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December 2010 |
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Beastly goes 1 Ton!
The acquisition of the
Bastard delayed the progress of Beastly, however its demise
produced a lot of the much needed parts to cure many of Beastly's
issues.
Some of the more serious issues consist of a
failing steering box, heavily worn spline in the drive shaft, another 12 bolt that was about to blow up,
and a multitude of stress cracks within the chassis.
Now its
time to pull Beastly off of the preverbal back burner.
Along with
receiving
the Bastard's Dana 60 and 14 bolt axles, the ride
height will be altered before new drive shafts are made.
The theory is, if 35 inch tires rubbed the old 4 inch lift, with a little
more trimming 40+ inch tires should fit a 6 inch lift.
To accomplish this we need some parts, but the catch is that the project must be funded by parting out
the Bastard and selling off the
unwanted 1/2 ton parts.
This project will consists of a new ride height with 64 inch rear spring conversion,
a 14 bolt shave and
perch relocation, a hydro
boost conversion, crossover steering, a double cardan rear driveshaft,
and a few other little details. |
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After doing some
research on the drivability and handling characteristics of the well known
52 and 56 inch spring swaps,
My objective
was to find the softest aftermarket spring available without the expense
of custom springs.
Spring
Rate Chart
We opted for Tuff
Country's EZ Ride 6 inch springs to replace the HD Rancho 4 inch springs. |
To
ensure accuracy, all measurements
were taken with the suspension loaded, from the bottom of the frame to the top of
the spring perch on the axle as to negate any difference between the axles
and wheels.
HD Rancho 4 inch springs
Tuff Country 6 inch EZ Ride |
11 inches - frame to perch
14 inches
- frame to perch |
A 3 inch height
difference, plus almost an inch gained from the axle center line to the top
of the perch from the Dana 60, resulting in gaining almost 4 inches between
the axle center line and the frame. |
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I installed OffRoad
Design's exclusive D.O.T. approved braided stainless steel brake lines to
accommodate the metric banjo bolt on the calipers and lift. This also gave
me the opportunity to fix the shoddy hard line relocation attempt from the
original lift, tucking the lines back into the frame rails where they should be.
The axle was installed dirty but
this is not a show truck, nor will the axle stay clean under Beastly. The
CARC green paint also has a nostalgic patina from its life in
the Bastard which fits with
Beastly's pieced together theme very well. Fresh color will come at a later
point in time.
The old drag link and U-bolts will be used
temporarily and replaced when the final ride height is achieved, this will
also allow me to turn Beastly around to work on the rear suspension and the axle
swap. |
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The only bolt
in issue
we had while installing the Dana 60 was,
the shock mounts on the Dana 60 are a little wider than that of the old Dana
44. |
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Next was preparing
the 14 bolt for instillation.
First off, quick and easy, cut off the shock mounts. When it came time to flip
the 14 bolt over and shave the bottom, the decision was
made to remove as much as possible while still leaving enough of the case to
withstand a hard hit on a rock. The bottom lip alone measured 1/2 an inch,
where as the total material removed would be gaining about 5/8ths of an inch of
additional ground clearance. The cover only required a slight trim as
the case
was shaved to the edge of the factory machined surface for the cover itself.
This is the extent of what I plan to shave because of the application, the
lowest point will be the seam between the cover and case. |
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January
2011 |
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The spring perches
had to be relocated from a 40.5 centerline to a 42.5 inch centerline, and the shock mounts with them. Before removing the old perches I scribed the perch
centerline onto the axle tube as a reference point and measured the pinion
angle in relation to the old perches.
After removing the
perches I measured out the centerline for the new perches, marked them and
tacked the new DIY4X spring perches in place until the final pinion angle
could be determined. The perches will not be fully welded until the springs
have been replaced and the final pinion angle and axle centerline can be established. Now the 14
bolt could be temporarily installed, again for mock-up purposes. |
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With
the 14 bolt under Beastly, we could get started on the rear suspension.
