New guy, new project: 1988 BII wheeler

[leumas12]

I told you to use electrical tape!!!!
Now back to work, slacker...

The 14 bolt is welded up, and the orb of traction is installed. I have a pic and will post it later. Also, the 14 bolt has tires on it and is sitting under the truck. It looks awesome and make me very excited haha

looks like dodge dakota leaf springs are gonna work well, except i need to move the gas tank unless i want a truss in it

 

[leumas12]

Heres the orb of traction:

Thats all

 

[spaz1879]

:icon_confused: wtf is an orb of traction please explain. Looks chunk nasty what ever it is

 

[Hahnsb2]

:icon_confused: wtf is an orb of traction please explain. Looks chunk nasty what ever it is

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showpost.php?p=138586&postcount=5

 

[leumas12]

Thats it, mine started like the one in that pic. Basically i took a piece of 1/4" plate that was 1/2"x about 1.5" and welded it to every gear tooth it was near. I also cut some pieces of 1/4" rod and put them in the corners where the side gears and spider gears meet and welded them in. After all that there were 7 spaces between teeth that were unwelded. I filled those, welding them to the 1/4" plate in the center (these welds are the 7 cirlces you can see in the pic). Installed it back in the carrier and i am locked up in the rear for free If you wanna see a few more pics of how i did this, look at how i welded up the front 60. Not quite the same, but similar.

Its called an orb of traction cuz basically you take the open 14 bolt spider and side gears and weld it up solid like an orb and since its locked it gives you all kinds of traction :icon_thumby:

 

[spaz1879]

i see that's some sick stuff right there now well do you think the axles will hold up to this Orb of doom? Can we get some more pics of that beast your building?

 

[leumas12]

Both axles should hold up well. The 60 front has been upgraded to 35 spline outers and the 14 bolt rear is arguably the strongest one ton axle found in a civilian truck (except for maybe the MONSTROUS Dana 80 rears which are just insane haha). Since ive only got the v6 power, 4.10 gears, and 39.5" tires, both axles should hold up as long as i dont get stupid :icon_twisted:

Things are coming together pretty well. Went to the scrap yard today and got some square tubing for spring perches. I also got a 36"x18"x.25" piece of steel tread plate that im thinking i will make into the new transfer case skid The 14 bolt is back together with the gears set up, its actually sitting about where its gonna stay. I need to syphon out the gas in the tank and get that out of the way, it doesnt fit in the stock location with the axle truss.

Speaking of the truss, that needs to be reworked a bit. I want to inboard the leaf springs under the frame rail to give em more flex but unfortunately one of the perches would have to sit right where the truss is on the drivers side. That means the truss is gonna get a little trim and rewelding to make room for the perch. Not a big deal, one minor change that came about from switching from rear one link to leaf springs. Hopefully i will get to the junkyard saturday and maybe i will be able to find either some dakota or durango rears. If not i might be getting some Rancho 44044's (Wagoneer lift springs) that might work well in the rear. I will snap some more pics friday, having the rear axle under it looks sweet :icon_thumby: Thanks

Sam

 

[PaleBlue90]

cant wait to see her on her own weight

 

[leumas12]

cant wait to see her on her own weight

Same here, hope to see the rear axle going in within the next 2 weeks...It might be longer, but im hoping for 2

 

[leumas12]

The gas tank is out. Since the rear axle is sitting in the stock gas tank location im going to have to either make or buy a fuel cell to put behind the rear seat. And since fuel cells are expensive i will probably try and make my own. I think i can do it, i will just pirate the orginal tank for the hookups and keep everything stock. Thats the plan anyway :icon_thumby:.

Also got some rear springs yesterday. They are out of a 1995 Dakota. 3 leaves plus overload, which im going to take out. I havent decided if i want to change the pack to make it softer or anything. I think i will try em without changing em and see how they work. They are about 54" eye to eye and i got dakota/durango springs because of the large center pin offset. This will put my rear axle back as far as possible while still having a long flexy spring. Here they are:

Bushings and ubolts are on the way. I also need to get to making some shackles but i want mock stuff up first and see how long they are gonna need to be.

I also took a couple general pics of the rear in place so that you guys can get a feel of what this thing is gonna look like. The axle is gonna sit about 6" more towards the center of the truck when its done i believe. Here it is from the side (with the build's number 1 fan watching ):

And a good shot of the rear as well as a good shot of my spacious garage that im building this thing in haha. Im starting to get excited .

Some of you good eyes may notice that i have a slight truss problem in the pic, half of it is gone haha. I have to rework the truss and spring pads because of the change from one link to leaf springs in the rear. I am going to shorten the truss and move the spring perches in because im inboarding the springs to get better flex out of them. I will take pics when i get that issue resolved. Thanks for looking!

Sam

 

[JohnnyU]

Poly cells aren't that expensive really. I'd rather buy a fuel cell than have to build one, that's a bit sketchy....

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/8-GALLON-FUEL-CELL-WITH-CAP,446.html

:icon_thumby:

 

[leumas12]

Wow youre right thats not bad haha. Most ive seen (aluminum) are $200+. For $100-150, it might be worth it haha. Now i just need to find one that's narrow, and tall rather than wide... Thanks alot man

 

[pickuptrucker]

wow this thing is a beast awsome b2!

 

[spaz1879]

any luck on find a fuel tank for your truck? i think you could make one if you tested it to be water tight couldn't be that hard to weld up a box water tight

 

[leumas12]

no luck finding a tank in the shape i need (long and tall). I will worry about it more when i get there, but i may try my hand at making one. They have gas tank sealants that i can cover the welds with just to make sure there are no pinholes or anything. First thing i have to do right now is get my suspension all set up. I think those dakota springs are gonna flex like mad for me but still be pretty stable :icon_thumby:

 

[pickuptrucker]

we could build you one at our school, if you pay for the cost of matierals and make any donation size you want to the welding program. we would have to ship it from oregon but it would be good quality for sure!

 

[leumas12]

hey thanks man. i will definitely consider that offer :icon_thumby:

 

[pickuptrucker]

sweet thanks
we need some more donations were running out of BBQ money
ha ha thats just one of the things we use the program money fore. and field trips and things like that. and we learn :icon_welder:

 

[spaz1879]

anymore progress on the build its been sometime with out some update pics im Fiending for some:icon_twisted: lets see some

 

[leumas12]

Not much to update :sad:. Its been storming like crazy around here lately and its made welding and/or any work outside of the garage pretty much impossible. Its driving me crazy! We got some decent weather today (no rain at least) so i started making the spring hangers for the leaves. Pretty simple, should have em done saturday if not friday :icon_thumby:. The truss has also been modified so when i do break out the welder, that will get burned in too. Rear axle MIGHT be ready to rock this weekend... We'll see!! :icon_bounceblue: Thanks guys

Sam