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Blue Jeep build

Upon further fiddle fucking around, it seems I can remove a little more of the stupid look out of the front sway bar arms. It's certainly not eliminating it.
They just need to work, that's what I keep telling myself anyway. Plus, I'm stuck with it, so it really doesn't matter what I think.

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I changed up my process for building these things. I have a whole bunch of 1/2" flatbar that I used in the rear, followed by plating it with 1/4" on each side.
For the front I decided to un-ghetto that approach and bought a stick of 1"x2" flatbar.

Was able to get a large portion of the angle out of the arm, like in the blue tape in the picture a few posts above.

Here's what I had before...full droop, hanging on the limit straps.

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Now I'm down to this......full droop, hanging on the limit straps.

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At least I was able to get it to work with the 2 flatbar pieces being completely straight, it just comes off the splined end at a slight angle

I think I can shorten the second piece of flatbar a couple inches where the link will attach. At full stuff there's still some room to shorten before the link gets close to the bypass adjusters. Can't move the bottom mount for the link because it needs to be centered so I can get a wrench on the nuts for the bottom shock/bypass mounts.


On a unrelated note. It blows me away at how much room there is between the grill and the front of the engine when there's no radiator or coolers in there. Add the radiator and full stuff, it almost takes a feeler gauge to measure clearances.

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WaterH said:
Sway bar looks way mor betta. Does look heavy. Or is that jus mock up and finesh with tube same size?
Click to expand...


Thanks, I think it looks a little better too. At the same time I can't lie, it looks stupid overall. Can't run it any other way though. In the end I'll paint it all black and hope it disappears.

Yes, their pretty heavy. I spent a lot of time researching sway bars and just ended up more confused than when I started. What arms get made from is all over the map. 1/2" thick alum to 1 1/2" steel and everything in between. I did find that nobody makes alum arms as long as these are, so there's probably a reason for that.

They will stay solid steel. The damn things are long and I'd be nervous using anything else. Plus I want to have a set of bars to run on the street that would limit travel (as body roll) to just a few inches and that will be a high rate bar.
 
Well, getting the main pieces of the front sway bar arms exactly equal turned out to be a pain in the ass. It should have been pretty easy........or so I thought.

Welding out the driver side went fast. Jigged it up and it stayed where it should. Was able to use the same jig for the splined section and the long piece of the passenger side.............that came out fine and stayed where it should.

When it came time for the third (shorter) piece at the end of the passenger side, I stuck it in the same jig backwards so the kick would be in the correct direction. Problem was I couldn't get the same number of clamps holding it in place. I really should have just made a new jig set up..............but I thought I could get lucky. I'm not lucky apparently.

Welded the first side and it pulled so I had too much angle. Ok, fine, I'll weld the other side without any clamps and let it pull itself straight. That fucker didn't budge after welding........no change. Awesome, now I have a 1"x2" flatbar with full pen grove welds on both sides that is a couple degrees off.

Time for heat. That sounds easy enough. Nope, I kept missing where it needed to end up. Finally got it within a little less than 1/2 a degree and went with the sledge hammer. That fixed it.

Two arms that are now the same.

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One looks like it's taken a slight beating.

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My two ideas for the fish plates at the joint. Think I'll go with the longer one.


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Fish plate for the splined end.

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And I ordered another trolley and chain hoist for the A-frame. With two I can spin the body and the frame like a rotisserie for blasting and painting.

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Oh, and when I went to bend the fish plate pieces today.........................nothing happened when I pumped the press. It's a 10t Dake bench model with the SWAG press brake gizmo on it. Guess I'll be clamping them in the vice and beating the shit out of them now.
 
1Sinner said:
10 ton is pretty light for most things press related.
Click to expand...

Ya, it's actually worked for 99.9% of what I've needed so far. Pretty sure the last thing I tried to bend was 1/2" for the rear sway bar arms and that was a big fail.

