The Oddball build - Isuzu solid axle 3-link, Coilovers on 37's

[Jason W.]

The Isuzu flat out performed at Harlan!

 

[zac attack]

Lovin this rig ... sweet build !!!!

 

[Lorenzo816]

Last update to the build until something else major goes on the Truck.

So it turns out I didn't just break a dowel pin and a stud in the rear axle hub.
I broke Four!
Did a bunch of reading on ih8mud and learned that this tends to happen on the short side more often than the long side.
There are a only a few options: ARP, Trail gear super metal stud upgrade or drill them out and add larger cap screws and you can even add two more dowels on each flange. But that also means you have to drill out your axles too.
I decided to go with the stud upgrade for now and see how this goes.

Had a hell of time drilling and tapping them out and then had to give up on the dowel pin. Guess its hardened steel more than the studs.
I have an extra set of hubs so I bought new bearings and races and cleaned it up for the upgraded Stud install.

Did my damndest to be sure my torque ratings were dead on. They don't take much to stretch and pop when stressed. Add larger tires and lower gears....
I read the studs can only go to like 25-28 and the cone/nut on the flange end to 23-25 ft lbs.
After that, poof.

and another driveshaft update. I had a really bad wobble in 4hi and when I was pulling high RPM in 4lo when we were in Harlan.
It was pretty damn unusable in 4hi at the end of the day.
Decided Olivers did such a great job on the rear shaft so I sent them my front.
Joe told me I had a long dent in the shaft that just wouldn't balance out so he retubed the front shaft. Wasn't candy-caned or nothing.
Guess I slid over something or down and didn't feel it. Glad to not have popped any joints in the process.
Thank you Olivers!

If I can get my shit together, I'll see some of yall at the SHOP in a few weeks and beat on it some more.

 

[NickMaul]

Lorenzo how has the 44 been holding up for you? Stock shafts?


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[Lorenzo816]

Hey Nick, its been awhile since I updated this. About a year!

Yea I upgraded to Cromoly front inner and outer with Yukon superjoints sometime after a Flats ride.
Broke the short side and utterly destroyed the spindle in the process too.

And then after my next Flats ride, I upgraded the joints in the driveshafts to a stronger greasable Dana/Spicer (can't remember the name) but they are 1310 and definitely heavier than the stock ones.
On the way home, on I-40, noticed smoke coming up from the sticks and BOOM wobble wobble shake shake, pulled off the side to swap the whole driveshaft.
Luckily I had an drop in spare made from flange to flange. So it was an easy swap.
Tore the ear a bit on the yoke so I had to rebuild my driveshaft and stock up on parts!

The last huge upgrade is underway now.
During a night run out at the Dixie Run, I tried to hop a damn ledge like a fool and ate up my rear, snapped a rear shaft and eventually just destroyed the ARB.

That one hurt my feelings and my wallet but damn it was a fun weekend.
I snapped a few of those Trail Gear studs, so I'm upgrading to ARP.
The strength should go from like 170psi strength to something like 220psi strength.
Working on drilling in two more dowels per hub too but waiting on Chris' decision this week.

Kinda set back my bumper build money once again but I really really want a bumper for the winch I got before winter hits once again.

Appreciate the interest Nick.
Its a beast but getting beat up without the Winch and I can definitely feel the pain of only being 3:1.
Would be great to get 4:1 or better but that's a whole nother drivetrain swap and money conversation I can't have with myself right now.
LOL

 

[NickMaul]

Dude you are carnage creator with the Isuzu! I am impressed!


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[Lorenzo816]

I don't know if there is an 'end' in sight. We'll see how long this ol rodeo can last and then onto something else. I've had it for 20 years now.

 

[Lorenzo816]

Figured I'd add some stuff I've done since 2017.
Sometime in 2017 or 18, I upgraded to ARP studs on the rear hubs.
Lots stronger than the TrailGear studs but now the Fuse is most definitely the Short Shaft in the rear.
I want to center up the Axle but not right now. I've heard there are housings for it but just don't have the time or money to think about it right now.



And also sometime last year in the Spring, I got a bumper finally done. #IDon'tBuildBumpers @MarsFab
The badass bumper Chris built just fits so nicely. We both agreed tube would look stupid and the jagged edges of the newer style Jeep bumpers just wouldn't match the era of the truck.




Then sometime between last winter and the Spring, I twisted the axle tube in the front housing and decided it was time for a huge upgrade.
And yes "after all that, it's still a 44" - Andy
True but this is thicker tube, welded to the housing not just the plug welds. Chris had the brackets' files so remaking them was an "quick" job.

ECGS made the custom axle with a HP housing I dropped off, torched the tube out and mod'd it to fit my current Cromo Axle shafts. New beefy C's and new Balljoints.
I fixed up a 2wd truck and sold it to cover the costs of all the work so was nice to not have to dip into my wallet too far for all this.
I'm hoping the pinion isn't too high. There ain't a lot of room up there. May have to put in a bump stop. We'll see.
I just got finished putting everything together this weekend. Haven't even had time to do a backyard shadetree alignment on it yet.

 

[Lorenzo816]

I'll post a few updates since its been a few years.
The rodeo has been everywhere, AoP, Windrock, GER, Kairos, Golden Mountain, Potts, gosh I'm probably forgetting something.
Anyhow, @WARRIORWELDING helped me with the frame where the steering bolted up. It seriously needed it.

Then AGAIN I destroyed another ARB and fzj80 rear end after a trip to Windrock.

