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no way was I keeping the stock RBV stuff and if I'm doing a cut/turn sorta thing anyway, I might as well put modern strong stuff onto it, because fuck spindles in general.
There's a reason I'm running super duty D60/fabbed knuckles/Spidertrax ultimate unit bearings on my D35 beams
The radius arms I built are pretty stout, the driver side bent a little when the t-case locked up at 60 MPH and the axle tried to roll under the truck (2" 0.25 wall), but beyond that they've been fine. One thing that I overlooked though is that the driver side one does way more work than the passenger one. Both locate the beams but the driver side is handling all the drive torque for both wheels while the passenger side only handles braking torque for that side. I built them identically and in reality probably didn't have to.
When the driver side bent it also broke the welded nuts for the 3/4" bolts inside the beams. Keeping those bolts tight has been a challenge. I have Nordlocks on it now and they seem to keep it together, and I'm fine with that for our local races, but if I were to run EMC with it I'd probably weld the radius arms in place or at least find some additional mechanical connection points.
There's a reason I'm running super duty D60/fabbed knuckles/Spidertrax ultimate unit bearings on my D35 beams
Since the stock bolts are 1-1/8 head you can cut up cheapo hitch ball wrenches and bolt those on as retaining tabs to keep the lower bolt from spinning. It's like $25 and three hours of your life you'll never get back.
The plan is to just slip four 1/2 pipes (5/8 ID) over a set of D50 U bolts, bolt it to the beam and then weld then copy the D50 U bolt plate template onto some flat steel and build my arms off those flanges and plate the shit out of the beam somewhere along the way. I figure that should nicely distribute the force around the beam and I can run D50 u bolts and lower shock mounts. Coil mount can bolt on using the same four bolts. Since I have zero idea where my lower shock is gonna be, where I'm gonna run a bump stop, whether I'll use coils or coil-overs, etc. being able to revise the geometry in that area by swapping a simple plate should make my life easy. But I'm building a trail truck, not a race vehicle so my needs are different.
For EMC welding the arms on and just adding saddle gussets to increase the area of beam they tie to is definitely the way to go.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do for radius arm material. I kind of like the idea of square tube since it has better compression and bending strength than round and packs a hell of a lot more steel into an equivalent diameter.
I am definitely going to inboard the radius arm ends though. I think the wheel geometry benefits of doing that greatly outweighs how much it fucks you in the steering department.
I've gone back and forth on knuckles a lot but I think the D50 knuckle will be enough for me. I can always plate it if I have issues. My plan is to do the typical D50 knuckles on D44 swap and then hog out the beam windows as much as necessary to make room for the shaft while keeping close to stock RBV width.
All those words, yet you'll never start building anything
Centre mount PTO driven capstan winch FTMFW
Only problem I can see is finding one and if it meets the 1000 units per year.Bumping this ancient thread up.
What about a reg cab short bed 07+ Tundra?
Add a long travel IFS kit and rear leaves with pimpy shocks and 35s for 4600?
They're 126.8in wheelbase, great reliable engine and trans, 1-ton strength rear diff already (maybe build a Ruff stuff housing with FF ends though? Or just truss the shit out of the stock one).
34 spline 9in HP IFS front and I believe 36 spline rear axles with 10.5in ring gear. ARBs are available for both.
Camburg makes some nice fabricated spindles for the front too
Realistically you could fab up a lot of the stuff needed, or just order stuff off the shelf if you were so inclined.
Other than more horsepower in bone stock form what does that get you as a base platform that a fullsize bronco doesn't?
Bumping this ancient thread up.
What about a reg cab short bed 07+ Tundra?
Add a long travel IFS kit and rear leaves with pimpy shocks and 35s for 4600?
They're 126.8in wheelbase, great reliable engine and trans, 1-ton strength rear diff already (maybe build a Ruff stuff housing with FF ends though? Or just truss the shit out of the stock one).
34 spline 9in HP IFS front and I believe 36 spline rear axles with 10.5in ring gear. ARBs are available for both.
Camburg makes some nice fabricated spindles for the front too
Realistically you could fab up a lot of the stuff needed, or just order stuff off the shelf if you were so inclined.
Funny how everyone keeps trying to say IFS and V8, when a 4cyl leaf rig keeps winning
Also, remember tcase and axles are unlimited as long as suspension style stays the same.
A TJ or JK with jhf portals would probably be hard to touch, short of the new $200k bronco I've heard about
I think a 1st gen tacoma single cab or 3rd gen 4runner with a healthy 3rz would be a fun rig with out being too terribly expensive. Or a 2nd gen tacoma for the better IFS.
I don't think it is the advantage a lot of people want to believe. Of course that is likely to change with Brad Lovell and his mega buck 4600 Bronco Ford built to basically buy the 4600 win as a marketing stunt for the new Bronco
