Topic: BigMike's Big Summer Project: REVIVED!

[synwars]

*cough cough* YES THE PHOTO'S *cough cough*

[BigMike [OP]]

Had a lot of fun up at Rubithon

Didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to though..

Here we are somewhere near Modesto I think.. Steve blew up a 39" Swamper. You know, so many people give me CRAP for running MTRs. Everyone says how weak the sidewalls are and how they are GARBAGE, but you know what, I wouldn't give up my MTRs for NOTHING. When they can work so well in the rocks and snow, and then still be quiet and have excellent road manners, there is nothing else that I would want to run.

So to all of you MTR haters, you can all EAT IT!

And here is what's left from gatekeeper !! That used to be one of my favorite spots and now its a paved road. My MR2 could have gone through there

Here is a shot of the Pivot blocks in action

MiniSimp: out on the trail, boy-o-boy do these things KICK ASS! They were pivoting all over the place and this is by far the best my truck has handled while rock crawling.

With the combination of the pivot blocks and the lighter spring rate, my truck has NEVER wheeled this good. I was going over stuff while keeping all four tires down. Rocks that used to give me the Sidehill puckers now don't do anything. The tires articulate and I keep going. My body is able to remain much more horizontal now with the much much much improved rear suspension. Cheers to the Pivot Blocks!

[BigMike [OP]]

Remember, I no longer have a 3RZ-FE. It's a 3RZ-FZE now

[gotrocks]

how'd the supercharger do.  did you have any heating problems while crawling really slow?

[BigMike [OP]]

The Supercharger worked EXCELLENT while Crawling. The 3RZ is a GREAT engine for Rock Crawling because it is nearly impossible to stall the dang thing. It just keeps on chugging away well below 700 rpm.

So I was a bit worried that, with the addition of the Supercharger, I would loose this ability. At anything under probably 1500 rpm, the Supercharger is actually a nuisance. It is nothing but a huge restriction on the intake and on the engine. Especially at 500 rpm, that Supercharger is simply "in the way". Superchargers are a Positive Displacement air pump, but because there must be certain tolerances, it can not achieve this until the rpms increase. There is an air bypass valve, but its such a small hole I really was afraid that I would loose the nice lugging ability of the engine.

But to my suprise, the 3RZ worked just the same! It lugged down nicely, although I was able to stall it a couple of times, which before I am sure it would have kept going. But overall, this Supercharger is working PERFECTLY. I have amazing power for the trip to the trail, and then it crawls superbly. And oh man, if you hammer down in Low range, WATCH OUT!! This thing is a rocket in low range! I've never wheeled anything with this much power.

And a couple of times on the way out, our tires were wet and we were having difficulty going up the Big Sluice. So a little bit of the skinny pedal was required, and man, Double Down in 3rd Gear was PERFECT. It is so nice not having to wait for any power band. Just whenever you hit the pedal, you are always in its power band

But, alas, there must be a draw back.............

HEAT

[gotrocks]

am I reading that correctly 154.8F?  Is that inside the engine bay and 66.7 in the truck?

[BigMike [OP]]

Not Engine Temperature, but Engine Compartment (ambient) Temperature!

In fact, my engine never went above 30% on the temp gauge. This Electric Fan and the E-Fan Controller are working so well I can not believe it. That Fan Controller works even better in hotter weather! It really does keep the fan on with varying amperage and fan speed, something I never saw in the winter.

So my engine was super happy running slightly cooler than normal.

But as for the engine bay temperature, well, lets just say that I REALLY need to get some heat vents on my hood!

You can see from my thermometer above, the left reading is the temperature in my cab (and basically outside temperature because I was running with no doors), and the right reading is the temperature at my air filter.

My gauge only goes up to 160 degrees, at which point, it will read 88.8 degrees as can be seen above. And it maxed out that gauge ALL DAY LONG. I have no idea how hot it got up to, 165, 170 degrees maybe? Crazy
Well, I thought, that was at 95 degrees in the day, so maybe it will be much better at night.
Nope. Even when it was about 66 degrees outside my engine bay was over 150 degrees.

My electric fan light was in the green/orange, which means about 30% amperage draw, so it wasn't even working that hard and still the engine was only at about 1/3 temp gauge.

