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Adventure Rail build(s)!

bdkw1 said:
Reason, bump it out and measure the angle between the arm and shock. It is going to be way over 90*. You have a falling rate for most of your bump travel.
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at full extension the angle between arm and shock is 133*. It's nuts. At (estimated) full compression the angle is ~100* at best. Isn't that a ;;raising rate as under compression it is coming closer to 90*? I would think I want to mount them much further rearward to get as close to 90* during the cycle. I do NOT like the way the arms are pointed almost straight down. It looks broken.


bdkw1 said:
Also, if your not getting full droop out of the P side because the tie rod is hitting the frame, move the steering box over to the center next to the adjusters. It will give you closer to equal amounts if travel per side. Once you get the steering box angle set, weld the mounting cap to the beam.
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Noted. This thing has literally 0 down travel. Height on the jack, or height with the weight of it on it is within 1/4". This was the case with the old beam as well. seemed to ride ok but is very odd to me. The pass tie rod is damn close to hitting. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks.


bdkw1 said:
Limit straps or the shocks stop them form doing a 360. I did this on my glass car, had to move it real quick and it didn't have the front shocks on it. Backed up real quick, hit the brakes and all he'll broke loose. Bent both tierods, had to jack it up to get them to flip back around.
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Ouch. Now i'm scared. Hadn't even thought about braking in reverse once I get the brakes on there. That will be bad. Will order some straps today.

Thanks again. Standing by for more clarification on shock angle now that I gave you some numbers. :beer:
 
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Red is the angle you want to measure. Once it goes over 90*, falling rate. Almost all buggies are like this. It is impossible to get 90* at full bump with the stock lower mount. You can drop the mount down below the arm centerline to help, Fodrill makes lower arms like that for just this reason. Lift spindles will allow you to maintain ride hieght without it being fully dropped out, they are for more than just extra ground clearance.
 
I can get 90* easy. but the shock will be close to horizontial. :laughing: Not "way forward" ilke everyone is telling me.?

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Go back and look at the picture again. I even found one to represent full bump. The blue lines are the ones you want to measure. From the top shock pivot to the lower pivot, to the beam pivot (blue lines). The angle on the front side of this (red line) is what you are measuring.
 
Wait, are your arms not going past horizontal on bump?
 
bdkw1 said:
Wait, are your arms not going past horizontal on bump?
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I highly doubt it but I guess its possible. I would be suprised if there is that much travel though. The arms ar WAY down at ride height Almost exactly like this \

Don't matter now. If it sucks ass then I guess I'll be back in here begging for more advice.

Thank you for all your help, even though I still aint getting it I guess. I'm going for a test drive. :beer:
 
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The arms should go to like 20* up at full bump. Your loosing out on travel. Pull the grub screws and cycle it for reals. Then you can see how much ground clearance you really have at full bump.
 
I went and bashed it through some ditches at 30mph. Cruised to lunch and picked up a keg.

Hard to tell but it does not appear that the arms go above 90 when hitting the ditch, close to it though. They might on a big landing or higher speed whoop. Rides pretty ok. I think actually softer than the stock shocks/arm orientation. It's used 5" of the available 8" compression travel on the shocks.


RE: losing out on travel. How so? I understand that if I went coilovers there would be more. But how am I losing travel with the stock leafs? they are gonna twist as much as they can, right?

I'm not too worried about lost travel as i'm currently happy with how it is working, but more is always better right? :grinpimp:

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Put some more miles on it today...

Swear to dog theres a massive vacuum leak somewhere. 2k rpm idle is annoying. I've fogged it with propane with no change. Unplugging the "new" IAC makes no difference. Unplugging vacuum to the SD does what I expect. Thinking I got a bunk IAC. Pretty sure I bought the warranty one so will swap it out. Need to find an OBD1 scanner to see what I can.

And it could use a softer ride, especially if the wife continues to express interest in riding along.. After the last 4 days of being lernt here I still dont see how I can move the shocks any more forward. If they were coilovers they would be hitting. So with that, I've been doing a little forum reading. Sounds like taking out the front split leaves is a thing. Everyone says to hack em off and weld them to the next leaf so that the grubs still engage properly. Welding to leaves has always been an emergency scenario in my life. Does welding them not fuck em up? i'm not particularly worried about the ends, but the center grub concerns me. A lot of people say to lower TF outtah the tire pressure since there's no weight up there so will try that first.

