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Post by Chele on Sept 5, 2005 18:09:46 GMT -5
Man...if only I had the money/talent to do any of that stuff....looks nice!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2005 18:30:03 GMT -5
What springs are you using?
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Post by kwrangln on Sept 5, 2005 18:59:57 GMT -5
Chele, you'd be suprised, but it aint that expensive. Between what I paid for this rig and what I got for selling the old one, I'm only into it for about $7K, plus a few parts here and there and some work. As for talent, I can thank Uncle Sam for that, he paid for me to learn to weld, as well as the equipment I'm using.
Norm, they are Alcan custom springs, think about 2" of lift, I like em.
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Post by beachtaco on Sept 6, 2005 10:18:41 GMT -5
this is my first time reading about your build up. you did an awesome job with all the custom metal works. sometimes i wish i took welding in hs/college instead of underwater basket weaving.
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Post by kwrangln on Oct 11, 2005 17:15:27 GMT -5
Well, I had an issue bugging me, the durn shifters for the transfer case in the beast were a bit on the low side. Since I'm going to put 5 point harnesses in, bending over to reach em just aint going to happen. With the twin sticks I forsee using them alot more than I used to use the single shifter in the old YJ, so something had to be done. Here you can see just how low they were.  Sit back in your wheelin rig, shoulders back like you would normally drive and see if you can reach your transfer case shifter easily, bet its a bit of a stretch, even more so if you have a bodylift on there. So what to do? Reach in to the ole toolbox of cheap tricks, literally. Since my flipped dana 300 case uses an Atlas shifter setup, the shifters are 1/2" instead of the usual 3/8, so adjust sizes accordingly. Spin on a couple stainless nuts, and find an old wrench that fits, or two in my case. Check for clearance around em, and tack weld em to the nuts on the shifters.  The angle of the open end of the wrench leans the shifter back a bit towards the drivers seat which makes it even easier to reach. Notice the wrenchs are only welded to the top nuts, the bottom are tightened against the top ones as jam nuts to keep the shifters from spinning. The box end of the wrench was ok as a shifter top but I wanted it a bit more comfortable to grip, so a piece of 1/2" all thread with 4 stainless nuts tightened on there like jam nuts, making sure the corners line up, and tack em into the box end of the wrenches.  Bit better shot of the shift knobs if you can call em that.  So now I barely have to reach to use the transfer case shifters, and I ended up with something a lil different. I kinda like the way they turned out, it was cheap, easy, and only took me a lunch break to do. I cleaned em up with a wire wheel after welding and shot some clear paint on them to keep the welds from looking crappy, other than that, they are done. Yea, I know, I blatantly stole the idea from a Blue Torch Fabrication buggy I saw pictures of, but I did change it up a lil bit. So whatcha think? |
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Post by 4WDnRocksNmud on Oct 11, 2005 23:49:11 GMT -5
that's an awesomely cool idea, if you ask me!!
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Post by PaulC on Oct 12, 2005 8:58:19 GMT -5
Ken,
What is the cross bar in front of the rear leafs springs for? Top notch work.
PaulC
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Post by kwrangln on Oct 12, 2005 9:09:31 GMT -5
That bar is for the shackle mount for the anti wrap bar. I built the one for the old heep, this one came with a skyjacker bar.  |
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Post by Jim63 on Oct 12, 2005 10:48:14 GMT -5
Very nice!!
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Post by kwrangln on Oct 22, 2005 20:06:57 GMT -5
More little stuff, gettin closer and closer to being ready to abuse. This time a little front end protection. I give you... (insert drumroll here) The stinger!  I've decided its the lights in the shop that make everything look orange in the pics, so its not my fault.   How it looks from the drivers seat, should make it easier to aim for small animals, pedestrians, and whatever else happens to be crossing the street. ;D  I laid it out by following a couple different angles, this shot shows how much room there should be between the ground and hood if the heep was upside down on the cage and stinger.  For the front angle, I followed the approach angle determined by using a 4x8 sheet of plywood between where the tires touch the ground and the shackles, turned out to be right at 68 degrees.  So thats the update for this time around, more to follow as time allows. No working on it this weekend, chilled out today, and cleanup trailride tomorrow in the pine barrens riding with a buddy of mine in his TJ that we've been working on. I help him with mechanical and welding stuff, he makes sense of my electrical stuff since I keep lettin the magic smoke out of the wires. Till next time, git yer butts in the shop and git to work. |
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Post by toynrnd on Oct 24, 2005 5:56:29 GMT -5
How it looks from the drivers seat, should make it easier to aim for small animals, pedestrians, and whatever else happens to be crossing the street. ;D The "icing" on this stinger "cake" would be a gun sight mounted right in the center...something like this...  or this...  It would make an interesting conversation piece.  |
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Post by PaulC on Oct 24, 2005 19:24:28 GMT -5
Nice work as usually.
PaulC
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Post by swampercj on Oct 25, 2005 20:20:35 GMT -5
It's coming along nicely!
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Post by kwrangln on Feb 11, 2006 22:12:32 GMT -5
OK, its been a while. A trip to Louisiana for hurricane cleanup, busy with work, yada yada yada, not much time for playing with the heep. Oh, and I found out I'm getting transferred back to St. Louis, so its back to being Tidewaters western wheeler again. Finally got the bumper painted and installed, well, Susan painted it, I still screw up anything I attempt to rattle can.  Then it was on to some axle mods. Just how big is a Dana 60 front axle? Find out. Finally got around to ordering my x-mas present from the wife, new 35 spline inner axle shafts and u-joints for the front axle. If you've never worked on a dana 60, its a whole new world of size. I've been working on dana 44 size stuff for almost 10 years now, I'm used to it, the new stuff will take some getting used to. Dana 44 joint on the left, 60 joint on the right. 12" combo square for scale.  44 top, 60 bottom.  BLING!  More bling, and an idea of how big these things are. Goodbye locking hubs, hello drive flanges.  44 joint in front of assembled axles.  Dont think I'll be worrying about the front axle anymore.  Made me stop and think, on my old jeep I swapped in a dana 44 for more strength. |
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Post by kwrangln on Feb 11, 2006 22:13:51 GMT -5
Here's the reason for the new shafts and whatnot, UPGRADE! Stock neckdown 30 spline outer on the bottom, new 35 spline outer on the top, pretty good size difference.  Inner shafts, short side, old on the bottom, new on the top. No more neck down.  All of em together, added bonus, the new ones are shiney, ya know its all about the bling. Hoping the coat of clear paint I put on the new ones will keep em from getting that layer of surface rust. Probably not knowing my luck.  No more locking hubs.  To think, 10 years ago I swapped axles on my old YJ to end up with locking hubs, now I'm swapping in parts to do away with em. Who knew. Under the guise of "testing" the new mods, I took it out behind the shop, put it in front wheel drive low, locked the back brakes, and just stood on it till it hit 3rd gear, and smoke from the tires was blowing over the hood. Completely childish and irresponsible, but silly I had a smile that went not only from ear to ear, but extended beyond the mere confines of my face. Sometimes childish and irresponsible is fun silly it. ;D |
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