Author Topic: The Macheen rebuild  (Read 87942 times)

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nwflyoda

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #120 on: Jan 14, 2016, 08:15:32 AM »
haha....the funny part is my buddy joe said the same thing.  but that would a  pain to have to wire and plumb just to move the truck.  not worth the time for the cool factor.  lol
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #121 on: Jan 19, 2016, 08:30:47 AM »
I wasn't able to make much progress this weekend but i was able to see the ole girl in the sunlight for the first time in several months.  I rolled her out into the driveway and turned her around to start working on the rear suspension.





Now, she is all tucked away back in the garage at ride height with the axle placed into its new location.  Tonight i plan to start getting the upper link mounts built for the axle then start to look at where they links will land on the frame.

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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #122 on: Jan 28, 2016, 05:40:52 AM »
I worked on the truck a little over the weekend and was able to make a lot more progress on the rear suspension than i had anticipated.  The rear 4 link is pretty much done with the exception of replacing the mock up links with the actual link material. 

I'm pleased to stay that the rear suspension will be completely neutral which is what i was going for.  I didn't want the truck to have any positive or negative anti squat values nor any roll over/under steer.  Once i knew what i wanted my measurements to be at, i fully burnt everything together.

I will be adding some more bracing gussets to further tie the link mount points together but here is what it currently looks like when viewed from above.



Next i will be adding some tubing to tie both axle's lower link mounting points to one another.  From there, i will build a tcase mount that will bolt to the backside of the dana 300.



From this view, with the exception of the 1x2 rectangle tubing for the bed, all of the factory frame in this picture will be gone.  The rear axle and frame are at ride height and i need to make room for the axle struts.  Plus, this gives me the opportunity to redesign the rear bumper to include a pulley system for my winch. 

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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #123 on: Feb 05, 2016, 11:01:05 AM »
Progress has been a little slow lately.  Before i move my attention to the rear frame section, i want to finish up the tcase mount as well as the bracing for the rear suspension.

Here you can see the boxing of the lower link mounts as well as the gusset that ties the lower link mount to the upper link mount.



I've added the 2 pieces of tubing that will serve as the tcase mount as well as to tie the lower link mounts for both axles.



I reinstalled the dana 300 with the shift cables to check for height/clearances.  Here you can really see just how much higher the drive train is above the bottom of the frame.



Sadly, i got too excited when i placed the tcase mounts onto the frame and now i need to move.  I'm not 100% happy with how close they landed to the tcase.  The drive side mount/tab off of the tcase would need to be bent forward to land on the mount or i'd have to use 2 plates welded to one another and i don't like that.  I'd rather it be a little cleaner and just use one straight plate.  So, the driver side is definitely coming off.



In this picture you can see what i am referring to.  The tcase side of the mount will bolt to the back of the front output bearing retainer and land in the poly tcase mount.  The reason i said in the mount is because i'm reusing the front range off road tcase mounts that i had before and the tcase side bracket is sammiched between 2 poly bushing halves (in the background you can see what i'm referring to in the picture above showing the tcase height over the tubing).  I didn't account for that when placing the mounts on the frame, had i done that correctly the first time, the mount would actually be 3/8" farther back towards the rear.  So, i get to cut it off and redo.  No biggie.

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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #124 on: Feb 16, 2016, 01:19:30 PM »
Update

I no longer have a strap holding up the drive line!! 

I first started on the driver side tcase mount.  I cut a hole then welded the hole to allow for clearance of the front output shaft.  Just relying on the shim didn't allow for enough clearance between the 1/4" plate and the shaft.  I didn't want to just grind a low spot in the plate to make the clearance so i did it this way instead.  Although, i did grind a path per se from the new open space to the opening in the case where the oil will travel.  This may not serve much of a purpose since the shaft will be pretty much covered with oil since its upside down and pretty much completely flat.



Next up was the passenger side mount.  This one had to drop down to clear the rear output housing.



