Alright....alright...alright!!!
Look who's got a full-width seat and strut setup!
-G
Look who's got a full-width seat and strut setup!
-G
CK5
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'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build
- Thread starter Greg72
- Start date
This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
Dude, you didn't build all the bracketry before you posted a pic. 
What if it needs to change again???..what about all the practice you'll be missing out on???
What is happening to this thread? The tuition pile is going to be lonely without its new friends. 
What if it needs to change again???..what about all the practice you'll be missing out on???
What is happening to this thread?
The tuition pile is going to be lonely without its new friends.
Dude, you didn't build all the bracketry before you posted a pic.
What if it needs to change again???..what about all the practice you'll be missing out on???
What is happening to this thread?
Don't worry Mike, I'll keep wasting plenty of steel..... some things never change!
So last night, I decided to cut off those parallel rails from the bedrail area so that I could get the stock rear seat back into it's original location....
Maybe I can re-bend these into rear shock hoops instead of throwing them into the tuition pile?
I carefully measured-out the holes in the factory floor (the removed part) and then dropped some 1"x2" tubing across the framerails to simulate the missing floor height and also the correct setback for the seat brackets. I wanted to take a fresh look at where the factory seat landed now that the extra bedrail tubes were removed, and also now that the upper mount of the rear struts was going to be a LOT lower than with my previous "tower" design....
Here's the attic view of the seat in position....
Incredibly, the struts can ALMOST be mounted vertically (front-to-back).... the best I could manage without moving the seat forward was about a 3* backward angle... not nearly as bad as I'd imagined.
Depending on how much time I want to spend talking to "enthusiasts" who tell me I angled my struts the wrong way, I can either leave it AS-IS (3* backwards) or just move the seat forward by maybe 1"... and get the struts at exactly 90* instead.
I took a bunch of measurements off the tubing to the framerails, seat, strut,etc. and think I have enough information to do a PencilCAD drawing of the area so I can design a proper mount that will fit in that space.
(Or at least a mount that can ALMOST fit, then gets removed so I can build a v2 mount that works better.....just before building the v3 mount that will look and work AWESOME.)
-G
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That angle will make zero noticeable difference in the ability of the strut to function. Is the clearance on the top link to the seat enough?
We'll see.....
I'll get some bracketry in there to lock in the upper dimension and then do some cycling... I'm sure that it will be just like the front suspension was: shift this 1", drop that .5", move this-and-such over by 2*..... etc.
-G
So much learn on this thread 
Right on Greg! Seating for 5 is what all the cool kids are doing these days.
Looks like you can fit the seat and get good shock angles too. Sweet.
But you better move those gussets out to the side of your cage tubing though, we don't want that cage to split in half
But you better move those gussets out to the side of your cage tubing though, we don't want that cage to split in half
Looks like you can fit the seat and get good shock angles too. Sweet.
But you better move those gussets out to the side of your cage tubing though, we don't want that cage to split in half
Those are going in the scrap pile.... as I'm sure you remember, those were part of a much larger upper strut tower assembly. Nobody in their right mind would use a center-mounted plate for a can-opener, er....... tube gusset.
-G
Looks like you can fit the seat and get good shock angles too. Sweet.
But you better move those gussets out to the side of your cage tubing though, we don't want that cage to split in half
That is all
3 degrees is nothing Greg, and 3 degrees at ride height might be slightly less at full bump, which is even better. In case you were wondering, 3 degrees rounds to 99.9% effective angle.
Normally, I'd balk at 99.9%......
But in the interest of moving this build along, I will say "good enough" to that figure.
-G
Normally, I'd balk at 99.9%......
But in the interest of moving this build along, I will say "good enough" to that figure.
-G
You better not let the guys over in duelings thread hear about you taking shortcuts like that.
Nah.....those guys are too busy zip-tying their zip-ties together to notice what's going on over here.
-G
-G
chulisohombre
1/2 ton status
Thats awesome Greg. I think that looks much better than the chop seat idea either way. And at where it is you could go 10 degrees and probably never notice the difference. With the calculation above 20 wouldn't even be a problem. The cool kids will be happy that the gregmobile can still roll 5 deep. Lol. Great work.
Nah.....those guys are too busy zip-tying their zip-ties together to notice what's going on over here.
-G
Oh shoot I guess I should look away then.
First attempt to build a new upper mount based which still trying to save the full-width seat....
I moved the rear seat forward by 1" from the stock location which allowed me to get the strut from 3* laid-back to exactly 90* from the side view (Damn you, OCD!)....
In this photo I've got the strut at a 15* lateral angle which is probably more than I really need. If I stand it up to around 10* the tabs to mount the strut will end up more centered in the "crescent" shape of the tube instead of pushed strongly to the vertical side of it.
Since the loads are pushing straight upward against the strut, it seemed like a logical plan to get a vertical tube mounted up from the frame section. And by welding a plate on either side of that 1.75" DOM it creates a (surprise!) 1.75" wide set of tabs for the upper mounting bolt. The ORIs only need 1.60" including the misalignment spacers... and since the upper mount really doesn't move around much under articulation compared to the lower mount, I don't think there's much value in trying to build MORE misalignment into the upper mount by welding in thick-walled DOM spacers, etc.
Anyway... that's all that happened in the last 24 hours.
-G
I moved the rear seat forward by 1" from the stock location which allowed me to get the strut from 3* laid-back to exactly 90* from the side view (Damn you, OCD!)....
In this photo I've got the strut at a 15* lateral angle which is probably more than I really need. If I stand it up to around 10* the tabs to mount the strut will end up more centered in the "crescent" shape of the tube instead of pushed strongly to the vertical side of it.
Since the loads are pushing straight upward against the strut, it seemed like a logical plan to get a vertical tube mounted up from the frame section. And by welding a plate on either side of that 1.75" DOM it creates a (surprise!) 1.75" wide set of tabs for the upper mounting bolt. The ORIs only need 1.60" including the misalignment spacers... and since the upper mount really doesn't move around much under articulation compared to the lower mount, I don't think there's much value in trying to build MORE misalignment into the upper mount by welding in thick-walled DOM spacers, etc.
Anyway... that's all that happened in the last 24 hours.
-G
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Looks pretty nice and a reasonable trade off. I moved my rear seat forward several inches and it hasn't been a problem. The concourse judges probably won't even notice. 
I feel better
Every time I get pissed for having to redo something X amount of times, I think of this build... and it makes me happy. Sorry
Every time I get pissed for having to redo something X amount of times, I think of this build... and it makes me happy. Sorry
