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When
the box arrived at my door with the new shock
hoops I quickly opened it up to see what they
looked like. First off I was very impressed with
the quality of the packing, this box could survive
the UPS playing football with it! Inside the box
where the 2 hoops marked right and left, 4 gussets,
4 plastic caps, and one piece of tubing. The price
on the hoops is 89.95. Tubing is 1.5 inch .120
wall HREW, all gussets and such laser cut, includes
end caps to keep dirt and water out of the end
of the tube.
Because
my truck uses a scout saginaw steering box I was
afraid that I would not be able to use the hoops
and began looking at the other vehicles sitting
at my house - I held it up to a M38-A1 and an
FJ40 and it looks like they would have fit perfectly
under either one even though these are specificaly
build to fit the inner fenders of a toyota truck.
I
was extremely impressed with the quality of the
hoops so I was determined to make them work. I
first contemplated cutting the hoops in half but
after holding them up at a tilted position they
fit perfectly up against where the inner fender
matches up to the cab (see 4th image from the
top on the left column) leaving plenty of room
for my saginaw steering box. This would not be
an issue with a truck that has been converted
to a standard IFS steering box since the scout
box actually swings the opposite direction. Since
the arm turns the other way the box must be mounted
further back in order for the arm to swing forward
(as to where the IFS box swings backward)
First
task was to remove the stock shock mounts. This
was done with my trusty sawzall in about 10 seconds.
After cutting the old towers off some time was
spent cleaning up the frame before welding on
the new towers. Placement was decided by clearance
on the frame. With my angled mount I really did
not have to decide how far up or down on the frame
I would weld the bars on, the front one was welded
near the top of the frame and the rear toward
the bottom. In the intended location the installer
has some choice on mounting location allowing
the use of different shocks.
After
butt welding the hoops to the frame I put some
force on them and as is they were allready stronger
what was on there but I decided to use the provided
gussets. I first placed on gusset on each side
and gave it another tug. I still had 2 more gussets
and decided they were not necessary. I do intend
to run a tube through the fender to my roll cage
at some point to stiffen the cage but for now
they are solidly mounted.
For
shocks I chose to use the longest easily available
shock - Rancho 9012. If I was using the original
toyota front axle they would have simply bolted
into place. With my retubed dana44 front axle
I had to fabricate some lower mounts. First thought
was to use the simple con fer shock mounts that
sell for just a couple bucks. Since the new suspension
has not been thoroughly tested and I did not feel
like cutting off the new towers or compromising
for shorter shocks I so opted to make an adjustable
lower shock mount. So far I have not been able
to put the setup to the trail test but stay tuned
for in action pics and any issues I may run into..
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