Topic: Oddmar's 84 XtraCab pickup PICS!!!

[Oddmar]

Ok, i'm using imageshack, and it's my first try, so bear with me if'n it don't work right, k?













There's some of my designs and work...not a crewcab yet but be patient, k?

[raybie]

um...i'm not an engineer but isn't you anti-wrap bar going to bind without a shackle in it.    as the spring compresses the axle will want to move back and when it drops it will want to move forward.  just a random thought.

[Hyena]

If you notice on the front of it, it is like a square drive line.  1 smaller tube inside another bigger tube.  allows it to slide forward and back.  I like the idea.

[Oddmar [OP]]

Um, yeah...what he said...lol.
I also used a combination of 1" nuts and bolts to allow it to pivot from side to side and tilt up and down as the axle moves...the axle ends up basically trying to raise and lower the bar where it mounts to the frame...it might be built a bit light but it's long, so it has leverage on the axle.
I've gotten on it recently and it did'nt bend or anything.
I drilled a hole for a grease zerk so i can pump the inside of the top tube full of grease.
And i decided to run my brake line and differential breather down the traction bar 'cause then no matter how much the axle articulates i'll never ruin a brake line. I'm gonna run the line up into the cab to the center console to a Wilwood proportioning valve so i can adjust the brake bias from inside the truck.
And now that i've learned that the rear axles on IFS trucks are 3" wider, i'll have to cut the gusseting off and weld it on my wider axles. I read on here that with IFS hubs, calipers, and FJ-80 rotors not only will the front become 3" wider to match the rear, i'll also get vented rotors instead of solid ones.
And i found a website that sells a kit for $290.00 that'll let me put solid rotor disk brakes on the rear instead of drums, http://bigrocksoffroad.com/brake_upgrades.htm   ...i'll just have to come up with a second set of IFS calipers...then a 1" bore master brake cylinder to bring my peddle back close to normal.....ad infinitum, huh?

[Oddmar [OP]]

By the way, the propane tank (just for running an external kitchen, not fuel for the truck) and the hose reel have since been cut off. I did'nt like the way they were mounted...too low...they were gonna get hung up on rocks and crushed.
So i changed the propane tank from a vertical 20#, 5 gallon grill tank to a 40#, 10 gallon horizontal forklift tank. Double the capacity and it gets mounted sideways up between the frame rails just behind the rear axle, out of harm's way. The 50' spring-retractable hose reel for my onboard air system gets mounted up between the frame rails behind it...the end of the hose will pull out of the middle of the rear bumper.
The 1/2" conduit you see running down the space between the driver's side frame tubes and sticking out just in front of the rear bumper is my template for my 2" exhaust tubing. Building my frame like that was not only super strong, but it allows me to run my exhaust pipe "inside" the driver's side frame rail.
With some heat-shielding on the inside of the frame rail, i can put my custom-built 30 gallon fuel tank on the drivers side in the space normally wasted by just an exhaust pipe...and another 30 gallon fuel tank on the passenger side where you would expect one...both filled from two caps inside one gas door on the driver's side of the truck...no more walking around the truck to fill up at the station.

[Ramrod]

two of the guys I wheel with use a single link traction bar with single hiems on each end.  There is no binding at all.

[raybie]

missed the two pieces of tubing that slide.    i like the idea.

[bluerunner]

Lookin good, cant wait to see more progress oddmar!