Nissan Off Road & 4x4 Forum

So over the last few months in school, I've been doing a ton of research and getting ready for a solid axle swap of my own. I bought an 89 grand waggy d44 a few months ago at the junk yard. I got all of the steering and brake parts from this axle but ended up selling the housing to be replaced with a 78 f250 d44. I got lucky, I paid for the housing from an auto recycler and ended up getting everything because they didnt want to pull it apart. Now that I'm out of school and have got the money, I've started ordering everything I need. The link DOM I got in the remnants from IMS for a fraction of what it sells for new, the tabs and joints are on order from ballistic fab, the shock hoops are on their way, I have a complete pair of Fox 2.5 Piggyback Coilovers and i have torn down and rebuilt everything and as it stands, its a rolling axle and ready for welding.

(http://i52.tinypic.com/5dsdnt.jpg)


The only problem is, I don't have a welding outlet at my house for my welder and some of the parts are on back order. I won't have the tabs to weld on or a welder to weld them on with until about mid-late july and I leave for college on the 24th of august. This is a race to take this thing from perfectly road worthy to a truck without legs, back to roadworthyness in time to drive the 400 miles to prescott, AZ for college.

wish me luck i guess. 

I think kenny could help   ;D

Good luck!  You doing a 3 link or radius arm?  keeping it leaf over for the rear?

I'm going 3 link in the front and SOA in the rear. eventually everyone wants to go to coilovers in the rear as well.

and if anyone wants to know, I got my 14 bolt today. Tore it down and cleaned it up. I ordered the gears for both the front and rear with a Timken master install kit for the 14 bolt. I only need a minor install kit for the front.

My spool for the front got here today and my shock hoops get there tomorrow. I added a 14 bolt disk brake bracket set to my delayed Ballistic order and plan on getting the rest of the brake hardware later.

the problem is, I called around and the best price i got for a gear install and set up is $250 for each axle at the minimum. anyone have a better place to recommend? because i sure as hell cant afford a $500 install charge and dont have the experience to set them up myself.

Sounds like you're well on your way.  Where are you located exactly?  Are you in San Diego?

yeah im in mission hills....so by the 8 and the 5 near balboa park.

I'll help dude! Kenny can't though. hes booked for the next year!!! get in line for the KING! haha

I've had a good experience with Les at Snappy Auto Service.  He's a small shop in North Park on Mississippi one door south from El Cajon Blvd.  His # is (619) 491-0283

I'd do the gears but I'm under the gun for the next couple months! 

What are you doing with your old H233b? 

Thanks but after some reading I think I can pull it off. It will just take patients. I talked to a guy at progear and he says wait until I'm done welding to install the gears?


But as for my h233b and front diff I was going to sell them as a pair or individually to someone who wants to swap to 4.9 or just wants a spare

14 Bolt gears installed

(http://i56.tinypic.com/2efp6hy.jpg)

tubes ground flat and pumpkin painted

(http://i54.tinypic.com/1zfiuso.jpg)

look what showed up in my garage today courtesy of Lee  :D

(http://i53.tinypic.com/a5coet.jpg)

This one's gonna get the gears this weekend.

(http://i53.tinypic.com/308d5w6.jpg)

Now I'm just waiting on ballistic fab to send me my joints and tabs and I'll be ready to rock.

when you get to Az and settled in we need to go on a run  :thumbup:

Yes definitely. Where are you in az? And hopefully I'll be all moved in at school by the time you get back from kenny's

in tempe , its about 2 hours from prescott
we are looking to do a run early september called payett draw in payson which is about 2 hours from ya

alright well, hopefully i'll be in a position where i have time. Being so close to the beginning of school, I dont know what kind of work load they'll spring on us so I'm a definitely maybe right now but I'll go if i can for sure. might be a good time to test out the new suspension, assuming i get it all done.

You want a upper link bridge for that axle?  I'll trade you that H233 for the bridge, upper link bracket and track bar brackets.  maybe weld them in for ya, too.   

hey kenny, think you could PM me those part number for the tie rod ends we used. and what i need to finish up linking the rear as far as joints go

zac im excited to get started!

