| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 06/23/2006 : 06:19:58 AM
The project I'm currently working on is an EB skinned buggy. I built the 2 seater chassis over Christmas break, but recently redesigned and rebuilt a bunch of it. Engine is a 3.8 supercharged V-6, C-4 and 3.15:1 D20, 35 spline inner/outer D60 front, 35 spline 9" rear, 4 link rear, probably front as well, 40" MT/Rs, Radflo coil overs, etc... Should be under 2600# with my big fat but in it. Wheelbase will be 103"
Here are some pics:
This is the basic chassis with the fenders on it and other stuff sitting in there. You can see the mock-up of the hydraulic steering ram setup for the front axle. The grill is narrowed 21".
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Drivers side shot, it's sitting about 3-4" lower than full ride height.
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Seats, shifters, etc... mocked up. I'll still need to bend the twin sticks more toward the passenger side. You can see the lower links for the back. The front mount will be a little higher than the "cooler" mount.
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No skins or radiator on it, you can see the intercooler for the supercharger and the Mac long tube headers.
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In back the 9" sitting on the ground is the 35 spline unit that's going in. I'll have to pull the mock up axle out of there this weekend. Obviously, there will be some more tube work, i. e. a removable brace across the top of the engine, the front seat mount will have flanges so it's removable as well (that way I can pull the entire engine/tranny/transfer as a single unit). My son just finished up his Principles of Engineering class and has cautioned me about putting more "triangles" in it. He's going to be the one cutting the 1" tube gussets to go in all the corners...
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| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| BuckinBronco |
Posted - 10/28/2007 : 8:35:53 PM
yea, stress on the chassis and gear is the main problem with rocks, it would be easy to make this mistake! you never know how well it's gonna work till you get it out, looks like you got what it takes to figure it out though. love the pics, keep posting! thanks |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 10/28/2007 : 6:14:41 PM
Thanks, it worked well, but there were a number of forces acting on the chassis that I woefully underestimated.
It's all taken apart now and I'm planning to get a new buggy built over the Winter. I'll post pics and a write up as it goes.
Joe
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| BuckinBronco |
Posted - 10/25/2007 : 1:08:43 PM
The truck looks awesome man! can't believe some of the creativety it took to build a rig like that! I like the whole supercharged idea, sick ride man! |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 5:05:16 PM
Over the last 6 months or so I've had it out wheeling a bunch, so I thought I'd update this old thread.
I took it to Moab in March and found I'd hugely underestimated the forces acting on the suspension links. My welds broke on the front links and broke a Johny Joint right off where the stud attaches to the bushing part and (of course!!) no one in Moab had any in stock. I ended up riding a lot more than driving.
So I took it home and made some changes. So then I took it to Moab again for the Bronco Safari in May. For those of you who've never been to Moab, especially for the MBS, you've got to come. It's probably the greatest get together of EB folks in the best venue. I like SOB; however, for wheeling the MBS has it beat hands down.
So I had several days of great wheeling and no issues to speak of. Had some little ankle biters get me (had the AC compressor go bad so no front ARB.......replaced it that night no problem), but nothing major. Then we had a good group of the hard core guys go out on Prichett Canyon and I learned some valuable lessons about bracing. Seems the rear crossmember where the lower links were mounted wasn't quite stout enough and partially collapsed from standing it up too may times. I also learned I needed to make an attachment point on the front axle so I could winch the front down so it didn't rise up on steep climbs.
Playing around in Area BFE on Thursday I had a blast, but ended up breaking my coilovers off at the bottom rod ends. Seems they were just a little shy of allowing full (unrestricted) movement and came under too much bind at some point. Anyway, that pretty much ended the driving portion of wheeling, so on to the passenger seat. I'm running Radflo shocks and Glenn did a good job taking care of me, he only charged me the price of the parts, no labor, to fix it all up again. A week later I was back on the road with my new mounts and all was well.
So then on to wheeling in CO. We ran down and did the Independence system and had a blast. No problems at all and it walked just about anything I pointed it at. Truly "point and shoot" wheeling.
To repeat some specs as they are NOW:
'96 Explorer 5.0 with FRPP MAF harness and A9L.
Well built C-6 with low gear set, HD planetaries, servos, etc...
60" wide D60 front, ARB, 4.10s, 35 spline inner and outers.
Big bearing EB 9" with 35 spline spool, also 4.10 gears.
D20 twin stick with Tera-Low 3.15:1 kit.
39" Krawler Reds and/or 40" MT/Rs, Staun Beadlocks.
14" coilovers on front, 16" travel on back.
Still needs:
Limiting straps and bump stops.
So here're a couple "new" photos of it on the ramp.
