Boardbysled's Buggy Build

Started mock'n up where I am going to add some more tubes in the rear.




20170304_172633_zpse2jcqxz5 by boardbysled, on Flickr




20170304_172645_zpsllmoxx47 by boardbysled, on Flickr




20170304_172654_zpsle7yxghd by boardbysled, on Flickr




Worked on tearing the body forward of the firewall today. Plan is to chop the inner fenders/core support off at the firewall and tube it out forward of there and the motor mounts.




20170304_180850_zpshdyfsidi by boardbysled, on Flickr

The time came to steal the good parts off my original Pathy. It will be sad to take it to the scrap heap, but the time has come. It was my first vehicle and the one I really learned how to fix/fabricate on. Owned it for 9 years and it had been straight axle'd for 7 years.




20170228_132034_zpsctbpcuo7 by boardbysled, on Flickr




Got the t-case setup out of it along with the front axle, rear third member, and some other goodies.




20170402_164256_zpsxyxdy6ap by boardbysled, on Flickr




Little more work on the cage. Got the roofbars in.




20170416_190438_zpsuo3xjx6w by boardbysled, on Flickr




20170416_190420_zpscaibjqqo by boardbysled, on Flickr




Tied to cage into the door hinge mounts.




20170416_142316_zpsljz8eagk by boardbysled, on Flickr




Got some more goodies: Trail-gear orbital, mount, & column and 2"x2" FOA bumpstops.




20170502_182742_zpso3o13jux by boardbysled, on Flickr




20170509_193809_zpsseidlwuh by boardbysled, on Flickr




Been slowly working on cutting all the un-needed junk off the front:




20170325_170922_zpscaiy4ka4 by boardbysled, on Flickr




Finally got the front suspension cut out of it today.




20170514_183708_zpsrhyuxhwk by boardbysled, on Flickr




Next step is to get the front of the frame cut-off in front of the motor-mounts, get the new front frame-rails built, then mock up the front axle/suspension.

Glad to see photobucket changed their linked images policy. I will update this with some fresh pictures! Haven't made as much progress as I wish but starting to move forward pretty good now.




Onto pictures!




Manual transmission TX-10 t-cases have this little lip on the input of the t-case. Auto TX-10 t-cases simply have this lip removed. So I cut the lip off my manual TX-10 range box and it bolted up perfectly to my auto trans.




20170730_153353_zpslqbesu08 by boardbysled, on Flickr




20170730_172528_zps9hcw6bvl by boardbysled, on Flickr




Took the old rig to scrap, was a sad day, it was my first vehicle and I had owned it almost 10 years, 8 of those being SAS'd. It taught me a lot about wheeling and fabrication.




20170913_133039_zps57ubl4yr by boardbysled, on Flickr




Came home with a fresh load of tube




20170913_151311_zpss2kqo0cz by boardbysled, on Flickr




Finished out some tube work in the rear




20171001_163616_zpssmzcjbxh by boardbysled, on Flickr







Built a mount for my 26 gallon fuel cell




20171007_182218_zpsxzs4jdpo by boardbysled, on Flickr

More parts arrived




20180218_173535_zpsdd4ndjne by boardbysled, on Flickr




Some sweet Ruff Stuff gussets




IMG_20171001_163920_222_zpsa3hwzwrg by boardbysled, on Flickr




And a heavily discounted Ruff Stuff aluminum rear facing lightbar




20171001_142903_zpse9d3c5ns by boardbysled, on Flickr




Started work on the front end. Chopped the frame just behind the motor mounts and started my tube frame.




20180304_150256_zpsf7lcfdcr by boardbysled, on Flickr




Started eyeballing the radiator placement




IMG_20180318_155341_530_zpsrrgep7d5 by boardbysled, on Flickr




Custom motormounts built




20180318_201043_zpsq9gjhsht by boardbysled, on Flickr




Front radiator support hoop coming together




IMG_20180325_181846_710_zpsfh6agfs3 by boardbysled, on Flickr




Hoodline bars in




IMG_20180407_180932_546_zpskiv90twz by boardbysled, on Flickr




And cross tubes/support tubes that I will build the front coil mounts off




IMG_20180421_195022_829_zpsbeq7hnxp by boardbysled, on Flickr

Mock'd up the t-case setup. The D300 will allow for a flat belly, but the range box sits about 1.5" below the frame. We will see how it ends up.




