'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

[miniwally]

Down and back Greg, Down and back.

Look at the early ORD rear kits. Coilover mounted off the rear of the axle, a few inches off the back of the tube. Do you wonder why that happened now?

You'll get there. Quit making nice brackets so soon, temp crap gets things figured out without cost too much.

 

[folkenheath]

I've wanted to say the same thing Brandon but didn't have the heart to suggest he throws out all his fancy upper stuff.

Another benefit of having the mount rear of the axle centerline is it keeps the axle preloaded up at the pinion to remove any slop under acceleration(if you ever have any slop). A small benefit, but it is there. Probably a nicer benefit is that the towers wouldn't stick above the bed rail.

 

[Greg72]

I like watching your solutions to the clearance issues!

That new pocket does look cool!

I don't know why you would want to run wider spacers when you could just adjust the offset of your wheels.

The "white wheel" project only has a realistic adjustment for backspacing of around 3/8" (either IN or OUT) before the pressed center starts to overhang the dropped-valley area of the hoop. And even at the most modest setting, the backspacing is too deep for me to get the wheels up against the hub. I'm using a 3/8" spacer now with the H2 wheels, and with the steelies, it's going to get quite a bit thicker than that!!

Down and back Greg, Down and back.

Look at the early ORD rear kits. Coilover mounted off the rear of the axle, a few inches off the back of the tube. Do you wonder why that happened now?

You'll get there. Quit making nice brackets so soon, temp crap gets things figured out without cost too much.

Brandon, I know that "behind the axle" is one of the two GOOD answers.....you're the one who told me last time!!! (Though to be fair, you said that EITHER option would work.....) And hey, in case you didn't notice in those photos I'm only using tack welds for now. No way I'm doing a bunch of finish welding and metal finishing work until I know for SURE that this stupid thing cycles properly.


-G

 

[Babaganoosh]

Are you talking about the PHB / steering box one?



-G

Yes, was that all you planned on plating?

Down and back Greg, Down and back.

Look at the early ORD rear kits. Coilover mounted off the rear of the axle, a few inches off the back of the tube. Do you wonder why that happened now?

You'll get there. Quit making nice brackets so soon, temp crap gets things figured out without cost too much.

I don't think ORD has released any pictures, I'm itching to see this. Do you have any handy or is a email in order?

 

[Greg72]

YOU GUYS SUCK!!!!!

Damn.... maybe that does look better.

My tuition pile might be getting taller and wider.


-G

 

[K20Chevrolet]

YOU GUYS SUCK!!!!!

Damn.... maybe that does look better.


My tuition pile might be getting taller and wider.


-G

That really looks better plus you could move the rear diagonal tube back some and put the front diagonal tube up from the rockslider to meet the b-pillar bar just above the bed floor. That way no extra plates required to make the cage bolt in.

Plus your rear passengers would have a way better arm rest with no danger of getting their fingers caught!

That almost makes me reconsider the cantilever on mine for a setup like this... hm...

 

[folkenheath]

That almost makes me reconsider the cantilever on mine for a setup like this... hm...

Yours would be lower yet because you don't have portal axles.

I hate to say it Greg, but the lower method is what I would use.

 

[Greg72]

Yours would be lower yet because you don't have portal axles.

I hate to say it Greg, but the lower method is what I would use.

No worries....

I'll take a fresh look at things tonight and maybe try a few experiments.

It wouldn't be the first time (or the last!) that I scrapped an idea with dozens of man-hours already invested.


-G

 

[82355]

I don't think you'll convince anyone of your "stock look" with that strut above the bed rail.

Martin

 

[ktmoutfront]

I run the coil over in front and the bypass in back and at the top of the axle. Will links, you don't have to worry about torgue loading the axle. It won't care.

 

[chevyfumes]

"I chopped it down to size. Then using a large dose of trigonometry and Tourette's it was marked in the appropriate shape and angle. Basically it's a flat plane-slice through the cylinder with an angled cut in the base just to make it really complicated." awesome, but from you, I'd expect nothing less...

 

[Greg72]

"I chopped it down to size. Then using a large dose of trigonometry and Tourette's it was marked in the appropriate shape and angle. Basically it's a flat plane-slice through the cylinder with an angled cut in the base just to make it really complicated." awesome, but from you, I'd expect nothing less...

I was starting to wonder if anyone was going to notice that line....!




-G

 

[kgblazerfive]

Putting it in the back would probably fix all of your issues.

 

[ashman]

Putting it in the back would probably fix all of your issues.