So there are some bugs that I found that need to be addressed before I go out again... Gotta get some vents on my hood

[BigMike [OP]]

am I reading that correctly 154.8F?  Is that inside the engine bay and 66.7 in the truck?

Yup! And that was at night. It was even hotter during the day. The 88.8 reading is not 88.8 degrees, but rather it is the gauge being maxed out above its 160 degree reading limit



Here are a couple with TURBO driving

[Ramrod]

what about cutting out some of your inner fenders and showing off the pretty engine?

[BigMike [OP]]

I was running 6 psi in the rear and 8 psi in the front with my 35x12.50x15 on 8" wide rims. It worked great, I had good traction, and never lost a beed

I am glad I put the 14" rear shocks on, I am glad I did the pivot blocks, and I am glad I removed another leaf from my rear pack. The truck was wheeling so well I was really proud of it. It went everywhere I pointed it and the suspension has never worked this good and the ride has never been this smooth. It felt like I had 37s aired down to 3 psi on there. I know how smooth that is because I have ran Marlin's beadlocked 37s like that and it is a HUGE difference compared to the 35s. But with the improvements done to my suspension, it feels that way but with my 35s on.

So I was really pleased with everything. This truck is really working better then ever and all of my hard work has paid off well


























And then when I thought it couldn't get any better..........

[BigMike [OP]]

what about cutting out some of your inner fenders and showing off the pretty engine?

Yup, I was looking at that, and I think I am going to trim just a little bit from the inner fenders. I met a super cool Cherokee owner who had some sweet hood vents on. I could tell that it was home made and I talked to him about it, and he told me they were from a late 80s Chrysler Turbo Lebaron...

They are metal and look really good on a Truck hood.








So does anyone notice anything wrong with my truck in the last picture I posted?

[BigMike [OP]]

MiniSimp DON'T LOOK!!!!!!!!!!!

[Geno]

A little to much flex, looks like the driveline is on the ground.


EDIT:  Well thats why there was so much flex.  haha

[BigMike [OP]]

HOLY CRAP IS RIGHT!!!!!!!


Well, at least it wasn't the welds that broke. It seems that the pipes used are like a 0.2" wall or so, and it really needs to be much much thicker than that! I am not even sure if that was DOM or HREW or water pipe or whatever, I need to call up Dave and tell him about it.

If I had carried my U-Bolts from my flip kit, I could have just installed the U-Bolts and it would have been a simple trail repair, but unfortunately I didn't bring them, Marlin only had square U-Bolts, and Louie only had Chevy U-Bolts, that fit, but we didn't have the right nuts

So we were left with no choice but to weld the crap outta the pivot block, thus no longer a pivot block and then we were golden.

Thanks Marlin!!!! You are my hero!

[MiniSimp]

Holy Mike!
That is one thing I didn't think would happen! You actually ripped the tubing!
Well, one more thing I need to be prepared for...so, carry extra u-bolts. Check!
Let me know what Dave says.

[BigMike [OP]]

I am in NO WAY going to abandon the Pivot Block idea. I love it, it works so well. But clearly it needs to be stronger, so I am going to redo my whole pirch which will gain me about 1/2" of room for some thicker wall tubing. I will reuse the lower and upper plates and bolts, but just use thicker DOM tubing. And of course I will carry spare U-Bolts with me from now on


Then, when we got back to Loon and we were airing up, I noticed that my Front Range Crossmember, for the THIRD TIME, had cracked.

But its ok, I was actually kinda expecting it to break sooner or later, since the last time it broke it was a stick-weld trail repair as you can see.

[Ramrod]

damn thats crazy.  What about those cool vents that crawler dan has on his rig?  I know what you mean about getting those temps down.  my aircleaner is right behind the drivers sided headlight and since its been missing the power change is completely noticible with the extra cool air being shot at it

[Ramrod]

how did those weld on the front of your frame hold up?

[MiniSimp]

Mike, on camel trucks they have an electric fan on the hood sucking out the hot air.

[BigMike [OP]]

Holy Mike!
That is one thing I didn't think would happen! You actually ripped the tubing!
Well, one more thing I need to be prepared for...so, carry extra u-bolts. Check!
Let me know what Dave says.