Joe
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| rjlougee |
Posted - 01/09/2007 : 3:43:29 PM
Thanks, it's been interesting to say the least. I still have things I want/need to do, but I can wheel it as it is. |
| HopeRocks |
Posted - 01/09/2007 : 1:10:29 PM
Hell of a fine job you did there. |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 01/08/2007 : 9:04:50 PM
Well, this is probably the last installment of pics for this build. I got a bunch of stuff done, exhaust, OBA, etc... and have been driving it around. I need to get out and wheel it, but I'm taking off for 5 weeks in a couple days, so that won't be for a while.
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| eb66to77 |
Posted - 11/26/2006 : 09:54:38 AM
Joe it looks amazing!
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| rjlougee |
Posted - 11/25/2006 : 10:50:33 AM
As of 11 this morning, IT IS ALIVE!!!!! (Imagine your best Gene Wilder voice from "Young Frankenstein").
Here's a couple pics from the temp wiring harness I installed to make sure it would work. Now I've got to put it all "nice" looking.
Joe
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| Scotty |
Posted - 11/14/2006 : 4:18:26 PM
Nice work Joe. |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 11/14/2006 : 1:56:56 PM
Thanks, although I did move the upper mounts of the shocks in over the last couple of days, just haven't posted a pic showing it. I did lift one tire in the air with the C/Os where they were and it did hit, thus the move. I also went from 14" over 14" coils to 10" over 14" and changed the rate. They were WAY too soft before. When I got in it tipped the body over about 3", now it's more like 1/2". I'm thinking I'm going to put the battery down low on the passenger side to offset my weight some and keep the CG low.
Thursday is supposed to be nice, so I'll make sure and push it out of the shop and cycle the suspension. (today has been hail/rain/snow on/off with 40MPH gusts).
Joe |
| Watfab |
Posted - 11/14/2006 : 1:20:27 PM
Looks nice. You are going to have to move the upper rear coilovers in-board more though. I speak from experience I took the springs off of mine and stroked the piss out of them to find an upper shock location. Even with doing that, I still had to move them inboard twice more to clear the springs. It was the difference in just tires aired up vs aired down that was creating rub the second time. Our axle shock lower mounts are in almost the exact same location and the forward angle of the shock is very close also. (judging only from the pictures) I started with a verticle mounted shock looking from the rear. I have moved the top in about 3" at the top and could still go another 3/4"
Still neat looking rig. sure simplifies things when you do a tube framed rig.
Wade |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 11/14/2006 : 12:14:29 PM
OK, been slow going, the sheet metal seems to take 3x longer than I thought it would. On top of that, I spent most of a week cutting out, cutting down, modifying and otherwise wasting my time trying to make an EB firewall work. I gave up on it and had a nice looking unit bent up and in place within a day and a half. Gotta love friends with big sheet metal brakes!
On top of that, it's been redoing some small things that were only partly done, like pulling the hubs and repacking all the wheel bearings, getting all the disk brake stuff on and set up, running the brake lines, etc...
So here's a pic of the new floor and the back part of the passenger compartment:
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Another angle:
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A pic of the firewall:
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And the seat mounts. I made the front bar removable so I can pull the entire drivetrain as a unit OR just pull the T-case or tranny from the top if I wanted:
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I'm working on the steering now, hope to finish by the end of today. Then on to the wiring!!
Joe
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| rjlougee |
Posted - 10/10/2006 : 6:53:38 PM
I'd love to Brian, but I can't. I'm going to make sure my list is complete and order any parts I need tomorrow night, then off to Elk camp from the 12th-18th. Then back home late on the 18th, then pick up your Bronco and haul it to Moab on the 19th and back on the buggy about the 23rd. Should be ready by that next weekend though, so lets plan an outing. Oh, and I'm putting a hellagood heater in it. I'm still cold from Sunday.
Did you talk the wife into it yet?
Joe
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| mountainlivin |
Posted - 10/10/2006 : 6:35:29 PM
Dude. I think your bronco just turned me on  Looks Great! You know you could be ready for Saturday if you droped all your plans and lived in your shop for the next few days. That thing is going to be bad As* |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 10/10/2006 : 6:00:41 PM
OK, got a bunch of stuff done, still too much yet to do.....
Here you can see I changed everything. I didn't have some of the wiring for the 3.8 and I just got tired of trying to solve issues with it, so I swapped it out. I happened to have a 5.0 from a '96 Explorer, so in it went. Along with that came a built C-6 (low gear set, HD planetaries, etc...) instead of the C-4 and my custom ZF/C-6 adapter to mate the D20 (with Tera-Low 3.15:1 kit) to it.
I got the brackets all in and added a Howe 1450 T/C PS pump, with the bling external cooler, made a nice bracket for the Char-Lynn valve where the stock Explorer remote PS res. would sit and started with the tilt column to make it all turn.
Plasma cut out the headlight buckets and added lights that bolt to the chassis.
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Here you can see the C-6, adapter and D20. Built a nice mount for the twin stick shifter to bolt to and you can see the bling, bling Russell fuel hoses. An-8 from the fuel cell to the Walbro pump, AN-6 out tot he Earls filter and up to the fuel rail adapter. One single AN-6 line runs back to the cell. I still need a good tip over valve for AN-8, ordered the wrong one.