With the mounts taken care of, i finalized the bracing for the front/rear suspension points.  I added a piece of tubing to tie the front upper link mount to the driver side rear upper link mount.  This way it will transfer the force/load and not rip the front upper link mount off of the frame.  I then added a vertical gusset on the lower link piece of DOM for when i finish the notching of the tubing to allow for easier removal of the trans/tcase down the road.



Now that i've taken care of those pieces, i'm shifting my focus to the rear frame rails.  My rear ORI Struts are on order as well.  Getting closer to having the truck sitting on its own again.  But i still have a lot of work to do.
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #125 on: Feb 27, 2016, 08:12:13 AM »
Another update:

With the center portion of the truck finished (link mounts, tcase mounts, etc), i shifted my focus on the rear axle/frame/steering.

I bolted on the rear tire to start checking for clearances, she is going to be a little wider than my old setup for sure!



Another view from the rear.



Even though i'm leaving the rear axle in the stock location, with the 43" tire, i'm fairly happy with the departure angle.



I ordered the rear steering components from PSC (10" stroke ram as well as the tire rod and clevis kit), until they arrive, i started to look at what portion of the frame will have to be removed.  I must say, seeing the truck with rear steer looks really sexy to me!




View from the rock slider.



I mark the frame and made a couple initial cuts.  I'm pretty happy that i get the keep the entire rock slider intact.  The more this build goes along, the more i hope to keep it appearing close to the way it was before.



In order to make my work a little easier, i had to cut up the bed floor to have better access and a better view from above.  This was a bit of a pain to do while being careful.  I had to fight the urge to just bust out the saw zaw or torch and make it all go away.  haha



Removing the bed floor gave me the needed access to remove some of the factory bracing as well as the stuff that i've added during my last phase of the build.  So now i was able to remove the bump stop section of the frame.



With both sections removed, i was now able to get the rear axle at full stuff and start checking for clearances again.



The upper links will come to about 1/2" from contacting the bed frame.  Its a little tough to see that from this angle.



This is where i sit for the moment.  I need to cut off the ram mounts that are on this axle and build a new lower one just like i did up front.  The only clearance issues that i see at the moment for being able to use the full 10" out back will be the inner bed sides.  Thats nothing a little cut off wheel can't take care of though.  I'm really excited for the fact that i'll have full 10" of stroke on both axles.  Even thought the ole girl will be a bit longer compared to other rigs, she should still be pretty easy to maneuver around.
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Dingman.

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #126 on: Feb 27, 2016, 11:35:33 AM »
Looking good!  Cant wait to see it done!

redneckcustoms13

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #127 on: Feb 27, 2016, 12:28:10 PM »
Nice progress dan. I'm glad to see the rear went fairly smooth
83 long bed 2wd sas, 3rz, w56, duals with 4.7 rear, 4.88 elock front, spartan rear, 39.5 iroks
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #128 on: Mar 11, 2016, 08:37:01 PM »
Update:

The rear steer setup is now complete.  I've modified the rear high steer arms to accommodate the 3/4" heims, rebuilt the ram mount as well as build the tie rods.  The rear steer setup went a lot quicker than the front.  Luckily I still had the templates and measurements from the front axle to use on the rear.  It definitely sped things up.

Here is how the rear high steer arms turned out.



A quick teaser shot of the new ram and tie rods after i built them.



Here is what the rear ram mount looks like now.  Pretty much the exact same as what was done on the front axle.



Now for the fun shots.  I get a bit more excited than i probably should seeing the rear steer.  I've still got a ways to go before the truck is finished so i can't get too excited.  haha

Truck viewed from the rear...nice view if i don't say so myself.



Closer shot of the driver side rear knuckle at full lock.



Same side, just full lock in the other direction.



My next phase will be to tackle the rear frame rail section.  I've got a good game plan for that now at least.  I hope to be able to get started on that this weekend.

