Grasshoppers legs.

[Fullload]

I just up loaded the pics from this weekends work on this truck. I'll do a detailed write up when i have more time later. But last week we took it all apart and cut the rear frame off. lemme know what you guys think, good bad or indifferent!!!!
Be nice too!!!





Say goodbye to the old!!!!

[Fullload]

Whatta joker!!! it's a little shorter than what it used to be.

[Fullload]

Frame was sleeved, and then more added, levelled and squared and then 1/4 thick fish plates were welded just for some extra oomph.

[Fullload]

The springs and axle are temporarily installed with a set of cj springs and a buggy leaf. (mudlite should recognize these) and then new front spring hanger fabbed and installed.
There will be more gusseting that goes from the mount to the frame that will make it stronger and act as a slider as well.
There will be more crossmembers added within the frame but we are waiting on the final axle place ment so that we can use it as a shock mount as well.
Like i said just buttoned in there will things to come later.

[MuddMachine]

Looks good, I thought you were gonna avoid building spring hangers and cut it like so :

[KAC]

Pretty cool:)

[Fullload]

Still all just placed in there for now but at least we have an idea, whats going on now. Where it sits is 13 1/2 inches back from the original spring hanger and the cj'in the rear totals it out for 96" wheel base.
We are going to put rears up front to give an extra little bit, and if needed (wanted in the future) it leaves room for an easy 100" wheelbase by moving the front a little more.


A pic of it sitting on it's own longer legs again. teh garage was too short to get a full side shot!!! but with new rears up front it will be perfect!!!!

[MuddMachine]

Looks like you may have to set up the rear pinion angle again cuz it was an 80" wheelbase and now it'll be aimed too high. Push for a tracbar and bumpstops or he'll ruin the cj springs as well.

[vanbdan]

hey Fullload,so what is the goal here? and say hi to Grasshopper,and his crew from me and mine!

[Fullload]

To answer your first question Mudd. the reason why we changed the spring mount and fabbed a new one is cause of height. Using the old one it would not have been low enough to keep the ride height the same. I needed something like 5 1/2 inches from the new mounting point and it was just as easy to make a new as opposed to cutting the old one and dropping it.
There will be new bumpstops added for sure. It'll probably be a piece of tube welded to the underside of the buggy leaf on the frame to contact the top side of the perch plate.
A trac bar is a must and will be decided where it will mount as soon as everything is in place ie. driveshafts and t-case. We have to temporarily bolt the case in again as we got a little gung ho on the demo part of this bulid. But nothing major to do.
The pinion angle will be allowd for. As much as Grasshopper whined about cutting the old perches and shock mounts off, i insisted that he do it, for a new set.
Vanbdan. I don't understand your question. What do you mean "what is your goal"? and i will say hi to them for you.

[vanbdan]

hey Fullload,I meant,what will the final outcome be i.e.longer,flatbed,tube ...........what is he going for.

[Fullload]

He is tossing ideas of a seat in the rear with toolboxes and a flatbed with a fuel cell and everything else, that pops into his head. Or just turning into a P/U box etc....
We will see but for sure there will be a cage going to that area.
Hoppin along and grasshopper did the front and rear hoop last weekend as well.
Will keep you all posted as we progress. maybe i'll have time to go up this weekend but not sure yet.

[zc911]

nice work. But isn;t that a big open area that would flex quite a bit? Maybe a crossbrace or two ?

[Fullload]

Originally posted by Fullload

There will be more crossmembers added within the frame but we are waiting on the final axle placement so that we can use it as a shock mount as well.
Like i said just buttoned in there. Will be more things to come later.


The only editing i did was my spelling errors.:D But thanks for the compliment!!!!

[zc911]

heheh woops missed that part :D

[Fullload]

Today we never got as much as we expected done but we did get a few things done.
The holes in the frame for the "buggy leaf" were drilled and the proper u-bolts bolted in.
We welded on the perches (tacked) and threw the axles in the New donor housing as the other one we did not trust.
We decided to add a new rear bumper on with which go past the frame just so we can add a cage or mount lights etc...
Then to finish off the night we added the sliders in that attach to the spring hangers.
Here are a few pics (everyone loves pics!!!)

[Fullload]

somebody lowered the pic sizes to be uploaded!!! so now i have to go throught the hassle of messing with them with no paint shop program to make them about 50,000 bites smaller!!!:roll:

[Fullload]

Those last two pics were flexing with no weight in the back. If there was more sprung weight it would have kept the tire on the ground a little better. That jack stand under the tire is 22 inches tall!!!
Just to give you an idea it comes up to the center of my back and i'm 5' 10" tall!

[Fullload]

New style rear bumper. Sorry for the smoky pics. just finished welding it !!!

[Fullload]

Last one this week of the rear sliders for the spring mounts. I'll do a couple of things to gusset it up later and round off the front hanger as well.

[vanbdan]

I like it,great pics....mmmmmmmm flex

[lil beast]

Looks fawken awsome. Nice tires and rims too:D

[SuziCrazy]

Looks great.. I like it alot!

[zc911]

thats looking GREAT, nice job

[Fullload]

Thanks guys. I found out this morningf getting outta bed that i should not have lifted the truck off the stand!!!. back is a little sore today. But thanks for the vote of confidence. Hopefully we will get alot done next weekend. Like tie in the fuel cell and get the exaust re routed and some shock placement, which i would like to do after all the weight is on the rear of the truck. May have to sacrifice and allow for it earlier thats all. We have some pretty cool plans for how the rear is going to be tied into the rest.
See ya next weekend!