So I've been playing with the welder. No one makes a heavy duty diff cover for the 14 bolt semi-floater rear end so I figured I would try my hand at a little fabrication. I spent less on metal than I would have on a replacement stock cover (that didn't work in the first place)

(http://i52.tinypic.com/2wpo6lv.jpg)

the welds turned out pretty nice (even though they zig zag a tiny bit) and the whole thing is water tight. I just need to get the surface machined flat and the holes drilled.

In other news, I got the disk brake brackets in the mail, they are a bit short for the axle tubes and don't reach the rotors. I'll be sending those back to ballistic fab in exchange for some nice weld on ones i can position anywhere.

this leaves me with two questions. Does anyone know where I can get the wheel mounting surface diameter of the 14 bolt's axle shafts machined down about an inch. Or if someone here has a metal lathe they would let me borrow.

and two, How should I go about splicing a line lock into the rear main brake line. Do i need to get a flare tool and fittings or what?

pretty good lookin beads there.  I'd use a manual line lock, but you'll have to run the hard line into the cab where ever you mount the linelock.

I'm gonna have to pass on buying your H233b.  I'm buying back my buggy and using Jason's old HP D60.  And, another plane got dropped in my lap today.  So my schedule is totally Fuk'd. 

 

hey kenny,.... i hate planes. hahaha

you're gett'n the buggy back!?!?  :cheers:

Fixed it for you.

yes!   ;D

New cross member:
(http://i53.tinypic.com/24zyv6q.jpg)

Diff cover skull:
(http://i56.tinypic.com/333frdu.jpg)

14 bolt brakes (calipers soon to come)
(http://i51.tinypic.com/35lt1g4.jpg)

Dana 44 Axle bridge, lower link mounts and coil over tabs/C gussets:
(http://i55.tinypic.com/25j861i.jpg)

ALL done and checked off. 

so hows it goin man , your running out of time

Yeah man I know I'm cutting it close. The main problem is i didn't know it was going to be such a long wait for the ballistic joints. The guys at ballistic were nice enough to bump my status up on the back order list and they could have shipped out today if not tomorrow. I should get the last few parts in the mail by monday hopefully. I plan on starting to cut into it monday afternoon because I've got something to do in the morning. then i should have enough time to figure out shock hoops and the upper link. Tires, front drive shaft and locking hubs will have to be figured out when i get to school and start working.

other than that, I buttoned up my front axle today with oil and everything ready to go. The rear just need those disk brake brackets and its ready to be buttoned up too.

i guess you dont go on pirate much do you lol
alot of people having issues with getting their stuff in a timely manner

i went with johnny joints , i know Steevo and Kenny like using these

Yeah I dont go on pirate too much. Hopefully I get my stuff in time. If not that's going to cause a huge mess for me.

Just call Currie.  They should have them in stock.  I got mine in a couple days.

I prefer JJ's because the liners are more pliable and they aren't as squeaky. 
   

I have 1 left handed thread Johnny Joint if you're interested. Comes with bung insert too. I don't know what 1 will do for you but it's one less you'd have to worry about  :D

ah ha.. I brought you to the dark side.. lol

but seriously, the JJ's are better.

Well I'm in a real dilemma, If i were to switch to the johnny joints, I would have to shell out an extra $100 and but I would get them by tuesday. If i were to stay with ballistic, the brackets i got would fit properly and i would keep that $100 but i don't think i would get them until probably tuesday of the week after and i leave that thursday with a slim chance i could push the move in to saturday. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO. Now if i cancel the joints from ballistic and order from ORW where i have a gift card (with nothing else to buy from them) i would probably be close to even. maybe ill do that.

and this:

(http://i55.tinypic.com/34t386b.jpg)

not a proper mock up but just to get a rough idea and it seems i lined everything up right so far

and with a little wheeling and dealing, ballistic joints canceled, johnny joints ordered and hems picked up. JJ's should be here tuesday and the brackets i was waiting on should be here by mid next week. I can start this weekend.

day one progress:

(http://i54.tinypic.com/vgzs5.jpg)

I also sold my old wheels and tires and purchased 5 new 17" steel wheels off summit racing. If the deal for used tires still goes through ill be a total of $35 out of pocket for 37's

This is exciting! you have 4 days!

