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drop bracket fabrication,..

B

bxj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
kansas
..good ideal or ,..?
Have some spare pieces of 3" X 3" inch 3/8" wall tubeing and was thinking of fabricating up homebrew custom drop brackets in these slow economic times-Also how does everyone feel about haveing/useing a three-link for their daily driver-Will there be a greater risk or potential for catastrophic failure ?
bxj
 
Anything can be done but thats alot of work,check some store bought ones out first to see all whats involved!
 
.."thats alot of work,"..-
Not really-Have ye ole Hypotherm plasma cutter and hot Miller welder-I am opting for either useing this spare 3" inch by 3" inch ,3/8" walled boxed steel tubeing , which would be a very low cost saveing option or fabricating up some thicker brackets if there are any reasonable safety concerns raised here about the strength requirements-TIA
 
I don’t think the material will have strength problems, its more in the design of the brackets, I have rough country ones, and I don’t think they would be the easiest to make, having a welder and plasma is the easy part designing and making both symmetrical is the hard part. But try it, I would be interested in what you come up with.
 
whitexj98 said:
I don’t think the material will have strength problems, its more in the design of the brackets, I have rough country ones, and I don’t think they would be the easiest to make, having a welder and plasma is the easy part designing and making both symmetrical is the hard part. But try it, I would be interested in what you come up with.
Click to expand...

I agree with this 100%. I've made a lot of stuff for my jeep out of steel. I thought about making some but after installing my Rough Country Drop Brackets I'm kinda glad I didn't. The fit of them has to be very precise, but particularly the bends of the upper control arm brackets and bolt holes have to be dead on. Way beyond my patience level. That being said, if you've looked at pics and read install write ups and think you can do it. I think I'd rather fab up a long arm setup or something if I was gonna do all that work. Just my $.02.
 
im running a 3 link right now(broke and upper a while back) and its fine, i built a new upper out of .25 1.5x1.5 square tube though, and used 3/8 plate, and summit machine joint on frame side. ran the stock upper for about a month with out dying though. even made an 8 hour each way trip and only my brakes tried killing me that time.
 
I, like many, thought I could save money by fabbing up my own DB's. I was fortunate enough to get to demo a set of RC brackets when they were first developed and I had a fab buddy look at the DB's that I received from RC and we both agreed that to build a set would take a lot of time and still a few dollars in material as well. For the cost of a set of DB's it is hard to beat. BUT.....there is something to be said about fabbing up your own stuff and the pride factor that goes along with it. I encourage you to fab a set up and do a write up on it. I would like to see the end results and it will also give others an idea of what goes into fabbing up something rather then just melting steel together and calling it good.
 
ive been contimplating making my own for awhile but i wasnt going to make them as just drop brackets, but setting the mounts back a few inches for a mid arm set up. i was not going to drop them as far dowm(cut the old mounts off) and move them back while sleeving my RE adjustable control arms. for the uppers, i was thinking of moving them down and back while sleeving the RE arms i have. havent figured if i will need to connect them to the lowers or if i would have to build a craddle or subframe like skyjacker or some type of crossmember.

again, ive only been thinking of this, i havent taken measurements. i think making drop brackets the same as RE or RC would be difficult, so i would rather come up with something different.

i think it would be a good project and can be done, i just dont think i would copy the RE or RC design.
 
bxj said:
..Also how does everyone feel about haveing/useing a three-link for their daily driver-Will there be a greater risk or potential for catastrophic failure ?
bxj
Click to expand...
If all you do is daily drive your rig then you would probably be fine. Wheeling with a 3 link requires a very stout and well built setup including axle trussing. It's actually much simpler to just do 4 links.
 
.. 89RockHeep,.. et al
I am going to be thinking of changeing over to fabricating some longarm mounts out of boxed tubeing ,..seems much simpler now and clearer from some of the sage commentaries comeing from many here on the NAXJA forum and perhaps one upper arm mount on the driver's side like this ;[img=http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/818/misaling.th.jpg] I don't remember just whose foto this it and where I got this ideal from but thanks to whomever
bxj
 
bxj said:
.. 89RockHeep,.. et al
I am going to be thinking of changeing over to fabricating some longarm mounts out of boxed tubeing ,..seems much simpler now and clearer from some of the sage commentaries comeing from many here on the NAXJA forum and perhaps one upper arm mount on the driver's side like this ;[img=http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/818/misaling.th.jpg] I don't remember just whose foto this it and where I got this ideal from but thanks to whomever
bxj
Click to expand...
that image is of goatmans 3 link on his buggy, if i am not mistaken..
 
jeeperjohn said:
If all you do is daily drive your rig then you would probably be fine. Wheeling with a 3 link requires a very stout and well built setup including axle trussing. It's actually much simpler to just do 4 links.
Click to expand...
Axle trussing isn;t necessary if you use the dif for the 3 link. but you need to have a stout mounting point on the drivers side frame mount..
 
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