I'm trying to get as much done as i can this weekend and coming week before i go under the knife.
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #129 on: Mar 11, 2016, 08:41:43 PM »
Nice progress dan. I'm glad to see the rear went fairly smooth

Thanks bud.  All in all, the rear has gone more smoothly in comparison to the front.  Its been nice not having to deal with a motor in the way.
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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #130 on: Mar 12, 2016, 07:01:03 AM »
Awesome progress man. This is going to be a head turner for sure.
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #131 on: Mar 24, 2016, 07:43:39 PM »
Well, progress has come to a temporary stop since i went under the knife for an ulnar nerve transposition this past week.

But i was able to get a couple things done before hand though.  I started getting the rear frame rail section tied in and hoped to have it finished before the surgery but my lathe showed up which put a bit of a delay in the truck build.  But i did get one side of the frame rail mocked up.

Here is what the new frame rail section looks like when viewed down the frame towards the rear of the truck.



Here from the driver side of the frame.



This is how it'll attach to the bottom of the bed.  I will be adding tubing/cross bracing between the new section of frame rails.  The rear cross bracing will also tie the hitch support bars to it as well.



In a small squirrel moment, my tire groover came in so i decided to play with the tire.  Its nothing special and has been done many times before but here is what my tire looks like now.  I just ordered a 1/2" blade so the next 3 tires will go more quickly than this one did.

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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #132 on: Apr 21, 2016, 05:37:17 AM »
Mini update:

Between having surgery on my arm and needing more tubing, i've been delayed on making any progress on the truck.

Since i was able to sell my enclosed trailer, i was able to pick up a new trailer (to me anyhow).  Its a 40' dual tandem flat bed gooseneck.  I need to rewire the trailer because the previous owner likes to use wire nuts as well as the wiring has a short in it somewhere so i had to rig the wiring to get it back to the house.



My plans with it are to build a deck on the goose as well as to add a small dovetail to it.  Possibly about 2-4 feet.
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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #133 on: Apr 21, 2016, 05:42:27 AM »
Glad you found one. But that aint at your house lol is it gonna live at jons?
83 long bed 2wd sas, 3rz, w56, duals with 4.7 rear, 4.88 elock front, spartan rear, 39.5 iroks
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #134 on: Apr 21, 2016, 06:02:51 AM »
Its in front of my house.  I'm standing in my yard actually taking the pic.  lol  It was when Jon and i returned from picking up the trailer.
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redneckcustoms13

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #135 on: Apr 21, 2016, 08:45:38 AM »
Damn they threw that new house up in a hurry! I thought that was the one across from his.

Where did yall have to go to get it? What is it? Neck kind of looks like a pj. Definitely not a kaufman or lone wolf. I know those too well lol
83 long bed 2wd sas, 3rz, w56, duals with 4.7 rear, 4.88 elock front, spartan rear, 39.5 iroks
01 double cab hunting truck
06 tacoma street truck

nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #136 on: Apr 21, 2016, 12:54:29 PM »
I picked it up from Enterprise, AL.  Its made by Outback.  Which i've never heard of. 
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #137 on: Apr 25, 2016, 07:07:15 PM »
Update:

Due to the issues i discovered about the upper links, i built the new ones.  The up side, i now have 2 spare links for the rest of the suspension, but the down side, i had to buy more tubing and build new ones.  No biggie, just a learning curve.

Here are what the links looked like after i welded the tube adapters.  Plus, this gives me the change to play with my new welder.



Now that the links are in place, i have a lot more thread engagement and i'm happy with them.



I capped off the frame rails so that i can start to build the new tubing to tie the center frame to the rear frame section.  So far, i'm liking how the new welder is working out.



I know its not much progress, but i'm glad to be back in the garage and doing something more to the truck.

For your viewing pleasure, here is my nice little scare/incision from my surgery.

