Turning my wrenches and burning my flesh

[vanguard]

I've been working on my rig from early December to just before last weekend's shakedown run. I thought I'd post up here just to show what I've been up to. I bought this buggy from 35xj (Dave) a while ago but since then I've done most of the work myself. I've been learning a lot as I go along from the internet, books, and just hands on experience. Anyway, this is what I've been doing.

Goals:
1) On my last trip to Callalantee/Mountain City I broke my front ring gear so that had to be fixed.
2) I wanted a beefier rear axle because I've broken two rear ring gears and one axle.
3) I wanted to redo my suspension links for a lower anti-squat in the rear.
4) I wanted the entire rig to sit lower and have more uptravel.
5) If possible, I wanted to minimize any weight gain.

The first thing I did was to buy the FJ80 e-locked rear from Justin and to cut off the brackets. It came partially disassembled with a bunch of the nuts and e-locker parts in a milk crate. This was the first e-locker I messed around with so I had some stuff to figure out. I also had to regear it.

 

[vanguard]

I didn't know it but it turns out that it's pretty common for rear axles with disc brakes to have drum brakes inside of them for their e-brake. To cut down on weight and to have one less spot for mud to pack in used a hammer and cutting torch to remove everything having to do with the e-brake.
Before:

After: (but the other side)

Next I cleaned/repacked all the bearings (they looked good) and put it back together.

With new pads on the calipers I put the drums on too.

 

[vanguard]

Next I set up my FJ80 rear diff. I bought a press for the job on sale at HF. This is my pressing the pinion out.

A crushed sleeve next to a new one.

The "heat up the ring gear" trick really works. I've put them on with and without heat and it definitely slides on easier after it's been warmed up. It's not sliding it on that's the hard part, it's lining up the bolt holes.

After a couple of tries this is the pattern I'm running. Zuk (toyota gear installing pro from http://gearinstalls.com/ said it was "dead nuts on")

 

[vanguard]

The front axle took me a lot longer to get right. I think my beginner's luck just ran out. After a lot of frustration this is the pattern that I finally went with.

While doing ring gears at night I spent the daylight hours working on the rig itself. This is a before picture. You can see one of the things I wanted to change, the control arms are mounted under the frame and get hung up on things from time to time.

Now they mount through the frame like this.

I made every control arm longer by putting joints on both sides instead of bushings. During the planning I also thought that I needed the extra misalignment for the flex but now I don't that's true. On the other hand, it is easier to fab when you have misalignment on both ends.

A pair of upper control arms.

 

[vanguard]

I cut out this crossmember (behind the welder) and it weighed 22.5 lbs. It's weight was part of the reason I thought my entire stinger would weigh 40 lbs.

Because the radiator is supported from both the top and the bottom I didn't need 1.75" DOM to hold it in place (and I didn't have the clearance for it). My friend came over and fabbed up this up for me to weld in place.

This is him (Mark) cutting the tabs off my front axle. He put in a lot of work that day. (Thanks Mark)

 

[dweymer]

very nice, where you at in Apex?

 

[vanguard]

To say I welded in the front lower control arm mounts skips over *alllllll* the stuff I had to move around to make it fit. But since this is the cliff notes version let's just say I cleared the way and managed to lift them up a bit higher while still having some separation from the upper control arm mounts.

I built it at full squat so that I would have all my clearance issues worked out. At this point one control arm almost touches the harmonic balancer, the other almost touches the oil pan, and the driveshaft almost hits the bellhousing of the tranny (by the starter). I feel good about the fact that this is all the squat I can possibly get without a major rework.

I positioned the brackets for the upper link mounts so that only half of them touched the chassis. Then I boxed them in to the chassis so that the mounts would be strong.

A side view with the links in place.

 

[vanguard]

Kregg (his leg is on the left) and Blaine came over and put in a solid day of work with me. They put the front axle together, tightened million bolts, etc. I really appreciated the help.

Next up were some of the odds and ends. My antenna mount has sucked for ages. It's nice to have something solid.

This is my limit strap. It worked great on the first run. We'll see if I have to change it over time.

Dave (35xj) figured out how to get an inchworm kit to work with an e-locked FJ80 rear. I just followed his instructions and it worked the first time.

It doesn't look like much but I love having a selectable locker. The LED indicates when it's engaged.

I had to raise the fuel cell to clear the rear links and I relocated the battery to lower the COG and to clear the air shock mount. This is what the back of the rig looks like now.

 

[vanguard]

That's about it. I drove up to Rausch Creek for a shakedown run and it worked great. The air shocks settled so I didn't have the uptravel I wanted for bombing around at mach 1 but that's normal after the first charge. I'll give them a boost after the next run.

 

[vanguard]

very nice, where you at in Apex?

If I tell you will my welder end up missing?

I'm near the post office.

 

[Andy J.]

Sounds sweet. Am I the only one that is seeing a bunch of X's?
Edit: It might be my firewall at work...

 

[dweymer]

If I tell you will my welder end up missing?
I'm near the post office.

Hadn't thought of that...why do you want it to go missing

My sister in law lives back off olive chapel, and a buddy lives in cameron glenn. If you need a hand with basic stuff(I can't weld) let me know, I just moved up from FL, and don't currently have a wheeler.