A.J.'s Runner - "Please Stand-by"...Product Review

[Matty]

truck looks awesome so far......we should meet up sometime i live in Granby CT...

[CTENG in KS]

That'd be badass man, I don't really know anyone around here, moved up after college and I am either at work or wrenching...

[Matty]

i met someone else on wildyoats that lives around here and besides that you're the first person, i dont have a job in the summer and all i do is work on the truck right now, id go wheelin anytime

[CTENG in KS]

I ahve at least another weekend of work on the truck, but after that, sure!

[Matty]

sounds good to me i could use the time too, i was wondering if you did the gears yourself or had them installed somewhere?

[CTENG in KS]

I do everything myself, I set my gears with a vernier caliper, I've done two sets, one with calipers, the other by feel, no problems so far with either of them.

[Matty]

maybe we could work something out cause im tryin to get 5.29s into mine but i cant because the cost is killing me

[CTENG in KS]

Sure, just get the gears, the bearing kits and whatever carrier/locker/slip/you want to run and I'd be happy to help you out.

[SWAMPER]

Looking good C intresting choice with the Jeep fenders..... looks like ur truck will do good on the trail

[shad]

Sweet build. When is your truck going to be ready for the trail?

[CTENG in KS]

She is driveable now, I have to bolt that new driveshaft up, get a muffler on it, and figure out what the nasty scraping noise from the front passenger side when I turn left is.  Hopefully all this weekend, then I would like to wheel it once or twice before I bust into the front axle rebuild.

[shad]

Nice

So do you like the boggers?

I like my BFG's so far but extra traction would be nicer.

[CTENG in KS]

I have about 2000 miles on the boggers so far and other that being loud, they are fairly comportable at speed.  The squarish carcass also lends to better handling, less wandering that some other bias plys I've experienced.

[CTENG in KS]

Alright, I got the exhaust slapped together today...standard turbo-style replacement muffler, NICE AND QUIET!  I like it.  I also got the front driveshaft on, nice, very beefy.

[BobJ]

Progress for the sunday before the fourth...
Steering is on!
Dr side shock mount is on!
Welding is fun...time for a new career?

Would you mind explaining why you chose to mount steering box in this position? I've seen others rotate so tre of pitman is almost contacting frame, and box mounted fairly high on frame. Would appreciate your thoughts on this. I'm still mulling over best placement.

Thanks,  Bob.

[CTENG in KS]

I have it setup so that the lower right hand bolt of the box lines up with the original factory hole, then the box is rotated as far counterclockwise as possible.  When I did my measuring ans calculating I figured that full lock to the left and full stuff would still rub the firewall a bit, thus I will be gettin myself a nice bumpstop setup...should keep my pitman off the springs, if it doesn't then I will go with flat pitman.

[BobJ]

Thanks for reply. Do you think keeping the pitman tre low and close to spring without hitting it, and keeping drag link and tie rod parallel produce better steering geometry?

[CTENG in KS]

Technically, as long as the pitman arm remains the same length horizontally from hole center to hole center, the angle in the transverse plane is irrelevant to the functional steering geometry.  The only things that change with that angle are the force vectors applied through the drag link...  i.e. the greater the angle between the draglink and tie rod, the more of the steering force in the drag link is a shear force.  The drag link will be able to resist more tensile stress than shear stress, however, with the beefy fj-80 tubing, it really doesn't matter.

[BobJ]

Interesting, thanks. I was wondering more about the vertical rise of drag link when steering box clocked so pitman tre just about hits frame, versus steering box clocked opposite so pitman 1/2" from maximum spring uptravel, more horizontal drag link.  I see marlin instructions says keep pitman tre 1/2" above max ds spring up travel. I see a lot of people with steep draglink angles. Was curious regarding the two different methods? Seems to me like flatter draglink would be better when ps at full droop, but maybe a non issue???

This kind of turned out a little more in depth than I thought. Didn't really want to clog up your project thread. How about I delete my posts here and repost as a question in "engine drivetrain suspension mods"?

Thanks,  Bob.

[CTENG in KS]

No worries, you don't have to erase them...go ahead and start a new one and get other people to chime in...experience is always the best way to learn.

[CTENG in KS]

New pictures...Someone was looking for interior shots before so here are a couple of mine...

[CTENG in KS]

 

[CTENG in KS]

 

[CTENG in KS]

Look at this peice of junk I just yanked off..

[CTENG in KS]

Crawerdan asked about some fender brackets before...

[CTENG in KS]

Here is where the driveshaft is rubbing the gas tank...

[CTENG in KS]

The exhaust, quick, easy, and nice and quiet!  2 inch piping.

[Uncle Jesse]

It looks from the picture that your problem is the gas tank skid being dented on the bottom, flaring it out and making it wider than its supposed to be.  It also doesn't appear that its on real well from the pics.  Would hammering it flat on the side cure your problem?

[CTENG in KS]

I took a prybar between the tank and shaft and clearanced it as much as i could, that is the result, tomorrow i am going to drop the driveshaft and try the 4-lb hammer.

[blackdiamond]

What exhaust did you end up going with? (I'm sure you already posted, but I'm lazy.)