Not
knowing weather a 2 inch or 3 inch rear spring would be needed, the next step
was to install the OffRoad Design's shackle flip. |
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Dropping the tank
was not too difficult of a task as the strap studs were not too rusty, but
it had its own issues.
While lining up the
shackle flip bracket, I like many others found that they needed to occupy
the same space on the frame rail as the trailer hitch. The simplest solution
I found was to drill through the hitch on the other side of the brace with a
1/4 inch spacer creating a solid foundation for the hitch assembly on the
frame rail pinching the shackle flip bracket in between.
The exhaust had
been routed in such a fashion that it sits a hair above the springs at
height, however with the lift springs this may not be as big of an issue as
it looks to be now. If we are lucky, we may be able to extend the pipes past
the shackles by splicing in a straight section before the last bend. Needless to say the exhaust rebuild is going to come soon.
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Fortunately only
one of the six suspension bolts were rusted to their bushings inner sleeve.
It was a spring to shackle bushing, but it turned relatively easily as to
align it with the new brackets. Using the blocks that were already in
Beastly, we could now see it much closer to its final suspended ride height.
As is, the rear
gained 4 inched from the shackle flip and now sits about 3/4s of an inch higher than the front. Now was the time to take
final measurements, calculate, and decide on how much total lift is needed
in the rear springs.
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Before I was able
to reinstall the tank, it needed some help.
A manufacturing flaw lead to a pin hole leak where the company name was
stamped. |
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Please do not try this at home, this is not an instructional guide to
welding a tank as such I will not reveal my technique.
I am not responsible for and persons or property who receive any injuries or
damage attempting to weld their tank. |
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I went ahead and
started installing the hydro boost system from
the Bastard, but a difference in
vintage of the parts did bring up a few minor issues.
First was the
arrangement of the studs used to mount the booster to the firewall with the
brake petal assembly. The older vintage having all studs six in the engine
compartment, where as the hydro boost had two studs going into the cab, and
only the two on top and the two on the bottom in the engine compartment. The
easy solution was to remove the two studs from the hydro boost allowing it
to easily mount onto the fire wall with the early mounting design. |
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Swapping the power
steering pump was the second issue. The pump in Beastly did not have a
second return port, and I did not want to restrict the flow by plumbing the
return lines together before the reservoir. The brackets from the 6.2L diesel do
not fit a small block, neither do the power steering pump from the 6.2L fit
the brackets for a small block. The power steering pump that does fit the
small block brackets was originally from a mid 80s 1 ton equipped with a 454
and hydro boost, a remote reservoir and pump assembly. Even the pulleys
lined up very well.
The
third issue, another little snag came up when it came time to mount the
reservoir as I did not have any brackets. I was able to easily make a
bracket out of simple 3/4 x 1/8 flat stock to support the reservoir. No
bends required, only three holes. |
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Now comes the
fourth and final issue, the older vintage of flare fittings verses the
O-ring fittings of the newer vintage. In our case the booster and pump are
both of the O-ring design and the steering box is of the flare fitting
design. Needless to say the high pressure line to the from the booster to
the steering box required a flare fitting to fit the box.
Fine tuning of the
brake system will have to wait until Beastly is road worthy, and may have to
be modified again when the rear disc conversion is applied. An adjustable
proportioning valve may be needed to prevent rear wheel lock up. |
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February
2011 |
We needed a set
amount of rear lift, about 3 1/4 inches to replace the blocks and have a
level stance.
