51 Rock Crawler Build Build Thread

[McBastard79]

This is going to be a sweet rig

 

[C.R.D]

This is going to be a sweet rig

Thank you, I appretiate that.

 

[C.R.D]

OK, So I fucked up. I Had out my bible that I have had for years that I kept all of my off road notes in, I wasn't paying attention when I was torching off the factory mounts. Then in the process set the book on fire and lost everything. So there might be some stupid questions from here on out. Like:

When setting up the front axle what angle do I set the pinion at?

 

[Provience]

Damn, that sucks.

For the front axle, are you planning on rotating your knuckles or leaving them stock/attached how they are? Set your steering king pin inclination and don't worry about pinion angle if you aren't going through the hassle of changing the KPI.

no point is having an "ideal" pinion angle, something that matches your T case output angle with standard driveshaft or something that points to t case output with multijoint shaft, if it ends up making your steering 0* or negative on the KPI and the truck driving darting.

 

[C.R.D]

Damn, that sucks.

For the front axle, are you planning on rotating your knuckles or leaving them stock/attached how they are? Set your steering king pin inclination and don't worry about pinion angle if you aren't going through the hassle of changing the KPI.

no point is having an "ideal" pinion angle, something that matches your T case output angle with standard driveshaft or something that points to t case output with multijoint shaft, if it ends up making your steering 0* or negative on the KPI and the truck driving darting.

I am not touching the knuckles at other other then to weld on a lower coil over mount. My only need is for this to not have death wobble when doing 80mph.

 

[Provience]

I am not touching the knuckles at other other then to weld on a lower coil over mount. My only need is for this to not have death wobble when doing 80mph.

ignore the pinion angle then.

are you running standard power steering box? higher KPI = more stable, more scrub, more effort....lower KPI = can be twitchy, less scrub, less effort/stress

0-5* would be low

10*+ would be high

5-10 would be middleground

going off what i can remember, been a few years. Let me see what I can dig up

 

[Provience]

jeeesus, i'm a retard. Not your KPI...your fucking caster angle sorry about that.

 

[Provience]

according to the internet, factory caster angle on a newer F350 is 3.5-4*. so 4-8* would probably be fine, unless somebody has a strong opinion about it.

 

[Winchested]

I shot for 6 deg of caster on the last two cut and turns I did. Rotated pinions to point at tcase for double cardan shafts.

 

[C.R.D]

Alright, Well I made some progress this past week that I think.... might be in the right direction.

So I kicked things off by rolling the truck forward and making sure that I have access with the welder to completeley reach the truck so I can weld everything out. Once that was done I leveled it out at ride height, removed the rear wheels, and went to town with the gas axe and removed the entire front susspention in one chunk. My back is still not a fan of my choice at this point in time.

Once that was accomplished I moved onto the oh so lovley task of grinding the frame smooth, and it was at this point in time that I was starting to have the hilutionations of cutting the front half of the frame off just so I wouldnt need to fill all these dam holes.... But after a chat with my buddy over at D3 he talked me out of it and I was able to make som progress. This was when I placed the front axle under the rig for the first time to see how it would look and started to wonder " WHAT THE FUCK IS ON FIRE!!!" and realized it was my note book that I had all of my fab notes in...... I am sure both Satin and god where impressed with the choice of words I came out with.


Moving on


Once again another panic call to by buddy Steve and a post on here and I was off in the right direction again. I decided to settle on 7 degrees of positive caster. Since I am going to be running 40's I would sooner have a little to much and then adjust the links as needed.

However it was at this point that I noticed that when the transmission was installed I only had 2.625 inches of clearence between the pan and the full width truss that I wanted to use. So after a few hours with the miss chatting about this issue, I decided that I would cut the truss as you can see, and then replace it with a significantly shorter one after everything was sorted out. I still need to find a place for the bump stops as well.

after all that was completed I made the choice call the neiboughrs over and between the four of us we lifted the cab off, as well as the box and now I am ready too attack the final tube work for the trans and Tcase support as well as lower and upper link mounts on the frame.

I am planning on having this in my rotisery by the end of this week so I can knock out the welds, and then middle of the second week of February start painting the chassis and getting ready for final assembly...

 

[Provience]

solid progress

you absolutely need an overhead crane or at least some i-beam and rollers for a chain hoist working on a dirt floor shop. as somebody working outside, i'm jealous either way

 

[C.R.D]

solid progress

you absolutely need an overhead crane or at least some i-beam and rollers for a chain hoist working on a dirt floor shop. as somebody working outside, i'm jealous either way

Thanks man, I am hoping to get a floor poured in this shop this summer, fingers crossed. but either way I am defintly going to build my self some sort of heavy lift option this spring.

 

[C.R.D]

Alright gents,

So to kick things off this was my reaction when a fucking UTV CROSSED THE FINISH LINE AT KOH BEFORE ANY OF THE FULLSIZE CARS THIS YEAR..... seriously wtf.

