Reserection of Blue Thunder - Buggy build

bbaxter51 said:
Got my rear shocks in and it's officially a roller. I'm stoked.

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it's officially a roller & rolls into the truck LOL

That is a bad rig & some nice work
also is that ride height & if so what is it to the belly
 
dkrajcovic said:
it's officially a roller & rolls into the truck LOL

That is a bad rig & some nice work
Click to expand...

That's funny because its true! Lol
I parked the rig about 3" from the front bumper, came back outside 10min later and it was leaning on my tow rig!

The springs are not what I want, so I'm getting some scales and going to do some swapping of springs to get it more to my liking. Right now even with the tenders at the top, at full droop the dual rate sliders come off the bottom of the body an unseat themselves unless I crank the adjusters at the top. Then it adds about 5" more of ride height. I like the stance, so I'm going to keep that where it is.
 
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bbaxter51 said:
That's funny because its true! Lol
I parked the rig about 3" from the front bumper, came back outside 10min later and it was leaning on my tow rig!

The springs are not what I want, so I'm getting some scales and going to do some swapping of springs to get it more to my liking. Right now even with the tenders at the top, at full droop the dual rate sliders come off the bottom of the body an unseat themselves unless I crank the adjusters at the top. Then it adds about 5" more of ride height. I like the stance, so I'm going to keep that where it is.
Click to expand...


Sounds like you need longer lowers.

You don't need scales to calculate spring weight if you know what the rate of your springs are.

Jack up chassis and adjust the adjuster all the way to the bottom. Measure the length of the lower spring. Set the weight back down on the springs and measure the length of the lower spring with the weight on it. Take the difference in the lengths and multiply it by the spring rate of the lowers. This will give you really close the weights on the corners.
 
Longer lowers are a must. My shock tuner also wanted to know the unsprung weight of the rig and since I'm fortunate enough to have access to a full set of wireless race scales, it's just easier to slide the pads under the rig. Here's where we ended up. (not included on the scales is the Atlas at 94lbs, fluids and d-shafts.)

Full weight on the scales.

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Un-spring weight of the front axle. Just look at the LF and RF.

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Unsprung weight of the rear axle and tires. Just look at the LR and RR.

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This is a cool build! I would love to see it some time or if you ever need an extra set of hands for help. I work in Troutman so I am excited to see this in such a small community.
 
This build has been on hold for a while since I moved to MN. :eek:

I was a judge at a comp this past weekend in Northern MN and it gave me some motivation to actually touch this rig again. I got it moved to my house from my parents where it's been sitting since August and onto some rollers, makes it nice and easy to move it around the garage to work on.

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Hitting 50mph in the CJ from the outpost to the trails at URE puked a LOT of fluid all over the trans and it was never cleaned off, plus it smoked a little :rolleyes: . That gave a nice 1/8" of fluid dirt cake all over it. That got mostly brake cleaned off and it'll be getting a nice coat of paint. Not sure what color yet, probably black or silver.

Also pulled the Atlas out from under the bench and starting assembling all the little stuff like shifter linkage, sight tube, etc. It's not much, but it's a start.

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Got the Atlas all primed to assemble and toss the trans / case combo into it's home and found out one of the 4 bolt holes in the trans tail housing is stripped.
What's my options here?

Helicoil? Never worked with them, they seem like a high school shop fix but lots swear by them. I enjoyed high school shop.

Drill it out and run a longer bolt and nut on the back side?

Scrap the buggy project and drag it into the woods?

It looks like I've gone backwards but it's SOOOO much easier to work on like this than my CJ was.

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I rode along last weekend at the comp and it's much easier, less stressful and WAY cheaper! With all my toys paid for, I thought for a split second I could sell the dodge, trailer and buggy once it's done and buy a Vette. This is one of the dummest hobbies I've ever came across. :lol:

Anyway; I helicoiled that sumbitch like I was it's dad. Worked perfect.

Didn't get the mess loaded into the buggy, but I did get it all bolted up and ready. I was going to hoist them in together but fawk that, I'm too old for that anymore. Feels good to be working on nice clean parts and not having rust and 30yr old mud falling on me from random places in the frame rails.

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My brother came up tonight and helped me hoist the trans and tcase into the buggy for good. It fits like a glove in there!

He also took my, console, shifters, dash and everything that goes in the dash to fab up some new stuff so it all fits. He says he's going to surprise me and that I'll be happy. With his track record, he can have at it. :lol:

I also ordered up some parts from Advance Adapters to hook up my cable shifters since the mechanical ones that come with it aren't going to fit.

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