     

I have until next thursday so... 8 i think but still.

got some more stuff done today:

Driver side frame plated:

(http://i54.tinypic.com/qqe1on.jpg)

Drive shaft made:

(http://i51.tinypic.com/296kop4.jpg)

One side of each link welded and assembled:

(http://i56.tinypic.com/aliwki.jpg)

Diff cover almost fits right:

(http://i52.tinypic.com/2e6de7o.jpg)

Got my wheels a few days ago:

(http://i54.tinypic.com/34yuqe1.jpg)

Somehow i ended up with all of this:

(http://i54.tinypic.com/m7t5jt.jpg)

How messy the garage is:

(http://i53.tinypic.com/124jwqb.jpg)

Massive coil overs, not quite sure where my head was at:

(http://i51.tinypic.com/16bh842.jpg)

and lastly, lee picked up my tires for me in Hesperia.

(http://i56.tinypic.com/33bfouf.jpg)

those 16's or 18's lol  ??

lol 17's

holy crap how you gonna fit those in there ??

OHHHHH hahaha, i thought you meant wheels man, no those are 16s so still gonna be hard but we'll see very shortly.

Rear shocks and brake lines done:

(http://i51.tinypic.com/m94l6b.jpg)

and the garage cleaned up and ready for the front tomorrow. I might have to end up moving or removing a cat to fit the upper link. We'll see.

(http://i54.tinypic.com/sxn4tv.jpg)

I would be fine with making taller shock hoops to fit those shocks but the master cylinder is in the way. :\

shock hoops extended and one side tacked to see how it fit. It's tight for sure and i think it need to be moved towards the firewall a bit, but we'll see tomorrow.

(http://i51.tinypic.com/8x3g4h.jpg)

(http://i53.tinypic.com/2077the.jpg)

its hard to tell but how much of uptravel are you gonna have? you may need to push the coilovers up higher otherwise it looks like your gonna sit really high with not much uptravel

Yeah I think I'm gonna have to downsize to 14 inchers. I don't have very much space to go up with the hoops. also, the front frame will actually sit a bit higher too.

CUT THE HOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

anything longer than 14" is not needed... in my opinion you need at least 12's. 14's are nice and 16+ is not needed.

Yeah I'll probably downsize to 14s in the future or use the 16s in the back and get 14s for the front. I jut got a screaming deal on them that's all. I was originally looking for 14s

I just stopped working today. progress today:

Shock hoops and engine brace welded in and painted:

(http://i53.tinypic.com/hsl47r.jpg)

Got my tires, gonna get them mounted tomorrow morning:

(http://i53.tinypic.com/2nqq0.jpg)

And got the last brackets: I've made the lower links and tacked them in as well as made the pan hard and tacked that in. Looks like the steering, upper link, pan hard, and tire-lower link clearances are all really close, but are going to fit.

(http://i51.tinypic.com/10i8ahi.jpg)

I could very well be done tomorrow.

TADA!! She is 98% finished enough for me to drive to school. Ill have to do a few finishing touches like exhaust and master cylinder in the morning, but then she should be ready to take her maiden voyage.

(http://i52.tinypic.com/2dvom78.jpg)

Nice

well i did it guys, and just barely. left yesterday around 4:30 and it rode great all the way to prescott doing 70 mph.

and this wasn't at full flex.

(http://i54.tinypic.com/e7b0g5.jpg)

(http://i53.tinypic.com/25ptw84.jpg)

(http://i52.tinypic.com/vsjhig.jpg)

Great job!

WOW :thumbup:

Right on man. but i'm going to thrown out a few suggestions.

