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Veeb0rg posted:I have 31's in the Gaurd Dog's. I've had em a little over a year and drive on em every day. My concern with the Gard Dogs was just how aggressive they were...looks great for off road but I was concerned with on road noise, wet performance and wear. I guess I can cross "wear" off that list.
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Feb 20, 2013 21:10
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Motronic posted:What ones do you have and how long have you had them/how many miles? I completely missed this somehow. Around 20-30k on them on my XJ, probably around 20k on them on the MJ so far but I'm honestly not sure. That includes wheeling with plenty of wheelspin, too (  open differentials!)Still around 1/4" tread left iirc. That's the 285/75r16 BFG AT knockoffs. I test drove sandbagger last night the second we put the tires on and it sounds like a loving TIE fighter on the highway now. Some probably think that would be annoying but I think it's awesome. Any decent MT with good offroad performance is going to make a racket going fast, not much to be done about that IMO. kastein fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Feb 20, 2013 |
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Feb 20, 2013 21:31
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kastein posted:I test drove sandbagger last night the second we put the tires on and it sounds like a loving TIE fighter on the highway now. Some probably think that would be annoying but I think it's awesome. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to avoid in excess. I used to have a set of Swamper TSX-SXes that were louder than the (390 with 12" cherry bombs) engine above 35 MPH. They were also death traps on wet roads. I have an excuse in that I was young and stupid. So I'm trying to not repeat that particular one.
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Feb 20, 2013 21:36
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Motronic posted:My concern with the Gard Dogs was just how aggressive they were...looks great for off road but I was concerned with on road noise, wet performance and wear. I guess I can cross "wear" off that list. I've never had any issue with them in the rain and I've driven in some horrendous downpours.. They do "sing" at highway speeds but its nothing horrible, My old BFG MT's were way louder. They're certainly no where near Swampers's in noise level. Veeb0rg fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Feb 20, 2013 |
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Feb 20, 2013 22:20
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Motronic posted:Yeah, that's what I'm trying to avoid in excess. I used to have a set of Swamper TSX-SXes that were louder than the (390 with 12" cherry bombs) engine above 35 MPH. They were also death traps on wet roads. I have an excuse in that I was young and stupid. So I'm trying to not repeat that particular one. jesus christ, TSLs are just ridiculous. At least you didn't have Thornturds  Found the issue with the VSS signal conversion circuit I designed, it's one or two things: * the LM1815 adaptive sense amplifier chip I used is designed to convert a mag pickup/VR type 2 wire sensor signal to logic levels. That's all well and good, but it produces a constant width pulse output for each input pulse rather than a constant duty cycle pulse output. I computed the duty cycle one-shot RC time constant such that at 90mph, the pulse train would be 50% duty cycle. I'm pretty sure the ECU isn't happy about that at lower speeds - probably should always be 50% duty cycle no matter what speed it's traveling at. * the speedo jumps around a lot, which makes me think the cable from the sender (it's an older design vehicle that only had a VSS for cruise, so the setup is speedo gear pickup -> speedometer cable -> VSS -> speedometer cable -> speedometer) to the dash is binding, which probably explains why the signal from the VSS is 100% perfect and the LM1815 picks it right up and runs with it on the bench, but the signal is total dogshit and the LM1815 has no idea wtf to do when it's installed in the jeep. It looks like it's reasonably simple to build a flip-flop/SSI logic stage to convert from constant pulsewidth variable frequency to constant duty cycle variable frequency, though, so hopefully that and possibly a new speedo cable will solve the problem. I may drop the whole thing back in and just take it for a test drive with the speedo disconnected to see if that solves the issue all by itself. e: to complete the schizophrenic post holy trinity, here's a destroyed NP231J mode shift fork and melted fork pad to go along with the redneck tire discussion and electrical engineering nerdspeak: 
kastein fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Feb 20, 2013 |
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Feb 20, 2013 23:32
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kastein posted:jesus christ, TSLs are just ridiculous. Yeah, on an old F250 with posi front and a detroit in the rear it was basically unstoppable in the mud bogs of all the new development being built when I was growing up. I regret nothing about them, but know I'd be miserable with something like that today.
