as for shackles in the back, i think i need to do what 034x4 did and get some shorter springs, with these ones the bushing for a rear shackle would be about an inch away from the exhaust collector and i dont see that lasting too long


i know.. thats why im staying off the highway for a while haha

i basically did a mini c-notch in the frame, about 1" up and welded in a piece of 2"x.250" DOM then put the bushing i that

i know


its on the list.. but the rear axle, front drive shaft and a few other things have much higher priority

i just kinda jumped into this project when i got the opportunity so i was getting by on my monthly living checks and pay checks from work..

and cross over is probably what i'll run once i get some spare cash.. then if the tie rod gets too messed up i'll go high steer

 

i do believe they call it Death Wobble..


and its happened 3 times today :(
no highway speeds for this beast until i get some cross over steering under there and get that drag link longer..

 

read up on death wobble.

caster, camber, toe, all are causes. get those fixed.

get a steering stabilizer. also good shocks.

 

bilsteins should be here tomorrow along with the shock hoops.


and a steering stabilizer is on my list too, i just need to get paid first.

 

sounds good.

check that toe! that was one of my problems. hell i still have it, its driving me nuts too. not all the time though. i really need a professional alignment

 

yea i'm gonna bring it by an alignment shop and see if they can get it close.

i just cut the tie rod so its relatively close to what the origional one was

 

Next time your in town stop by my dads work.

 

got some new toys today, i want to get them on tomorrow morning but maybe i'll just do bump stops and do the shocks friday since i dont work..


i knew i should have got the 14" hoops with the 12" shocks


does anyone want to venture a guess what hits what when i stuff the driver tire? haha
the drag link. i think i'm going to weld a piece of the 2x4 to the frame and bolt the bump stops to that..

 

well what did u get then?

 

huh?

some 5125 12" Travel Bilsteins.
12" Shock hoops and braces
bump stops

and some massive stickers that take up most of my half door windows lol


oh yea, i got a steering stabilizer. $33
i should have all this mounted between tomorrow and Friday morning

 

so i attempted to paint the diff cover today.. then it started raining so i put it on the porch and tried blocking the rain and it kept getting on it, so i brought it inside. One thing lead to another and it hit the carpet, by then i was getting pretty frustrated and said screw it. needless to say the paint job looks like ****.

when i get home in Texas and pull the steering to make it look nice i'll repaint the cover.


but hey, i painted the 'Pumpkin' - "Pumpkin Orange" cleaver eh? I'm going for the Cream sickle look diff covers, knuckles, maybe the wheels. All orange



Also: I got the shocks on, and the bump stops.. they ride about 1/2" off the spring plate on the driver side and ~3/4-1" on the pass. side, so i'm hitting them all the time but i wanted to eliminate the possibility of the spring and pitman arm coming in contact while keeping them near the same distance below the frame.

Its a stiff ride now, but the steering isn't shaky anymore and i had it up to 60 today w/ no issues, time for an alignment.


the gas tank is almost empty, and i started w/ 3/4 tank and so far no leaning, i think what my partner did was make the driver perch 3/8" higher to compensate for the 'ranger lean' and it seems to be working pretty damn well.

 

i can't believe i completely missed this trhead!!!!!!

 

hahaha

you didnt know i sas'd it?
it was kinda something i decided on one day.. and well we went for it. haha

 

no i knew...then forgot...then remembereed, then forgot again. lol.

 

steering stabilizer is a bandaid for death wobble, it shouldn't be use as a substitute. get all your geometry correct and you should NOT need a steering stabilizer

SUPER pumped its on the road. please come down and show me!

 

it'll be on a trailer going through Denver next wednesday. haha

we may stop in to Colorado springs and see the grand parents idk. I'll let you know


as for death wobble, it hasn't happened since Monday and since i put the shocks on. but i do agree, i need to get all the steering geometry correct not only for death wobble

 

Yo, been keeping up with you on Facebook & AIM. Good job, Matt. Hell, I wouldn't want to work out those geometry nightmares! Besides, I'm still working out welding back body rust issues & Hell holes with my project (not Supra this time)...

Are you trailering her all the way back down to Texas?

When's the last day she needs to be complete?

And just a question (perhaps for Zach or someone else), as I have no experience with a SAS: Is it possible to drop the gearbox down 6" or so (drop plate, since it's only bolted to the left frame rail with 3 bolts) to accommodate a better tie-rod/draglink angle for potentially less bumpsteer?

/Subcribed.


Pete

 

I would not recommend that as the frame is bracing the box from the steering torque. To achieve a better drag link angle (as horizontal as possible), the drag link can be mounted to the bottom side of the pitman arm along with having the opposite end of the drag link mount to the passenger knuckle rather than the tie rod.

 

I wouldn't

not with leaf springs for one and for 2 like he said, due to the forces exerted on the frame in that place, i have the frame plated on both sides with 1/4" plate and the 3 holes are sleeved with 3/4"x.120" DOM. When i get money the first thing on my list is to do cross over steering with 1 ton TREs, i haven't really had an issue with bump steer, but i have also kept it on the pavement

Friday will bring that demon out.

i the reason i have the drag link coming off the top of the pitman arm is so i could allow for some more up travel w/o hitting the bolt, i have virtually none now due to where i put the bump stops but before that when the driver tire was tucked turned slightly driver the drag link was touching the leaf pack so i need to keep that from happening


Uhm, what now.

Yes, its getting trailered back to Texas, I may stop off and see Wayne, maybe see if i cant toss my truck up on the RTI ramp then drive it the rest of the way to Austin lol. The U-haul people said we can trailer a Ranger, little do they know its got ~10" of lift and a FW axle in the front heh.



sorry if half that **** doesn't make sense. its 3 am and I'm a lil' tired

 

i figured i would put a little update in here for anyone reading over it and hasn't seen my other thread.

I got a Ruff Stuff Diff cover for my D44.. I would recommend one to everyone.. its the cheapest after market cover out there and its already paid for it self a few times..

I welded up a winch plate with some bracing, as well as hacked apart the header panel and core support to squeeze the winch in.. but it fits






and i put a rollerless fair lead on.. seems to work really good, and it doesn't stick out any farther than the grill which is very nice..




I had Kevan (badkarma) make me a square front drive shaft, i gave him a drive shaft off an old chevy/jimmy, he cut the ends off and welded some 3/16" wall square tubing in.. braced both ends, has solid stock on the inside thats been drilled into from the outside and welded up.. its not going anywhere..



Somewhere in there we half-*** dove tailed it.. I'm going to fill in the area up with a spare tire, hi-lift mount, re arrange the cooler situation so i can have 2 at the back easier to get to..







And since i ripped out the front output shaft on my t-case, i found out the axle went down too far for the driveshaft and made the t-case the slip joint so i got some 25" Beard/Red Art limit straps, they seem to have served their purpose, i didn't break the t-case on my last trip.





I still need to redo the rear spring perches cause their all caddy wompus, springs are doin funny **** and the pinion angle is all jacked. Then I need a traction bar. I may just do like 4" lift springs and do spring under, which will allow me to get more up travel w/o the pitman arm hitting the springs.

and heres what it looks like as of the last run out.

 

needs more tire.

 

i need more money.
i broke the D44 with 35s already and i wasn't even romping on it when it broke.. idk how it'll handle 36s or 37s.

 

Whadda mall crawler

 

yep just toss some 40s on it and call it a day

 

buy me some 40s..

along with some Moser Alloy D44 shafts, and some Moser alloy 9" shafts.. then some CTMs and i'll gladly put them on


actually.. a built 60 would work a lot better.