I'd really consider building a stronger truss for the front axle, I'd also consider making both the trackbar and draglink longer.

i would have made them longer but i wanted the drag link the same length as tracbar and the tracbar right now is perfectly centered on the roll center. as for the truss, the flat bar is 3/8" and i can always add some square tubing on the sides making it more of a triangle.

lets see it in the dirt already!

man I'm busy at school already. ill see if i can get out with aaron whenever he gets back, i still need that front drive shaft too.

yeah beef it up one way or another. You'l really be surprised how much pressure is exerted on that upper link.

with a longer track bar things will stay a lot more linear and won't shift as much including the center of the track bar. you also need to take into consideration the roll center at all positions of the suspension travel. Thing move a lot especially with 16" travel coilovers. just by 2 cents  :cents:

oh I'm for sure no expert. I'll take all the advice i can get. I'll have to bend the drag link eventually and i might just lengthen them both then... depends on how it does up until that point. Right now the heim angle coming off the pitman arm is whats limiting my passenger side droop.

So theres not much to do up here and boredom is quite common. Me and a few friends decided to check out some local trails. The front suspension worked nothing less than flawlessly besides the lack of a drive shaft and limited up travel. However, the same could not be said for the rear suspension.

(http://i52.tinypic.com/6fy4oi.jpg)

Lee, all i can say is you were right man. So i have a few options, go for heavier duty leafs, stock leafs from kenny (aarons old leafs) traded for my old h233b along with my old over load leafs again or wait until i have the money for the rear links and coil overs.

However, heres a few of the front.

(http://i55.tinypic.com/2jf0en9.jpg)

(http://i52.tinypic.com/29wp9mu.jpg)

(http://i55.tinypic.com/200v2ww.jpg)

(http://i55.tinypic.com/1zyelqb.jpg)

(http://i56.tinypic.com/2drw21l.jpg)

anybody want to win the lottery for me?

why not run the chevy springs? pick and pull is having a half off everything this weekend so i may swing by there tomorrow

are they the same length? If so I'll go snag a pair at the u-pick up here in prescott

Impressive!   I'd go with coils in the back.  Like I had on the old Pathfinder.

   

why coils over coilovers (unless thats what you meant) I like the idea of a single package with less fab hardware.


anyways, when looking for leaf springs at the junk yard today (got there and realized i forgot to measure my existing leaf springs) i stumbled across a really nice pair of warn premium locking hubs and a new horn from an 80's ish suburban to make a new chevy/nissan dual tone horn. The horn sounds nice and beefy and after i got the hubs cleaned up i slapped them on. all i need is a front driveshaft and rear leafs now.

(http://i56.tinypic.com/2zicxuv.jpg)

It's just gonna be hard to run 14" or longer coilovers without cutting into the floor. 
Nice hubs. look brand new!

yeah dude those hubs are sweet!  dude you can do what i did,... which is a temp fix, is just find some old leafs in the yard and slap two underneath the two on there. sure maybe a little ghetto,...unsafe,...or watever u wanna call it,..but my trucks still fine! haha  8)     ill be starting work on m y 3 link soon.

What's the backspacing on those wheels?

Nice work so far.   :thumbup:

Yeah i might do that but if I find a proper length set off a chevy stock SOA I'll get those because they have a thicker band where the leaves sit on the axle so the spring rate stays the same and it resists wrap. also check out IMS for link dom inthe remnants section.

And the wheels are 4.5" bs

let me know if you still want arrons old leafs. 

Kind of a late update but its better than nothing and it comes with photos.

Got those rear springs repacked. I saved the top leaf and through under some extra leafs of a chevy 52" spring pack. the top leafs are straight again and are holding steady.

The front drive shaft is done and all thats left for the drive train is to redo the rear shaft.
This is about 8-10 inches of droop, so not quite full droop. I do plan on redoing the tranny cross member to make it more rigid and to get the loop to angle back instead of straight down.

(http://i54.tinypic.com/2ilg0id.jpg)


and heres a photo from my latest trip out to smiley rock:

(http://i56.tinypic.com/rk1vec.jpg)


This is the most i've gotten it to flex out.

