Alabama thread!

Yessir thanks for following up!!

 

Mornin fellas. Made some progress on my cage last night. Got my main hoop tacked in and cut all my holes in the cab so I can tie in my roll cage later this week. Feels like I got two jobs these days with how much work I’m putting in to this thing. But at least I like this job. Haha

 

Very cool! What made you decide trailing arms over 4 link with coilovers mounted to the axle?

 

Always liked trailing arms for some reason. Being able to mount smaller shocks and achieve a higher travel number due to the lever arm ratio was always appealing. Also makes for ultra strong lower links I can smash on stuff.

Really its just the inner kid in me wanting to build a trophy truck. Haha.

 

Haha I heard that. It looks sick. I was back and forth on doing trailing arms or dual traingulated with coilovers mounted to the axle. I think I’ve decided on the latter since I can tuck the upper and lowers up into the frame and get some more clearance with longer links. I really wanted the extra travel from trailing arms, but 16” coilovers will be a massive improvement. What’re you doing in the front?

 

From AlabamaWX

DRY AIR STAYS IN PLACE: Temperatures are mostly in the 28-34 degree range across Alabama early this morning with a clear sky. The sky will stay sunny today with a high in the low 50s… the average high for Birmingham on January 11 is 54. Dry weather continues through Friday with seasonal temperatures… a few clouds will show up Thursday as an upper trough moves through. Expect highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Clouds return to the state Saturday ahead of a disturbance that will bring rain back to the state. Models have trended a bit slower, suggesting now the main chance of rain will come Saturday night into Sunday morning. Moisture will be limited, and rain amounts should be under 1/2 inch. There most likely won’t be any thunder with basically no surface based instability.

We do note thermal fields suggests potential for a few snow flakes with this feature over the Tennessee Valley of far North Alabama Saturday night, and possibly on the back side of the departing system Sunday morning down to I-20. Probabilistic outlooks from global ensembles, however, for now show only a low chance of any accumulation or impact. As always, watch for forecast changes as we get closer to the weekend.



The high Saturday will be in the 50s… Sunday will be colder with highs in the 40s.

NEXT WEEK: The weather will be cold and day Monday; after a low in the 20s the high will be in the mid to upper 40s. Temperatures return to the 50s Tuesday and Wednesday… and rain will likely return Thursday. See the Weather Xtreme video for maps, graphics, and more details.



ON THIS DATE IN 1885: Five documented strong/violent tornadoes struck Alabama during the evening hours of January 11, 1885. These tornadoes affected at least 15 separate counties across the state from approximately 5 pm until after 11 pm. At least ten were killed, and many more were hurt. The longest track tornado moved through parts of Greene, Hale, Bibb, and Chilton counties.

ON THIS DATE IN 1918: A powerful tornado destroyed the small town of Webb, near Dothan in Southeast Alabama. The tornado leveled one rural school, killing one teacher and seven students. One man was killed in the collapse of his store, and about 70 people were hurt at Webb. A woman was killed in her home. To the north, Birmingham measured one inch of snow in colder air over the northern half of the state.

 

Front end is a 3 link setup with 14 inch coilovers. I considered a full hydro setup with 4 link suspension but I wanted to retain a mechanical steering link so its safer for road use. Tried to make 16 inch coilovers work with the 3 link but found my drag link heims got bound up at around the 16 inch mark even with bending the drag link and downsizing my misalignment spacers from 3/4 to 5/8. 14 inches is plenty enough I figured and it'd save me from potentially over extending some things.

 

The front seems like a whole other beast. I’m LT up front and pulling 13” at the wheel, so I think I’ll live with that for a while haha

 

The front took alot of time and late nights just staring at the bottom of my truck. Lots of stuff to package together and when you consider how much the axle swings left to right due to the panhard bar, links and driveshafts and all sorts of stuff start banging in to each other if you aren't careful. 4 link with hydro is definitely easier if its just a trail rig.

 

That really looks good, what bender are you using?

People don't really understand how much time goes into doing something like this, all the things that go into it really add up. I don't know how many hours I have spent just laying under mine looking at it for ideas and making sure things will work right. Just measuring to make sure the front and rear wheels are aligned and square with each other. I have spent too much time cutting the fenders, making rear tubs and the fender flares. If I had just cut the fenders and not did all the extra body work it would have been a lot easier. I wanted to see if I could make the fender flares and make it look ok. Even though it is a ton of work I have really enjoyed doing it.

