Digger's '69 Build Thread

[Kinder]

What are you plans for the trackbar? I'm sure you are likely building your own but it would be cool if a stock or maybe an adjustable front trackbar could be repurposed?

[cravenbronco]

VERY BAD A**

[Digger]

What are you plans for the trackbar? I'm sure you are likely building your own but it would be cool if a stock or maybe an adjustable front trackbar could be repurposed?

Yes, building my own. I tried designing it to the same length as the front, but it didn't work out. I also tried using the Bronco's front bushing set, but the frame side is small and the axle side has a 3/4" ID, neither of which are that desirable. In the end I used more Jeep JK bushings. Like it or not, they are readily available and made of better quality materials. (Cleavite rubber vs. urethane)

[Digger]

I hit a big milestone last weekend. The truck is finally back on all 4's!

I still needed a frame-side trackbar bracket, which wasn't too difficult to build.
256 by J W, on Flickr



Then I took some time to remove the only bad spots I found on the frame which were behind the rear shock mounts.
257 by J W, on Flickr

258 by J W, on Flickr



After painting the frame and suspension parts, I grabbed the end rings I made earlier and went to work getting final measurements for the trackbar.
259 by J W, on Flickr



With measurements checked 10-12 times and weighing how I wanted the axle to sit at ride height, I took some tube to work and put a bend in it and flattened the ends with the 75 ton press. Back home I took more measurements and coped the tube and welded it to the end rings.
260 by J W, on Flickr



After some paint, it was looking pretty good. Then I pressed in the xAxis Joint and the bushing.
261 by J W, on Flickr

263 by J W, on Flickr

262 by J W, on Flickr


The moment of truth: The rear axle all bolted up, sitting at planned ride height
264 by J W, on Flickr



At full compression
265 by J W, on Flickr



View of the trackbar showing it tucked between the axle and where the gas tank will sit.
266 by J W, on Flickr



Showing a little articulation with the floor jack. The left side was hung up on the jack stand, otherwise I could have gotten it to the floor with slack to spare. Honestly, I not sure where this thing would stop. I know it will only be limited by the shocks
267 by J W, on Flickr



Finally! Weight on the axle! If you look close, you will notice the axle is slightly right of center. It should settle out to being 0.2" right of center at ride height. This was done so when the suspension compresses it will strike the jounce bumpers squarely due to the arc travel path of the trackbar. Not an uncommon practice done by the OEMs.
268 by J W, on Flickr

269 by J W, on Flickr



Right now the truck is sitting 2.5" inches higher than planned, but it's missing about 700 lbs. The rear only weighs 850lbs at the moment. Gas tank, rear bumper and spare tire will leverage 550lbs alone onto the rear springs. I still need to add cage, rear seat, a pair of kids and some cargo.

[Justin]

Looks great! What size tube did you use to make the eyes on the track bar. Looks like 2" .25 wall?

[Digger]

Looks great! What size tube did you use to make the eyes on the track bar. Looks like 2" .25 wall?

Yes. I had some left over bits of tube from building radius arms, but I had to bore out the ID a little to 1.512" for proper press fit of the bushing(s).

[Eck]

Jealous. Wish I had that type of skill and knowledge. Oh yah- and patience!

[Justin]

Thanks, may hit the machine shop so i can run similar bushings.

[Kinder]

Very nice, when is the maiden voyage around the neighborhood?

[D&D72]

Nice rear! damn sexy....

[Digger]

Very nice, when is the maiden voyage around the neighborhood?

Getting so close...

I need to mount up some shocks and a fuel tank. Then plumb brake lines, fuel lines (for EFI) and exhaust. Hopefully this will go quicker than all the designing and fabbing I have been doing.

[Digger]

New Year. New Toys.

I bite the bullet and purchased my own copy of SolidWorks for home. As I contemplated what still needed to be brought into CAD to finish all my projects, I quickly realized that I might as well model the whole darn thing. The only part I had not planned on building in CAD was the body itself. Given how simple the lines are, I think I can pull this off.

I found a really good scale print of the frame some time ago. Pulling the print into SW, I was able to make a very good representation of the frame:
270 by J W, on Flickr

271 by J W, on Flickr



This weekend while the kids were sleeping I planted myself in front of the computer and banged out some more details, added brackets, and even was able to make a very good representation of the spring buckets with the 2" extensions I built.
274 by J W, on Flickr

275 by J W, on Flickr



And a little color for effect...
273 by J W, on Flickr


This could get pretty cool in a hurry. My main motivation for modeling the body will be to see how the tire carrier and winch bumpers look before I cut any metal.