Hey! I told you not to look! Marlin just welded the snot out of it making it just a 1 1/2" block. No more pivot. That thing it done. I don't even think I can save the bolt either. I will just have to plasma everything off and try to reuse the upper pivot plate if possible.

MiniSimp, some advice, go get a spare set of U-Bolts that are long enough and wide enough to fit under your axle and through both the upper pivot plate and your upper spring plate. That way if this happens to you, all you need to do it remove your four pivot block bolts, and slide two U-Bolts in there and bolt it down just like you would if it was just a spring pack and a lift block.

So here is my new list of things to do before the Round Up:
- Build Stronger Pivot Blocks
- Build Stronger Crossmember
- Install Hood Vents
- Build an angled drag link bar to clear my engine better, and buy a new Oil Pan and Oil Pickup tube to replace the hacked up pan I had to do when I installed the HySteer last year. (I loose my oil pressure on steep climbs, so I need to get a factory size oil pan back in there)

I think that is it for the absolute *necessary* things to do before I go wheeling again.



Well everyone, I am off to Japan again! Yes, in fact, I am leaving later this afternoon!!
So I will be offline for a couple of days while I fly over there and get situated. Then I am going to travel down to southern Japan to a city called Kumamoto for the weekend, so I may not be back online until a week from today, next Monday, July 3rd.

Until then, have a good week and Happy Trails!

Regards,
BigMike

[BigMike [OP]]

how did those weld on the front of your frame hold up?

Oh yeah, those worked out great. I even based the drivers side hanger right into a rock and it didn't affect my welds at all. The P/S box was mounted solid, no new cracks formed, and for it being a temporary fix, it worked really well.


Thanks for reminding me about that, I need to add that to the *necessary* list:
- Remount my P/S box and brace up the frame

Mike, on camel trucks they have an electric fan on the hood sucking out the hot air.

Yeah, I was thinking about installing the two vents like on that hood above and then have a couple small pusher fans mounted there if its still too hot

[gotrocks]

have a good trip and don't get to comfortable down in japan you need to get back home and work on your truck.

[BigMike [OP]]

*cough cough* YES THE PHOTO'S *cough cough*

Whoops, I forgot about these, here ya go

[BigMike [OP]]

It turned out kinda ugly, but oh well. Function over appearance hahahaha

And here are the only shots I took while installing the rear Marlin Crawler DOM Bumper

[BigMike [OP]]

It was nice not having to worry about my bed anymore. Those side armor bars came in handy numerous times.

That bumper definately paid for itself the first trip out

Also, since I have a 1" body lift, no trimming was required x2

[synwars]

Do you have a rear trac bar in there yet? If not that may be why your .20 DOM tubing busted, too much torque on such a thin piece of tubing. It looks like it tore from one end to the other, just like when you get axle wrap.

Think about it, you have more power from your engine going to your axle (nevermind triple t-cases) which is now attached to softer springs via weaker perch material ie .20" x 4" (roughly) new perch vs .25" x 5.5" old perch. If you don't have a trac bar coming I would think about one, or at least use .375" DOM next time. Even then, a trac bar would serve well to prevent that from happening again.

My .

PS - Have a great trip! Sounds like fun.

[BigMike [OP]]

That's a good point and I was talking to TURBO about it when we were watching Marlin weld it up. I have axle wrap like you wouldn't believe. I've always wanted to build a traction bar........

[synwars]

Remember these pics? They are that big for two reasons: 1-Tougher than coffin nails. 2-Replaces my 2" blocks.

http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=4401.msg240950#msg240950

[BigMike [OP]]

Yup I remember that

I think the reason for the small tubing was to keep the overall height down to a minimun. There is about a 1/2" air gap between my pirch plate and my axle housing, plus I welded the lower pivot plate on top of my pirch plate, so I have two plates welded together plus 1/2" air gap below them. So I am going to cut it all off and mount the lower pivot plate directly on top of the axle housing.

That should free up a good 1/2" - 3/4" of room, which I can apply to thicker tubing

[IronClad]

you are gonna weld the pivot plate straight to the housing without a spring perch  with no perch  say bye to your housing  it will punch through.  or peel it like a banana . theres not enough material there to support that.  thats why spring perches have a arched cutout like they do