 

I'm using the JD2 Model 3 bender with the Harbor Freight air/hydraulic ram. Really wished I had saved my money and bought the Rogue Fab bender at the time.

I can't imagine paying a shop to do all this work with the amount of time I've put in to this. I tried to save the front end of my truck and keep all the inner fenders as well but it just wasn't worth it trying to fit 40s. The rear, well I just chopped the whole thing off and am starting from scratch since the up travel will be so much greater than stock. After I get my front end tube work done, I'm going to do my best to build mounts for the fenders and make the body look somewhat normal if I can, but theres still going to be tons of cutting I'll have to do.

 

Making 39s fit under the fenders was a lot of work. I cut out all the rear inner fenders, half the front and built new ones and a built a new tail gate. I have another Samurai I am about to start on but this one will be cut and very little fender work, will probably just remove the front fenders and tube it. But yeah no way I could pay someone to do just the welding that has been done.

 

That looks great. You have more patience with sheet metal than I do. I hate welding on thin stuff. I'm trying to make all my panels bolt in if possible to avoid all the frustration.

 

This next one will be saws and cutting wheels and no sheet metal work. It is going to be one that I won't mind beating on.

 

That's how I feel about this truck. I'm excited to have a rig I can flip over and not be too upset about. My plan is to buy a Tundra and a car hauler once this truck is up and running. Always heard the best mod for wheeling is not having to drive your rig home afterward. Haha

 

From AlabamaWX

DRY THROUGH FRIDAY: Temperatures are below freezing over about the northern 2/3 of Alabama this morning, but we expect another nice warm-up today. With a sunny sky, most communities will see a high in the mid 50s this afternoon… right at seasonal averages for mid-January in Alabama. Dry weather continues tomorrow and Friday with highs in the mid to upper 50s along with a good supply of sunshine both days.

MESSY WEEKEND: Clouds will increase Saturday ahead of a weather system that will bring rain into the state by mid to late afternoon. Rain will be widespread Saturday night, with rain amounts of 1/2 to 1 inch likely statewide. Some thunder is possible, but no severe storms are expected.

Colder air rolls into the state Sunday; temperatures will likely fall into the 30s by afternoon with a brisk north wind. There is a chance we will see snow showers over about the northern third the state in the colder air, but typically in this scenario we don’t have any serious travel impact. While some light accumulation is possible in grassy areas, temperatures should be a little above freezing and roads will remain wet through the afternoon. Snow showers will end Sunday evening, and we will have to watch for patchy black ice on bridges Sunday night as temperatures will go below freezing by then.

Of course, the forecast could change as we get closer to the weekend. But, for now most of the precipitation with the weekend system in Alabama will come from rain, with potential for the snow showers Sunday on the back side of the system. The bigger winter weather issues will come northeast of Alabama, across parts of the Carolinas, where snow and ice is likely in many areas.

NEXT WEEK: Monday will be cold and dry with highs in the 40s, then we expect seasonal temperatures for the rest of the week with highs mostly in the 50s. Some rain could return toward the end of the week… See the Weather Xtreme video for maps, graphics, and more details.



ON THIS DATE IN 1982: A catastrophic ice storm event unfolded across much of Alabama. After a period of very cold air with single digit temperatures, a winter storm brought some snow, but mostly freezing rain to the state on January 12, 1982. The precipitation arrived about 8 hours earlier than anticipated in the Birmingham area and quickly changed over to a mix of freezing rain and sleet that turned roads in skating rinks. Thousands of motorists had to abandon their vehicles on roads and hike home or spend the night in shelters. Brookwood Village mall became a huge shelter. So many wrecks occurred that the Birmingham Police Department could not answer the calls for accident investigation.

As temperatures hovered near the freezing mark through the night, freezing rain created a thick coating on all exposed objects. Trees snapped, pulling down power lines and putting as many as 750,000 Alabamians in the dark. A state of emergency was declared in Alabama and National Guard Armories were opened to serve as shelters. Some people had no power for weeks, timber damage in the state was extensive.

Twenty Alabamians were dead and another 300 injured and damage totaled $78 million because of the 1982 winter storm.

 

Camping at Tannehill state park with @gixxerphil Friday night if anyone wants to join.

 

Sup dorks. Been a minute

 

Sup stranger! That thing looks sweet!

 

Sup Pat

Sup Skip