Likely crank the rear bars down a fine tooth too. Not excited about giving up ground clearance but it can be a bit softer. I also think the *thunk*s i'm hearing are the arms bottoming out at full extension. Getting them off the stops at ride height should help. FUCK, I dont want to adjust those again.

It is fucking SQUIRLEY on the pavement. Full sketchy swanging line to line drunk driver sketchy. Especially around 35mph. 60+ not as bad. Hopefully getting the new unbent front spindles installed addresses that .
 
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Just tack the "shim" to the springs. Don't go full send, it just needs to stay there for positioning. Once the grub screw is tight it ain't going anywhere. Tack it on the sides and grind flush. With the tack in the center it will be inside the adjusters where there is no twisting to break the welds. Start with 1 leaf.



Or put more fucking weight in the front :flipoff2:


As it sits, the large down angle of the arms is not helping your ride either, this effectively shortens the arms and ups the spring rate.
 
bdkw1 said:
Or put more fucking weight in the front :flipoff2:


As it sits, the large down angle of the arms is not helping your ride either, this effectively shortens the arms and ups the spring rate.
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The thing has a 3/16" fucking skidplate front to rear. What do you want me to do, drop some tractor weights on the front beam? Fill the front tires with water? :laughing: This thing is a PIG. I mean, I can, but shit. its a heavy bitch already. Front brakes will add some. Tow bar a few.

Yeah that down angle is annoying and yes, it is not helping at all.
 
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Front beam rebuild, new unbent HD forged spindles, disk brakes, limit straps. Whew, that was more work than I anticipated. But the tires all point the same way now! And have brakes! (still have to run lines and replace master cyl)

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Was cleaning up and found these clips that came with disks. I know I've fought them in the past but can't for the life of me figure it how to install them now. Any help?

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I went to align it last night and discovered that the tie-rods are woefully short. Glad they popped out on the jack, rather than on the road.

So now its time to address steering. As bdkw1 mentioned previously the pass side is hitting the frame, so I need to move the box inward.

A few months ago I ripped a electric steering setup out of a kia. Column, joints, computer et all. It is a self contained unit. In the kia it lives under the dash, inside the cabin. I am unsure it if will survive out in the rain/mud/powerwasher. I would have to still use the VW box as well. Theres a few vids out there of people putting them in their sand cars, sounds like a nice upgrade hence why I kept it.




Or I could order a rack and pinion...

Or I could just stick with the stock box moved inward.

Whats ya'lls opinions given the intended use of long days on rocky trails and many hundreds of pavement/dirt miles?
 
E power assist on a stock box is asking for gear deletes. The only reason they survive on rails is the lack of front weight and small tires. Eventually your going to move up to larger front tires, so a rack is in your future no matter what.

Get a decent one like a Saco, not some polished cast chinesium turd.
 
bdkw1 said:
E power assist on a stock box is asking for gear deletes. The only reason they survive on rails is the lack of front weight and small tires. Eventually your going to move up to larger front tires, so a rack is in your future no matter what.

Get a decent one like a Saco, not some polished cast chinesium turd.
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Noted. Thanks. :beer:
 
Saco is out of business...

Kartek is like $600 :eek:

Other recomendations?
 
That looks like a Saco copy. Should work fine if it's a good copy.
 
bdkw1 said:
That looks like a Saco copy. Should work fine if it's a good copy.
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"Center load": vs "End load" ?

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Just thinking it through.

Center load will give me less tie rod angle at full droop/compression/lock which will help ball joints last longer (i'm not opposed to drilling the taper and going heims). Center load less likely to flex the rack at full lock

End load might package easier and will hurt the wallet less. Will easily clear the frame rails at the expense of steeper angle.

I see them measured in 11" and 14". My BJ's move 5" lock to lock, so I am guessing that 11" is sufficient. Any reason I should install 14" for mods down the road?
 
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