The 52 inch springs are a direct bolt in. The 56 inch Tuff
Country rear springs with a 3 inch lift are comparable in price to custom
springs. And 64 inch rear spring would require extensive modifications but
will flex significantly better than the 52s. |
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The decision was made to run the Tuff Country EZ Ride 64 inch rear spring
with a 3 inch lift. The reason is that the 64 inch spring are not much more
expensive than the 52 inch springs, and the 64s have a spring rate that is
only 20 lbs. more than that of the 52s. The longer length of the
64 will allow for more leverage on the springs as to overcome the spring rate easier. Axle wrap
is expected to be an issue, and will be addressed when it is. |
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Removing the
springs was easy because everything was already loose. Drop the old springs
and cut out the one rusted shackle to spring bolt. But installing the new 64
inch springs was a whole different story as the perches needed to be spread
apart by about 12 inches. |
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With intentions of
reusing the spring perch, the rivets had to be removed carefully to prevent
damage to the spring perch. Two of the rivets were tucked up behind the body
brace, and were barley accessible with a cut off wheel. Along with the
rivets from the spring perch, I had remove the two remaining rivets from
the lower cross member for relocation purposes.
I wanted to keep
the axle relatively centered within the factory wheel well. This idea
requires either a body lift or body modifications in order to move the front perch
more than one inch forward because the full convertible underbody structure. |
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By the design of the frame, moving the
perches forward by 6 3/4 inches would place them slightly ahead of the cross
member utilizing the three foremost factory rivet holes. This location also
moves the perch down almost an inch, and required the underbody structure to
be trimmed of the inner pinch weld rather than having to install a one inch
body lift.
Now the spring
perch could be clamped in place, as to drill out the lower four holes
(bracket - frame - cross member) to accept a 7/16 bolt so it could be bolted
in place. On the side of the rails, the two lower holes were easy to drill
but the two top holes had to be drilled blindly from the inside of the
frame. To accomplish this a template was needed to transfer the bolt pattern
from the spring perch to the inside of the frame. The template alignment was
simple using the two lower bolts, but the cross member interferes with
drilling the upper rear hole. To drill this hole, the body will have to be
lifted slightly off of the frame, which may be the best way to drill the
holes anyways. |
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The next step
was to relocate the shackle flip brackets, which required dropping the tank
again. Swapping sides with the shackle flip brackets allows an additional 2 inches,
only requiring the bracket to be moved to the rear by 4 inches. The final span between perches is 62
3/4 inches.
Now the 64s are
installed!
The relocation of
the shackle flip bracket did create issues with the trailer hitch. By design
both the shackle flip and hitch can not both occupy the same space without
interference, so the hitch was permanently removed. Now lifting and recovery points
are direly needed. |
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To ensure adequate
strength and load distribution, the inside of the frame rail was reinforced
with strips of 3/16ths flat stock, from the shackle flip
forward to the factory shackle bracket rivet holes. I welded hardware to the
flat stock to avoid
having to drop the tank again should we find ourselves needing to adjust the
shackle angle or swapping to a 2 1/2 inch shackle flip. The other advantage
to this is the ability to tighten any loose hardware easily.
The extra holes
are in anticipation of future gas tank skid plate and bumper brackets, the
flat stock reinforcements will tie everything together in an attempt to
redistribute any applied load at any point. |
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This is yet
another to add to the collection of "missing" frame rivets along with
the various chassis stress cracks of which some are still in need of repair.
I seem to have a
talent for this!
This crack was
hidden by a rear shock. The usual repair of cut it out, weld it up, and
grind it smooth was done. However the stress and metal fatigue damage has
already been done, so it looks like
in-boarding the rear shocks will happen soon. |
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With the rear springs
now installed, it was time to finish the 14 bolt. This
required establishing the final axle center line, and pinion angle. Once this was done the axle could be removed for
final welding of the spring perches. The final pinion angle with
the new springs looked close to a factory angle, but was set for
a Double Cardan driveshaft.
Shock mounting is
still an issue as at this point I am not sure of exactly how and where I
want to mount them.
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And finally the
steel brake lines along with load sensing bracket and lever on the 14 bolt
needed to be swapped out. Until the disc conversion is done I did not see
the need to bend up new lines so I reformed the old 12 bolt lines to fit the
14 bolt. And the
OffRoad
Design's exclusive D.O.T. approved braided stainless steel rear brake line to
complete the hydraulic system. Now the brakes could be bled. Again, reusing
the old U-bolts for mock-up purposes. |
The final results of the rear suspension lift are,
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Stock
52" springs with a 4" block |
12 inches
frame to perch |
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Tuff Country 64" x 3" EZ Ride
with ORD's 4 inch shackle flip |
17 inches
frame to perch |
All measurements
were taken with the suspension loaded, from the bottom of the frame to
the top of the spring perch on the axle to negate any difference between
the axles and wheels.
