Put a new ball on the ball mount this morning, hitched up the trailer and went after a 20' stick of 2"x0.120 HREW. Got back to the house about noon and busted out the mower and mowed/thatched the lawn and then finally got around to working on the Scout. Cut, notched (by many, many, many trial fits) one of the legs of X bracings at the B hoop.

http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/P0002156.JPG

I plan to add another brace going the other direction to make an X like this:

http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/completeX.jpg

Not sure yet what I'm going to do here:
http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/P0002157.JPG

Maybe something like this:
http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/rearbracing.jpg

Even though it's only Saturday night, that pretty much puts a wrap on my weekend. I have a wedding to go to tomorrow that'll pretty much eat up the day.

i understand the reason for diagonal bracing

question


was horizontal bracing considered for ease of mounting the shoulder portion of a 5 point harness?

if so what was the deciding factor?

Originally posted by JaccDaRipper
i understand the reason for diagonal bracing

question


was horizontal bracing considered for ease of mounting the shoulder portion of a 5 point harness?

if so what was the deciding factor?
Strength... I will be adding another smaller bar (probably 1.25x.120) somewhere in the mix to mount the shoulder straps to.

Worked, working, working on the house.:mad:

I got my tera-lows in on Saterday. That went better than I expected! The gear between the transfer and the tranny sure is alot smaller than the stock one. I wonder if it is going to lower my high range a little also? I also decided to pull the tranny out while I had the transfer out and get an rv converter for it. I will order that mon. Any sugjestionson for the best converter or products you have used in the past? Bob

Put my TeraLow 4:1 dana 300 in this weekend, what a difference. I can't wait to try it out with the new t-case gearing.

got my tierod, brake lines and shock mounts. yesterday. now just need to get my draglink and i can almost move :D

Got the new motor mounts installed, intake, carb, and general tune-up on the racer. Should be much better now that the motor isn't flexing into the front diff any more! Sheared off 2 fuel pumps last weekend at the races.

Need to get the doors back on and install the electric fuel pump so I can find the next weak link at the races next weekend.

Went wheelin' with guys from the club. First time towing with the new Dodge. Diesle's are cool:D Great towing truck. Yeah, the Scout did ok too.

I stared at my still spring under Scout, drank beer and wept because I didnt do SAO when I had the perfect chance. Tried to talk a friend into going wheeling but :crybaby: Its gonna rain all weekend :crybaby: didnt want to go :shrug:

http://media.diywelder.com/images2/040504-buggy08-springplates_7034.jpg
Coil spring plates.

I bossed my computer around. Made some things to keep coil springs connected to the scout.

Originally posted by binderbound
Went wheelin' with guys from the club. First time towing with the new Dodge. Diesle's are cool:D Great towing truck. Yeah, the Scout did ok too.

Saturday: Wheeling

I told Dan where to put his tires on Saturday, helped a few other and kept up my title as rock stacker.

Sunday: Rock Scout
Dan and a buddy of mine bolted our high steer arms onto the knuckle and learned why they only cost 65.00 a piece, but we made them work. Tie rod and drag link went in. Angles looking great. I worked on massaging the tranny tunnel to except a 727 tranny. It was tight, really tight, so we fired up the sawzall, grinder, and a few other implements of destruction and made it fit!!

Hopefully when Dan's red star comes through, he'll throw up some pics of the crap we are building.

I will go back to being a DAN now
:flipoff2:

Originally posted by Diesel Smoke

Sunday: Rock Scout
Dan and a buddy of mine bolted our high steer arms onto the knuckle and learned why they only cost 65.00 a piece, but we made them work.

What was wrong with them?

All the holes were about a 32nd of an inch off from each stud so they all had to be 'enlarged'. Even after we 'fixed' them we still had to tap them on with a BFH. And the taper of cone he used is an obsolete taper used by no-one. No-one except Avalanche Eng. We had to order the $70 Avalanche stud kit to make these stupid things work. I was not super happy with the whole deal, but there on it now and they look pretty cool. If my red star ever shows up I'll post some pics. (too computer dumb to do the link thing)

Wow thats really lame. There was a ton of those arms at the swap meet, I bet alot of people got screwed.

Lookin nice, how much do you have left to get it on the trails? I think I am free this weekend if you need some help, etc.

pulled a 383 stroker, then pulled out my 350....tomorrow put the the clutch and bellhousing off the 350 onto the 383 and then mount the 383...

Originally posted by Ben W
Wow thats really lame. There was a ton of those arms at the swap meet, I bet alot of people got screwed.

