What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
Overview Gallery Discussion
Funny story..... Monday, on the way home from picking up that disc sander I ran out of gas at the bridge just before your shop. I almost used it as an excuse to stop by, but the Suburban was kind of sticking out in the road so I high-tailed it over to the gas station and bought a jerrrycan and a couple gallons of fuel to get moving again.

I can never tell if your shop is open or not. The weather was really nice on Monday but the rollup doors were all closed... seems like you would have wanted the fresh air. :dunno:

On the welding, the torch handle has a bend in it and I have typically tried to hold the upper part of the handle (by the trigger) parallel to the work...so basically whatever angle is "built in" is what I am applying to the weld. Are you saying that the wire should be feeding into the puddle at a more upright angle? I've noticed that my welds sometimes have a sideways "V" shape to them, but I wasn't sure if that was a result of gun angle or trying to move too fast.

The new welder (Lincoln 255) is a lot more forgiving than my old one but there's always more to learn. I'm still in awe of the guys who can consistenly lay down nice flat welds with perfect symmetry all the way down the bead. :bow:

My hope is still to get a 4-link to fit up front.... I want mechanical steering (w/ hydro assist) so that there are no hassles with NH Inspection if I ever decide to register this thing in the Granite State. Still lots to do (obviously) so I don't think I'll be ready for the full-size trail run on the 22nd. :D


:usaflag:




P.S. - Welcome to Page 12!!!
 
Last edited:
BWAHAHahah that is a funny story. i need to get an open flag or something. all week i have been in and out of the shop. we are building a HUGE bicycle ramp behind the neighbors house.
 
2010.05.17 - UPDATE! - THE LAST INCH OF DROOP...


Yesterday was spent trying to figure out how to get that last inch of droop in the rear suspension. One of the issues I'd already been struggling with was the amount of cutting on the #3 body mount to clear the upper link. As I trimmed and tested it was becoming obvious that there was no way I could save the original hole position, and I was going to end up cutting right through the center of it for clearance.

Unfortunately this means that I need to now move another set of mounts on the tub as well, but in this case 1" futher inboard is all it will take.


DSC03140.jpg


The body mount clearancing allowed me to find other interference points (underside of frame on uptravel side, upper link bracket, top side of frame where link tower tilts inward, etc). However, in this photo you can see that the droop side chain is fully extended and tight....representing the full 10" of droop travel, which the opposite side is fully "stuffed" at 6" of uptravel.

You can also see that even with the #3 mount hole relocated, the bracket still ended up getting quite a bit of additional trimming to clear the upper link...

DSC03154.jpg


Here's a slightly different angle showing some of the crazy twisting that is going on and how wildly the links travel and interfere with the frame.

DSC03151.jpg


A comparitive rear shot showing the chains fully extended and holding the weight of the axle.... 6" UP on driver's side, 10" down on passenger side.

DSC03161.jpg


I am going to go around and double-check all of my clearances one more time to make sure that I've got a little "wiggle room" at each interference point. I don't want to design everything so precisely that it only works with this one set of link lengths... if I extend or shorten a link by 1/4" later on I want to make sure that everything will still clear properly.

The next step will be to transfer all of these modifications to the passenger side, then start doing all of the tedious cycling experiments in 1" increments to make sure that there are no interferences in any of the intermediate travel scenarios.

Once that's complete I can go back and re-inforce and plate in the areas were I've had to remove substantial amounts of metal from the frame to gain clearance.


:usaflag:
 
Greg72 said:
2010.05.10 - UPDATE! - AN EXTRA 1.5HP ADDED TO THE BUILD!

Thank you eBay.... this makes a nice addition to my shop. APEX 20" 1.5HP Disc Sander. :saweet:

DSC03135.jpg


This is by FAR the scariest tool in my garage.... when this thing gets up to speed it absolutely screams, and when I shut it off it spins for literally about 4 minutes afterwards.

Pure skin and finger-removing power.... scary and exciting.


:usaflag:
Click to expand...

Great find, I bought an industrial duty belt/disc sander at a auction last year and love the disc but am real tired of adjusting the belt portion of it.
 
2010.05.30 - UPDATE! - FAKE ORI STRUTS......ANGRY YO! :D

There's a strange phenomenon going on with this rear suspension. I'm trying to resolve all the clearance issues with the frame but my limit chains are creating some problems of their own. Turns out that the position of the chains is allowing for a lot more flex in the axle than I'll actually get with the rear struts installed. Even with a LOT of checking and correcting for errors manually each time I cycle the suspension there's still a large amount of error and it's giving me a false sense of how much frame notching I need to do.