(http://i51.tinypic.com/2zpjewl.jpg)


and what it looks like against a stock X:

(http://i51.tinypic.com/54hqh0.jpg)

right on man.
How bad does your front driveshaft vibrate?

havent taken it up to any speed really, with the front spool i dont want to.

Looks good bro.  It may be just the pic but it looks like the yokes on the drive shaft are out of phase.  Just make sure they are clocked in line.
   

why do they need to be?

when you have single u-joints on each end they need to be in phase to minimize vibration.  The speed of rotation of a single u-joint is not uniform.  When the u joints are in phase the oscilations cancel eachother out. 

hey guys, I've been really busy with school but i have managed to find some time for some new shiny parts.

Hi-steer:

(http://i40.tinypic.com/mwwjsn.jpg)

(http://i44.tinypic.com/2yw8f8p.jpg)


Last wheeling trip:

(http://i43.tinypic.com/n315s1.jpg)

(http://i40.tinypic.com/2irukk3.jpg)

(http://i42.tinypic.com/r2nmux.jpg)


Next to my dads g35 right before i threw on the hi-steer:

(http://i43.tinypic.com/2hd5r1v.jpg)



I recently broke my power steering box doing something stupid and then i found a leak in the pressure line. SO i ordered parts to convert the entire PS system to AN fittings. Pushlok for the low pressure side and earls blue style high pressure hose for the pressure side.

This summer, assuming i have the money, I'll be changing a lot of stuff to my truck. I'm considering chopping up the front frame in exchange for a full engine cage to allow my truck to get the same suspension travel but sit at a lower ride height. I'm going to chop the rear frame and get the floor in the rear, tube and plat it up for a 4 link rear and fuel cell. I'm going to change the truss and pan hard in the front, redo the exhaust and relocate some stuff. I'm going to push the PS box forward to give me more clearance. I'm going to make my own fiberglass/fender one piece. I'm going to build a full internal roll cage and possible redo the whole dash.

i better get a good paying summer job. :\

alright guys round two. Last summer i kinda rushed the job due to a LATE order from ballistic. I was going through the learning process and didn't quite know what i was doing. some stuff looked really sloppy, some stuff performed really sloppy. Honestly I impressed myself with what i did the first time around but there is still quite a lot of room for improvement.

Goals for the rest of this summer:

Number one goal for the front end is up travel. I lacked a lot of it and had more down travel than i knew what to do with.

reframe the front end, relocate/fabricate panhard bar (and brackets) to be a total of 8 inches longer.
relocate the steering box to provide more clearance.

cage and redo the interior (not as important).

and finally: get it rolling BEFORE i leave so i can test everything out and go wheeling with you guys. Lee I'm still down for that xterra party.


On to the good stuff:

start of the cage
(http://i50.tinypic.com/66m1wm.jpg)

(http://i48.tinypic.com/348otoz.jpg)


front frame and e-fan conversion. Used a 89-97 ford thunderbird 4.6 V8 E-fan. Same powerful motor as the famed taurus fan but with a 2" larger fan and a larger square shroud that fit rather nicely. I also used a Flex-a-lite variable speed thermostatic controller to do the thinking. It was a bit pricey but it will be worth it.

(http://i49.tinypic.com/1jvktw.jpg)

(http://i49.tinypic.com/33wwjzm.jpg)

(http://i49.tinypic.com/f1irr.jpg)


(http://i47.tinypic.com/2rw10rs.jpg)


Also, new led light bar.

(http://i46.tinypic.com/vmpw6b.jpg)

Holy crap!
 ;D

That's one hell of a build you've got going on there.
You've got work to do!
Keep us posted.  :cheers:

so the new frame is in. Still need to fish plate it (properly this time). and clean up some of the welds. I wish i had a mig welder so i could properly fill in the gap at the main joint but oh well, stick welder will have to do. I am tig welding everything else though.

First is the new frame just tacked in.

(http://i50.tinypic.com/2ntfs05.jpg)

then what it looks like from the front.

