PD's Drivetrain Upgrade

[ihojeff]

The knuckle's were tacked into place and checked for proper alignment.









With the alignment set the knuckles were welded permanently into place. Darren did the welding while Chad slowly rotated the housing.



The housing was then reinstalled and mock-up of the steering began.

[Paul 3]

Jeff,
any update pics I can stare at the weekend?

[ihojeff]

Originally Posted by Paul 3

Jeff,
any update pics I can stare at the weekend?

I'll do my best Paul to get not only this build but two others caught up this weekend. I plan on sitting in front of the computer all day tomorrow playing the role of book keeper & web dude updater! Stay tuned!

[Paul 3]

Jeff you're a victim of your own success...everybody wants to see what you and your crew come up with next. Cheers!

[ihojeff]

Getting back to the front suspension the next thing we needed to do was come up with a strong and simple hoop for the coilover that would work on both the left and right sides. On the driver side we have the steering box and shaft in the way and on the passenger side the alternator was going to be problem. So a pair of hoops were bent up with the driver side being slightly different but mounting points of the coilover are the same.







For extra strength both sides of the frame were drilled so that the hoop would pass thru the entire frame.





Not sure why I don't have any pictures of the driver side hoop but I will with the next update. Also, oval mounting plates will be added to the frame around each tube for additional strength.

[ihojeff]

These next few pictures are for Paul so that he can see how wide the front axle is. Total axle width is 68" and the wheel that is on the Scout is a 15" x 10" wide w/ 3.75" of back spacing.







We will probably go with wheels that have either a 4.5" or 5" of back spacing.

Some more parts have come in as well. We got in a wider Curry Rockjock60 since we initially planned on 63" and ended up at 68". We ordered this housing without ends this time in order to keep the final product as straight as can be. Once all the brackets, truss, etc are welded on we will then center and weld the ends in place.



CTM's showed up this week for the front axle.



A set of Dynatrac Dynaloc hubs were ordered in instead of the usual Warn's since these are a low-clearance type hub when compared to the Warn. Since we plan on 4.5"+ of back spacing we want to try to keep the hub in the wheel as much as possible.







And finally we ordered in some Bilstein air bumps and mounting cans. These will be mounted above the kingpin right next to the coilover.





Stay tuned as we continue on with the front suspension and axle this next week.

[ihojeff]

The axles and CTM's were put together.



Darren made up the struts to hold the back of the engine up. By putting these extra struts in it takes a lot of weight off of the 700R4 transmission bellhousing.


Next up was to set the suspension height so that 37" tires would clear. We have yet to install a 1" bodylift which will help with tire clearance but may not be enough with 37's.





With max height set the air bumps were mounted in place. The suspension was then flexed out in different directions to make sure there were no clearance issues.

[ihojeff]

The same was done on the driver side except this hoop was a little wider in order to go around the steering box.



With the hoops main structure built they were removed from the frame and welded up. Gussets to the airbump can will be added later.



The hoops were reinstalled and for the first time the Scout was set down in the front on its new suspension.







This coming week gussets will be added to the towers/airbump cans and a crossover bar tying the two hoops together will be added in.

[ihojeff]

Extra tubing was added to the bumpstop cans to help strengthen the entire setup.







Teflon pads are going to be added to the top of the kingpin plates to help keep the bumpstops quiet when coming in contact.



A removable crossover bar was added next to again add additional strength and support the front coilover reservoirs.







The front hoop system was then painted and installed.

[reuben]

Can we see some more of the buggy in the back ground?

[ihojeff]

Originally Posted by reuben

Can we see some more of the buggy in the back ground?

Instead of derailing this thread with a bunch of pictures of another project when I get a chance I'll start a thread on the buggy.

[reuben]

cool

[ihojeff]

The shock hoop assembly was prepainted and then permenately welded into the frame.









A tubular straight steer was bent up and welded into place as well.



The PSC hydrualic steering assist ram was mounted to the axle.



Darren came up with a great idea on the rear shock mounts and reservoir mounts and went ahead and fabbed everything up.

[ihojeff]

We stopped fabbing long enough to deal with the rust issues the Scout had. A quarter panel patch was installed on the driver side quarter panel and both rear lower quarters were reapainted as they had rust bubbling under the paint.













As usual Mike did a fantastic job on the body work!

[ihojeff]

Fender flares were mocked up. They were trimmed to go around the side moulding. We have not decided whether the flares will stay black or get trimmed.







Check back next week as we get more done.