Making My CJ5 Into A CJ6/II

Must be closer to being able to get to that old D44.

 

John, it's still next door staged up front by the roll up door.......left it there after the last time we missed the connection........it's ready anytime you are........send a GreyHound by and will throw it in the baggage compartment.............Let me know what ya got on your mind and will figure out a way to make it happen.

 

No problem Terry. I'm so fricken busy right now working on the trail and doing as much wheeling as I can. If it's not in your way I'll arrange to pick it up sometime next month when it's convenient for you.

 

Ter when is the Greyhound coming to Fallbrook to pick up this ugly hard top and doors////just kidding . I cut the top up and sold the doors a year ago

 

Remember what I told you about Patience my friend.

I'm cleaning up my shop as we speak......putting all of the wood working tools away and was just now sorting my suspension brackets that I started to build a while back.........my lungs are just about ready for the switch from sawdust to metal. Ugg!

 

The switch from brown buggers to black buggers! Yay!

 

I know , I know , I'm a Slacker...........WoW , where did all the time go? Been pretty hectic around lately from building remodels , to being busy w/Trucks , to watching fires burn.

Been doing a little on my project but not as much as I should.......I guess when I'm building Fixtures and Brackets that's a good thing. Last you seen this build I had cut up a 9" Ford axle housing while trying to squeeze it under the frame rails using some custom built extended YJ type leaf springs from Deaver..........easy when your using full width 1-tons but not so easy when your trying to keep the tread width down to a more reasonable drive-able width and still squeeze the bulky 1-ton components in between the frame rails.........front will be 61" RMS/RMS and rear 60" RMS/ RMS.......

Gave up on the leaf springs , just not enough room between the spindles........this build is now going Links Front & Rear with Fox Coil-over suspension shocks.........Already the packaging of the front links is eating up space........but who said it would be easy?

I had Currie send me up some pieces to assemble a fabricated housing.........still using the 1-ton Large inner C's and Ford hubs up front , Floaters in the back w/ 40 spline axles and Unit Bearing hubs at both ends.

Some Fixture building:





Some Link axle brackets.

Into the Labyrinth between the frame rails where it's always dark and little room exists........Sorry I got carried away!
Yep that is PVC plastic tube........much easier and cheaper to use to for the initial fit.
Upper Link

Lower Link

Both

 

It's hard to tell from the pic, are your control arms triangulated? In the pic they look pretty frame parallel.

 

I call dibs on pvc suspension

 

...and deavers

 

John,

Front will be a 3 link with a Panhard bar.......the lowers have about 15 degrees each ...........Just no room with the engine pan and front drive shaft in the way.....looked at doing a lower cross member to get a better angle but that eats up ground clearance and a place for exhaust pipes.......and really with the Panhard bar locating the axle it makes no difference.

Rear will be a triangulated 4-link with nothing in the way short of the drive shaft in the middle that is no issue..........

Packaging the front will still be a challenge depending on the type of steering I use.........I'm now looking at moving the upper link from the passengers side over to the drivers side and see how that fits........more brackets!

 

I hear you Bud!

 

Back to the Build..........well almost, as I mentioned previously I am going to now Link the Suspension in my CJ6 Project. Which in simpler terms , I'm going to use coils and suspension shocks on all four corners. Sounds easy and may very well be for some folks , but for me it has been a while since I did one and the ones I have done were Drag Cars that travel in a straight line ( most of the time) and are hardly built to do the same things that an off road vehicle might be asked to do. Packaging is the all important equation , whereby your trying to get this bulky 1 ton components into a tight and narrow space, while still asking it to perform like it was a lean , mean Sports Car.

The first thing I needed to do was clear my head, finish whatever else was on my plate and focus on what I needed to do........which included reading up on Suspensions and there is no better subject matter than this exhaustive 800 plus page book called "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" written by the Milliken brothers that covers mostly suspension systems in ways you never thought possible.......and not to say that I'm building a Race Car , cause I'm not , but the terms , applications & Geometry all apply , be it a 300 mph Race Car or a mild passenger car grocery getter the terms and applications still remain compatible.

I found myself going to sleep at night looking at my link Calculator sheets and waking up thinking about terms like Anti-Squat , Roll axis, Ride height, Roll center, Bump & Droop travel, Center of Gravity,Instant centers, pinion angle and on the Front axle where the packaging is really a problem things like Anti-Dive and roll center.

These things may not be important to the average Jeep builder , but if you want a capable rig to take off road that will climb while being stable, these are subjects that are important.

During the past month I've been moving brackets and bars all around within my build. Building new brackets, while trying to get things jammed into spots where they did not want to go , while still keeping all of the needed equations within a reasonable window and at the same time when I did get them in place the placement upset some other item that now had to also be re-addressed.........

I've always found that Building suspension systems is all about compromises. Of course you want it to be right the first time , but the chances of that happening is not really very good.........so what I try to do is built enough adjustment into the suspension so if it reacts oddly I can change a bar height or length and correct what ever it needs.

I'm finally glad to say that this project can finally start to move forward again as I have worked out most of the room issues and will start tack welding brackets in place as I finish them in the next few days.

 

Very cool

 

Anything new here?

 

Just building & modifying link brackets , while trying to fit a square plug in a round hole..........Things are kinda of slow...........I'm doing some of what your doing in as much as re-evaluating things like my suspension , while making room for steering and also trying to lower the vehicle a few inches........and as normal nothing is cooperating!

If I didn't want to drive this on the street I would go full Hydro Steering in a minute and solve the packaging problem of the steering........but for now I'm still planning on using Ram assisted Saginaw steering.

So I get to bore you folks with pictures of the laborious task of building and modifying brackets one by one until they all finally fit. Lots of trail and error coming from a cad drawing to the vehicle and then sometimes a trip down to my friends shop again to cut out a new modified bracket on his laser burning table........were getting there slowly.

 

Wow.

This is gonna be one heck of a Jeep Tarry.
Can't wait to see it complete.

 

those brackets are pretty

 

Pretty cool... Can't wait to see it either