Bro-coma.. getting unbro-d

[-Matt-]

well, got the axle underneath it. the brainstorming has begun. i already have most of the ideas in my head of what im going to do. im gonna have to change part of my frame to something i was originally gonna do, but for some reason at the time said flopp it. but by doing it, it will allow me to work everything better. i dont understand but it seems i have more room than kyle or callen. right now i have probably 5-6 inches of up travel and in no where near hitting the motor. im going to be able to run full high steer and still have plenty of up travel. right now the truck sits about ride height and center of axle to the ground it 25". im also gonna be able to run the forward swing. i also have some ideas about fully triangulating the lowers and running a 2 piece drive line up front. i think its actually gonna work out better than i expected. i wanna do some unique stuff with everything though.

[-Matt-]

well i ended up cutting and changing my frame a bit. its gonna make everything work out so much better. its all gonna be really tight, im gonna even have to gring the bottom iddler puller mount and top of the d60 to make the panhard clear without any bends... not that bending its out of the question, but i dont want to unless i really need to. frame looks a little funky now but once everything else gets put in it should look a lot better.

[lilbuddy]

Sick stance, bro. You work so fast!

[86bobbedtoy]

You work so fast!

x2

[pumkin toy]

looking good so far, i like the frame mods!

[-Matt-]

everything's designed and tacked in place besides the upper link, maybe ill get to that tomorrow. still need to gusset everything so any thing that looks weak/or tubing being to short... im not done yet and all the tubing is just thin wall for mock up, so the real ones will have the correct length so the rod ends have all the right thread lengths. also on my "real" panhard, the angle might change a little bit to match the draglink angle better, even though its not bad right now.

[TacoRunner]

Matt


Any thoughts on lowering that tie rod some to help make room for the panhard. More along the lines of what Kiyul4130 did.

[-Matt-]

ya iv thought about it, it would honestly be a lot easier to not run high steer. the only reason im doing it this way is because i already had everything ( and am broke) and like a challenge. but your totally right, it would be easier to run low steer and have the panhard where the tie rod is right now. it would make my life easier but i wouldn't really gain any up travel or anything else from doing what your talking about so im just gonna make the full hysteer happen.

[TacoRunner]

 its a good observation you've made. that and the comment you made on pirate about the frame not really needing to be rebuild like it is.

[-Matt-]

well today i finalized my changes and location of everything. moved the upper link a bit, finished my panhard, i also had to separate the lowers a bit at the crossmember... it was gonna barely hit my driveline. i started welding everything this evening, probably finish it tomorrow. then throughout the week ill start finished my mounts (gussets and all that ). everything seems to be working out really well so far.

[86bobbedtoy]

ah !
looks mean, bet your anxious

[-Matt-]

ya i am. im really happy with how everything's turning out. its kinda surreal to be be finishing up the complicated part, (linking the front end). still so much work to do, and more money....which i dont have.

[Steve97TJ]

Looks sick man. Ive got a waggy 44 i've been debating throwing in the front of my taco but still havent decided if i want to or not. How bad was linking it? Im not putting leaves under it because it will sit up way to high for my taste.

[-Matt-]

thanks, linking it to be low is a pregnant dog, leafs are way easier and there's no reason it still cant be low with leafs. just depends on what kind of ride you want and how complex you wanna make it to be

[-Matt-]

finished the panhard bracket this evening. its all 3/16's. had to form it with a torch. kinda a pain in the ass to because its a weird rolling radius. though it turned out good though.


By tacomabuild2011 at 2011-08-10


By tacomabuild2011 at 2011-08-10


By tacomabuild2011 at 2011-08-10

[86bobbedtoy]

some clean as$ work matt!!

[THK Matt]

trippy bro! looks great

[-Matt-]

got all the brackets and everything done now. the upper link and lowers are still temporary tubing... ill probably order the real stuff within the next 2 weeks. next will be the steering box then mounting the ram. im really happy with how everything's working. nothing even comes close to binding up or doing any weird .

the only issue i just realized is my caster angle. im not sure if it matter or not but it fluctuates quit a bit from full bump to drooped out. i almost think i made to much separation... i thought a lot of separation was good so i made is where i have 10.5" at the axle, and at the frame its like 3.5".. like i said not sure if it matters or not but i could always re-do the bracket on the axle end and make it lower, if its really an issue. you'll see in the pictures the degree change of the caster from ride height and full bump. (keep in mind i have all the movement i could want in my panhard to move the caster around and not bind or hit other brackets, also my driveway isn't level so my frames almost at 2 degrees).

besides that, (whether its an issue or not..im not sure) everything else seems to be tits and im ready to move on to other stuff.

i tried to get lots of pics/measurements/and angles of stuff at ride height and full bump so people that know what there talking about have a good idea to compare and understand whats going on.

heres all the pics at ride height...

[-Matt-]

[-Matt-]

heres everything at full bump










and everything drooped out...even though this is more dropped out than id probably run (wont really be sure till i get shocks in)

[TacoRunner]

May I make a small suggestion?

[SloCrawler]

Nice build, looking good. What the angle app you got?

[-Matt-]

?  Better be small though Haha

[-Matt-]

App is on the level 4

[TacoRunner]

Just make sure to roll some of that caster out of the links when you build them. That 6*-8* mark seems to work well for those axle and tires size. Also if you reduce that length of your upper link, say by about 6"s you can reduce that  caster change.

[Jud]

Looks legit Matt.

[-Matt-]

got the steering box all figured out and made the mount. i just used someones box to mock everything up. standard ifs box. had to make a tubular notch in the bottom of it, the pitman arm swings into it. also made it where i can still move my axle 1" forward without hitting the steering. basically moved the box as far forward as i could without completely having get rid of the whole driver side of the core support. when i get a box ill post pictures of it installed. next ill do the ram assist.

i have an fj 80 forward swing box that's in perfect condition. it only had 40k miles on the  original truck, i also tapped it for hydro assist. i was originally planning on using this but found out the forward swing wasn't gonna work with how i set everything up. so if anyone wants to buy it let me know.

[THK Matt]

that's slick bro!! very nice and clean.

[pumkin toy]

build is looking really solid!  the only concern i would probly have with the degree changes in the caster is how much your front driveline angle is going to be affected.  as long as your u-joint doesnt bind throughout the full travel of the suspension, then you really shouldnt have any problems.  i would deffinately set the ride height caster at 6-8 degrees like TacoRunner was saying.  my front end is set at about 7 degrees right now and it drives down the highway pretty well (besides the goofy feeling of full hydro steering).  Your steering box mount came out really nice, the frme is super beef.  i would be worriedabout the welded in bolts though.  steering box bolts have a tendancy to work loose and break off... It would really suck to break off one of those since they are welded in!  Just keep an eye on them and make sure they are good and tight, hopefully you will never have a problem

[-Matt-]

finished the ram mount this evening. i thought it came out unique so im happy with it. 1.75 1.20wall chromolly tubing i had laying around, not extremely beefy but i dont plan on it being a full on rock basher, hopefully it will be good enough.

also callen totally hooked me up today. he got me 16" of 2.25 .375wall DOM for my front and rear lowers... for only 100$ now i have all the material for my real links. i will make the real ones up front this weekend.