An EZ inch will be needed
in the front to level the stance. |
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At this point the
parts funds from
the Bastard has run out. Not all
the parts have been sold as we are saving some of the drive train parts
commonly damaged during the decommissioning process. Needless to say, we
will be scouting for another CUCV! |
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March 2011 |
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With the new ride
height established, crossover steering was now a necessity, and we have had
a 2wd steering box in the garage waiting for a cross over conversion.
Ideally we want a steering arms that allow us to adjust the pre-load on the
kingpins. There is also the decision of TRE (tie rod ends) vs. DLE (drag
link ends), the said to be stronger shank of the TRE vs. the higher angles
of the DLE. Neither high steer or rear steer were a concern at this point,
just functional steering. |
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Adjustable
preload |
TRE |
DLE |
Threaded or
Weld On |
| Ballistic Fabrication |
X |
X |
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Weld |
| OffRoad Design |
|
X |
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Threaded |
| WFO
Concepts |
X |
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X |
Threaded |
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Shipping times and
budget also play a big role in the decision because this project has
occupied my driveway for too long. WFO is a great source for threaded drag
links if you have all other components in place as they build the drag link
to your measurements, this doubles the shipping time. Ballistic Fab
would require a WFO drag link for the threaded ends, again doubling the
shipping time. Where as OffRoad Design wins because of a complete kit ready
to install, and they advertise a proper length threaded drag link fit to
your application. |
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With the 2wd
steering box installed the power steering and hydro boost could now be flushed and bled out. |
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While installing
the crossover steering, there was not a better time to repair a few more
damaged rivets. In the past at some point one of these rivets sheered off
completely. When I found it I threw in a 3/8ths bolt to secure it for the
time being, but the
rivet next to it has been stretched to the point of being loose. Part of
this was due to a flaw from the factory when the rivet was installed into
the frame.
These
were removed, drilled out, and replaced with good 7/16ths hardware to
tighten up the chassis a little more. However the sway bar bracket is cracking on
the back side, so more attention is still needed on
this and various other locations of the frame. |
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Finally had the
chance to crawl under Beastly and weld on the DIY4X shock tabs. With the
axle in it was not a choice location or position to be welding the tabs on,
however they are not permanent but rather in a temporary location using free
mounting tabs.
At this point the 14 bolt has been reinstalled for the
last time with the new U-bolts.
With the rear
sitting almost 2 inches higher than the front, an EZ inch will be needed
under the front springs to level the rig. With the 14 bolt installed,
Beastly can be turned around again as to install the EZ inch under the
front. |
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May 2011 |
Picked up the new
rear driveshaft.
Set up with a 1350 CV and a 1410 on the 14 bolt. |
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September 2011 |
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Along with the
73 K5 parts truck, we acquired a
Specialty Soft Top that was donated to Beastly.
No tares or rips, just a little dirty
from improper storage. |
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October 2011 |
Picked up a set of
Mickey Thompson wheels.
M/T Classic Locks 16x10 with M/T Baja MTZ 375/65r16 (36x15.5). |
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December 2011 |
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Time to install 14
inch travel 5125 series Bilstein shocks.
I started off by modifying a set of
stock Ford shock towers.
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The modified Ford
towers allowed me to extend the upper shock mount 5 1/2 inches above the stock
frame location, tucked right underneath the floor board. They were then bolted
in with 7/16ths grade 8 hardware using the upper most rivet hole from the stock
shock bracket as a starting point. |
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Balance...
A DIY4X inboard kit with 14 inch travel Bilstein shocks, and a WFO pinion
guard
to protect the 1410 yoke. |
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