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Feb 21, 2013 00:10
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A significant improvement, I'd say. Next up: install proper speedo gear, troubleshoot VSS conversion circuit some more, install newly "rebuilt" transfer case in my MJ, regear and lock front diff in sandbagger, weld more bracing/endcaps onto the transfer case crossmember I built for my MJ and paint it (while the transfer case is out, might as well...) and get my snow tires studded. Hoping to get that all done tomorrow, but I suspect it's a lofty goal. e: parts aren't even on hand for the regear, so that clearly isn't happening 
kastein fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Feb 21, 2013 |
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Feb 21, 2013 06:39
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The MJ lives again  I think I scared Ace on the way to the junkyard today. Apparently lifted MJs aren't supposed to be driven like rally cars? Got a basically brand new wheel bearing for the MJ at the junkyard*, so now I have a new-to-me dana 30, my locker and diff cover, alloy shafts with alloyUSA ujoints, and two newish unit bearings for it (installed one a year ago, it's still fine.) I will probably jam all that under it in the near future after installing new bushings and gusseting the inner knuckles and control arm mounts so they don't get torn off. Also, we lucked out and there was a stripper model XJ there, 4.0/4x4/2 door/5 speed manual/no rear wiper/no tint/no center console/no tilt wheel/no cruise control. So we tore the pedal box, master/slave cylinders + hydraulic line, complete transfer case shift linkage and bracket set, shift boot, trans tunnel blockoff plate, and some other random required parts out of it. He's already got a 4.0 to AX15 bellhousing on hand, so basically the only parts left to get before we can manual swap his XJ are the driveshafts and the transmission itself plus one adapter plate and the transmission crossmember. My dad called me up last week with a... problem. Apparently the rear shock mounts on his 2000 Ford Ranger rotted out a few weeks ago, so he brought it to Meineke to have new ones put in (he supplied dealer-bought replacement mounts.) They butchered the rivets holding the old ones in with an O/A torch, then haphazardly bolted the new brackets on. About a week ago it started making a funny clunking noise so he checked and only one of three bolts was remaining, plus there was a lot of cracking/damage around the whole area...  Before:  After:  Not my best welding, nor my best photography, but it's way better than it was. Welded a new piece of 1/8" plate in from both sides, then gave it a good solid coat of Hammerite paint and bolted the bracket back on properly. Hopefully it stays together this time, we'll likely give the other side the same treatment when it starts cracking or loosening up. * running junkyard wheel bearings is pretty ghetto, but this axle is going to be pounded on, cost me almost nothing, and will be replaced by a dana 60 in the future so it's basically just got to hold until I have the parts collected to swap the 60 in. If I actually gave a poo poo about it, I'd put new unit bearings in it.
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Feb 24, 2013 03:20
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MIG or stick? If it's MIG, it'll probably work fine for a long time, but it's going to crack at the weld someday, depending on how much stress is on it. MIG is really terrible on hard steel. The best method for a truck frame is a deep bevel, 7018 and sometimes even a preheat.
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Feb 24, 2013 03:40
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Fluxcore  The factory frame is ~1/8" thick. I figured it's risky, but it was junk otherwise, told him to keep an eye on it. I did taper the ends of the fishplate (so it's shaped like < > instead of [ ]) to make the welds at the ends as long as possible and spread the stress out a bit. He doesn't really load the truck heavily, about the most it has ever carried was half a dozen 16 foot 2x12s. It's mostly a daily driver and light construction materials hauler.