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #138 on: Apr 25, 2016, 08:21:38 PM »
They gave you a nice cut! I see the transfer case is still sitting there waiting on jon lol he should really let me get that.
83 long bed 2wd sas, 3rz, w56, duals with 4.7 rear, 4.88 elock front, spartan rear, 39.5 iroks
01 double cab hunting truck
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #139 on: Apr 26, 2016, 05:01:46 AM »
yeah, the cut ended up being bigger than what i was told it would be before the surgery.  I was told a 3" incision...

yup, along with several other items that he bought that are still in my garage.  Although, the tcase will have to go soon since its in my way.
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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #140 on: Apr 26, 2016, 09:30:02 AM »
Tell him you donated it to a charitable cause.
83 long bed 2wd sas, 3rz, w56, duals with 4.7 rear, 4.88 elock front, spartan rear, 39.5 iroks
01 double cab hunting truck
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #141 on: Apr 27, 2016, 05:51:51 AM »
haha, yeah...i'm not sure that would go over so well.
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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #142 on: Apr 27, 2016, 10:24:41 AM »
About like a turd in the punch bowl. So any updates on this pile of tubing?
83 long bed 2wd sas, 3rz, w56, duals with 4.7 rear, 4.88 elock front, spartan rear, 39.5 iroks
01 double cab hunting truck
06 tacoma street truck

nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #143 on: Apr 28, 2016, 05:57:32 AM »
Update:

I've been working on getting the rear frame rail tied to one another after having cut it to gain the clearance i needed for both suspension travel as well as steering/tire clearance.  I now have that portion almost complete.

This is what the new section looks like under the bed floor.  I placed 2 pieces of DOM under and slightly inside of the 1x2 rectangle tubing of the bed floor.  I then tied 2 pieces of DOM as crossmembers to help regain some strength.   



In the above picture, you can see the 2" receiver tubing at the very rear of the frame.  This has 2 pieces of tubing cut off that go forward at an angle.  Those used to tie to a previous crossmember that has since been removed.  My next step is to cut those off and build new pieces of tubing to tie to the newly built crossmember.

In what should be the last step(s) in having the new frame section tied together, will be to tie the tubing from the cage in the wheel well area (that previously landed on top of the factory frame) to the new frame section.  You can get an idea of what i'm talking about in the below picture if you look about 1/3 way down the inner bed side.  May be a little hard to see with the lack of light in the picture.  I will cut the tubing flush with the bottom of the bed 1x2 and then build some plate tabs to tie the tubing to the new frame as well as the 1x2.



With a little peak under her dress....you are able to get an idea of where the rear most crossmember lands in relation to the rear axle at full stuff.  There is plenty of room for activities.



This is the front crossmemeber mounting location and its clearances.  This one is a little tigher but i can still place my hand in between the upper links and the crossmember which should be plenty of clearance.



Here is a better view of the clearance between the upper link and crossmember.



I intend to add another piece of tubing from the backside of the factory frame section cap (in front of the axle) to the new crossmember/frame rail section.  In order to do that though, i need to build the strut mounts and cycle the rear suspension to see what tire clearance issues i may have.  Currently, i don't see any real clearance issues but you certainly never know what may show up once you start steering the axle with one side at full compression and the other at full droop.

I'm pretty happy with how things are turning out and to be back in the garage at almost full swing.  The lack of full swing was evident by the fact that i had to bend the driverside frame rail 3 times before i finally got it right.  But, i'm certainly not a pro and it wasn't a big deal since those 2 pieces of tubing that i had bent have been partially reused as new crossmembers.  haha

The one item of this build that i'm still trying to figure out how i'm going to go about building it, is the rear winch and pulley system.  So far, it looks like the winch will need to hang below the bed floow in front of the axle about 2" so that the cable will pass between the upper links and the crossmembers.  But their should be plenty of room for that.  I'll shift focus to that once i have the strut mounts built.
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #144 on: May 10, 2016, 12:30:53 PM »
Update:

With the rear frame pretty much complete, i started to focus on the strut mounts.  Right now, I'm focusing on the passenger side and once i am completely happy, I'll move on to the driver side and duplicate everything.