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This is the back, around the fuel cell. I made the main chassis rails come up so they protect the fuel cell and have rails underneath so if I loose a U-joint on the drive shaft it shouldn't get beat up. There's a nice little bench for a toolbox and/or cooler, etc... you can see the box on it. Underneath it is the winch for the back. It's just an ATV winch, but it should keep the rear coilovers from unloading.
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Back view with a spare on there. I have both 40" MT/Rs and 39.5" Krawler Reds for it, depending on where I'm running. I think I'm going to have to move the coilovers more inboard to keep the tires out of them on full stuff.
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Things still to be done:
1. Most of the brakes and brake lines.
2. All the engine wiring.
3. All the chassis wiring.
4. Radiator and coolant added.
5. Inside skins and firewall.
6. More.....
Joe |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 10/06/2006 : 5:32:28 PM
There's no way I'll be ready Brian, too many things didn't happen this week and too much stuff not on the agenda did. However, if you wanna wheel on Sunday, I'll ride with you and have a couple of other guys interested.
I've gotta run, Myles is playing tonight, but I'll get some pics up soon.
Joe |
| mountainlivin |
Posted - 10/03/2006 : 08:23:00 AM
Looking great Joe. You gonna be ready for some test-n-tune on Sunday? |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 10/02/2006 : 6:35:49 PM
Allright, took longer than expected, but here are some pics.
Here's a better view of the tranny crossmember:
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Here's a pic of the back half after I cut out the part I didn't like:
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Here's one of the chassis all taken apart and upside down for some welding/painting, you can see what I replaced the old back part with and the ATV winch to suck down the rear suspension (just in case):
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I'll get some more up soon, more changes, but I missplaced the camera for a couple of days.
I hear you on the "How-To", but I'm going to wait till I'm done to put it out there.
Joe |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 09/26/2006 : 4:51:53 PM
Hey Guys, been busy and traveling lately, finally retired from the Army (24 years, 6 months and 11 days, but who's counting?).
Anyway, I haven't forgotten about this thread, just haven't updated it much lately. Made some changes, you'll have to wait to see them. The chassis is sitting up side-down in the shop right now, finished the welding, redid the back part, etc...
I'll get some pics up, including the tranny crossmember, tomorrow or Thursday. I have my VA physical tomorrow so it's most likely going to be Thursday.
Joe
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| Gummi Bear |
Posted - 09/26/2006 : 1:19:42 PM
I like where you're going with this Joe. I'm sad to hear that you sold your old rig though, I really liked the 300 writeup you did on it.
The buggy article would be super cool, I look forward to reading it. |
| loose nut dan |
Posted - 09/01/2006 : 09:43:38 AM
Could you show more pics of your trans mount and crossmember? I have that same adapter with an atlas behind it, and I'm at a minor road block with this mount.
Thanks, Dan |
| Scotty |
Posted - 08/30/2006 : 10:45:58 AM
quote:
Originally posted by rjlougee
While at SOB X I was talking with a couple of folks about the initial build of a buggy and how little information there is about HOW to do it, i. e. how to design the basic of the chassis so it makes sense and you can get it done so it makes sense. Is there any interest in such an article? Maybe Buggy design 101?
Joe
An article would be sweet. All you have to do is post it as a new thread and either Hoperocks or myself will take care of it. |
| HopeRocks |
Posted - 08/30/2006 : 07:30:16 AM
Nice work!!
And thanks for the up-date. |
| rjlougee |
Posted - 08/30/2006 : 07:22:13 AM
OK, here are some more pics of the progress. I decided to change a couple of things, as you'll be able to see.
Here's a pic of the front end from the side. This coilover came from the shop and was leaking, so it goes back today.
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This shows how I redid the front end. I ended up cutting the tubing at the front off, sleeving it and welding in the new sections here so it would miss the steering cylinder and I could lower the frame some (@ 3"). The angle finders are to set the steering angle about 6 degrees.
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Oohhh, pretty fishmouth! I wish I could have found my notcher earlier, it would have made some of the joints WAY easier to cut.
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From the back. I'm moving the upper coilover mounts inside the frame. In fact, I'm writing all this while they cool.
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This is the tranny mount. I bent it so it makes a big 'M', with the low spot in the center. The bushings on the outside are EB leaf spring bushings in 1.5" 11 gauge tube.
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This is the skid plate mount and front lower link mounts. This should allow the skid to ramp up onto anything from the link itself. I'll put more bracing across the bottom and will probably run UMHW as a skid (think plastic cutting board).
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These are the front mounts for the upper links. As you can see, plenty of room for adjusting them to change my anti-squat.
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While at SOB X I was talking with a couple of folks about the initial build of a buggy and how little information there is about HOW to do it, i. e. how to design the basic of the chassis so it makes sense and you can get it done so it makes sense. Is there any interest in such an article? Maybe Buggy design 101?
Joe
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