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Feb 24, 2013 03:42
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Hypnolobster posted:MIG or stick? If it's MIG, it'll probably work fine for a long time, but it's going to crack at the weld someday, depending on how much stress is on it. MIG is really terrible on hard steel. If you really want to go old school mickey mousin' braze over the top of the weld and let it cool itself down on a warm day. Some old folks swear that brazing cools slower and allows the metal to relax and not get all brittle. So weld it up, clean it off, and then braze over the top of your welds.
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Feb 24, 2013 05:00
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That sounds like a form of post weld stress relief. When you need to do it you usually use a furnace (unless its only a localized area), at around 600C for carbon steel.
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Feb 24, 2013 07:34
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I've decided it's high time I actually had a working transfer case shift linkage in the woods beater MJ, after one too many times having to lie under it in a muddy road to shift with a prybar or even worse, reach through a mudhole filled with slabs of ice to do the same thing with one thumb. So far I've hosed around with it a lot, gotten a lot of parts from various donor vehicles that won't work for one reason or another, lost patience, and thrown it in the corner. Tomorrow at the junkyard I'm going to pull a mid 90s V6/5 speed Dakota shift linkage, lever, and bracket, I intend to heavily customize it to match up with the MJ center console and floor opening. Chance of success: nil Today I brought it to safelite and had a new windshield put in it because it cracked months ago, and I have full comprehensive coverage with no-deductible glass... while I waited, I finally figured out where to splice in the RWD wiring harness to get my 4x4 Part Time indicator lamp working. Of course, it didn't work, but shorting the two wires I chose illuminates the correct lamp, so I'm reasonably certain the (rather beat up) transfer case shift indicator switch is simply FUBAR. Put one on the list of stuff to get at the junkyard tomorrow because I don't feel like paying $30 or waiting days for it to show up. For those doing a 4x4 conversion on early 90s (91, 92, and possibly 93... but probably not) XJs/MJs - to get the part-time light working you wire it to the two unused positions on a 4 pin inline connector located below the main wiring harness along the firewall on the passenger (distributor) side of the engine compartment. It's the same connector that also has the wiring for the vehicle speed sensor / "distance sender". Here's the connector (the side going to the transfer case switch and VSS) looking into the pin cavities:  Here's the side:  What I did was find a 91 donor at the junkyard (it had an NP242 tcase, which inexplicably has the transfer case switch wiring running through a completely different harness, but still has this connector for the VSS), grab that harness, then take the pins and wires out of it and install them in mine. To disassemble this kind of connector all you need is fingernails or a toothpick, a reasonably strong paper clip, a pair of pliers, and a rather small flat blade screwdriver. 1. pull the blank pin plugs out of the rubber back-gasket in the connector shell. 2. pry the rubber back-gasket out. 3. bend a ~1mm long right angle hook into the end of the paperclip wire. Use it to pull the red pin retainer lock tab out of the front of the connector (see the first pic.) 4. use the tiny flatblade screwdriver to gently pry the pin retainer tabs out of the way (from the back of the connector, where the rubber gasket was) and slide the pins and wires out the back. 5. reinstallation is the reverse of removal! Remember to snake the wires you are adding through the rubber gasket (from the right side... since it's probably still threaded over the two wires for your VSS) BEFORE you crimp or solder anything to the other ends. It's pretty easy to tell which 2 pins are the ones you need to install, there are 4 pins and 2 are taken already for the VSS. You want the other two. Oh, you'll need to install the part-time indicator lamp in the cluster, they didn't put them in from the factory if the vehicle was built as a RWD only model. Grab one of the sockets at the junkyard when you get the connector/wire stuff and the rest of the parts for your swap, I believe the bulb itself is just a type 37 you can get for 20 cents at the parts store but the funky twist-to-lock base is slightly harder to find. I had a spare cluster sitting around so I just borrowed one from it.