Check out this nitro shaft I twisted:

New video by Lorenzo Morales

photos.app.goo.gl

I've actually broken two toyota shafts and two nitro shafts and twisted one. I had trail gear hub studs and then upgraded to ARP hub studs and that probably just pushed the fuse inwards.
Oh well. So I had Andy fix up the rear and I drove it for a little while and sold it to a buddy of mine who was already running 5.29s so it was a good deal.

I picked up a 14 bolt awhile back after a trip to Moab and just got seriously motivated to go bigger and stronger.
Yep, I'm not the only SAS rodeo. Its a sickness.

Anyhow, I cut and ground off all the brackets down to clean tube and I welded the tubes to the housing and I also welded the truss to it. Buddy of mine up the road gave me a few tips on welding the housing, heat and high nickel. I took some MIG classes a few years back but I'm not a fabricator or expert welder by any means. But I trust what I've done.

I got a 13 shave cover from busted knuckle and cut away for some ground clearance.

Now here is where it snowballed.

 

[Lorenzo816]

Since the 14b was 8 lug disc, I needed to pick up some SOLID 6 lug hubs and then get these GM discs bored out to fit over.

I also needed to 'sink' the calipers down further on the rotor since it isn't as wide diameter as the 8 lug discs.
My friend Josh up the road was able to weld and drill the calipers into a good position on the axle/caliper brackets.
You can see how far back they were here.

I got Olivers to make me a new driveshaft with a double cardan BUT I still needed a modified flange to bolt up to the isuzu transfer case output.
Josh knocked out this one-of-a-kind flange adapter and its centered up pretty darn good!

And I made sure my interco birddogs would fit over the hubs but of course I had to grind down the axle shaft flange. Same thing my buddy did in Colorado (the tan rodeo) to fit his. Not strange just had to do and switch from bolts to Allen heads.
You can see how much I need to grind down here.

 

[Lorenzo816]

Just a comparison on the 14bolt shafts versus fzj80 9.5" shafts.

Here is the axle mostly done. Well so I thought.

We were flexing the truck to see if I could run the rear shocks outboard of the frame. The new springs really didn't flex much but I was able to determine that there is room!

YES these are parking brake cables! I measured and ordered like three sets of cables and the best ones that fit were from a Ford Ranger.
I needed the T connector style up front for the e-brake connector. And the other end is a wire screw/stop. Calipers were from lugnut4x4.

So here is where it goes sideways.
I couldn't bleed the brakes for shit. I tried and tried. Summed up it must be the master cylinder is not enough bore to push the fluid for the new large rear calipers.
Worked fine for the fzj80 toyota calipers but not these new larger 14nb calipers combined with the 44 front calipers. Too much fluid.
So I tried a larger booster and was just too much to hack and fit and I'd never be able to reach the #6 spark plug or replace the valve cover ever again without removing the booster.
So I made the decision to go hydroboost.
I got this from a disc rear Savannah van iirc 34mm bore.

I also had a hydro steering setup in a box from a friend out West. I figure if I'm going to do Hydro, I may as well do the whole thing now.

I cobbled all the plumbing together from SRI up in Mooresville and replaced the pulley with a smaller diameter Low range offroad pulley. This was really a pain in the ass honestly.

The pump "fits" but in order to tighten one of the bolts with the LRoffroad pulley in the way I have to remove the pulley.

I had Jody tap an Isuzu box since it looks like a mirror of the Toyoda box but turns out after all the inside its actually different.
I talked to a few other guys about what they did to run hydro on an isuzu box. Trust me there aren't very many who done this but I was able to find a better spot on the box to tap and I put an NPT plug on one of the holes.

Bleeding this suckssssss. Its the bane of this setup. I'm also running royal purple so fluid aint cheap trying to burp and bleed is so much fun. /s

Some stuff is off the shelf, like these metric-to-sae short connector adapters. Not much of a silver lining but I'll take the win.

Now once all that was sorted out, I kept my anti-wrap bar that Chris (aka Marsfab) made up and I did a littler CaD to mock it in place.
I cut the brackets and welded it in place. But I was still getting a knock from the huge CV head from time to time.

Even though I already cut the parking eBrake cable area in the floor it wasn't enough.
I then had to cut the cross member and rewelded it to give the head more room to spin.

Its about 1/2" maybe 5/8" difference but its all I needed.

 

[Lorenzo816]

so yeah, they say "buy once, cry once" I should've done this a long time ago. I know some folks will say why didn't you go 8 lug?
Well the wheels are great and my tires are new and the math going 8 on the front plus wheels and tires just wasn't mathing out.

But anyhow. She works. Here is a pic from Windrock trail #49.

I'm probably forgetting some stuff but thats the good meat of it all.
5.38s Arb rear, stock rear shafts for now.
Ox front, cromo shafts and super joints.
I need a cage next honestly.

I had a raceshop rebuild my coilovers too since I've never done them in a decade.
HUGE difference. The last trip out to GER was night and day much better control and feel.

 

[rodney eppes]

So many times it seems we go to do a simple change, & it Snowballs into WTH? Glad it all came together for you!

 

[WARRIORWELDING]

I'll post a few updates since its been a few years.
The rodeo has been everywhere, AoP, Windrock, GER, Kairos, Golden Mountain, Potts, gosh I'm probably forgetting something.
Anyhow, @WARRIORWELDING helped me with the frame where the steering bolted up. It seriously needed it.

View attachment 418712

That been a hot minute or two.

 

[Lorenzo816]

That been a hot minute or two.

Still there! Another good reason I wanted to try and keep the isuzu box! So I didn’t have to tear into your fine work!

 

[gslander]

That's crazy how much carnage you had with that fj80 axle. I have flogged the hell out of mine with no real issues (like rev limiter in double low ). Good call on the 14b, I'm going to do the same if mine blows up.