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Bed pulled off to re-address the leaf spring mounts, start looking into fuel filler options and gas tank mounts.
Well this isn't what i was hoping for... that driveshaft alignment may not work... These flop shop motor mounts may not be my way to go afterall :/ More on this later
Can you guess what im leaning towards for a fuel filler??
More on this later as well
This took a few different attempts of patience to get this far... What i have here is a jeep WJ pitman arm thats been drilled out for a 3/4" bolt. Also ground the 4-locks out to give me better center of steering vs knuckle alignment. Using Barnes4wd crossover steering brackets that are welded to the knuckles, note the passenger mount - had to stack the joint on top the bracket instead of the intended front mounting hole, Ruffstuff Specialties 7/8" heim steering kit and also their offset panhard mount on the end of the axle. Finally another Barnes4wd product - their offset panhard frame mount. Going to be picking up some more DOM tube and making the actual track bar soon.
Cutting out the factory track bar mount from the axle was not the funnest of things. However it leaves plenty of room to sneak this flush mounting OTA bracket as far over as i can get it. Others on the market were more of a tower and would stand off the end of the axle shortening the track bar which wasn't ideal for my setup.
Alignment of trackbar and steering are pretty darn spot on!
I must say i couldn't be happier with how the track bar turned out. steering angle and track bar are dead on!
37" tires are looking pretty small... measuring for limitations on the steering joints
This Jtruck is getting a little foxy
suspension math and doodle for how I intend to mount the shocks. Im going for a removable tube apparatus. Shocks will actually be at 30" for ride height not the 29" pictured - 12" of travel in total and it should match my max comp-ext measurements and get the most of the these shocks... Bumps and limit straps to come of course.
From paper and pencil to a plasma cutting table and then my hands
Keeping the same style setup as the front so i have some adjustability for an even ride height
The main drive behind designing new mounts is because of this mid crossmember. Its secured from the factory via big rivots. Some of those rivots have had the head knocked off them when i was removing the factory post mounts for the leaf springs. So that crossmember now either needs to be bolted or welded in - Id rather bolt it in at the moment. If you also notice, the dodge ram front leaf spring mount that i have tacked in place is pretty gaudy. Also not wanting to weld that dodge mount in place my only other option would be to bolt it in but because of how big its mounting surface is it gets pretty crowded in the bolt dept on the frame. So ultimately i wanted a smaller mounting surface and also some adjustability with this front mount and i think this will suffice!
Well this isn't exactly surprising but hopefully its the last attempt i make at setting up these rear leaf springs!
While i really like the mount i had formerly, i really didn't like how the rear shackle setup was looking. To be honest - designing a shackle mount that's adjustable, has correct offset and also didn't come out gaudy wasn't looking too good. Its been my biggest excuse to not work on it because none of that was appealing to solve. So i hit the drawing board again to find a new game plan and came across a couple other J truck projects where they too have a post mount leaf spring frame and have converted to pocket style leaf mounts. Seeing the outcome of their setups has definitely revived my interest in getting this done!
Moving forward i setup an order from RuffstuffSpecialties and got a pair of these frenched leaf spring mounts. I also ditched the former chevy 3/4ton leafs and picked up a pair of Dodge 1/2 ton leaf springs from the junkyard. What i have going on here is kinda a clamp mess but the method is that I figured out a few measurements that i needed to reference and transfer to the new mounts. I scribed the center line for the mounting width to have a centerline reference for the frame and also the overall mounting width for these springs. Then scribed the centerline of the bolt hole(s) for reference to keep my tire/wheels where i want them in the wheel wells. I transferred the width measurement to a long flat piece of flat stock and clamped the 2 leaf spring mounts to it. This will hold the mounts square and true to the width im after. For reference i copied this from Dirt Every Day episode 97
I tacked these mounts in place with a small bead in the front and back and then proceeded with the test fit! I did not get the rear wheel/tire in the picture but its sitting right where i intended. You can see the plum-bob's right in line with the center of the axle.
This new attempt at a rear shackle/mount is going to be far simpler than what i had going on before. Even though with my order from RuffStuff i got a pair of pocketed leaf spring bushings and mounts I really only needed the tube and bushing. I full on anticipated not liking the standoff length of the shackle mount and shackle from the frame SO the leaf spring mount will be captured in the frame. Started out with the factory length dodge shackle and also stuck a 2x4 between the frame and shackle end of the leaf spring. With the truck sitting on its own weight i settled the leaf springs with a few bounces and then started looking for reference points to make sure i can setup these mounts square.