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Mar 2, 2013 04:20
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http://www.bsfab.net/?p=26 I'm sure you've seen this TC linkage mod, Me and a bunch of local jeep guys are getting together next weekend to do it on about 4 different rigs. One of the guys has done it to his rig in the past, its fairly simple, straight forward and gets rid of that stupid factory setup. The only difference is we're using Linkages for lawn mowers found at Home Depo instead of heim joints. MTD Lawn Tractor ball joints 
Veeb0rg fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Mar 2, 2013 |
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Mar 2, 2013 05:33
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That's one of the things I was planning on doing, in fact I've had the parts around to do it forever  Problems: 1. My transfer case and transmission are slightly dropped due to the custom crossmember I welded up. Not ideal, I mis-measured when making the crossmember. No easy way to fix it now. 2. I have a manual transmission not an automatic. The AX-15 is about 1.4-2" shorter than the AW4 including bellhousing AFAIK. Between these two issues, my linkage angle would be MUCH more steep than what's shown in that writeup. I got as far as installing everything except the linkage itself (without welding up the holes in the arms, I basically did a testfit to measure how much rod I should cut) and then realized that the linkage would be moving mostly perpendicular to the rod rather than parallel to it, meaning it would do gently caress all and any sort of engine and trans mount flexure would make it go out of alignment and pop out of gear. That's when I started looking at Dakota shifter parts, having already installed one in CommissarGribb's YJ with decent success. I much prefer the Dakota/YJ/fullsize Dodge linkage design, it introduces more NVH since the entire linkage and shifter is mounted to the transmission instead of being mounted to the trans tunnel and linked via a complex series of rods and bellcranks to isolate the shifter from the drivetrain, but it never goes out of alignment, always works, and the whole thing can be removed with two bolts and a bushing. The only downside is that it requires a bigger hole in the floor and a more flexible shifter boot, which is why every single Dakota floor shifter boot in the junkyard is loving trashed. To me this isn't much of a downside, I've been meaning to upgrade my engine mounts recently anyways (which should fix some of the problem) and I'd rather have a leaky shifter that works every time than a waterproof rube goldsbergian hinky-shifter that mostly usually sometimes works if I adjusted it recently.
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Mar 2, 2013 06:10
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I'd love to see pics of this when your done.
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Mar 2, 2013 07:47
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I've been entirely too unmotivated to pull one of those drat shifters every time I've hit the yard since I said that, they are somewhat of a pain in the rear end to take out if the truck is resting on its axles. Today I was all fired up to do it but forgot my 5/16" socket in the jeep, so ace and I just pulled a dana 60-ISU and threw it in the back of my truck. We pulled it intending to throw it up for sale to turn a quick profit but by the time we got back to town, we'd both considered installing it in our trucks  AI is a curse.Sell it and turn it into beer farts and truck parts? Install in Jeep Comanche? Install in Toyota Hilux? 
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Mar 5, 2013 04:28
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kastein posted:
This is what I would say.
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Mar 6, 2013 03:10
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Veeb0rg posted:I have 31's in the Gaurd Dog's. I've had em a little over a year and drive on em every day. Never had a single issue from em. They still look brand new. Mine came on Firestone Destination a/t's carcasses. I have a completely dumb question, are these retreads or recaps? The pricing seems very reasonable, and it would be nice to get a sperate set of tires for the Rover on steelies for bashing off road.
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Mar 6, 2013 21:29
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BrokenKnucklez posted:I have a completely dumb question, are these retreads or recaps? The pricing seems very reasonable, and it would be nice to get a sperate set of tires for the Rover on steelies for bashing off road. Yes, they are retreads. And seem amazingly well regarded by everyone I've seen talk about them online.
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Mar 6, 2013 21:32
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Motronic posted:Yes, they are retreads. And seem amazingly well regarded by everyone I've seen talk about them online. Nothing wrong with properly done retreads. by that I'm including the age and condition of the underlying carcass of course. I used to buy either them or good second hand ones but can't do either now because the Fairlane is "special". I think I'll be looking at these options for the Niva. Primarily because unless there's info I'm not finding the tyres on it were made by a company that closed its doors in '97. That's enough to make even me nervous.