The first order of business, was that i had to cut the hole in the inner beside/fender area to allow the strut to come through.  I then placed the new lower tabs on the factory unimog spring plate.  After playing with upper tab location and looking at the strut body to inner bed side clearance, i started to grow skeptical that the lower mounting tabs were far enough away from the center of the truck to allow for proper clearance between the strut body and the inner bed frame.  And as i suspected, that was not going to be NEAR enough clearance for the strut.  I was only able to get about 7" of droop out of the strut before the body came in contact with the inner bedside.  To gain the clearance, I started off by moving the lower mount 1/2" off of the perch and to my surprise, that wasn't enough.  It may be hard to tell from this picture with my fancy strut cover on the strut, but with the axle sitting at full stuff on both sides, the strut only sits about 1/2" away from the inner bed side structure.  While this is okay for full stuff with both tires, this will most certainly not work when it comes time for one side to fully droop while the other side is at full stuff.



So i played with the upper mounting location a bit more.  I brought the upper mount closer to the cage which did help a bit for the strut clearance plus the shorter tab should be stronger as well.  Sadly though, that still not enough clearance for the strut body.  I was only able to gain about 9" of droop out of the suspension.  I then started looking at moving the lower mount further out towards the tire.  This required the tab to hang off of the factory spring perch.  I moved it in 1/2" increments till I eventually had to move the mount 1 1/2" off of the spring perch.



At this point i was only able to get to about 12" of droop.  I decided that i was not going to move the lower mount any further outward and that i needed to start cutting the inner bed side to allow the last bit of clearance.  Since I've gone so far off of the factory spring perch, the lower strut mounts will need to be braced.  I plan to add some 1/4" plate to extend underneath the mount as well as a vertical brace/bracket to capture the top bolts that bolts the inner C to the axle tube.  This should strengthen the lower mount so that it doesn't fail.  Here you can see just how close the strut and bed are as well as how much i had to clearance the inner bed side frame for the strut to clear.  There is currently 1/8" of clearance around the strut body but this is at the full 16" of droop.



Here is how i cut the inner bed side for the top of the strut to pass through.  I still need to bring this hole down another 1/2" to provide more clearance for the strut body when the axle droops out.



But i am pleased that i did finally have success.  Now, keep in mind, the driver side is actually sitting higher than what will be when that strut is installed.  That is due to the placement of the jack stand that is serving as the fulcrum during this test.  This way, in my mind and from what i dealt with on the front suspension, it exaggerates the clearance issue that i have.  Once i have the driver side strut mounted in place, I'll cycle the suspension more while having the tire at full lock in both directions to check for any clearance issues that may occur. 

For now, you get a bit more truck porn and you can see what the strut looks like at full droop.  The funny part is that I almost ran out of room between the brake rotor and the garage floor since I've kept the chassis at ride height the entire time.







While the axle was in this position, i did go ahead and check for clearances at the links to make sure that there was plenty of room.  There is about 1" of clearance between the upper and lower links on the driver side. 





All in all, I'm pretty happy with how the rear strut mount is taking place.  I still need to take care of a few things on the passenger side before i call it good enough to move onto the driver side.  But I'm getting excited to think that soon, the truck will be sitting on its own axles for the first time in months.
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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #145 on: May 10, 2016, 01:10:04 PM »
 :bowdown:
Very sweet. excellent fab work.
On my watch list for sure.
I am 1/5th of Perfect Fit
SqWADoosh [04:19 PM]: *sigh* I guess Chris is right and I just need to wait until I'm in a place where I have a tow rig and trailer before I get this caliber of truck
Mudder [08:28 PM]:   not try to be a jerk, but are you serious bestgen?
Prismo [06:11 PM]:   Done, time to relax or as Bestgen says....FREEDOM!
HogCanyonHopper [06:54 PM]:   I like my little rod. it gets the job done
H8PVMNT [03:30 PM]: I can go both ways.

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #146 on: May 10, 2016, 02:23:56 PM »
Measure, cut, duplicate, make that rig roll lol. Looking good.
83 long bed 2wd sas, 3rz, w56, duals with 4.7 rear, 4.88 elock front, spartan rear, 39.5 iroks
01 double cab hunting truck
06 tacoma street truck

nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #147 on: May 10, 2016, 02:55:11 PM »
Thats the plan.  Sadly, fab work isn't a very quick process.  if it were, my junk would have been done months ago.  lol
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nwflyoda [OP]

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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #148 on: May 22, 2016, 05:22:17 PM »
Update:

It feels like i made a decent bit of progress this week.  When i left off last, i just had the passenger side mounts mocked up.  I started out by duplicating that onto the driver side.  Once i had the mounts on both sides mocked up, it was time to start cycling the suspension to check for clearance issues.

Here is what the strut mounts looked like from the bed view with the suspension at full stuff.



Here, i let the driver side go to full droop and kept the passenger side at full stuff.



From an angled view.



As i suspected, everything was looking pretty good.  I did have to clearance a bit more of the surrounding tube work at the top of the fenders once i let the suspension go into full droop on both sides.  There was enough clearance but i wanted to gain a little more for my comfort.

Full droop on both passenger/driver sides.



And of course, we have to see if from another angle.



Now that i was happy with the initial clearances.  It was time to put the tire on the truck and start cycling the suspension as well as have the tire and full lock in both directions.

First up, was to have the driver side at full droop with the passenger at full stuff.  Here, i had the tire turned to the left full lock.  I was really pleased that there were no clearance issues.  Below are a few pictures to show the clearances.



The clearance between the frame slider/frame and the tire.



Clearance between the inner bed side and the tire.



Another view of the clearance between the inner bed side and the tire.



With those clearances checked, i turned the tire full lock to the right.



Clearance with the inner bed side and tire.  Bonus is that you can see that sexy ass strut up close and personal in this shot.



And from another view.  Sadly, the sun drenched the camera of light so its harder to see.  One thing ya'll may notice is that the bed frame is completely cut into 2 pieces now.  I ended up doing that to provide more clearance between the strut and the inner bed.  With a double triangulated suspension, the axle will still move slightly from side to side.  I wanted to provide more clearance here to keep the struts from contacting the frame in those situations.



I then repeated the steps with the driver side at full stuff and the passenger at full droop.  Everything checked out good on this side but i was able to get a little better picture of it.





At this point, i was happy with everything, so i fully burnt the mounts in.  But i needed to address the lower strut mount support.  With how far the tabs were hanging off of the factory spring perch, i needed to brace them.  First i added some 1/4" plate under the mounts to extend the flat surface of the spring perch.



Then, utilizing one of the bolts that bolt the inner C to the axle tube, i added the vertical plate and welded it to the mount.



If you look closely in this picture, you can see that i had to clearance the new brace around the inner C in order to make this work.



One of the last pieces to finish is to box in the inner bed side.



At this point, i still need to weld some sheet metal back to the driver side inner bed side where the door used to be for the propane tank access.  Then on both sides, i need to weld a cap into the DOM that is at the top of the fender/inner bed side area where the strut comes through.  Finally, i'll just address the last bit of factory rear frame rail by capping it off.

Once that occurs, the big moment of setting the truck down on its own axles for the first time in almost a year.  I'll start to tackle the rear radiator mount and winch setup next before the fun of putting the cab back on the truck.
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Re: The Macheen rebuild
« Reply #149 on: May 22, 2016, 05:51:45 PM »
this is going to be bad a ** :bowdown:
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