Bandido's Bad at Taking Pictures '03 DC Build

Forgot about things like custom headers and AC plumbing with swaps....
This thread gives me the false illusion of the swap being easier than I'm sure it is lol

Hows' the clearance on everything all said and done? Have you wheeled it much after the swap?
My motor and trans bounce around quite a bit when I'm wheeling, more than I would have thought so that would be a concern of mine with the the intake bashing into the hood or something. That also might have something to do with my driving style though

 

Yeah, lots of custom fab work to get this done.

Clearance is fine, the motor is probably 4" taller, but thats split between top and bottom, its also about 2" wider, the driver side header was the only difficult part to really get right.

Having the right bushings controls movement pretty well!

I have wheeled it a good amount, no issues! the throttle sensitivity is the most annoying thing in low speed chop, kind of why I really want to finish up long travel, so it become medium speed chop. I also need to make some modifications to slow it down.

The rest of the drivetrain works just like a stock truck.

 

Had help this weekend from my Dad and wife.

It may not look like it but we got a ton of things made/measured/fit to the frame. A ton of burn time still required to be ready to swap, and i need to figure out the logistics of doing the swap...

 

As I have been designing mechanical parts, I am still thinking about the ride and handling performance, as that was really the whole purpose of doing this whole build at this point...

Ride rate and frequency... using only springs and mass estimates

The current front end with a 650lb spring :
wheel rate~300 in/lbf
ride frequency~1.5Hz

Rear - ??? leaf springs are bad for this

New Front end with a 400lb spring
Wheel rate ~200 in/lbf
ride frequency ~1.2Hz

Rear:
Wheel rate ~125 in/lbf
ride frequency ~.85Hz <- this is lower than ideal, but I'm not sure how much it will matter but it might mean that the rear will pack up in whoops (which I never really drive)

but these really low wheel rates, while they should give me some really nice ride characteristics paired with the live valve shocks, however it indicates that I almost certainly need sway bars! ~and for the wheeling I do, disconnects are required!!
Typically I would target a swaybar stiffness adding 60-100% wheel rate to have a moderate effect to roll performance and grip.

With the rear suspension package, I will struggle to get much more than ~70 lb/in effect due to the really long arms needed.

So I've had something cooking using cheap hydraulic BMW bars, but I think the Rubicon electronic front bars will be better once converted to pneumatic, as that mechanism will be much better for on/off with long periods of on.

 

what is ride frequency?

Also, have you seen these? Cool concept for adjustable swaybar links
https://www.apexdesignsusa.com/products/toyota-airlynx

 

I have seen those, they do allow you to lower the rate to zero effectively for a certain motion range (this motion range is my concern)
https://www.drtuned.com/tech-ramblings/2017/10/2/spring-rates-suspension-frequencies
The suspension frequency basically predicts response time/ stiffness of the car - or how quickly the suspension would move back to "nominal" after a heave event without damping forces applied.

 

had time this morning with some PTO before a weekend away with my wife to scan the 8.4 sequoia axle, (well she scanned it) so I made a quick spring mount and truss concept. The fusion 360 mesh tools are pretty neat, once I finalize the truss shape and concept I may make some WIY parts... which I say every step of the way knowing I won't really have time.


I also pulled the trigger on a JK automatic disconnect sway bar, which I will retrofit to the front of the truck. I think it would even be a pretty easy retrofit on a non-custom frame, so I'll check that as well of course.
If things go well, I will get another one for the rear, and make some custom arms... and possibly center section to get the ~26" arms I need to have a ~75lb/in wheel rate effect I think I need for handling.

~$350 shipped isn't too bad imo

The pneumatic adapter from the jeep scene looks stupid easy to replicate, I feel a little bad ripping off the concept, but if this was $100 ($30 cylinder, $8 threaded stock, $30 machined aluminum plate, $5 coating) instead of $300, well I'd buy rather than make, but I won't be selling plates, so no infringement of their rights?


one nice thing about the new Job is I shouldn't be working 8am-9pm weeknights... so I may have time to work on my shit weeknights now.

 

Is the pneumatic adapter used to interface with the swaybar disconnect module?

 

Its to replace the mopar electric actuator. Which according to the jeep people is the main issue with the system.

 

Jeep swaybar arrived today, its an even better match than I'd hoped for! With a little work, this could probably be adapted to a stock frame with a little bit of work to clear the trans.



The mechanism is also about as simple as I had hoped, seems like a pnuematic shift unit will nail it.



As for me, I'm going to mount it to the underside of the forward rails, similar to how a 5 lug mounts the swaybar.

So like this, but on the bottom side of the frame...

 

Any fun plans for steering? Just stock rack and extend the tie rods?

 

Planning making my own slide rack and using camburg outer TRI's and heim joints in the link.

I have mixed opinions on how to execute the slide rack tho, and in my experience the TRI was the primary weak point of the oem rack in the 1g.

I'm not sure if the sliding actually matters... Just the section increase from a brace between the 2 TRI's will do a TON and let the rack bushings continue to do their thing, allowing flex in extreme hits.

 

Ya its always the ITR for me. They get slightly tweaked and then I'll just realign it until they get too bent out of shape and have too much bump steer lol.

I had previous plans to convert the OEM rack to heim with the OEM LBJs, but figured it would be better to keep the ITRs as a weak link.

 

Alright color me at least a little confused... you've gone so far as to completely re-engineer the frame and front suspension... love it by the way. But you're going to use a shitty 1st gen front spindle still?

 

Also who makes your dimple die kit and do you like it?

 

The main reason is to make axles cheap... I hmm-d and haw-d for a while, but I'm confident I could convert to a 2nd/3rd gen spindle and hub pretty "easily" (and 3rd gen front diff)
the second reason is... I had them already, and my opinion of the things that really make them shitty are:
1. LBJ in tension (this is the very worst thing IMO and the main thing I "redesigned")
2. Press in bearings rather than unit bearings - I'd like to think this is just an inconvenience, and expect to get at least 50k miles between rebuilds with good OEM bearings

one of the Amazon ones, no complaints.

$50 3 Piece Dimple Die Set 1/2" 3/4'" 1"

small kit

$60 Dimple Dies for Metal Fabrication, Multiple Sizes to Choose from (2")

2"die

 

The press in bearings don't bother me and I have been able to get over 100k out of them with ease. But yeah the LBJ and most importantly really how it mounts to the spindle is shit and the spindles themselves are quite bendable which is annoying

 

I think the 4xM8 bolts vs 2xM16 Bolts is not detrimental, it just requires care when making up the joint, and critically knowing how many retorques/threadlocker condition is on the threads. Ultimately the more modern bracket design is not that different in how the vertical load passes from spindle to bracket (inverted bolts).


So the LBJ will be pretty effectively C/M'd (I think) I may end up welding my cage to the spindle after making sure I can replace the balljoint with it installed...

as far as the bending... Of course I have a gusset to install, I just haven't yet.

 

I do wonder how much those pieces of tinfoil can really help, I'm sure its some amt, but still they're not that well supported even.

They're M10 at least, maybe toss some green threadlock on em, permanent at that point basically.

 

oh yeah, they are M10 on the Taco, I guess I can double check the Tundra, but the IS spindles and I thought the 2nd/3rd gen taco are M16

I cut my gusset from 3/16" So I expect it to have a healthy contribution!