I may go pick up the 20t floor standing press from HF tomorrow. Pretty sure I can make the SWAG brake woork on it. I really don't want my next post tomorrow be that I broke my vice beating 1/4' fish plates with a sledge hammer on it.
 
gt1guy said:
Ya, it's actually worked for 99.9% of what I've needed so far. Pretty sure the last thing I tried to bend was 1/2" for the rear sway bar arms and that was a big fail.

I may go pick up the 20t floor standing press from HF tomorrow. Pretty sure I can make the SWAG brake woork on it. I really don't want my next post tomorrow be that I broke my vice beating 1/4' fish plates with a sledge hammer on it.
Click to expand...
The 20 ton gets a lot done. One of my next tool projects is a 30-50 ton hydro press with a pump and a valve for sure.
 
Wisconsinite said:
I am not sure if this would be an option, but I welded a little stub of DOM to the bumper tubes, and used a sumner stand for my redneck rotisserie.

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You know what would be cool. Weld a reciever front and back and then have a round bar plug in the reciever. When you’re done, no need to cut them off. Not that cutting a little stub is any big deal.
 
Wisconsinite said:
I am not sure if this would be an option, but I welded a little stub of DOM to the bumper tubes, and used a sumner stand for my redneck rotisserie.

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Click to expand...

I tried to respond on my phone. I never use my phone. It didn't end well.:flipoff2:

That looks really cool. Would be better than what I'm going to do for something long term.

I've have more than a few occasions where 2 chain falls would have came in handy on the A-frame. It's something I've wanted to add for a while.
 
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Got the front swaybar arms finished and all welded out.

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I think now that they actually look like swaybar arms, they don't look quite as stupid. No way to get around how they sit though.

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Don't look as bad from a distance.:flipoff2: So they'll match the paint job just fine.:grinpimp:

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Now on to finishing the mounts for the axles.
 
Today, I tacked up some tie rods.

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Which lead to something odd. I put the tires on and removed the caps from the ram ports so i could turn the wheels and cycle the steering. Wheels were held just off the ground by the jack stands under the axle.

I get a hard stop on ram movement about 1.5" short of where it should go. It's the same turning either way. Stops about 1.5" short.

It's a 10" travel ram. I'm getting around 7" of travel. Nothing is hitting, nothing is binding, the knuckles aren't coming close to the stops on the C's.............and they should be.


According to the dimensions of the ram from Howe, there should only be .127" of shaft sticking out of the ram body when it's fully extended to the other side.

Unless my math is fucked up. But 5.125" - 4.998" = .127" I'm seeing ~1.5" when it stops

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Anyone have an idea why this may be happening?
 
gt1guy said:
It's a 10" travel ram. I'm getting around 7" of travel. Nothing is hitting, nothing is binding, the knuckles aren't coming close to the stops on the C's.............and they should be.


According to the dimensions of the ram from Howe, there should only be .127" of shaft sticking out of the ram body when it's fully extended to the other side.

Unless my math is fucked up. But 5.125" - 4.998" = .127" I'm seeing ~1.5" when it stops

Capture.JPG




Anyone have an idea why this may be happening?
Click to expand...
:confused: Any chance someone goofed on your order & limited that ram to 7" of travel?

If so, the end caps have to come off to remove the 1.5" spacers inside, ram should be the same.
 
When I ordered the ram Howe asked exactly how much steering travel I had so they could limit it before they shipped it out if needed. I was getting just a hair over 10" on my measurements, so we didn't do anything inside the ram. I figured I'd just match the knuckle stops to the ram.
So, there shouldn't have been any stops installed inside the ram. I also drilled my steering arms in the exact same spot I had used for my overall travel measurements.

I did start out cycling the ram with air before I put the tires on. It didn't look like it was turning the knuckles as far as it should be just looking at where the brake rotors were pointing. That's when I put the tires on. Because they should just kiss the lower links in the rear and almost kiss the frame in front when turned lock to lock. Tires don't even come close to doing that right now.

I'll yank the ram out and see what it does all by itself.

It's always something.
 
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