The only solution (in my view) was to move toward a mockup that used actual-sized struts in their final positions... and being able to observe the real suspension travel at the piston which is where it counts anyway.

Fortunately, ORI has some really detailed mechanical drawings on their website so it didn't take me long to build some VERY accurate strut bodies to use for my work....

DSC03253.jpg



The struts use a 1.75" shaft and a 3.25" housing...so these things look BIG!! My initial setup placed the lower mounts 42" apart and the uppers were slightly tapered in at around 35.5".... however once I carried those dimensions over to the tub, I realized that the upper mounts were something like 4" further inboard than the inner vertical portion of the wheeltubs. Since my tire will hit the wheeltub WAY before ever hitting those strut bodies I decided to move them to a true vertical orientation. Leaving them angled wasn't going to provide any benefit, but is was going to eat up valueable storage space behind the rear seat.

That will still leave me with a couple of extra inches on either side to mess with if I decide to widen the rear wheeltubs for tire clearance. A lot of that is going to depend on my final WMS-to-WMS axle value, but I haven't decided what that will be yet.


:usaflag:
 
It's probably the portal setup that's throwing you.... that axletube would normally be about 6" lower on a conventional 1-Ton setup, so the tops of the shocks (struts) would also be 6" lower.

They are 16" travel struts as well....that's a decent sized setup also compared to my old Rancho 9012's, so I'm sure visually the longer strut is adding to the unfamiliar look.

I do like the "beefiness" of the 1.75" shafts though. :saweet:



:usaflag:
 
Good thing this isn't pirate...So here goes....

Why are shock ends always fixed. Meaning no play in the mounting area. For your crazy amount of flex wouldn't it make sense if there was some type of heim joint to allow the shock more flex/angle as it goes through the cycle.

I think it would have to be a really tough joint to take the abuse though

OK heading back to my build....


:dunno:
a mount like this
RS 34 set.jpg

RS 34 set.jpg
 
i know i didnt take the measurements but im second guessing you. it looks like the tire will rub your struts when the suspension fully droops on one side and compresses on the other.
 
Dennis - You're right about that...and in fact most of the high-end shocks, coilovers and the ORI struts all use heims at each end to eliminate binding. I didn't bother to put heims in my mock-ups, but I might have to if I can't cycle the suspension completely enough.

Josh - The photo might be a little deceiving. When the tire cycles upwards it won't be able to hit the strut body because there is a wheeltub in the way. The question is: will the tire hit the wheeltub at all and require me to widen them for clearance?? :thinking: I never hit the wheeltubs with my old setup, but I know people that have (VTBlazer comes to mind)



Here are a couple of reference shots from the original setup:

Front flex forcing the rear corner down.

DSC00051-1028RTIScore.jpg


Rear flex shoving the tire into the wheelwell... lots of frame flex too!

DSC00057.jpg


Ultimately, the combination of the tire and the final track width will have a lot to do with where the inside upper edge of the tire ends up. I'm going to keep the track width as wide as I can, and that will hopefully provide the clearance on the inside edges of the tire. If I still end up with some rubbing...there will be about 2" of room that I can still work with to "mini-tub" the rear wheelwells and eek-out a little more room.


:usaflag:
 
Maybe...

I have one mounted wheel/tire combo, and I have an extra set of rear wheeltubs too. It wouldn't take much to get those into the mix. The only x-factor is the overall size of the portal housing with the 8-lug conversions installed. I have almost all the parts for those now (still need CTIS parts, but they are just about finished at the machine shop). If there is a way to install them on a backing plate that has a tube clamp on it, I could slide the entire assembly in/out a few inches in either direction to play around with clearances and see what overall track width works best.


:usaflag:
 
brandoneh said:
Greg.. that rear end shot is killer! Picture just screams First Gen Flex Greatness!
Click to expand...

That's the flex with the old shackle flip and leaf springs. The amount of flex with the 4 link set up is going to be insane.
 
Greg it would not surprise me if you wind up having to limit the rear quite a bit..the mock up struts.. jeeezzz:rolleyes:


Between you and ryoken I seriously might look at knitting:crazy:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom