Boardbysled's Budget Buggy Build

[boardbysled]

The time came to steal the good parts off my original Pathy. It will be sad to take it to the scrap heap, but the time has come. It was my first vehicle and the one I really learned how to fix/fabricate on.

Got the t-case setup out of it along with the front axle, rear third member, and some other goodies.

Little more work on the cage. Got the roofbars in.

Tied to cage into the door hinge mounts.

Got some more goodies: Trail-gear orbital, mount, & column and 2"x2" FOA bumpstops.

Been slowly working on cutting all the un-needed junk off the front:

Finally got the front suspension cut out of it today.

Next step is to get the front of the frame cut-off in front of the motor-mounts, get the new front frame-rails built, then mock up the front axle/suspension.

 

[crash2]

Lookin good. My original plan for my rig was to do the same and remove the frame rails forward of the motor mounts.. Keep it up...

 

[boardbysled]

Glad to see photobucket changed their linked images policy. I will update this with some fresh pictures! Haven't made as much progress as I wish but starting to move forward pretty good now.

Onto pictures!

Manual transmission TX-10 t-cases have this little lip on the input of the t-case. Auto TX-10 t-cases simply have this lip removed. So I cut the lip off my manual TX-10 range box and it bolted up perfectly to my auto trans.

Took the old rig to scrap, was a sad day, it was my first vehicle and I had owned it almost 10 years, 8 of those being SAS'd. It taught me a lot about wheeling and fabrication.

Came home with a fresh load of tube

Finished out some tube work in the rear

Built a mount for my 26 gallon fuel cell

 

[boardbysled]

More parts arrived

Some sweet Ruff Stuff gussets

And a heavily discounted Ruff Stuff aluminum rear facing lightbar

Started work on the front end. Chopped the frame just behind the motor mounts and started my tube frame.

Started eyeballing the radiator placement

Custom motormounts built

Front radiator support hoop coming together

Hoodline bars in

And cross tubes/support tubes that I will build the front coil mounts off

 

[boardbysled]

Mock'd up the t-case setup. The D300 will allow for a flat belly, but the range box sits about 1.5" below the frame. We will see how it ends up.

Couldn't find a frame side panhard bar mount for tube I cared for, so I started building this one

Front axle all cleaned up and started the cut and turn. Shooting for 8-10* of caster.

Started on some custom high steer on the D44 knuckles.

Got some sweet 2 1/8"x36" 7075-T651 aluminum round bar for $26 a piece off Amazon! Should make some sweet bling-bling links.

Got the Speedway radiator mounted top and bottom along with the Derale 2 speed fan and shroud mounted

And that pretty much catches us up. Next up is getting the steering ram mounted, front links setup, and then the front shocks and bumpstops mounted. Then need to work on getting the PSC steering pump and GM 1-wire alternator mounted.

 

[CHOP SHOP]

Its looking good!

Why not a hi pinion upfront?

10 degrees is a bit too much.

Id shoot for 6-8. The more the better it drives, but will do wonky things offroad if too much.

8 for a caddy ride/drive! 4-6 for a offroad rig, less stress and scrub.


Here's a discussion about it.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/539422-caster-angle.html

 

[boardbysled]

Had the Waggy D44 (with chromos, locker, and the right gearing) from the old rig, just going to reuse it. If I do anything else, I will likely go straight to a SD D60, but going to run this for the time being.

It may end up closer the 8* of caster range depending on what ride height and driveshaft angles look like. I was just really sick of the stock 1* of caster the waggy axle had. It will be full hydro, so steering effort shouldn't be an issue.

 

[boardbysled]

Today's progess:

Got the steering ram mount built and one of the tie-rods built as well.

 

[boardbysled]

Little more progress.

Got a PSC TC pump mount made.

Single wire GM 110 amp alternator mount made.

Dragged the axle back under the front to start mocking up the suspension.

At full bump, axle pumpkin gets into the alternator mount.

