull if standing or in that position/roataion.. (based strictly on my fork truck driving days of years passed)
 
No problem.. your help with the tanks positioning is much appreciated.

P.S. You must be a strong guy.. lifting those tanks up and over that rail would kill my back... I'm going to either leave the back open, or make it fold down... I'm lazy, too.. :D
 
You may be planning on doing this, but if not, I would suggest a bar down the center off the windshield. I had may cage built without one, when I rolled it bent the forward most hoop down slightly and that was with a metal roof. Looks nice, just something else to think about.
 
BW - we're probably gonna do that, thanks for the suggestion.. the issue is we're hitting the drive cable for the windshield wipers when we tried 1.75 or 1.5" - gonna mock up some 1", maybe in a little /\ and see if it helps with the clearance issue...

(The cable runs on the top of the backside of the windshield, and sticks out a couple of inches)

Gotta mount the rear view mirror somewhere! :D
 
pheery said:
rear view mirror? what is that?
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It's the thing to look at to see the Jeep that's behind me I have to hook a strap to.. :flipoff2:

In reality, I do prefer to have a rear view, for trail etiquette - "Keep the guy behind you in sight".. turning around in the seat gets old..
 
Figured I was jumping around too much on Saturday... so I'm working from the bottom up..

Spent most of the day making this crossmember. It holds the anti-wrap bar, muffler, and will double as the rear support for the skid plate. It took a bit to make it flanged, get everything lined up, notched, welded, etc... Yes, this was 6 hours of work. :rolleyes:

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Tanks are mounted on the pricy but stout brackets.. very solid.

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Speaking of brackets, finished up the radiator mount. The upper brackets do a great job of holding it, but I wanted something on the bottom to keep the rad from "swinging".. Very simple, but it solidly locates the rad, allowing the frame to flex without twisting the rad at all.

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The incredibly complex heater is installed.. :p I may wind up ditching the defrost vents, since I don't normally have a windshield.

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Some stuff bolted back up to the firewall.. The blower for the fan, the propane lockoff on a little bracket, the re-done HEI dizzy (high output coil & quick advance springs), and I'm sooo happy with how the brakes mounted up. The booster is from a minitruck, master is (new) from a FJ-80, 1" bore. I've had the MC for 2 years now, and the booster almost as long, waiting on some day to be used. everything bolted right together, the pedal bolted right up, and the sizing is perfect! You'd never know Toyota didn't offer this factory.

The mixer and converter are just mocked up... I left the spacer I need at home. (d'oh)

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Not alot of picture-worthy stuff from this weekend.. But I'm getting psyched, the checklist is getting shorter!

Pulled the bottom 3 leaves from the rear 7-leaf waggy pack, and the bottom most leaf from the front FJ-40 pack to get the height down. (Yes, that much weight is gone!!)

Made most of the propane hoses, and mounted the mixer & converter.

Did the tabs for the seat belts.. I swear the seats doubled in weight with the belts on them.. the Corbeau's are sooo light!

We decided to re-use the stock tranny tunnel and just patch the holes from the 3 old shifters.. the floor should be done next weekend.

Got the skidplate lined up, couldn't get the aluminum, so I'll be running 3/16" steel for a while. oh well.

We are going to make the tray over the 'pane tanks, and hinge it from the rear, as was suggested on the PBB, to hold the toolbox & cooler, and whatever else needs to be bungee'd down. I'm gonna add some hatchback struts to help lift it up, too.. :D

I think my spark plug wire problem is FINALLY solved. Got a pre-made set for a '85 1-ton big block, and some blingy seperaters. Had to make little brackets off the valve cover hold downs to position them up and out away from the manifolds. DIY wires would allow me to better utilize the seperaters, but these are lifetime warranty :)

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