Not having a clear direction with shackle length and other than a common known 45* angle at ride height i decided to look into this further. This is what i've come up with for an "optimal" shackle length. I know there's some flexibility to shackle length but this little formula just came out very interesting to me. Its something i never put much technical thought into but i get it now. A shorter length shackle would be worse for the leafs longevity because of spring binding but i don't see the potential effects of a longer than optimal shackle length?
this is what ive got for now - hoping to map these numbers out soon and start plotting out the new home for the rear shackle mount!
ill be straight forward here.... my doodle for the math behind the shackle layout wasnt working for me... So i settled on just running with the 45* at ride height... shackle length will just be variable on ride level and also leaf spring clearance to the frame.
To my surprise though, 45* and pinned the center of the shackle mount/bushing for the frame and both driver/passenger sides are within 1/8" of each other! Pictured below is interestingly enough how close my positioning is to a factory hole that's mirrored to the other side of the frame as well. Safe to say i will likely just utilize this hole as my center point for the bushing, while No the shackle wont be at that true 45* but i'm sure it survive.
We'll see you in about 8-16 weeks Dakota Digital Dash! Honestly very excited to be going this route for my gauges on this truck - just not excited about the wait time but thats just the way it is right now
I kinda wish that I would have gone the Dakota Digital like you.
I bought the New American Vintage, and just not loving them like the ones you selected.
This among a few other things have been a not-soo-motivating task for this project. I hadn't yet put much time into figuring out what gauges (brand/model/measurements) I wanted let alone the wiring that follows it. Then fitting them all in the factory dash because i want to stick to factory looking interior wasn't very entertaining. On a whim i google'd dakota digital and while i've seen the straight up digital numeric gauges for various measurements (not my style) i was unaware of these digital factory style gauges especially for my 73 truck! THEN realizing there was an entire pin-connect interface for all the desirables I was simply SOLD. While im sure it can be done cheaper, I can justify spreading the budget a little thin atm just to have a very reputable and simple to install product.
I recently sold my RHD winter DD and free'd up a fair amount of project funds! So here is what i have coming this way as far as plans
- "new to me" 6.0 motor from an early 2000's Denali - 160k miles and runs great - a bit better than the 240k mile 6.0 i have in it right now
- factory disc brake 14b ff rear axle - this is driven by 2 factors over keeping the ford 10.5. 1-being the 14bolt can run a pinon guard easily 2-being brake components are cheaper and also dual piston like the ford setup so no loss there. I've also had very good luck with the 14b in my Truggy MJ project so i figured why change a proven setup that i'm happy with.
- SYE kit for the 241 tcase
- 5.13
- Eaton E-locker up front and a Grizzly locker in the rear
- Motobilt 13-bolt cover for the rear, Barnes4wd HD low profile cover for the front
- barnes4wd 14b pinion guard
Thanks to my machinist friend and a milwaukee hole-dozer these bushing mounts were a breeze. I had a hole-guide made up specifically for these factory rivot holes. Just a tad below 7/16's kept the hole saw from wandering.
I used a piece of 1.5" od tubing as a sleeve through both these bushing mounts to keep things nice and straight/square across both frame rails
Fully welded bushing mounts and inner frame plates in - then drilled some 1/4" flat stock for some shackles.
very relieved to have these spring mounts done! Something ive been dragging my feet on for the last 2-years and all i really needed was just one more new perspective and i was sold! The rear wheel isn't mounted i just placed it for visual reference. All said and done with the bed placed back on the frame the shackle is riding at 44* - almost spot on for what i mapped out.
This axle came from a 2005 GMC 3/4ton. its a 3.73 open carrier axle with that typical michigan rust!
no shafts, no pinion support, no carrier, not much bracket left. I will say i don't miss knocking brackets off project axles with an angle grinder, gonna be investing in a 220 extension cord for the plasma cutter to keep from suffering through this again Ugh!
Good news is that the new gearing and install kits are here! Rear grizzly locker is here as well so after i get this axle blasted and the tubes welded to the center section i will be getting into setting up the gears and after the SYE kit shows up i can play with the leaf spring mounts and pinion angle.
Wow, this thing is awesome. What do you plan on doing with it when it’s finished. Well like most Jeep’s it will probably never be finished, but you know what I mean. Going to be a crawler? Or the new tow rig?
06-23-2021, 08:58 PM
