Bighorn Build

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Hi Guys,
I just recently bought a Gen2 Bighorn with the intention of building a backyard toy out of it and playing in my friends forestry block and swamp.

Here it is when I got it..:




So a friend and I decided to make some clearance for the tyres:







I know the tyres are bald but i bought the rims on saturday morning and i wanted to mock up how it was going to sit, whick also could be a failure due to the fact im thinking about running a set of 40" tyres now, meh all good..

So on my next days off, Im going to remove the chassis just behind the panhard rod, and the front it being cut off just in front of the steering box.

Oh and i need to replace the turbo...
thats all for now.. doing more tomorrow.

[shortylux]

It seems they clear now. Good work.

I made a similar chop "because the rear doors had rust"

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Nice, lol, i found a little rust in the very rear of the chassis above the tow bar, all good im slicing that off too, plus another 40cm .

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lifted the front this morning about 2.5 inches. Was going to do a ball joint flip as well but i got sidetracked.. SO next time i have off I will do that and whip off the sway bars. I still need to get the turbo off and fixed using a TD05 core in preperation for the big boost

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this is after the lift...
One of the lads at work was keen to see her..
Now Ive sorted that out, hopefully in swapping sum bits for some body lift blocks.
Time for 4 inches of lift and i will see how big i can go in the tyre department.

[Petemcc]

You might want to watch big tyres on it. From memory the bighorns have weak cvs and guys don't seem to want to run much more than 33s on them. You might be better to stick to 33s or 35s and see if you can't tuck up some of the bits underneath and shave the rear diff housing etc to get more clearance.

Cheers,
Pete

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thanks pete..
It has 35's atm, although they are a touch bald.. Im not to phased about breaking some cv's for now but im looking at doing a 4 link front eventually.
Im wanting to run some 37.5" tractor tyres to get sum swamp action.

oh and you would actually be amazed at how tucked things are under these things!! I was... loads better than my hilux..

[zukmeista]

Tierods are a problem, they tend to form an 'S' shape with big tyres.

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good to know... thanks...

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Right I decided to remove the sway bars to see how much travel i could get out of this thing...





the rock is 24 inches, reached full compression on my right shock and maximum extension on my left.

Decided i needed to do something about it..



Just a comparison next to my slightly lifted surf...





Watertight now



shortened the chassis a little

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Right, after removing the bumpstops and still not being able to add any significant travel i decided to get a little more serious...

1st, Main hoop:




2nd, Top hoop:


3rd, Bottom hoop with the help of my little princess




Then good bye chassis.... No more clearance issue..


Ive gotten further, added more braces etc, almost ready for gussets but i start back at work tommorow oh well need to do some more overtime to pay for everything.

Buying some new tyres monday, (well a pair for now) gonna try the new GT KOMODO Extremes in a 315x75r16. They look good, hope they are the goods

Ive done nothing about the turbo yet, but im still looking at the compound setup, 50psi for the win.

[Dirtydog]

While your at it you might aswell beef up those arms lol

Looking better allready, only thing i dont like about bighorns are there fat arses lol

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lol, new arms are already on the way, just waiting for tubing and heim joints from USA, going to use all the stock stuff till the new bits arrive.. Will be a long time till i can go wheeling, heaps of other bits i want done first.
Then keen to find a suitable front end, dont even know where to start

[Dirtydog]

I think taking the bonnet, and engine bay away would be a good start, maybe custom make it like on comp trucks?

[mud_slinger]

factory cv's are pretty strong, the only factory ones i have managed to destroy have been the ones that have had ripped boots and crap has got in, i havent managed to snap a cv shaft yet thats been factory. aftermarket thats a different story

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factory cv's are pretty strong, the only factory ones i have managed to destroy have been the ones that have had ripped boots and crap has got in, i havent managed to snap a cv shaft yet thats been factory. aftermarket thats a different story

Good to know, loads of boost mite make it a bit of a different story but we will soon see.. But im not to worried.

I think taking the bonnet, and engine bay away would be a good start, maybe custom make it like on comp trucks?

