I rather quickly destroyed the truck and needed room for my little one to ride safely so here we go. Will be reusing the drivetrain with some upgrades. spes to be 3 linked F/R on 14" foa c/o, adding full hydro, second tcase, and freshen up the 22re unless I can find a good deal on a 2/3rz. 105" wheel base with 90deg approach and departure angles, I'm shooting for 6" uptravel front and rear with a 20" belly on the current 35's will be upgrading tires around tax time to 38-39". The truck weighed 3450lbs all loaded up so if the buggy comes in at that I will be happy but trying to end up around 3000lb.
The first pick is todays progress, built a stand to hold the drivetrain and squared up the front/ rear axles to get the last couple measurements I needed. Will start slinging tube tomorrow.
Got the main frame rails bent up today, I really wanted to do this in one piece but its raining its ass off out side and I have a verticle bender and only 9' ceilings so I made it in two mirrored sections and used a slug in the center. The front section will get more reinforcement from the winch plate so it should be ok.
Thanks for watching guys, tonight I got the tcase mounts done, modded the factory motor mounts using RuffStuff bushing kits and started on the frame side motor mounts.
Do you sleep?! I swear why all us normal people are sleeping your in your garage slaving away making awesome creations.. I envy to you sir good work:flipoff2:
They have more welded area than a TG mount now, but yes when I tear it down for paint and the engine refresh they will get a gusset. The same for the frame side motor mounts I did today, they will get a speed holed plate on the top of them once the motor is out to have more room to weld. Also got the rear frame section bent up and welded in. Last two pics are approach and departure. I'm glad everyone thinks this is going fast, I have only been working on it 2.5 hours a night and it feels like slow progress, should make a big dent in it this weekend.
The tcase rides in my home made mount, the factory mount is welded in to the cradle and has gussets they stop the factory mount from flexing and the whole thing is hung on 2" RuffSuff bushings.
first off, I love the slave labor, the wife has a mini me slave laborer incubating as I type, can't wait only 6 more months second, that tube notching setup is not only custom but badass and more than likely what I will be doing this weekend because I am poor :laughing:
The trick is in the layout and drill the pilot hole with a 1/4" bit. The holesaw just has a piece of 1/4" round bar stock for a guide. You can do some crazy angles and notch in a bend this way also. So the holesaw doesn't have to work as hard once I drill the pilot hole I use a cutoff wheel and make a cut about 1/2" past. With a little practice you can make near perfect notches.
I think what he is saying is he trims off the tube a half inch past the pilot hole so when makes the notch, the hole saw has less material it has to cut ( a half circle rather than a full circle) I do this for all my notches and it helps keeps the hole saws alive.
i like this idea instead of getting a drill press. should go in the tool section if it isnt already.
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