To start things off lets do a little back story. Bought the jeep back when I was 16 when it was more or less stock other than a tired small block Chev. Over the past 7 1/2 years I slowly built it into a more capable PNW style trail jeep. The last year of jeepin it started to become a bit of a hassle with tons of little things breaking/wearing out and I started to worry almost everytime I was gonna be "that guy". Never in its life having a full tear down, it was starting to show its age and I did my best to keep it together by strapping the frame after it broke, tied cage into frame, redid the suspension, etc. Anyways, here's the old girl.
TBI 350
Dana 44's F/R
t18
4.27's w/lunchbox lockers
Dana 20
Spring under rear with yj's
Spring over front front with toyota rears
Chromoly shafts
Redhead steering box
36 tsl's
Plan for the build was to keep it low and stretch the wheelbase to better suit the steep hillclimbs in my area. Doing the typical LS powerplant to up the power, 4 linked f/r, beefy axles,coilovers, etc. My biggest thing was to keep the tub and try to save as much as it as possible.
It all started when I bought a set of 60 inners and gussetted them up.
Then got a little bit of a deal on a 9" center through work. I know Im gonna catch some heat for this, but running 3 1/8" OD 3/8" wall tube. Trying to keep it light and figure a big truss will add a ton of strength. After all, its not a race rig.
Then I picked up a set of 38.5x14.50 sx's for dirt cheap so I kinda had something to build around. Plannig on 14" coilovers f/r with both 7 up and down.
Rolled tires under to get a feel for wheelbase. 100" or slightly over is my goal and trying not to comp cut. Also, I plan to cut about 4.5" out of the rocker for a slight boatside
Next, I started to mess around on the computer to get a rough idea on what the chassis needed to be. Modeled with an Atlas in hoped to run one down the line, NP241 will be the tcase for now. Aluminum 5.3 and 4l60e will be in front of that. Took a little while to get a rendering when you rely on lunch and break time haha
Then got antsy and built my rear for a change of scenery haha Hopefully not gonna kick myself for not building a full float butthis was cheap and have buddies that have had good luck with just the standard flanged axles. Again, I have no plans to race just a fun trail rig to be hard on and go fast in the snow lol
At work we were done using our plastic block so was able to borrow it for a bit to get stuff a little more finalized. Also, picked up a 4l60e from a buddy and strated to get the powerplant location a little more locked down.
Some hi-steer arms showed up, bent up a few more pieces, and started to add in some bracing
Off topic a bit but passing by the dumpster a work I saw a sway bar arm popping out of the dumpster. Making a mental note I went back to check at lunch in hopes to find a pair of arms, but found 4! Should have plenty of length to work with my application and was glad to see they were not already drilled. (These are out dated arms that we used to use on our older Chevelle bolt on chassis)
Once I had the front more or less set and just waiting to get some accesories to final weld, I shifted my attention to the rear end. Started placing links and plating everything in.
Surfing the web, I found a set of 12" Rancho's for dirt so picked those up and also started setting up the steering. Along with the suspension, I finally bit the bullet and forked out the cash for steering.
As I said previously, I plan to run 14s f/r but these 12s will atleast give me a footprint for coil clearance and what not. Setting them up as if they are 14" Fox 2.0s with roughly a 21.250" collapsed length at full bump.
To be honest there is no real reason as to why. The lowers are/will be a lot closer to the rear "rails" of the chassis than they look in the pics. Looking back I could've definitely inched them out a bit more, but where they are it should keep the rear end centered. This is my first linked suspension so doing my best to research a lot and play it sorta safe without trying not to think too out of the box. Any recommendations are welcome and greatly appreciated
Running the rear links so narrow will exaggerate axle steer from bump and roll. Have to remember you're dealing with a lot more wheel travel than your day job is used to. There's also the added lever action on the joints from the freespan of housing out to the the wheels. Also, make sure you have at least 45* of convergence in the links. I may be wrong, but it doesn't look like there's a lot in your mockup.
So you're saying widen the rear links where they mount to the housing? I read somewhere 30* was a general rule as minimum, but I could be mistaken. Can remember what my value is off the top of my head, but I wanna say upper 30's
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