(http://i47.tinypic.com/1eribp.jpg)

I didn't get a finished weld photo. I'll do that later. Also I don't like how the front corners are so sharp so I'm going to cut them back at a 45º angle and put a piece of plate there.

Really awesome build! 

thanks OZ.

Todays Progress:

New parts
(http://i50.tinypic.com/14b6nv5.jpg)

Started mocking up the steering box, drag link, pan hard bar and bracket, engine mounts and shocks.. Didn't get far on the engine mounts though. I'll focus on that tomorrow. I did get really lucky though. The steering box swung upwards and back far enough to clear the tierod (what i was originally shooting for) without needing to lengthen the steering column and it clears the radiator shroud. I'm a happy camper.

(http://i50.tinypic.com/svoz75.jpg)

Everything looks like it will clear well and give me an extra 4 inches of up travel and both sides.

New panhard bracket mock up. bracket is drawn on the plate, waiting to be cut out.

(http://i45.tinypic.com/2nqek2o.jpg)


And last update, since the gap at the seam between the original frame and the new frame was too large for me to tig, I tried stick welding it. It holds but i don't know for how long. It looks like $H!*. I'm going to grind the welds down tomorrow and try to find a mig welder to borrow to lay in some decent strong beads before i put the 1/8" plate over it. Just for the peace of mind.

anyone close with a mig welder?

Lastly, on the agenda for tomorrow:

I get my new Corbeau Baja XP seats in, I get my thermostatic e-fan controller in, I'll try to install the controller and mock up one of the seats. I plan on cutting out and welding up the panhard bracket to the frame. I'm gonna grind down those $H!*ty welds. starting the first half of my engine mounts and mock up with cardboard the new mounts. busy busy.

Hey Zach, you're going to get bump steer with how you have your track bar bracket.

Whys that? If its because of the angle, I already too that into account and lowered the bracket. This was just the first mock up. If its because of how far it stick out, I'm lengthening it equally on either side to keep it in the roll center.

ideally, you want that trackbar to be a mirror image of draglink.

Yeah I know. The angle will match perfectly. It's just the length that's never going to be perfect because of space constraints.

You should be bale to get the frame side track bar mount to line up dead on behind the TRE on the pitman arm. yours is too far out and too high.

We've been able to make it happen numerous times on other trucks without extensive frame modifications and with narrower axles so you should be able to do the same.

looks do-able on the fame side. 

from personal experience you'll want to upgrade that front truss if you start to get into the higher difficulty wheeling heck just in general it would be a good idea  cause  that could be catastrophic at high speeds 

i agree with Kenny and Steve you shouldn't have any issues with lining up the trac bar to mirror the drag link , to the drag link  up higher you can flip the pitman arm and either run the heim on top or bottom depending on how the trac bar matches up

i just want you to take this as constructive criticism not as a bash 

I appreciate all the input.

as far as the truss goes, its been on the list for a while. As soon as I'm done with the other stuff, thats the first thing thats gonna go. I'm just trying to get it rolling and it is holding for now. at least for street use. but trust me, it'll be gone soon. Either with a tube truss like you did yours, or a 1/8" box truss.

That is a lot to do.  keep it up! 
totally jealous of your light bar. lol

 

So today: finally mounted the steering box. all is well. I didn't even need to extend the steering column because it swung up perfectly into place from its old spot.

Also cut out some reinforcement plates and the panhard brackets. I tried to do what you guys suggested. we'll see how it turns out.

also welded the radiator core support into the frame with large trick tabs with holes bored out for the rubber grommets. Got it all welded in and pretty to realize the only direction i forgot to measure was side to side. Its sitting half an inch too far to one side :( so i'll cut em off tomorrow and weld new tabs on. Now that the support itself is in place, the tabs shouldn't take too long to redo.

(http://i46.tinypic.com/noef6w.jpg)

(http://i49.tinypic.com/2jcezqh.jpg)

also this: makes it look funny.

(http://i48.tinypic.com/2cge8fp.jpg)

Slow progress today yesterday. Got the engine mounts in about %75 done. I'll finish and paint monday. also i cut and rewelded the radiator mounts in the proper place.

Today i mounted the e-fan thermo controller and fuse and i made a new coolant overflow tank:

(http://i47.tinypic.com/j6u1qv.jpg)

Also forgot to post this last week but new Corbeau Baja XP seats and Crow Enterprises 3" harnesses:

(http://i45.tinypic.com/2i27912.jpg)

Alright guys, heres and update. I haven't posted recently because my ASSHOLE of a neighbor threatened me with a lawsuit for emotional distress and lowering the value of his house. As MUCH as I would like to stomp all over him in court, make him look like a fool and have him pay ME legal fees and compensation for starting this bull$H!*, I didn't want to drag my dad in this as well. so I moved out into a service bay type garage in El Cajon. 

Got the frame plated.

(http://i48.tinypic.com/axm9fs.jpg)

built a panhard to clear my diff at full stuff.

(http://i45.tinypic.com/1j70o3.jpg)

hard to see but clearance at stuff

(http://i49.tinypic.com/124hctv.jpg)

Look at all that up travel (gained an extra 9 inches or something like that). And thats not even including the down travel on the other side or any suspension movement from the rear.

(http://i46.tinypic.com/rcr9lt.jpg)

engine cage is moving along

(http://i45.tinypic.com/t6arf8.jpg)

Top view

(http://i50.tinypic.com/34dlyxy.jpg)

and i fired up the lights for a sec

(http://i47.tinypic.com/2qmga9x.jpg)

Thanks guys. FINALLY back in its own feet. front suspension is done, just needs paint. I'll be taking care of the rear shocks (so i finally have a proper shock set up) this morning and then on to getting the coolant and power steering hooked up so i can start the engine today for the first time in 2 months.

(http://i45.tinypic.com/35baz9f.jpg)

(http://i47.tinypic.com/2vdpph2.jpg)

(http://i46.tinypic.com/2hxsus.jpg)

Hey Zach,
That panhard bar is going to collapse, and it won't be pretty.
I know that's not what you wanted to hear but that will go really bad really fast.
Like 4 or 5 years ago we had one that was .190 wall and it went all bad, almost wrecked the rig.
Don't run that.
You need to run 1.5", .250 wall all one piece and bend it if you need to. don't cut n weld it.

A few other things:
-Are you sue your steering isn't going to hit the bottom of the frame at full stuff?
-Are you sure that the coil overs aren't going to swing in and hit the frame at full flex?
-Did you move the track bar bracket to eliminate bump steer? if not you'll have to modify your pitman arm setup or run a heim pitman arm.

I know some of this may lead to more work on your part and isn't what you wanted to hear but I'm just look'n out.

tig welds look pretty good though.

absolutely man, that trackbar don't look good!  the angle at the welds are to severe.  first sign of death wobble and that $H!* gonna bend fo sho!  run at least 1.5 .250wall and I wouldn't bend it more than around 20-25 degrees. 

 

That tracbar has been something that's been sitting in the back of my head. I have seen people build tracbars like this and work well without failure so far but I have been thinking of upping the wall thickness. I just don't have very much time left. Today plus 5 more full days.

As for the steering and angles I matched the angle to the draglink, and everything is Heim, no ball joints or tre. As for clearance, everything is close but everything clears at the suspension maximums. Full stuff and droop. The tierod is the first think to touch the frame but I will be putting air bumps on soonish.

Alright. I've seen it done successfully with .250 wall and I'm gonna go that route. It will be done tomorrow.

I did Lee's is like that.  That thing has been thoroughly tested. haha

Ok so I fixed the truss, made it more linear and out of 1.75 .250 wall. made sure the welds were burned in really well. its not going anywhere.

(http://i46.tinypic.com/qrlw6v.jpg)

mounted the fenders.

(http://i46.tinypic.com/a3fp14.jpg)

ziptied the rest on to see what it looks like.

(http://i45.tinypic.com/2euu05u.jpg)

and mounted the seats.

(http://i50.tinypic.com/m795vp.jpg)