TnA's 86 Jimmy Shop Build / Product Development Thread - (Trailing Arms?!?!)

[Smokinthehippies]

I don't know how exactly this works but worth an idea. One thing I would do if I was you would be to try and get free parts to either

Trucks!
Xtreme4x4
Gearz!

Or even one of the magazines to do a build. Last idea would be to get a rig with your parts/ your jimmy build featured in a ragazine. Would be much better mass exposure

 

[CFMi]

Hey Everyone!! Just thought I'd post up an update since I haven't in soooo long, lol.
I've been working like crazy the last couple months, just trying to get things caught up and back on track. I've been getting some orders too, and trying to fill those as quickly as I can, although I wish I could get them out quicker for everyone. I'm doing as much as I can to get that done as timely as I can though.
On another note, I have a few stickers now, so anyone that would like some, please PM me with your mailing address and I'll get them in the mail for ya!

Later,
Darren

 

[CFMi]

Random post just to let y'all know I'm still alive and well....


Tax return season has been doing quite well for TnA this year! I've been working my butt off trying to get all the orders filled, while being forced into a trip to Tennessee for my other job in the midst of things. It was bad timing, but it had to be done. I've been trying to get products out the door as fast as I can for everyone.
The best sellers (by far) this year are the new Engine Crossmember, the Winch Cradle (including quite a few sets of "wings", and my HD Motor mounts. I've sold a bunch of other things too, but those are the major sellers. A big THANK YOU to all that have ordered through CK5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Darren


Just one group of products made the other day:

A new style Winch Cradle complete with "wings":

 

[y5mgisi]

Your living the dream man!

 

[toomany]

I replied in the vendor section to your winch cradle thread a while ago. Planned on getting the cradle w/wings with tax return money. Well that money went to other things (D60 and tires)...but your stuff is still on the list, just waiting on the budget now.


As to getting your name out there. Sponsoring on a message board (possibly offer a discount for members), give a ways (gift certificates, parts). With Pirate being under new ownership it might be worth looking into. Some new parts that you could offer to are builder parts, u-bolt plates, gussets, brackets, tabs...open yourself up to more than the GM square bodies, more universal parts (think Ruffstuff, DIY4x, etc). Having good customer service is a must. Fast shipping and contact with people once they order too. And always put stickers in with the order, either one big one or two small ones....everyone loves stickers.

 

[NorCalAnthony]

Hey man, any updates? I'm looking forward to see what you come up with for a rear bumper and am curious how that new high clearance front bumper looks mounted on a rig... I just picked up my new project and am putting together a wish list of all your products lol. Keep up the good work!

 

[cyclic]

I got the modular winch cradle raised 2" and his front shackles, they are off at the powder coaters. I'll post some pics when they are back (powder guy is pretty busy so it might take awhile).

 

[CFMi]

Hey man, any updates? I'm looking forward to see what you come up with for a rear bumper and am curious how that new high clearance front bumper looks mounted on a rig... I just picked up my new project and am putting together a wish list of all your products lol. Keep up the good work!

Not much to report at the moment, I've been building products for people as orders come in, but have too many other irons in the fire right now to spend much time in new product development. I just took on some fabrication work as a vendor for a major company, and I'm hoping that will pay off in terms of building the business big enough that it will support itself so that I can break away and do some more of this fun stuff in the years to come. I can always build you the rear center section and you can build off of it for the outers...
As far as the high clearance front, there are pics of both the winch cradle with wings and the full bumper on this site. If there is something else you would like pics of, shoot me a PM and I'll see what I have available.

-Darren

 

[CFMi]

Hey All!

So I've been busy lately at the shop, and recently undertook a contract with a major company making some of their more commonly used parts. Some of those parts require bending, and since I've always wanted a press brake at the shop I decided to go ahead and build my own. I've been working on a design for a while now, and finally think that I have enough business to actually justify spending the $$$ on materials for it.

So here is the design so far:

...and here is the progress to date (sorry for the blurry pic):

I think it will work out pretty good. I plan on putting a travel sensor on the blade and using a microcontroller (PicAxe maybe) to control the bend angles repeatably. I don't think I'll go too crazy with the control right off the bat, I just need something that I can program for repeatable bends. Maybe later on I can design in material selections, bend length and bend angle to have the controller figure it out on it's own, but for now it'll just be a distance traveled by the blade.

Oh, and I just dropped $1,800 on dies for it, didn't figure I wanted to try and make those myself!


-Darren

 

[Kay86K5]

So you thinking of designing tube rear bumpers for our K5's now?

P.S. I don't need a tire carrier now, just a good bumper....just so you know

 

[CFMi]

So you thinking of designing tube rear bumpers for our K5's now?

P.S. I don't need a tire carrier now, just a good bumper....just so you know

Well I've thought of that many times in the past, I already have a tube bender... It's just not nearly accurate enough or repeatable enough to do tons of bumpers with. I've done a bunch of cages with it, but those are individual bends designed pretty much on-the-spot so I can make slight adjustments to the bends to get things to fit perfectly. I have definitely thought about making a new tube bender too, using the existing dies I have from that bender, but it's not in the cards just yet.

The new press brake I'm building will be for forming plate steel. The dies I'm getting will be good for 1/8" (or 9 thru 11 guage), 3/16", 1/4" and 3/8" material.


-Darren

 

[Deuling]

Cool press design

 

[Kay86K5]

Well I've thought of that many times in the past, I already have a tube bender... It's just not nearly accurate enough or repeatable enough to do tons of bumpers with. I've done a bunch of cages with it, but those are individual bends designed pretty much on-the-spot so I can make slight adjustments to the bends to get things to fit perfectly. I have definitely thought about making a new tube bender too, using the existing dies I have from that bender, but it's not in the cards just yet.

The new press brake I'm building will be for forming plate steel. The dies I'm getting will be good for 1/8" (or 9 thru 11 guage), 3/16", 1/4" and 3/8" material.


-Darren

Nice! That should be pretty sweet

 

[CFMi]

Well, I got all my weld-in pin bushings in from my machine-shop buddy. I told him not to worry about the quality of any surface other than the inside diameter where the pin will ride, since the rest will be either welded or basically free from any real forces to wear it out. That way he could keep the pricing down for me and not take too much of his time.
BUT, being a machinist and having that stereotypical machinist's attitude, he couldn't bring himself to do it that way. ALL of the surfaces are just beautiful, I'm thinking this picture just doesn't do them justice. What do you think??

So I did some figuring (to the best of my ability without spending a week going back to my old school books and really delving into it deeply) to try and "best guess" the amount of shrink that would occur during the welding process on the pin bushings. The last thing I wanted was to weld them in, and then have the pins not fit, lol. So I figured that I'd end up with at max about 0.010" of shrink on the inside diameter. Given that I got 1.50" pins, and that I wanted approximately 0.005" clearance in there, I had my buddy cut the centers to 1.515". They came back to me perfect, on the couple I measured, within about 0.001" plus or minus. Damn he's good, lol.
So after welding one in as a test fit, here's what I ended up with:

The pins fit just a little loose, so I figured that I calculated a little on the "high" side of the amount of shrink. No worries, I'd rather have just a bit of play than to have it too tight and have to have all the pins turned down. Then I measured the pins I got, and guess what?!?!? They measure exactly 4.995", so they already had 0.005" clearance built into them. Now why the hell wouldn't I have measured them first? Like a normal person SHOULD do? Like I would tell anyone else to do? Well, that's why they fit a pinch loose, it turns out I actually figured the shrink from welding almost perfectly! So that's re-assuring to me, that I haven't forgot EVERYTHING I learned in school, lol!

Anyways, I'm very happy with the fit of things, and the little extra play will be good in case I warp something a little when I finish-weld the whole thing up. I have an idea of how to take up any play between the cylinder and the final movement of the upper plate, but I'll cover that one later.

For now, I'm off to work on some custom brakes on a 1951 Cadillac that I built for a friend a couple years ago! Have a great weekend everyone!

-Darren

 

[y5mgisi]

You are certainly a talented designer.

 

[cyclic]

Figured I post a couple pics of some TNA stuff installed.............................

First up is the what I'll call the 2.5 inch rear shackle flip, matches perfectly to the 2.5 inch Superlift springs..........................

Next up is the 2 inch lifted modular winch mount...................

With 265/70R17 tires it sits with the rocker pinch weld at 21 inches from the ground front and rear.



Next up I need the rear bumper brackets with the D ring part extended 2 inches, you got an idea on price yet?

 

[cyclic]

Here's what the brackets I'm looking for you to make for me...............

I'd like two inches added in the shaded area like this.............

I'm going to slot some 2x5 tubing over the brackets with the d ring doubler on the outside. Need four for making two bumpers, thanks.

 

[CFMi]

Cyclic,

Hey man, parts look good on there! PM sent on the rear bumper side plates!

-Darren

 

[Babaganoosh]

Thought I would post this up here if you don't mind. Bumper plate came in.

 

[CFMi]

Of course I don't mind, man! Post up more as you make more out of it!