 

[boardbysled]

Decided to sleeve the passenger side frame rail for the track-bar mount.

Track-bar mount built.

Got my China-Spec power steering cooler mounted.

Oil pan hangs way too low. Looks like a 2wd pan will be a good replacement and give me some clearance.

And a current overall view

 

[boardbysled]

Slow progress, mocked up the passenger upper link. Barely clears the starter and will have to be clearance'd for the PS pump. Checking where the shocks/bumpstops will end up. Shocks are 2.5"x14" FOA coilovers with reservoirs and bumpstops are 2"x2" FOA bumps.

Long tube headers won't fit stock, gonna have to cut them down to mid-length.

Got the lower links in. Also got the orbital mocked up. For what it is worth, the steering column adapter for the orbital meant for toyota pickups fits the Nissan splines. Orbital is a little close to the header, will wrap the header and build a simple heat shield.

Tack'd the driveside mounts in. Pretty happy with how everything is shaping up. Looks like I will end up with a 22" belly with 5" of uptravel in the front.

 

[boardbysled]

Got the winch mount built as well as the front bumper today.

 

[boardbysled]

Got the transfer case mount mocked up. Had the D300 mounting plate cut locally. Plan on making a plate over the front output cover plate to stiffen it up.

 

[boardbysled]

A little tech on the Nissan WD21 H233b rear axle third members. (Gasp! I know, Nissan tech!) There are two bolt patterns for the third member studs/bolts. The early H233b's use 8mm? bolts and the later pattern use 10mm studs. The patterns are not interchangeable.

I started with a older style third member and a later style housing. My third member had the correct gearing and a locker and I am better at fabbing then diff work so here is what I did.

First you have to remove 4 studs shown. None of them line up with the diff pattern.

Then weld up the holes for these studs. The holes are very close to overlapping with the holes you will need to drill, so you will have to weld them up. Go slow and don't add a ton of heat to the housing and you will be fine. Try not to build the weld up too much because you will just have to grind it flat.

Drill the holes on the third member out to 10mm. Install the third member and mark the missing hole locations. I used a tight fitting center punch. Remove third member and drill & tap holes. Studs are 10mmx1.25 pitch. You need an 8.5mm drill bit for this size tap. Studs appear to be tapered, but the main method of alignment is the third member to flange.

Then install studs and rock out! Short side of stud goes in the housing. Don't forget locktight! I am replacing the bottom stud with a bolt because I deleted the drain plug from my housing.

Hope that helps someone. Really wasn't that bad of a task.

 

[boardbysled]

Got the my 22 gallon RCI fuel cell mounted and a Summit Racing fender fill kit with a sweet Motobilt bracket. Also got my Grififin transmission cooler mounted, pretty well built unit.

Also got all the rear link stuff pretty well buttoned up as well as the 2.5"x16" FOA coilovers. The 2.5"x2" bumpstops are tacked on but will need moved a little bit before they are finally burned in.

Great to finally make some visible progress. Of course, all this will have to come off once more for the final weld up.

 

[boardbysled]

Got my fuel pump and fuel filter mounted. Fuel pump is your standard E2000 with a couple fancy mounts I found on Amazon. Fuel filter is a Jeep YJ filter.

Decided to use the filter I bought for my steering as an auxiliary transmission filter. Will get another one for the steering. They are $12 for the mount and filter from Surplus Center. Also mounted a wye off it that has the temp sender for the Trans fan. May change that still, I will need a second sender for my temp gauge.

Also got my rear lightbar mounted that I got from RuffStuff. Pretty slick unit and fits perfect.

 

[CHOP SHOP]

Looking good!

 

[deerlick]

looks good but you might as well get rid of the stock frame and firewall at this point. they are really bringing down the rest

 

[boardbysled]

looks good but you might as well get rid of the stock frame and firewall at this point. they are really bringing down the rest

I will with the next one. Too far along with it now to make a drastic change, it kinda snowballed from what I originally intended.

 

[boardbysled]

Looking good!

Thanks!