Project - No Ducks Givin' - A done right (for me) CJ Buggy

rswords

rswords

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Location
United States
I've been a Toyota guy my whole life, and as us and jeep guys are sworn from birth to hate each other I'd never even thought of buying one (well the was that one time in college I experimented with an XJ but we all did crazy stuff then). So I built a 85 Toyota truggy on yota axles
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Hell when the wife said she wanted one for top off cruising in the summer I went and found her a samurai instead swapped an 16V 1.6 in and put it on 31s.



When the kid came along I wanted to family wheel so I bought Blazer, put a 6 liter in it on tons with 4.56s and Detroit's on both ends. Made one trip, Decided I didnt want to tear it up so I turned in into my weekend driver/sand drag truck.
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Then I decided to redo the rear of the truggy for a 3rd seat, add a doubler and tons. Works OK. Its not done but It doesnt have the appeal I wanted and working around the stock frame is starting to be a bitch, plus Im at at the age where id like something semi-streetable.
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But now My 85 Toyota Truggy has reached the end of its life, anything I've done to it in the past couple years has been with the intention of using those parts to build a full on buggy.
 

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Build plan is simple-ish

-Goat built Sub Frame - mix of 2x3 square and 1.75 round tube
-3 LInk front 4 Link with trailing arms rear
-14" coilovers
-GM 60 front D70 rear - 5.86 Gears
-LS (6.0 or 6.2) TH350
-203/205 Doubler
-Front axle way forward and rear way back 110" ish wheelbase. Maybe more, maybe less
-3 seats

So.... with all that said. I bought a 76ish CJ7 tub. Pretty much rust free but pretty well stripped. Getting my inspiration from alot of builds but the one that really helped me figure out how to take what I wanted in my head and make it real was @Scottie and his cripple-six build. That thing is pure sexual tension

irate4x4.com

Cripple-Six: 1967 cj6 build

Greetings, figured i would post my build. Last rig I built was a stretched Suzuki lj20 that was documented on p4x4. So this is something a bit different for me. Started with an abandoned cj6 project out of Oregon. Had a 4.3l/th350 and some baby dick jeep axles when I picked it up. Non running...
irate4x4.com irate4x4.com

So I'm going to steal alot of his ideas :flipoff2:

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I kicked around stretching the tun to CJ8 length but I just don't like the look. I still need a 3rd seat and a fuel cell in the back though. So I've decided to comp cut and stretch the rear of the tub only 6". Ordered some comp cut fenders guards from Motobilt.

I picked up a GM D60 and a D70 with 5.86 gears, detroit in the front, and a welded rear. Have my doubler and th350, also have a spare LS in the corner for mock up. Ill buold another 6 liter like the blazer for the final engine. After this I Spoke with @Wisconsinite at goat built and drove him crazy with questions, we tossed ideas back and forth and yesterday i ordered my goatbuilt subframe. You just can't beat the design and cost. They where super helpful and wanted to make sure I got exactly what I needed.

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Picked up another 70. The one I got with the axles last week was stupid stupid wide. Plus this comes with a truss and some brackets that may work.
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Parts staring to com in slowly. ORA low profile truss for the 60 and some Motobilt Corner guards.
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I'm going to stretch the tub 6 or 8 inches for that little extra leg and storage room. 8" will keep the holes even and keep my OCD in check. Figure I'll mount them, get all the holes drilled then cut the body and guards so I can bolt it all together and help keep it straightish.
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More parts rolling in. The goat built sub frame showed up today. Really have to thank Josh at Goat Built for all the help and patience answering my stupid questions. Hopefully i can get started on it next weekend. With this weekend being easter im sure ill be tied up with family stuff.

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Got the sub frame almost fully welded up and have one trailing arm done. FYI ruff stuff uses 3" bushings on the frame side of the trailing arm.... If I had better reading comprehension i would have caught this before. Gonna be spending a lot of time with a grinder.... At least the other one I can cut a new one before welding it up.

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More cutting and more fitting. Got the engine swung over kind of in its spot. Right now without channeling the floor the sub frame hangs down 8" from the rocker. Subframe is 17" and rockers are 25". Trying to decide if I should keep hacking away or send it. I like the leg room and keeping the interior mostly stock looking.


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Body is up about 5 or 6" in this picture


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Getting ready to pull the trigger on coilovers. Thinking 12" in the rear and 14s in the front. Biggest question is 2.0 vs 2.5. I not going to say budget isn't a consideration but if the extra grand is really worth it I'm fine with spending the money.

This will be street dr8ven and wheeled hard. Think ultimate adventure style.
 
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Getting my butt kicked by the 3 link. I was trying to use my yota box as it's fresh and works great but I think I'll need an inside the frame box to get the drag link and panhard bar closer to the same length.

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Thats alot better... still a bit tight on the passenger side but I'll fine tune it when I get the real links in.

Also I'm sitting right at 114" wheel base and 21" belly height at "ride height" I'll have 7" of up travel in the front with 14" shocks and 5.5-6" in the rear with 12" shocks on the trailing arms,

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