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Mar 6, 2013 21:57
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Ponder this Jeepheads. I saw what looked to be a old flatfender jeep on a trailer, until I noticed it had IRS. What the gently caress was I looking at?
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Mar 6, 2013 22:09
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Probably an M151 Mutt if I had to guess. Funky little jeeps, the military unfortunately cut almost all of them in half when they scrapped them. I got the Dakota shifter at the junkyard today, it only cost me $11 and a quarter square inch of skin. Once it gets warmer again (and hopefully I've stopped bleeding) I'm going to give it a test fit. The fun thing is that all (to the best of my knowledge - certainly all early to mid 90s) XJ/MJ AX15s use the same exact tailhousing casting as the 3.9L V6 5 speed Dakota uses, so the mounting bolts to install a 3.9 Dakota transfer case shifter are all on any XJ/MJ AX15 as well. That's why I'm using the Dakota shifter as the base for this stupid idea, it'll bolt right on and I can proceed to chop everything important off it with an angle grinder and rebuild it to fit my purposes. The two mounting bolts are 7/16-14 coarse thread, with a 5/8" hex head. I believe the same two mounting points are used on the NV3500 and NV4500 as well but I am not sure, I'd have to wander out into the yard and take a look at the pair of V8/5speed drivetrains I have sitting in the back of the 5 ton right now.
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Mar 6, 2013 23:47
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kastein posted:Probably an M151 Mutt if I had to guess. Funky little jeeps, the military unfortunately cut almost all of them in half when they scrapped them.  I always thought they were pretty cool. Some of the older guys in my guard unit have been in long enough that they remember working on them which is pretty neat. the original had some issues that were fixed in the A1 if I remember correctly. They were still not approved for highway use and for that reason they were scrapped. I wouldn't be surprised if someone decided that thousands of cool gas powered milsurp jeeps would undermine sales of domestic civilian vehicles and nixed sales to civilians for THAT reason but 
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Mar 7, 2013 02:22
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Winch is tested, it will pull a GMC 1500 pickup up a steep hill in the snow without a single problem. Neighbor down the hill called me because his silly truck with street/summer tires slid sideways trying to back down the hill to the main road, he ended up sideways with a tree 6" from each bumper. No problems with it here, just drove out in 4-low... I should put my snow tires on sometime and maybe get a rear locker so I can go both uphill and downhill however.
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Mar 8, 2013 16:54
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kastein posted:a rear locker so I can go both uphill and downhill however. Are you thinking about getting a selectable rear or just whatever you find?
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Mar 8, 2013 21:09
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If I find a 29 spline 8.25 LSD in the junkyard I am putting it in ASAP, else I'm waiting till I build my next set of axles/suspension. This loving snow is putting a big crimp in my plans of having a working transfer case shift lever, drat it. I need to build a garage sometime. My digital hanging scale arrived in the mail yesterday. As soon as I cut a 9" plywood circle and bore 4 5/16" holes in it near the center, everything is on hand for the front diff regear in sandbagger. Hell with spending $300 on an inch-pound dial torque wrench, I have a $17 11lb max 0.01lb increment hanging scale and a circular piece of plywood
kastein fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Mar 8, 2013 |
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Mar 8, 2013 21:34
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Pulled apart the new-to-me dana 30 I picked up since my front axle housing is trashed. Discovered a few things I didn't know about this dana 30. Where's my carrier bearing? Where are my shims? Why are there marks on the inside of my carrier bore? What is happening to me?   Shims (well, the only shim that wasn't turned into a pile of metallic flakes) and carrier bearing journal are in great shape.  Highly polished carrier bearing bore.  So I put it back on.  And then I slid it back off again!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqBm07pl3A0 I got the whole diff, housing, knuckles, and a pair of alloy axleshafts (inner and outer) with alloyUSA ujoints for $120, way less than even the axleshafts or ujoints are worth alone, so I can't really complain here. Neither of us (guy who sold the stuff to me is a good friend of mine) had any idea the carrier was that wasted. Looks like it should be around $51 including shipping to get bearings, shims, and ring gear bolts to put it back together properly.