Yeah a front chop is on the cards, i was meaning the diff...

[Suza]

Tyre size as already said will be an issue for your front end. I found on my Bighorn that as soon as I went to 33's I broke tie rods on just about every trip, bent steering idlers very regularly and did C.V's.
Mine had a 50mm lift and the ball joint flip on 31's I never broke anything
I did some research on a couple of Aussie sites and they all recommended that lowering the front diff if you lifted the front suspension more than 35mm was needed this decreased the angle that was being applied across the front end.
I was getting organised to do this when instead I went to a safari so I can't help much more

[ChurchurDan]

From experience with a lifted MU with a balljoint flip the inner cv's run out of travel at full droop and it was pulling the outer cv out of the hub. A lowered diff fixed it.

[Dirtydog]

What ratios are the diff in these?

[mud_slinger]

From experience with a lifted MU with a balljoint flip the inner cv's run out of travel at full droop and it was pulling the outer cv out of the hub. A lowered diff fixed it.

if it was pulling the cv out of the hub then the circlip on the end of the cv shaft wasnt present. on my mu i have not had any steering issues nor cv issues apart from a weak after market cv and ripped cv boots causing failure

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Hmm, spent the day at work thinking about all this so im going to lower the diff, and just see how it goes.. If it breaks i hope my friends are not to far away.
Im still not 100% what front axle to use when i do the SAS as i would keep the stock rear and apparently ratios are not that plentiful in the isuzu world.

[Dirtydog]

Aparently these are 4.3 or 4.5 to 1.

only thing i know of that have 4.3s is a hilux

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yeah, some cruisers have oddball ratios like that.
Other options are swap both diffs or bite the bullet and buy 5.29's

but most importantly, right now is to get more of this cage done and gusset the hell out of it.

[Dirtydog]

Id just keep factory diff in it till it doesnt work anymore lol, then look at SAS, you never know what will be available later on.

[ChurchurDan]

From experience with a lifted MU with a balljoint flip the inner cv's run out of travel at full droop and it was pulling the outer cv out of the hub. A lowered diff fixed it.

if it was pulling the cv out of the hub then the circlip on the end of the cv shaft wasnt present. on my mu i have not had any steering issues nor cv issues apart from a weak after market cv and ripped cv boots causing failure

It was breaking the circlips in the hub and bending the circlip inside the inner cv. It took a long time to figure what the actual problem was. When it pulled the cv out it is only a few mm but it would then get water in there and root the wheel bearings and the needle roller bearings inside the hub. From memory we lowered the diff about 30mm and had to clearance the diff brackets for the drag link. This particular MU has 2 inch body and suspension lift and ball joint flip. It has 33's and gets jumped and thrashed bloody hard. It has not broken a cv yet and has only rooted 1 tie rod in 2 years of abuse. It also has factory LSD's in both ends and the front one acts like an auto locker.

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Thats what I love to hear!!!

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UPDATE:Right, ive fitted the rear tyres and made dummy top spring hats in the bottom hoop of the cage so sort the spring length out before i get new springs made.
PROBLEM THE 1ST: The new tyres are 3 inches taller than the old ones so i can tell how much higher the rear is until my 2 front tyres arrive..

PROBLEM THE 2ND: Cant find someone to sell me the big ass heim joint i need for the top diff mount..

So on hold for a couple days but im heading out wheeling on sunday with a mate who has a tractor tyred patrol.. Good times

[shortylux]

Not sure how big arse your heim needs to be but saeco have some. Not cheap though.

[Dirtydog]

just put one tyre on front and back, put it on blocks at that height then do other side, you should be able to get a good idea of ride height off that.

otherwise get 4 jack stands or blocks the same height and put them under axles etc to find height difference

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UPDATED:Got it sitting under its own weight now, no more axle stands and its sitting pretty sweet..



Had a bit of a play getting the shocks mounted and bouncing up and down on it while adjusting the shock stiffness, pretty cool.



Back to work tomorrow, so next days off will be properly welding in every joint and more gussets (never ending LOL)
Still need to get the turbo off and modified.. Lazy lol..