ive got a buildup that includes the 1.8l over at zk...i need to work on the thread over here...lazy i guess...still running stock inners for now...im just carefull...this summer ill upgrade to cromo's..as far as zukfari,..i havnt made any plans yet....

Dude! You should come on out. because the Zukfari is pretty damn fun... Invite some of your ZK friends and come out for a grand ol' time.

-Eric

Quote from: joe dirt on February 07, 2011, 08:03:52 AM

ive got a buildup that includes the 1.8l over at zk...i need to work on the thread over here...lazy i guess...still running stock inners for now...im just carefull...this summer ill upgrade to cromo's..as far as zukfari,..i havnt made any plans yet....

Dude! You should come on out. because the Zukfari is pretty damn fun... Invite some of your ZK friends and come out for a grand ol' time.

-Eric

It has been my plan since last year (when my rig wasn't running) to go this year.  I do not know whether I am going to be able to get off for that WEEK, it's up to whether the project is completed if they build it.  So I will be there if I can get off or am laid off, by then I will probably have to camp just outside of Salt Lake.

Since my skid pan went to the race car (it was too light anyway) I started acquiring a better skid pan.  My nephew rolled his tracker, and he said I could have the skid pan under it for going up the mountain and hauling his rig back home.  His skid pans looked like this.


So I had generic copies made out of 3/16 plate.  (The greasy ones go on the Drone's DD.)


My transfer case output section hangs a little lower than the rest, so I welded the pieces together and create the lower protection for output shaft.  You can see the back mount I made to fasten to the crossbrace I had raised.


I primered it, made mounts for the front, drilled holes in lowered section to hide the bolt head and bolted it in place.



Still have to make the front section, but this is a good start.

Man, I like your work Birdhunter. Someday I've got to make another trip west to meet you guys.

Man, I like your work Birdhunter. Someday I've got to make another trip west to meet you guys.

That's how I feel about you guys too.  I am hoping to meet a few at Moab this year.  When you do head this way, let me know.

Yea' come on out bent! Would like to run some trails with ya'

At the rate things are going here I have the time, just not the money! work has been so slow I've only been averaging 25 to 30 hrs a week when I was used to 50. You know how it goes, the rich get richer, the poor end up payin for it.  Some day I'm hoping to meet up with you all at Moab anyway. I may be living in my camper by then!

Tracker is running good, time to fix a decent hood for it.  The one I scrapped together does work, so now will start to make the good one.
I had some 16 gauge metal (a little heavy) bent to 75 degrees to create the raised section.  (Doesn't show well)


Then I cut slices in them with hacksaw, so they would bend slightly.  First I cut the slices at 4" intervals, but had to make the cuts every 2" to get the bend of hood lines right.


Next was time to clean up the area of hood to be improved.


Supper time and home items to do.  Will have more this afternoon.

Back to the skid pan.  I went down to metal shop and bought a 16x32x3/16" remnant, figured out where a how much I wanted the bends to be, and had a friend bend it.  Then I cut out where the lowered diff would go through the skid pan,


I used the bottom of an old cylinder I was going to throw out to cover the hole.  After welding on wings as stiffeners it is getting closer to what I envisioned.


I had to cut off the section I was going to attach to the bumper, and use tabs instead.  Now mounted under the Tracker.


That is my new Skid Pan.  Last section was $25 and IOU.

Installed strut stiffeners like on Trouble Race Car.  Only took a couple hours.  I used 1/4X2" flat bar stock, and cut them to fit.

I had to bang a slight bend into them to make a better fit.  Fitting them in place.

Welding completed.  They are welded on both sides of the flat stock.

As the Race Car struts seemed to stay in place, These should keep my struts from flexing.

Is that going to stop the base where the towers are welded to the frame from bending?
I think you still need to brace at the top of the towers

Wild

Is that going to stop the base where the towers are welded to the frame from bending?
I think you still need to brace at the top of the towers

Wild

Bracing along the inside like this ties the upper half of the strut tower to the bottom half where it is attached directly to the frame.  In order for the top half of the tower to bend it would need to pull the welds off of the frame.  You could add more to the end if you wanted, but we didn't have any issues with the strut towers bending on Project Trouble.

What I really wanted to do was cut 2" out of the middle of the strut tower.  If you reduce the height, you reduce the leverage.  I am running 1 1/2" spacers that could be removed, and reduce the leverage.  I just didn't have time to do it before MOAB, so probably won't get done.
Drone's Race Car was thrashed pretty hard without signs of the strut towers moving, and I know that my Tracker won't be driven that hard.  If this doesn't work, then back to plan A.

Interesting... that must be where mine bent at. hit a jump a little too hard and now the front end sags. I just added a brace to tie the tops of the towers together and adjust it out to raise the front ride height. I looked everything over but wasn't able to see and kinks in the frame or anything. can you see the damage to the strut towers when this happens or does it just fatigue the metal to where its not rigid?

I have broken welds and frame right where the strut towers
are attached to the frame, that bracing is going to help, I
would like to see how that mod works out after some hard
wheeling

Wild