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Mar 10, 2013 21:46
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My bearings and shims need to get here already  Got a frantic call today and ended up doing an SYE install on yet another NP231. Had the owner pull the 'case because I hate doing those. Time to install an SYE from the time it hits the bench to filling it with ATF? 55 minutes. I think I could probably do it faster if I had something better than the tailgate of my truck as a bench, too. Tools required: 15mm socket 10mm 12 point socket 1/2" socket or gearwrench flat blade screwdriver some big-rear end socket (I think it's actually a 28mm, but I don't own one yet so I've always used 30mm. Close enough.) large pipe wrench mechanics prybar breaker bar for the big-rear end socket long thin flat blade screwdriver 10mm allen key long 3/8" extension 3/8" ratchet angle grinder w/ brass wire wheel and most importantly... a quality set of lockring or circlip pliers. Not the reversible kind or anything that comes with swappable/removable tips, those are c-clip or internal clip pliers, you want lockring/circlip pliers that open the jaws when you squeeze the handles. They should have flat jaws with knurling on the outer faces.
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Mar 14, 2013 05:12
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How many times would you feel safe reusing a lubelocker gasket?
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Mar 14, 2013 17:20
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Haven't had to yet, because I haven't had to go inside either of my diffs since I installed them... but I would keep reusing it till it starts seeping a little. It won't be a real gusher of a leak unless you tore the poo poo out of it taking it out, in which case it shouldn't go back in - use your judgement basically. Make sure you clean the mating surfaces well before reinstalling the gasket and it'll last a lot longer.
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Mar 14, 2013 17:44
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Put a new ujoint in the pinion end of the rear driveshaft, installed a new-to-me front driveshaft out of a late-model V8 grand cherokee that has a beefier slip joint. Replaced the ujoint straps on both pinion yokes - you're supposed to replace those every time you replace the ujoint, most people don't. I didn't have any on hand last time I replaced it, and the reused ones were severely stretched by the time I got to it. Guess I need to put some of those on my list of spare parts to keep on hand. I felt a lot of resistance spinning the bolts out to get the old straps off, so I ran a tap through the threads in the yokes before reinstalling. Went back in like butter (need to pull them back out and put a dab of loctite on each.) Threads on stock pinion yokes for both front and rear axles: 1/4-28 UNF Threads on stock double cardan at transfer case end of front driveshaft: 5/16-24 UNF (also applies to transfer case end of rear driveshaft if you've done an SYE that uses a double cardan rather than a flange) Took it for a spin on the highway today, it's incredible being able to do 80 (way faster than this jalopy should ever rightfully go) without significant driveline vibrations again. It was getting REALLY bad, apparently ujoint caps are supposed to have needle bearings in them instead of giant wads of rust and burnt grease.
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Mar 16, 2013 03:23
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 BREAKING NEWS The mag pickup 2-wire to hall effect 3-wire VSS signal converter I built for sandbagger works! No more check engine light, and the cj7 cable driven speedo still works. Just needed around 900 picofarads for the time constant one-shot circuit instead of the 330 picofarads I had on it. I should have just used the example circuit, it suggested 1000pF, my math said I needed around 330pF. Whoops Time to put a proper parts list together for it.
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Mar 16, 2013 05:52
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kastein posted:
Hot drat!, that thing sounded impossible for a while.
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Mar 16, 2013 06:23
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Well, sandbagger made it home to Maine! Got a CEL at one point but no reports from the field on what the blink code was yet, if it even still has the code stored. Still needs a bunch of work, but at least it's made a long road trip without incident now. Also: the SMT parts for the VSS signal converter board arrived today. So I immediately channeled my inner nerd and soldered everything down... except for a single 0402 resistor that I managed to catapult into the ether with the poly sheeting that held it into the paper tape it was packed in. Go figure, 10 cent part, I should have had CommissarGribbs order more than one of those parts because they are so cheap and so easy to slingshot by accident. New one's on order already and should be here sometime soonish. Pile of parts and a bare PCB. Let's do this.  Back of board.  Front of board.  For a sense of scale: 
kastein fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Mar 27, 2013 |
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Mar 27, 2013 02:32
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kastein posted:For a sense of scale: Nice battle wounds.