The guy just copied Avalanche without knowing what he was doing I think. The taper of the cones are stock chev/IH taper but he drilled the holes out to accept a 5/8 stud. All the chev/IH cones are fit for 9/16 stud. Big pain in my ass. But its all on now and looks pretty cool. We have better steering angles(drag link to tie rod relation) than a stock scout did:D

Originally posted by binderbound


The guy just copied Avalanche without knowing what he was doing I think. The taper of the cones are stock chev/IH taper but he drilled the holes out to accept a 5/8 stud. All the chev/IH cones are fit for 9/16 stud. Big pain in my ass. But its all on now and looks pretty cool. We have better steering angles(drag link to tie rod relation) than a stock scout did:D

Yeah, that's ass. If you honed the shit out you should probably check the nuts after every run. I'd be pissed. Very few people actually have the right specs to get them alligned properly. I know dedenbear has the dana/spicer specifications, but most garage guys just throw a sample arm on a copy machine and trace it into A-cad.

I went wheelin at a place in Livermore called Carnagie (sp?). They are mostly a moto-x place which turned out to be a good thing. It was the finals for some national hill climb event. Those guys take bikes with 3' extended arms and Polaris snowmobile motors running on 100% nitro and drive them up a 95, then 97 then 99 degrees 400' hill. I drank a bunch of beer and did very little wheelin. :D

Originally posted by binderbound
All the holes were about a 32nd of an inch off from each stud so they all had to be 'enlarged'. Even after we 'fixed' them we still had to tap them on with a BFH. And the taper of cone he used is an obsolete taper used by no-one. No-one except Avalanche Eng. We had to order the $70 Avalanche stud kit to make these stupid things work. I was not super happy with the whole deal, but there on it now and they look pretty cool. If my red star ever shows up I'll post some pics. (too computer dumb to do the link thing)
I grabbed one of his brochures and it seems like it said something about warranty or something. I would call him up and complain. If someone had touble with one of my parts I would want to know about it.

Mechanos, I found at least 3 sv 5 speeds in loadstars at the guys place where my one tons at, I'm working on him. Might have to wait on the auction when he's gone though.

Cool..... thanks for thinking about me. :beer:

Cut, notched, fitted and tacked in the other leg of the X brace tonight before heading over to Mr. Bastard's house to take some pics of his Jimmy build-up.

http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/P0002158.JPG

I think for the rear part of the cage I'm just going to run a bar on each side just above and parallel to the bed rail. Also need to weld in the cross bar for the shoulder harnesses (1.25x0.120).

Scout is lookin good Mechanos:cool:

Got your sticker Josh C, fits perfect on the tailgate:D

Didn't do much to the Scout, mounted ammo can in back, put Joshs sticker on, ordered Yukon gears from Porc

I have had my 345 pulled for about two weeks now, but haven't had time to work on it. Finally had a little time this weekend. Stripped it down, ran into some trouble with the head bolts. Can't get those fawkers to loosen up. Got tired of that, so I sat in the garage and downed a 12 pack. Felt a lot better after that. I needed some relaxation.

Originally posted by harkinoff

Got your sticker Josh C, fits perfect on the tailgate:D


Nice Hark. I'm pretty stoked with how good they turned out. I think I'm even going to order another mor my DD, but I'm going to "Not" stick on anything but the circle with the IH logo in it.

Originally posted by 73RustBucket
I have had my 345 pulled for about two weeks now, but haven't had time to work on it. Finally had a little time this weekend. Stripped it down, ran into some trouble with the head bolts. Can't get those fawkers to loosen up. Got tired of that, so I sat in the garage and downed a 12 pack. Felt a lot better after that. I needed some relaxation.

IIRC, the head-bolts are torqued to 100lbs-ft when assembling the engine.

It's going to take a little elbow grease to remove them.

I usually just grab the rattle-wrench and zap 'em off.

Found a 76 Caddy with the ultra rare factory port injection. Also had hydroboost and 4whl discs. Car had a underhood fire and much of the wiring is toast, not really sure what I will try to do with the system, I hear their worth 4 to 500 bucks in good condition. Fawked up my hand getting it though, cut my palm wide open on the metal fuel line I had just cut with the dykes. Cut is 3 inches long and over 1/4 inch deep. Saw lots of nasty shit in there I didn't need to see. Was only 10 percent done when it happened and it really sucked pullng a intake and a/c compresser with the left hand. Got a PS reservoir with 2 return ports also. Should have got about a dozen stitches, but just cleaned it up and superglued it shut. The yard guy felt sorry for me and gave me the whole intake, FI, and reservoir for 20 bucks.

Damn, I'll have to remember that trick.... what do you call it? "the one-handed discount"? :flipoff2:

Originally posted by Mechanos
Damn, I'll have to remember that trick.... what do you call it? "the one-handed discount"? :flipoff2:

Next front 60 I find, Im bringing a bottle of ketchup:D

Try folding a couple fingers down and try to pass them off as missing....:eek:

Went out in the garage and played around on the jungle gym some more.... this is what I came up with:

I added the bars over the cargo area tonight....
http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/P0002181.JPG

http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/P0002182.JPG

Originally posted by Mechanos
http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/P0002182.JPG
I think that looks awesome! :cool: Need any help this weekend let me know.

