Long Travel BS Thread

yeah im talking more about when you plate, and having filler holes where appropriate helps tie into more base material, having more linear in of welded base to doubler helps add to the shear strength of the doubler if that makes any sense.

 

Could you say that one more time for the dumb guy in the room

 

whos the dumb one? wait.....its me isin't it....damnit i knew today wasn't my day........rofl...

 

Hah! It’s definitely me. I gotta do something about my core support soon.
I have a bolt on version of the previously posted by @SoonToBeOn39s — held ok for 5 years, but 2 core supports later and it’s starting to hurt the points on the cab/a-pillar now that my track has gotten faster, jumps & whoops bigger…

 

yeah i mean the problem comes down to everything is designed to flex just not as much as your gonna see... only way to fix is stop the flex....which really needs a cage and solid body mounts.

 

Good to know, thank you. I was debating doing a cross bar with a coupler.

 

Flex!! Let it Flex!! Build the rad support, the fender support, the hood support but I WOULD NOT solid mount it to the cab. Even with a full cage and solid body mounts. At the junction you circled somehow put in a bushing mount so the front can flex independent from the cab. @Wishbone Runner and myself both have the fender support pulling off the cab. The cab you don't want cracks, tears and gapping holes in.

Edit to correct tag from Sterling to Wishbone.

 

^^^ This, not going to matter if plated, it is just going to rip the whole thing off (3rd time I've posted these in the past 2 weeks).

 

Note my shitty welds are not what failed.

 

To add to my post above. My fender wells cracked out long time ago. I replaced the core support after significant reinforcement. I also tubbed the fender wells with aluminum so the tire wouldn't hit anymore. Then I tied the core support to almost the hood hinge and went side to side with a support for hood pins. Because the fender wells were completely cracked thru when I tied to the cab I did so with a bushing support so there would be flex. This was 10-years ago and 2-years ago is when I noticed the metal spot welds pulled off the cab for the fender support. I only patched it, I still haven't fixed it.

 

Mine is just as ugly except I did some repairs 10-years ago. This winter (well next since this winter is over) I'm going to readdress this area. I think I'm going to go from the hood hinge to the frame and get the hood forward off the cab and onto the frame. Making the cab separate. And I have some fiberglassing experience but I'll try to patch the pulled spot welds on the cab with metal then fiberglass the hole front area of the cab. My buddy did that on his 1st gen and it looks really good.

 

It seems to me that there is really no way of not having the core support tear off the rest of the cab. It seems like what @906taco said, running fenders off an engine cage is the best bet. Not totally inclined on running a cage quite yet but it's in the plans

Edit: if you were to mount fenders off an engine cage, wouldn't the lower fender mount (that mounts underneath the door) be under a lot of flex and cause the fenders to crack over time? If that doesn't make sense sorry

 

The fiberglass will flex some and if it does crack your cab won't leak. Fiberglass is easy to repair. If you do an engine cage I would not tie it into the cab unless the cab was solid mounted with a cage and you tied to the cage. But even then, there is flex and there may/will be cracking. I raced class 7 Toyota that was full cage, frame plated, full cab and we still got cracks in that area.

On another note, I tied my front shock towers together with a simple tube over the engine and that lasted 1 trip before it completely ripped off.

 

Really? Where did it break? I have had the Dirt Designs setup for like 8 years and two fender/core supports without issue. And more pics of the initial plating, thinking about connecting the core to the crossover like you mentioned, it would be easy on the passenger side, but drivers has the fuse box and shit in the way. Wrapping up a radiator, alternator, and suspension freshening project, then going to tackle the core.

 

I have the older style TC secondary shock hoop and I welded to the top of that and tied to my other hood pin support bar (I have a bar that goes side to side with hood pins near the washer squirters). Both sides cracked thru at the shock tower. Luckily it didn't break the shock tower side. It was a try and fail on my part but not sure I could design it any better. You can kinda see it in the picture, the additional support to the coil bucket below was after it cracked the first time.

 

Is this a before or after picture of the cab? From here I would mount a bushing sleeve to the vertical front facing plate for the fender. Something that would have flexed.

 

This is the in progress from the first round of destruction, the blown up shit a few posts up are a result of running this for 6 years. I am going to have to cut off the plated piece above, and everything to the firewall including the hood hinge mount. I think I can get it cleaned up an have a nice mounting surface at the firewall to mount bushing to, locating the hood hinge will probably be the most difficult part.

 

Interesting.
Mine is showing slight cracks where that plating is.
I just have the tube inner fender bolted to the cab with 2 bolts.
I can cut back a little further if need be.

 

What type of front bushing are you using?

 

Can you post more pictures of your setup?