Aside from Yesterdays mind fuck, This week has been a lot ... and I mean a lot of tom fuckery. I have been halted by the lack of D.O.M available in Alberta. I called every supplier from Edmonton to Lethbridge and it seems everyone gets there material from the same bull shit supplier. Who if I go directly to it will be a 2-3 week wait and $1400 for 100' of tubing. However if I go through other suppliers it is a 6-8 day wait, but a $2800-4200 price tag.... Complete and utter bullshit.

Anyway, here's where I am at. I was really fighting with Bend tech to the point where I ended up calling them and was activley trying to not loose my shit on them. I have had the program for over 15 years and have only had it work properly a hand full of times. Anyway after a few beers and a assistant from bend tech call me back I was back up and running and he was able to sort the program out. Long story short it was a bit of my retardation when it comes to computers and a whole lot of it needing to be updated and a few tweeks that needed to be made that I had no clue about.

Anyway, once that was done I was fighting the idea of building my own belly pan/ lower link mounts as well as lack of tubing. I really wanted to have my own design under the rig however at the end of the week I gave in and am running the TMR customs 3 link brackets. Nothing is wrong with them. I just really wanted to run my own set up. Oh well. I will save that for the next rig.

Once again I am not going to be welding these out until it is on the rotisserie. But will be testing everything as it is here this week. My lower links are going to be pretty close to flat, and 37" bolt hole to bolt hole. I am running Johnny joints up front for the lower links and then hiem joints for the upper link as well as all the steering components.

As for the transmission. I picked up the rebuilt 4L80E and new torque converter. Nothing special with the trans other then it has a monster in a box rebuild kit in it, as well as the worst paint job in NATO. You can see where it has already rubbed off on the bell housing.

To round out the remainder of the driveline build I still need a NP 241 so I can put together the eco box from North West Fab, and then my driveline other then shafts is complete.


If anyone is interested and watching this build head over to YouTube and look up Vet Built. There you will find the build. Its a new channel so please consider subscribing if you enjoy the channel and or if you get some value out of it.

Until Next week gents

Cheers and stay focused.

 

[Winchested]

The building in Canada tax sucks.

Was a crazy finish yesterday that's for sure.

 

[C.R.D]

The building in Canada tax sucks.

Was a crazy finish yesterday that's for sure.

You have no idea man, we get taxed for paying taxes on top of taxes.

 

[C.R.D]

Alright dudes and dudettes,







Here the weekly update on my shit box... I mean a project that I am in love with and have not been seriously considering burning to the ground.







For the last 2 weeks I have been battling both myself and this project, mentally and physically. Its been a back and forth battle, to try and pull the image that I have created in my mind from the either into creation. However, every time I try this it back fires either because I am trying to save my self work from installing the 4L80E which in hind sight was the wrong approach. I should have just installed it like I did with out the torque converter and built the tubing the first time around with the parts in place, there by using the function over form approach. As well I was trying to build, all of this with very limited tube on hand, and the stress of trying to build this with out ruining the material I think planted the seeds where I ended up making stupid mistakes that cost me time and material.



I say this because once I got the call that the tubing, I ordered 2 weeks ago was ready for pic up, the build went off with out any problems, and I was even able to salvage previously bent part, which in the end allowed me to create the image I had in my mind with a few changes due to functionality.

I also need to say that with out bending, cooping or even working on tubing in this form for several years, I am very happy with the fit up, and the over all out come.



If you guys are liking the build process here, please consider heading over to Vet Built on YouTube and you can follow the build there as well.

 

[LScout800]

Alright dudes and dudettes,







Here the weekly update on my shit box... I mean a project that I am in love with and have not been seriously considering burning to the ground.







For the last 2 weeks I have been battling both myself and this project, mentally and physically. Its been a back and forth battle, to try and pull the image that I have created in my mind from the either into creation. However, every time I try this it back fires either because I am trying to save my self work from installing the 4L80E which in hind sight was the wrong approach. I should have just installed it like I did with out the torque converter and built the tubing the first time around with the parts in place, there by using the function over form approach. As well I was trying to build, all of this with very limited tube on hand, and the stress of trying to build this with out ruining the material I think planted the seeds where I ended up making stupid mistakes that cost me time and material.



I say this because once I got the call that the tubing, I ordered 2 weeks ago was ready for pic up, the build went off with out any problems, and I was even able to salvage previously bent part, which in the end allowed me to create the image I had in my mind with a few changes due to functionality.

I also need to say that with out bending, cooping or even working on tubing in this form for several years, I am very happy with the fit up, and the over all out come.



If you guys are liking the build process here, please consider heading over to Vet Built on YouTube and you can follow the build there as well.

Will you still be able to pull the T-Case without pulling the cab? Or are you planning to make that whole skid removable?

Beautiful work by the way. That tube in the rear middle looked like a bitch to get perfect.

 

[C.R.D]

Will you still be able to pull the T-Case without pulling the cab? Or are you planning to make that whole skid removable?

Beautiful work by the way. That tube in the rear middle looked like a bitch to get perfect.

Thanks you. In all honesty it took me 10-15min to get it fit up, and them maybe another 5 just widdeling the inner parts of the tubing with a die grinder to knock it out. I was really surprised at how fast it went. You can see the process on YT