More to come...

[Justin]

Wow...

[Rox Crusher]

That is one helluva new toy !

Sounds like a fun project.

[Jesus_man]

You got some mad SW skills! Mine are far behind that, but I am learning.

[Kinder]

Very cool.

[Digger]

Does this qualify as "Web Wheeling"?

So far, modeling the body has been going pretty well. Although it has high-lighted how poorly these bodies were originally constructed. For the most part, the body is square, but you can tell at certain junctions the panels didn't fit right and had to be massaged into place.

The good news is now I can accurately design the rear shock mounts and take advantage of the body lift and the extra package space that used to be occupied by the leaf springs.

The tub model should come in handy for designing the actual cage. I want to do some thing different with the front legs, similar to a Rock Hard Sports Cage, but tied to the floor and mid-body mounts to keep the cage clear of the foot well / parking brake, etc. The cage will be tied to the floor, bed rails, upper firewall, etc so the body and cage will reinforce each other, making both stronger. Then the whole mess will be tied to the frame via the normal body mounts and at least one set of extra mounts under the main hoop.

The tires/wheels are not mine. I downloaded them from GRABCAD to see what 37's would look like.

276 by J W, on Flickr

277 by J W, on Flickr



I played around with photo-rendering my Bilstein model.

[Colorado75bronc]

That's awesome!

[Kinder]

Are you going to model in the fuel filler encroachment into the rear drivers side inner fender? Also how hard would it be to model a flat floor and could application show the interference points from original?

The shock render is cool.

[Digger]

Are you going to model in the fuel filler encroachment into the rear drivers side inner fender? Also how hard would it be to model a flat floor and could application show the interference points from original?

The shock render is cool.

- Yes I will model the fuel filling encroachment. I'm going to make a initial sweep and then go back and add the non-symmetric details later, like the fuel fillers to the driver's side.

- A flat floor should be easy to model. I've created different models for each actual panel on the truck, then brought them together in an assembly. It would be easy to overlay a flat floor on the existing model. SolidWorks has an interference detection program which should show where the two cross each other. You have a plan g?

[Kinder]

Why yes I do, I took the easier path when I added my back doors (that sounds funny) and left all the original floor structure in place. I'd like to flat floor the entire area in the future to gain some space back. Knowing the interference points would make planning easier.

[Digger]

Flat floor in the passenger area? Like this guy?









I've been thinking about your rig throughout this whole process. I think I can copy off my frame model, split it and stretch it to match your frame extension. This would be useful for virtual testing the bending strength of the longer frame.

[Kinder]

Yes, I've been following that build, I like the floor, I don't like the back door window frames.

I think I can do a similar floor, my tunnel will be longer with my doubler, but I ditched the muffler so the rest can go flat.

[Digger]

Yes, I've been following that build, I like the floor, I don't like the back door window frames.

I think I can do a similar floor, my tunnel will be longer with my doubler, but I ditched the muffler so the rest can go flat.

I would carry the tunnel all the way back to the bed floor. It would ease driveline maintenance later.

Let me get the model finished up, then we can play with it. I want to see your rig one of these days!!

[Jesus_man]

A stretched rig analysis would be so beneficial to many people! It'd be awesome to know just how far a frame could be stretched before lack of strength becomes an issue.

I love what you're doing with the model! Looks amazing! Probably far more sophisticated than the original design!!

[Digger]

A stretched rig analysis would be so beneficial to many people! It'd be awesome to know just how far a frame could be stretched before lack of strength becomes an issue.

I love what you're doing with the model! Looks amazing! Probably far more sophisticated than the original design!!

Thanks!

I'm most concerned about "beaming", which is a dynamic condition where the middle of the frame oscillates up and down. It is common with long wheelbase vehicles. I think a stretched frame would benefit from a taller cross section where it is split to resist beaming.

[Jesus_man]

Yes. I hear of crew cab long bed guys complain about that, especially on poorly made concrete roads like 225.

[Digger]

Got a little more done in the last 24 hours, but process is typically slow. I'm happy it is taking shape though.

The hood, fenders and grill will be difficult to model accurately, but I'm hoping to make some more progress this weekend.

279 by J W, on Flickr

281 by J W, on Flickr

280 by J W, on Flickr

[cravenbronco]

So very cool

[Kinder]

Looks great.