lil bit of tinkering

[Toolman]

Been busy building stuff here around the house. My Folks are coming into town for the holidays, and I'm not sure when it's my turn to baby sit .I think I'm stuck in town for while though.
When are you heading out there ?

[aw12345]

Most likely 29 th the Buttes Jan 1 st the Hammers

[Toolman]

UHHH, I keep thinking about this little buggy. Did you put the front end differential together yet ? I figured out a way (in theory and heard mention of it) to make a very cheap air selectable locker using the Ford OEM parts.
Any way, someone launched a pinball off into my head some time ago, oh.... maybe 3 years ago.. Was said that you can use a spool or weld the gears on a 99-04 super duty front axle, and use the factory hub lock outs as your lockers. If you were to connect them independently from each other on an ARB style set of actuators 1 for drivers 1 for passengers side you would then be able to control the front wheels independently. I know I know it's probably not a strong idea but cheap. With 1 actuator you can connect them both together so that you could disengage the front in tight turns.. I'd like to be able to control each front wheel, thus keeping traction and drive to at least one front tire. You may already know this and it could be old news but I'd like to see this theory at work.

[aw12345]

Idea is good, I kinda like strong and very dependable. My free time is for wheelin or fabbing in the garage, not for wrenching on the trail if I can help it

[aw12345]

Was in a tinkering mood the last couple of days

Once in awhile I have actually a day where my welds look have way decent :p


gusset2 by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

Fun stuff
Doubled the frame of my Jeep for extra strength.


gusset2 (4) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

Gusset business done.


gusset2 (1) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

300 miles since new, those darn parking lots at the desert mall are rough on tires


gusset2 (3) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

Looking at these two always fills my heart with joy


gusset2 (2) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

Since I have been a bit of a tinkering mood I want to see how this works out. Have been thinking about it for quite some time. So time to see if I can girdle the front diff cover. Darn 2 bolts on the long axle tube side have come loose several times, meaning something is flexing/ moving. So these are the lil templates for the curb side


girdle (3) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr


girdle (1) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr


girdle (2) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr.

Curious to if when this is welded on if all the cover bolts start working loose. If so then the driver side will get a brace too.

Moving along


girdle by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

One side done, now I need to wheel the snot out of it to see if my assumption is right.
Might tie the other side together this weekend


girdle1 by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

[aw12345]

Other side girdled


gusset3 by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

[aw12345]

Started making another piece of the puzzle for my buggy. Need to add a piece, but either way diff cover will not peel anymore.


diff cover by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

[daniel_buck]

ahh, CAD work. Cardboard Aided Design

[aw12345]

ahh, CAD work. Cardboard Aided Design

Yeah buddy

Puttering along, front axle steering business is nearing completion


diffcover1 by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

[aw12345]

This pretty much wraps up the frontend steering business. On to plumbing full hydro, making a steering fluid reservoir and moving the radiator to the rear of the buggy. Want that space for the winch


diff cover3 by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

Gonna be fun running 2 pipes for the coolant and the exhaust to the rear

[Kodiak Spirit]

That sounds neat, I have often thought of putting the battery and the radiator in the rear, get it outta the heat up front, have more room for a two battery setup. Are you still gonna have a fan in the engine compartment to move air? I dunno, just seems like it might get hot with no flow.

[aw12345]

Might run a fan for the trans cooler, no need to run that back. Engine compartment will be pretty much open so heat dissipation should not be a problem

[aw12345]

Fixed my trailer and gave the Jeep a little love tierod was bend 1/2" back and 1/2" up not bad for all the abuse it has seen in the last 2.5 years. One of the power steering hoses to the ram leaks a bit so I'll either shorten it an inch or get a new hose and the 2 high misalignment heims for the drag link are worn out need to order 2 new ones for that. Other than that the Jeep is as good as it ever was.
Front driveshaft is seriously barber poled but guess what zero run out. The splines are a lil loose but that's fine for now.
So far still happy with my girdle job. Didn't spit gear oil, compressor didn't run all day so that's way cool

[aw12345]

Started to do a bit more tinkering on my never ending tinker project
Farted around with the grille.
Some bondo and a hole for the winch cable to come through and that part is as it should be.


tinkertoy grille (2) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr.

Found a nice reservoir for the steering


tinkertoy grille (1) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

Going to try and get the radiator mounted in the rear tonight so I can get some tube and start running that to the back tomorrow.

Have been contemplating where to stick the radiator and this is going to be it's final location.
Had the tubes/hoses facing forward, but after some further contemplation decided that hot coolant spraying down my neck didn't sound all that appealing. Hoses fail, so flipped it around and that is how it's going to be.


radiator by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

Darn thing is dangling in the wind, yeehaw


radiator1 (2) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr


radiator1 (1) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

Not unhappy with today's progress


radiator2 (2) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr


radiator2 (1) by aartjestaartje, on Flickr

[daniel_buck]

Nice! Looks like there's not a whole lot left until the jungle gym is driving around?

How are you going to route the coolant hoses all the way back to the motor? Using rubber hose? or pipe?