I've been trying that same argument with my GF for years...

 

[Greg72]

2014.12.15 - UPDATE! - CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY...!!!!!


I wasn't sure if I'd be on the "Naughty" list or the "Nice" List.... but apparently Santa took pity on me for all the failed attempts and rework I've been going through on this build during the last 12 months!

It was pretty exciting to open up that present last night. But since I have no idea how to use it, and don't own filler rod, Argon or Helium or any wire brushes to clean metal with it seemed like a better idea to just put it in the corner of the shop with a tarp over it so I wouldn't get distracted!!

Time to get back to creating my "real life" Photoshop... here's the start of the night as I started to assess the possibility of moving the strut to a "behind the axle" configuration:

I was having a tough time visualizing my mounting options with the extra strut and hangers in the way, so I cut a few tack welds and removed all the unnecessary items...

The overall look is good because it DOES get rid of the visible upper strut mount as it moves the entire strut down about 8" to a point below the horizontal bedrail tubes. I'm not sure how far back off the axle is "too far" but here's what it looks like currently:

It's going to need a pretty crazy, beefy mount to sit that far off the axletube!!

Up top, it was a weird configuration to get a temporary mount installed. The upper rail tapers right before it gets to the strut area, so it gives me a little triangular spot to sneak the mounting bolt and brackets into...

The sad side-effect is that the entire strut is now substantially further inboard than it was with my first iteration. In fact, it's SO much further inboard that I could reweld my wheeltub back together (with no extra width) and the entire strut body would be on the outside of the wheeltub!!! That's good for tire clearance, but bad for carrying plywood or sheetrock..... guess that stuff is going to have to travel up on the top of the cage instead of inside!!!

Here's a top-view of the upper strut mount. It's a weird one and I'm not sure exactly HOW to support the loading now that the strut is no longer between the two parallel bedrail tubes?

I guess since I'm already losing the bedspace with the new strut location, there wouldn't be any reason not to drop a vertical tube just in front of that strut (toward the front of the truck) and land it on a new beefy cross-sill and mounting pad setup similar to the one I've already built in the B-pillar area....



-G

 

[folkenheath]

Wow, fancy liquid cooled torches even, when do you plan to go to production?

About the rear strut, I would consider angling the strut slightly back at the top. Ideally you would want the strut vertical at full stuff, which would angle it back slightly at full droop. You could also consider angling it out slightly at the bottom toward the tire, this may allow more tire clearance at the top, and more axle control at the bottom, assuming the angle is kept low. However, I think back at the top is more important, it should allow maxiumum control of the axle while keeping the bottom end closer to the axle which will use a smaller bracket, and less unsprung weight is good. The way it is now, the strut would be angled forward at full stuff and vertical at full droop, both will work fine, just a little improvement in function and asthetics.

 

[pblaze725]

Is that the infamous monolith bolt making a comeback?




How far back behind the axle are you thinking about going?



From what I see, it looks like you can make a pretty tab similar to Kert's traction bar mounts.


Here's a pic:





In this configuration the outer mount would be about 6" behind the axle center.





With that in mind I also wonder how far back is too far to where it creates a counter lever that affects the link suspension?

This made me think would Inboarding them reroute the forces from potentially trying to create an axle wrap to pushing outward towards the tires?


I hope this makes sense. I try not to post here much because I'm don't want to junk up your thread with nonscensery.

Nice work as always.

 

[Greg72]

I'm not really sure how many inches back to go...

The obvious thing is to keep the strut body away from the upper link mount under articulation so they don't rub against each other, but beyond that I don't see much value in going really far away from the axle tube. It just makes it harder to build something strong enough to hold the immense loads.

The other problem is that the lower bolt needs to run longitudinally (front-to-back) so building a hanger for that configuration is a lot more complex than just cutting out a couple of plates and drilling a 5/8" mounting hole in each one.

I'm still bummed about losing the bedfloor space, but I don't thing there is a practical way to preserve 48" of free space between the struts.... even if I kept the old TALL TOWER configuration. It seemed like I was being forced to encroach more and more into the rear bed area to resolve the tire interference issues.

One of the best parts of working evenings on this project is that it gives me about 3.5 hours to do some experimentation.... then about 24 hours to just let ideas simmer in my head for a while. Usually, by the next night I've either come up with a new plan for myself.....or someone on CK5 will have given me an idea to try.


-G

 

[folkenheath]

How about something like one of these...

 

[Greg72]

YES!

That's the idea... I'm sure I could make a couple of those in less than 30 hours!!!


-G