well, I missed nac-fest, sorry about it. It looked like a great time. I was going to drive up to to hang out and ride along with someone, but then my friends here got together a camping trip at high point state park in northern NJ. It was beautiful, and probably the last time I could do that with all my buddies before I move away. And Mitch, your called got dropped, sorry about that.
About a week before nac-fest I tore apart my whole front suspension to get started. I have had almost all the material needed for almost a year, and just let it sit. Now that I'm moving to houston, I need to get this done. I will defintiely be trying to organize some kind of unofficial weekend ride after I get this thing done.
First thing is the front suspension. Getting rid of the drop brackets, and building a 3-link with track bar. I stared for hours trying to find the frame end mounts for the LCA's, and finally picked this. They will be welded to the frame, and bolted from the bracket to the crossmember so I can remove the cross without worrying about the LCA's. Exhaust will need a bit of work, and either the arms will be slightly bent to clear the frame, or I will notch the frame a bit. We'll see when I get them on there.
The bracing on the back is not done, but there will be a tab welded to the x-member with gussets, and then a small bolt clamping that and the LCA mount together.
The upper link mount is not started yet, but as of now I'm probrobably going through the floor into the passenger side floor pan next to the alternator. It will be close, but it should work out. If not, then I get to think some more.
These might be the tabs for the upper link. From A&A mfg. They are 1/8" thick with 1/2" holes, I'll drill to 9/16". I may not be able to use the middle two holes due to the size of the RE joints. I may just use them to model my own larger tabs.
These are the frame end joints, all rubicon express joints. 1" - 14 B7 alloy threaded rod.
it appears my welds are getting better I hope
I will also be doing some steering work while I'm at it. Just a typical crossover steering. I plan on mounting both drag link and tie-rod above the knuckle, and do some welding of the knuckle to support the top of the bolt. Hopefully that goes well... if not I can get a new knuckle easy enough. Yes, I still have the D30, and yes it's staying. I don't have the time and/or money to purchase all the parts, narrow the axle, and all that stuff. With that said, 33's are still my size of choice. I may jump to something more aggressive though. The axle will get all new brackets and a truss to keep things nice and happy.
These are all QA1 XMR's 3/4 shank, 5/8 bore from campbell enterprises, I got them for $24 each including jam nut, the best price I found anywhere. Misalignment spacers, and tube adapters are from art morrison enterprises (race car supplier). silver spacer is just from lowes.
And to continue with those rear shocks hoops I made so long ago, I finally bought the shocks. 15" BBCS charged monotube shocks from poly performance, valved for leaf springs obviously. They are pretty sweet looking shocks, we'll see how they work when I actually get this going. I will work to get my leafs to get full use of these shocks. I know they are super long.
Well that's all I got, haven't added to this thread in a long time as I haven't worked on it in a long time. Hopefully I can get it all done by the end of the month.