The Bullaculla 3 link SAS build (pic heavy)

Been meaning to sub to this!

 

That's all I own haha

 

So! These arrived this past week! I decided to skip the Moogs and OEM bushings to replace my bad bushings, and went for the TC LCAs and cam tab gussets since one of mine was flattened out.

So sexy!

Stock LCAs are easily removed by pulling the cam bolts, and then removing the two ball joint bolts at the bottom of the spindle.

Next step is popping of the flimsy cam tabs, and they are only held on by tiny spot welds. Luckily there were small dimples where they were welded, which made them easy to drill. Just make sure you don't go too deep! Drill them and then pop them off with a big screwdriver or chisel.

Paint removed for welding. you can see where I went a little too deep with the drill. More paint was removed prior to welding. Some of the flared corner had to come off to fit the TC tabs.

I had my pipe fitter friend from work TIG weld the TC tabs before hand to save time. They get welded from the back first, then he welded the sides, and wrapped the corners for strength.

Nice having your own sandblast cabinet

On to the cam bolts! And they looked worse than I had hoped...

Fortunately they cleaned up nicely on the lathe with a wire brush. But when we were fitting the tabs on the truck, we realized that the pairs of cams were slightly different sized. I think the rear cam on the front was bigger, and the front cam on the rear was bigger?

Not too much of a problem when you have a mill

After opening a few of them, they rotated smoothly.

So with the tabs fitted, my welder went to town. I think TIG would be the only way unless you remove the axle. Its pretty tight in there. Sheet on the sliders were to give a draft free environment. And don't worry, there are 4 jackstands under the front of the truck, and its in a flat garage.

Luckily shipyard pipefitters are used to working in tight spots. He said it wasn't too bad! He was in a half crunch most of the time and controlling the foot pedal with the side of his knee...
Badass!

Not bad Fully welded.

Painted. I realized the fully welded tabs would hold water that could enter the gap, and the cut at the top for indicating position. So I decided to stuff everything with grease

Recruited some help from my daughter! She screwed in the grease nipples, tapped in the poly bushings with a soft mallet, greased the ID of the bushings, and then I showed her how to press in the steel sleeves with a C clamp and some aluminum blocks.

Coated the LCA hardware with some dry moly spray.

Decided to cut some 6061 on the lathe. The TC LCA requires a spacer to lengthen the bumpstop, and the kit included a steel puck that needs to be welded to the frame.

I had enough of welding things to my frame and decided to make my own out of aluminum and planned to get longer bolts for the superbumps.
Unfortunately, there are no m10x1.25 socket cap screws anywhere on this island!

So I took the steel pucks I was gonna toss in the trash, skimmed off 0.200" from the face so the bumpstop bolts would be long enough temporarily, and then cut flats to make them easy to remove once the LCA is installed.

My Little Machine Shop machines aren't used to cutting steel, but they both did great!

Longer bolts are on order, but this should be fine for a bit.

Now we were getting close and I realized how big the socket cap screw for the uni ball was. I didn't have a 5/8" hex wrench of any kind, so back to the mill! Made an adapter out of some 1" mild steel round bar. It was a nice opportunity to show my daughter what I do at work nearly everyday. Which is solve problems, make cool stuff that nobody else can make, and then gloat about how awesome it is to be a machinist

And of course it worked perfectly and the large size is 7/8" and is long enough to bottom out my socket wrench. Even tho its mild steel, I still decided to torch and quench it because I thought my daughter would get a kick out of it.

And its assembled! Beautiful rusty springs!

I filled the TC logo with silicone because it would hold water and get between the plates where the powdercoating probably couldn't get and rust it out. They look incredible tho! And super beefy! Definitely gonna solve my knocking problem.

Gave it a quick eyeball alignment and drove around the block real quick. Drove nice but steering wheel is a little off. But I left it. I plan on getting an alignment ASAP.

Then a good pressure wash. Anytime you grind on your truck, wash it well to get all the fallout off.

So I will get some better pics and review later. One day I want to get their +2" long travel kit, and I figured these would be easy to sell. I just didn't want to mess with pressing in new bushing that will probably go bad in a few years again. At least these are rebuildable and should increase strength and performance.

BTW! Big shout out to @YotaDan at wheelers off road for getting the total chaos LCAs, cam tabs, ext brake lines, and superbumps to me. We usually get screwed when shipping large of heavy items to Hawaii, but wheelers was great!

I hope some of this helps someone, or was atleast an interesting read!
Thanks for looking!

 

holy shit your cam bolts looked like fucked playdough turds

 

All I can say is sweet! Loved the write-up! Lmao!

 

@bullaculla That looks great and you did a fantastic job with all the custom fabbing and all. I'm a little surprised with all that beef that you haven't done any spindle gussets

 

That's probably next. The cheap stuff
Thanks BTW

 

Those LCA's looks sick.

 

I hate you... not really but definietly admiring your skill set.... I wish I could fab up all that cool stuff....

Oh the LCAs are nice too..... lol..lol

 

Yeah no kidding. Nothing compared to those UCA's and LCA's! I just figured since you knew someone that can TIG weld

 

Hahaha! Thanks Neil. Only problem now is that my wife wants those for her 4Runner

 

They cleaned up pretty good tho. Looked great with the dry moly coat.

 

I plan on tigging the spindles myself actually. At least those are out in the open. My buddy used all my equipment for everything. I'm just not comfortable welding on the frame, especially in tight spots.

 

Cool. I had my buddy TIG mine but I have an extra set and they were off the truck

 

So I had to unbolt the spindle and uniball joint today to access the large bolt.

I didn't have the right socket to properly torque the nut.

You need a 1 1/8" thin wall socket to get into this pocket. I had to buy one and then neck it down on the lathe.

Torquing it to over 100ft lbs was no problem with specialty tools

Also, I got an alignment today running 4.8 degrees of caster. Rides really smooth. Steering feels better than before. But I soon realized that I no longer have the stock steering stops, and my tire can turn far enough to rub my pretty new LCAs

But I still love it. Just gotta keep an eye on how far I steer. Especially while off road. Now that I have these arms, I want the long travel kit even more!

 

You think those LCA's allow for a little more caster?

 

It seems like it. I looked at the cam bolts and it looks like more could be added. The most I got out of the stockers was 4.2.

 

I feel so left out now. No moolah to buy anything. Tax return check can't come fast enough.

 

Awesome! Now I just have to blow up my stock lower control arms so I have a good reason to purchase some aftermarket lowers.