DutchVDub
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Milliken, CO
Re: Jd's Buggy Build
So on a whim I decided to skip the turn to my work this morning an ride my motorcycle to Cokedale, CO which is just west of Trinidad on HWY-12. There was a tag down there (motorcycle forum game) and I had been itching to get it so southward bound I was at 6:30 this morning. What do you care? Well when freezing your arse off on a motorcycle for nearly 500 miles you have a lot of time to think about things. One of the things I started thinking about was your rig and how I would do it based of what you've said thus far.
Body: Cut the back off just after the c-pillar and weld the hatch to the remnants to cap it. Box in the remaining parts of the rear wheel well and use them for storage, hint hint batteries might fit there if you were to narrow the front. Everything after the "hatch" needs to be tube. Make a little bed area, put the fuel cell right behind the hatch with the filler neck attached to the c-pillar tubing from the cage. Lay the spare tire down behind the fuel cell. Mount a cargo basket on top of the spare so you can still carry crap somewhere other than the roof. I would also cut out the floor under the rear seat and make a deeper, more useable, storage area for spare parts, tools, fluids, etc.
Cage: Mostly an exo cage with just the b-pillar on the inside so it doesn't interfere with opening the back doors. The c-pillar will come straight down after the hatch, I'd do a full on X and cross bar after the hatch. I would run the "dash" bar for the a-pillar through the cowl and run a windshield bar down to it. No angry eye brow either, its played out and does no real good. If you want to intimidate others just park on their hood. After building a little bed area out of tube I would run a bar from the top of the c-pillar to the very back at an angle, giving it the fast back look. Along the roof line I would use 1" tubing to create a cargo basket around the top of the cage. This way I have a good place to put a lot of gear if using it for an extended camping trip. Obviously you need to have an LED light bar both front and rear to light up the world with.
Suspension: 3-link front (maybe use the skid and main arms off the TNT setup as a base) and a single triangulated rear. The lower arms would be angled in from the outsides of the axle towards the center of the rig. The uppers would be mostly straight. This helps keep the lowers out of the rocks and leaves more room above the center of the axle for up travel. I would either go coilover or ORI, the ORI's cost more but negate the need for air bumps and sway bars so it sort of evens out. I'm actually not a big fan of regular air shocks but that's only because I've seen people have issues with them sticking extended or compressed. Not sure of the cause there but its something I've always noticed and not liked. I also think they're more suited to slow speed stuff and I want to go a little fast. Again, around a 105-107" WB at around 5" of lift.
Anywho, those are the quick ideas I came up with. I also built a few motorcycles, ran the TAT on 3 different dual sports, built a VW track car, built a replica TransAm series Camaro, changed my entire military career, and a bunch of other things to keep my mind off the cold and occupied while blazing down I-25 with the cruise set on 85mph.
So on a whim I decided to skip the turn to my work this morning an ride my motorcycle to Cokedale, CO which is just west of Trinidad on HWY-12. There was a tag down there (motorcycle forum game) and I had been itching to get it so southward bound I was at 6:30 this morning. What do you care? Well when freezing your arse off on a motorcycle for nearly 500 miles you have a lot of time to think about things. One of the things I started thinking about was your rig and how I would do it based of what you've said thus far.
Body: Cut the back off just after the c-pillar and weld the hatch to the remnants to cap it. Box in the remaining parts of the rear wheel well and use them for storage, hint hint batteries might fit there if you were to narrow the front. Everything after the "hatch" needs to be tube. Make a little bed area, put the fuel cell right behind the hatch with the filler neck attached to the c-pillar tubing from the cage. Lay the spare tire down behind the fuel cell. Mount a cargo basket on top of the spare so you can still carry crap somewhere other than the roof. I would also cut out the floor under the rear seat and make a deeper, more useable, storage area for spare parts, tools, fluids, etc.
Cage: Mostly an exo cage with just the b-pillar on the inside so it doesn't interfere with opening the back doors. The c-pillar will come straight down after the hatch, I'd do a full on X and cross bar after the hatch. I would run the "dash" bar for the a-pillar through the cowl and run a windshield bar down to it. No angry eye brow either, its played out and does no real good. If you want to intimidate others just park on their hood. After building a little bed area out of tube I would run a bar from the top of the c-pillar to the very back at an angle, giving it the fast back look. Along the roof line I would use 1" tubing to create a cargo basket around the top of the cage. This way I have a good place to put a lot of gear if using it for an extended camping trip. Obviously you need to have an LED light bar both front and rear to light up the world with.
Suspension: 3-link front (maybe use the skid and main arms off the TNT setup as a base) and a single triangulated rear. The lower arms would be angled in from the outsides of the axle towards the center of the rig. The uppers would be mostly straight. This helps keep the lowers out of the rocks and leaves more room above the center of the axle for up travel. I would either go coilover or ORI, the ORI's cost more but negate the need for air bumps and sway bars so it sort of evens out. I'm actually not a big fan of regular air shocks but that's only because I've seen people have issues with them sticking extended or compressed. Not sure of the cause there but its something I've always noticed and not liked. I also think they're more suited to slow speed stuff and I want to go a little fast. Again, around a 105-107" WB at around 5" of lift.
Anywho, those are the quick ideas I came up with. I also built a few motorcycles, ran the TAT on 3 different dual sports, built a VW track car, built a replica TransAm series Camaro, changed my entire military career, and a bunch of other things to keep my mind off the cold and occupied while blazing down I-25 with the cruise set on 85mph.
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