20180415_160022_zpss1omflyp by boardbysled, on Flickr




Couldn't find a frame side panhard bar mount for tube I cared for, so I started building this one




IMG_20180422_202601_270_zpsyixsmvqp by boardbysled, on Flickr




Front axle all cleaned up and started the cut and turn. Shooting for 8-10* of caster.




20180428_192553_zpsxho4ewpy by boardbysled, on Flickr




Started on some custom high steer on the D44 knuckles.




IMG_20180512_182131_120_zpsie0hghwo by boardbysled, on Flickr




Got some sweet 2 1/8"x36" 7075-T651 aluminum round bar for $26 a piece off Amazon! Should make some sweet bling-bling links.




IMG_20180505_163059_882_zpsdi7ut1sp by boardbysled, on Flickr




Got the Speedway radiator mounted top and bottom along with the Derale 2 speed fan and shroud mounted




IMG_20180506_183653_416_zpsll7jsspr by boardbysled, on Flickr







And that pretty much catches us up. Next up is getting the steering ram mounted, front links setup, and then the front shocks and bumpstops mounted. Then need to work on getting the PSC steering pump and GM 1-wire alternator mounted.

Today's progess:




Got the steering ram mount built and one of the tie-rods built as well.




IMG_20180519_195921_596_zpsyilnx6jj by boardbysled, on Flickr

Little more progress.




Got a PSC TC pump mount made.




20180604_173556_zpsvkg6rslc by boardbysled, on Flickr




Single wire GM 110 amp alternator mount made.




20180604_173631_zps7be1si9u by boardbysled, on Flickr




Dragged the axle back under the front to start mocking up the suspension.




20180609_210110_zpsgn2wzl9a by boardbysled, on Flickr




At full bump, axle pumpkin gets into the alternator mount.




20180609_210130_zps69k8116b by boardbysled, on Flickr

Decided to sleeve the passenger side frame rail for the track-bar mount.




20180617_153935_zpsdwv4xibo by boardbysled, on Flickr




Track-bar mount built.




20180617_190745_zpse13sh54d by boardbysled, on Flickr




Got my China-Spec power steering cooler mounted.




20180617_190753_zpsjtbhsxmg by boardbysled, on Flickr




Oil pan hangs way too low. Looks like a 2wd pan will be a good replacement and give me some clearance.




20180617_174724_zpsskrbbgmw by boardbysled, on Flickr




And a current overall view




20180617_190818_zpswqktwq15 by boardbysled, on Flic

Slow progress, mocked up the passenger upper link. Barely clears the starter and will have to be clearance'd for the PS pump. Checking where the shocks/bumpstops will end up. Shocks are 2.5"x14" FOA coilovers with reservoirs and bumpstops are 2"x2" FOA bumps.




Long tube headers won't fit stock, gonna have to cut them down to mid-length.




IMG_20180630_171428_835_zpsebbsrlbg by boardbysled, on Flickr




Got the lower links in. Also got the orbital mocked up. For what it is worth, the steering column adapter for the orbital meant for toyota pickups fits the Nissan splines. Orbital is a little close to the header, will wrap the header and build a simple heat shield.




20180701_194147_zpsmax1vmzl by boardbysled, on Flickr




Tack'd the driveside mounts in using cool lower knuckle gusset/shock mount combo from Motobilt. Pretty happy with how everything is shaping up. Looks like I will end up with a 22" belly with 5" of uptravel in the front.




20180707_195830_zpspdj0mppq by boardbysled, on Flickr

Got the winch mount built as well as the front bumper today.




20180708_200404_zpshi08m6vf by boardbysled, on Flickr




20180708_201449_zpswevm50ek by boardbysled, on Flickr




20180708_201414_zps9gs4zawm by boardbysled, on Flickr

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Cool build!

This thing is pretty nice! Good job on the tube. Looks good and strong

Thanks! I'll update this thread to where it is currently. Haven't really been working on it much this year but hope to get back to it.

This is looking killer. I'm curious to see how that Surplus Center DE ram works out for you, I'd love to eventually do a 4500 class style "ram assist" "3/4 hydro" whatever you want to call it steering with a DE ram to replace my tie rod.