[gordZuki]

good stuff man .... hope it all comes together ...

[Fullload]

Well i just did a big speel on what happened last weekend and the P.C froze while i tried to upload the pic.
Any questions just shoot.


In short form. no parts to complete rear. driveshaft and springs.

hack front and extend 10" for two reasons winch and new cj's up front.

Now lets try again!!!

[Fullload]

forgot to attach after i resized!!!

[Fullload]

And another.
We should have the new winch mounted and the ends of the bumper on and capped and re inforced next weekend. after that it should take no time to fab a couple of new shackles and maybe missing links for the front after.

[MLC]

looks great ...keep up the good work....

[Fullload]

Thanks. Hopefully next weekend the front should be done minus the crossover steering.

[Fullload]

Well we didn't get the front done as hoped but close. I ran out of time and had to head home early. here are a few pics of the front bumper.
We have to do some more work on the front winch brace , cut the hole for the fairlead and, Cap the top of the bumper.

[Fullload]

One more just a little closer

[Fullload]

Last one for today. If i don't have to work tomorrow i'll try and get it finished off.
We ran into a little problem. I got the spring hangers all tacked in and bolted in the springs. looks good and has no angle with no load on the springs.
Do a little test to see where it will sit with the weight of the truck , and the springs are so soft that the shackles go almost horozontal before the truck comes up. Oh well now we have to mix and match spring packs to find a better set up. I kinda figured that the 4 leaf packs would not cut it, with the new found home for the Warn 8274.
Here is a pic anyway.

[lil beast]

i like the front bumper.:D Just a reminder you will have to flip the centre spring bolts and grind them down to fit. Im sure you new that tho.:roll:

[Fullload]

I left them long so that we can change the spring rates and play with new packs a bit. The weight of the truck on the 4 leaf pack as in the pic go flat so we have to add and change the spring config so that it sits at the proper ride height and has a nice ride at the same time.
But thanks for the tip. Too bad that i had to work today or i would have gone up again.

Anyone know how far i can move the front axle before i run into steering box placement even with crossover steering, or will it not be an issue?

[Depot]

as u move ur front forward, ur changing the geometry of the steering.. even with cross-over think about like this...


| is ur pitman arm

------- is ur drag link

|| is ur kingpin arm (crossover or not)


stock is like

|__________
..................||

so now when u turn right and left (for those of u that do steer) both left and right goes at the same rate.


now when u push axel up...



....../||
..../
|/

(ignore the ...., only way i can get pics to align)

if u play with the pic u can see that left and right wont go at the same rate and u'll bind up on the right turn. of course the pic is exagerated to display my point. an inch here or there and u prolly wont notice the different turn rates though.

when u have it all mounted, count and measure ur turns and u'll find the diff, if u can live with it, leave it.. if not move steering box ahead.. no biggie.

finally, hitting the pumpkin will prolly be ur biggest concern when turned.. that'll be ur tell all. just try it and see, after all, its only grasshoppers truck :D

l8r

D

[MuddMachine]

Remember I put the rear leafs up front AND moved the front forward 1.5" on top of that. Anymore is pushin it.

[Fullload]

Cool. I wish that he had a power steering set up to go with it but i guess if i gotta i gotta. Souldn't take too long, since i have alreay fish plated the inside but i think that the bumper may interfere with the outside. Something to look for lare i guess. :bang: I'll figure it out. Thanks guys.

[KAC]

Hey Fullload what angle did you cut the the bumper on. I extended my frame 6'" and I like the look of that bumper but I thought 45 degrees might be too much.

[Fullload]

Actually grasshopper had pieces pre cut at his shop that were on a 45* angle as well. I scrapped them real fast. I dunno i just eyeballed it.
I brought the 90* part( the part that comes straight out off the frame) in line with the body and cut the other side to match.
Then i took another piece of steel an layed it on top of what i just did and made my marks and cut with a zip disc.
*Note* i messed a bit when i did it. The 90* piece came out to far and with the cj's up there, it rubbed the tire under full stuff and turned hard . I did not want to cut the bumper, so we installed rear zuks up front.
Unless it was a shackle reversal i would not go that long of a spring up there anyway. Way to easy to snap main leaves.
This project has been put on hold because of lil beasts truck, and now mine is under way. Thats another reason why i have not been around much.
There will be pics and updates soon.

[Fullload]

Well when i get a chance i will post some pics. Just an update for now. The suspension is done, the motor is done and wired with the 1.6 8 valve, the smurfileds came in on friday, so we installed the front axle, and made this thing drive.
Even without shocks it drove like a caddy. The powersteering was mint the front locker rocks, it flexes like a bad thing and goes like stink. It drives as good as a new vehicle.
I would have had some flex pics of it parked on a concrete median. (you know the ones like they have on the side of the highway) but it was dark and i forgot the camera.
We'll get some in a couple of days.

[grasshoppers]

hey fullload post those flex out pics will ya. just a note, a big thanx to helping me build this rigg :beer: can't wait to get her out on the trails. all the neighbors enjoyed watching us flex our zooks out on the street. :yike

[Fullload]

Here ya go.

[Fullload]

And one of me!

[vanbdan]

sweet :hubba:

[MLC]

Nice :yike :beer: