The Bullaculla 3 link SAS build (pic heavy)

Trying to keep the momentum going. I want to try and do a little bit everyday while the CNC machine is busy making my Instagram stuff. So today I chopped the inner fender to make room for the steering box.
Marked up for cutting. I tried to leave as much meat as possible because this is still holding up my battery. I might reinforce it more by the body mount later.

Steering box is not gonna sit like this, but I couldn't hold it up and snap a pic. If I gotta cut more, I will when we start fitting it up more.

Also trying to get a 3/4" drop pitman arm so I won't have to angle the box so much. If anyone knows where they are in stock, let me know please

 

Can't you just mill out an arm?

 

I could! But I can't do the splines

I guess I could make the arm, and cut off the existing pitman from the splines, then weld it together...

 

That's how I did it on the 4runner. Someone makes a broached slug to weld into a homade arm too.

 

Notched my frame to get a little more uptravel



I get over 3" more uptravel from this position. Trying to keep it as low as possible.


Getting there...

 

Good gravy this is giving me truck envy. Started on page 1 looking at your rear bumper and 2 hrs and 58 pages later my wallet is trying to hide from me! Do you happen to have any shots of the truck from a perspective around the rear tire looking back / up at the bumper. One thing I keep seeing on the Pelfreybilt rear bumper is that it seems it doesn't follow the roll of the lower fender in as much creating a triangle-ish point sticking down in the corner. Not sure if it's an optical illusion or what, but my damned photographer's eye keeps seeing it and really trying to get a grasp of how it looks before I order.

 

Thanks! Yeah, the lower corner sticks out pretty good, but has never caught it on anything. Probably some pics in my gallery. Im planning a high clearance once the SAS is complete.

 

Here is the little progress I made today.
Made an aluminum spacer 0.010" wider than the lower eye on the king shocks.

Now I can assemble the lower shock mount tightly for welding, and the gap should still let me slide the shocks in place smoothly once it's welded nice and solid. Loving these beefy ruff stuff side way shock mounts.

And also made some templates so I can start plating the huge holes in my frame...

Ready for paint!

 

I'll take a look, thanks. Did find someone local who just bought one, so I'll hopefully get eyes on it this week. Looking forward to seeing the rest of build!

 

Got some major work done today. I had two of my shipyard friends come over to help with my truck. Both are pipefitter/welders for BAE systems, so they used to tight spaces also @1uzrnr came down to supervise.





They cut out fill plates out of 1/4" steel. Then beveled and fit them and welded them up. I'll clean up the welds and paint them tomorrow.

This is the estimated ride height. I have over 5" of uptravel before hitting something.

Jesse and I also messed around with the brackets and links. Trying to make enough room for everything while trying to hold optimal geometry. Big progress today tho.

 

A Tacoma on Konigs with manual hubs, not something you see everyday!

 

Hopefully not for long

 

Working solo on Sunday and managed to get a lot done.
Upper link was way too long and wasn't giving us room for the panhard bar. Bracket was tilted too far forward.

So I cut off about 7/8" out of it.

Made a brass spud to snugly slide the internal threads over, then tapped it.



Ran very true.





Drilled the tubing for rosettes.

Nice and tight fit with bevel on both sides, and left a 1/16" gap at the root.

Not bad

Now the bracket is pretty vertical with a few turns out from minimum on upper and lower links. Should give enough space for the panhard now.

I still might trim off some excess from the forward face of the bracket later.

 

Outstanding!...

 

Yes, I'm waiting for them to become available

 

Minor stuff for a Monday. Constant struggle to get more space. Gonna trim the forward face of the upper link bracket for a little more clearance.

I knew it wouldn't have much penetration and anticipated putting a bead on it.

Machine set for 1/4" steel. Pretty sure it got in there.

Small gain, but it's gonna still be tight so every fraction of an inch counts!

 

Some small but necessary stuff today. I can't do much until the panhard and drag link is made, so I started prepping for the steering box.
I cut the lower radiator mount off, but was still in the way...

So I started enlongating the holes to slide it over a bit.

Clears now, but since I had it loose, I decided to pull the radiator out completely to make room for plating the inside of the frame for the steering box.



I should have pulled the radiator from the beginning! Much more room to work!

 

Cleaned up and painted the fill plates with a light coat of primer...