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Mar 27, 2013 09:35
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next up: the fuel gauge eh?
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Mar 27, 2013 17:53
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Indeed. I've begun choosing components to use, and reverse engineered the fuel level sender input circuitry on the stock late model XJ ECU (and characterized the fuel gauge's current draw and input voltage curve on the stock early model XJ gauge) so I've got some ideas to work with, but haven't put anything completely solid together yet. I think it'll end up being around the same idea, a sub 1"x1" PCB with a number of SMT parts packed onto it, except this time it'll probably require a little firmware, nothing difficult though. Like we discussed I will need at least one or two of them myself (for the MJs) so I'll probably finish the design up and order 3+ boards this time. The 96 and earlier XJ fuel gauge is pretty normal for a dumb gauge, it's fed 12 volts from the ignition switch, the other lead goes to the sender, which is grounded on the far side. The sender ranges from 0 to ?? ohms. The gauge current at 0 ohms is approx. 120mA, at "full" gradation it's approximately 43mA (iirc, I was only interested in the maximum so I didn't write this one down.) The 97 and later (Chrysler JTEC (jeep/truck engine controller) ECU) uses a very strange signal conditioning input circuit I hadn't seen before. They used an LM317 adjustable voltage regulator in an analog resistance measurement input conditioning circuit  It took me a bit longer than I wish, but I figured out why, they did it so that current through the fuel level sender element is held constant across the entire resistance range. This keeps the level signal offset from the resistance in the wiring and connectors between the ECU and the level sender constant, allowing for a more accurate (theoretically, I've never seen a chrysler/jeep/dodge with a JTEC and an accurate fuel gauge) signal. These signal conditioners seem to draw around 30mA through the sender at all fuel levels/resistances. Also, it looks like my stupid 5.9 MJ front axle fabrication ideas may have changed yet again, as I can find a cheaper donor for the parts I need that only requires a little welding instead of custom knuckle fabrication and no taper reamer usage. And that means I can sell the donor axle I was going to use (which cost me $130) for $300 in a couple weeks because I finally found someone who needs that type of axle, so win/win. I took the future 5.9 MJ for a spin up the block to pick up my trash can after the truck went by, and the brakes, steering, and exhaust are all incredibly sketchy. So it needs a lot more work before it can go anywhere - it was so bad I actually turned around and came back instead of driving all the way around the block. e: oh, and I spent Monday de-rusting a Toyota Hilux. Pics incoming as soon as I figure out how to get them off my stupid dumb-phone, they will not only be 56k compatible, they will probably be 14.4k compatible. e2: I apparently didn't take any pictures of the de-rusting process, but here's a lovely photo of one of the 2x6 1/4-wall rectangular tube rocker replacement/rock slider that's going in. Had to cut some notches out of the inboard edge of the tube to clear the body mounts, and the only sane thing to do in that case is to seal the tube back up so it doesn't rot from the inside. 1/4" wall rectangular tube, 3/16" stock to fill in the cutout, 100 amp Lincoln Electric fluxcore, 0.035 lincoln fluxcore wire. 
kastein fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Apr 10, 2013 |
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Apr 10, 2013 04:59
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Well, I can pick up even heavier things now. (better photos that weren't taken with my  1995-grade cellphone at some point, my digicam has eaten its batteries alive again)
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Apr 10, 2013 20:16
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kastein posted:Well, I can pick up even heavier things now. Did you fix it too? Or is it just the A arm thing? Not that I'm complaining.
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Apr 10, 2013 21:41
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