FWIW I would add some tube from the B-A pillar, if it will not interfear with your door closing. I really like it on mine and it's a nice armrest. :D

Yeah, I wuold like to do that, but a straight bar from the B ot the A will not clear the seats that are in there and I don't have a bender, so........ Also, it's already a PITA to get in and out of with incredibly invasive A hoop. I also want to add some braces from the C hoop area up to the B hoop, but I haven't figured out exactly how I want to do that yet. It's looking more and more like a jungle gym everytime I work on it :flipoff2:

I think it is built more than most cages out there. I highly doubt it will give you issues if it were to be used. I think so 1" little gussets in there would pimp it up....of and a maltese cross with something gay etched in it :rolleyes: :flipoff2:

From side to side, it's stout as hell... but front to back, there isn't very much of anything to keep the A,B & C hoops from just laying over. It needs some more bracing in that direction, I just haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do it.

Originally posted by Mechanos
but front to back, there isn't very much of anything to keep the A,B & C hoops from just laying over. It needs some more bracing in that direction, I just haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do it.

while you are correct. I don't really think you are going to have an issue as it stands.

You would have to bend 6 tubes for it to rack seriously, than that would be on a serious endo (not as common as the side to side, uless your being stupid).

If you really wanted some sort of stiffing, a strait bar from the top of the B hoop to the mount at the bottom of the C hoop would keep things from racking and be the least intrucive..... although it *would* look funny....

Originally posted by RustoleumWhite


while you are correct. I don't really think you are going to have an issue as it stands.

You would have to bend 6 tubes for it to rack seriously, than that would be on a serious endo (not as common as the side to side, uless your being stupid).

If you really wanted some sort of stiffing, a strait bar from the top of the B hoop to the mount at the bottom of the C hoop would keep things from racking and be the least intrucive..... although it *would* look funny....
Probably am overthinking it and overkilling it, but that's just in my nature. I was thinking about either running a straight bar from the bend on the rear bar (at the C spreader) diagonally down to the mount of the B hoop. Or the other idea was to just go from the lower bend of the rear bar to the B hoop with a bar just above and parallel to the bed rail. That would stiffen up the B-C box that would have to deform in order for the A-B box to deform (from front to back).

Ok, put the rear braces in. I decided to do the horizontal option. I think other than a couple corner braces here and there, I'm gonna call this done. Here it is:
http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/P0002185.JPG

http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/cage/P0002186.JPG

nice, I like it. Clean, unobtruscive, and offers a but more strength (although as we all know, not ideal).



now get the bitch finished and some dents in it :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

Originally posted by RustoleumWhite
nice, I like it. Clean, unobtruscive, and offers a but more strength (although as we all know, not ideal).



now get the bitch finished and some dents in it :flipoff2: :flipoff2:
Thanks......
.... and I'm workin' on it. Took a bit of a step backwards yesterday. The passenger door in the pic is not the orginal door and no matter how much I adjusted the hinges (both ways), the striker and the latch, it just wouldn't align in the opening. Bones came over and helped me put the original door back on and after a bit of tweeking to the hinges, shimming of latch and tweeking the striker, it closes and lines up pretty good. A little final "clearancing" with a 2lb. brass hammer :eek: and it closes MUCH better and lines up pretty damn good (but still not like it should). The downside is that the bottom of this door is ate up pretty bad and I'm going to have to cut the bottom off and do some skinning to fix it. *sigh* it's only time, right???

You could have shimmed the body mounts to get the door gaps closer... but probably not anymore with the cage mounted.


I think the doors are *prett* consisatnt, its the body openings in the truck that change constantly. The body flexes quite a bit, and even a little extra washer under a body mount can make a differance.


Shim what it takes, my passenger door has shims under the hinges, and shims under the latch/stricker.... works though, unless I twist the body up :D

I had the reverse problem.... the open is too narrow at the top. The "new" door Iwas going to use had some cracks around the hinge mounts that were welded up so it proably is out of spec. I had to remove the latch from the door and put washer between the inside of the door and the latch mechanism to shim it in (so it sticks out less). I had a brace in the door opening when redid the mounts, rockers, but I must have let the top of the opening rack a little bit. Oh well, it'll be all smashed up soon anyway......

This was my first try at MAJOR auto body surgery......I now know MANY things that I'd do differently the next time.

i'd still put a bar here just to add a little strength, hopefully you wont be worried about collapsing it, but would help, just my .02, it looks good otherwise. :beer:

http://www.rebelrockrunners.org/RYAN/Pics/P0002186.jpg

ps - you gonna wheel it with the rollers on there? lol :flipoff2: