The new truck!

[Petemcc]

Right about time I put something up about the new truck. A few details.

Factory solid front axle surf.
5m 2.8 straight six supra motor converted by suprasurf off here a few years ago.
Body lift
33inch maxxis buckshots
runva winch with mounting plate from jaffa and custom front bar.
rock sliders
front lsd
rear auto lokka
12 inch bob

got it off monaro off here.

couple of pics, not that great will get some more in a few days




It's a little rougher it looks and than what I was expecting but thats what ya get with things when you buy them without looking at them first. All in all I'm pretty happy with the truck.

The first issue that needed sorting was an intermittent fault loosing spark. I thought I had fixed this a couple of times but all of the things I did turned out to be coincidence seems the fault was intermittent! Finally on the weekend I think a couple of mates and I tracked it down. There are a few fuses in the engine bay that could really do with being in the cab somewhere and over time they had corroded quite a bit and got filled with shit.

as seen in the pic below



previous testing showed these fuses to have good continuity and 12 volts with the two we test bits on top of fuse however one that happened to power the ecu only showed about 4 volts on the ecu side. We gave the contacts a bit of a sand and sure enough 12 volts to the ecu and away it went. This time we measured something wrong and fixed it and the truck went so fingers crossed this was the issue. Has started every time since!

Took the truck for a spin yesterday and am pretty pleased with how it went. there are a few issues I want to look at fixing. the first is the fact that the front spring shackles often hit the chassis....




Why would this happen? just shackles too short? Pretty sure they are just factory ones.

Next, it has a front bowl sump on it which is quite close to the front diff so will have to do some flex testing and monitor this. I think it will probably be ok though



front tires rub when turning right (left hand side seems to have way more room which is weird... but I can put up with that for a bit

rear diff has a bit of a wine noticeable on the road but until I get closer till cert time I will just see how it goes. I'm assuming it has a couple of teeth off the pinion but changed the oil and nothing came out. Could be something else but sounds like my old truck did when this happened.

more to come.....

[niblik]

very good buyin all in all guy.. will be a mint truck when done..

top form..

to be honest, if i had the coin at the time, i would have bought it..i know a few guys that thought the same..

keep the updates on this ole girl comin.. good to have her 'home'..

[Petemcc]

have a bit or work a head of me to get it where I want it and to a cert standard. BUt at this stage it is going and I will try to get some use out of it as a trailer queen.

Bloody good to have a truck that isnt your daily driver so you dont have to rely on it to get to work. So with the only pressure the fact of not being able to get out and use it progress may be slow but I will try to keep it wheelable most of the time



cheers Pete

[Petemcc]

Righto guys I need a bit of suspension advice! At this stage I'm not planning on doing rears in the front or falcons in the rear or anything like that. Maybe before cert I might look at it but at this stage I want to get the best out of what I have. Cheap is good!

Lets start with the front...










As you can see there are a few issues. On the up side it looks like the sump clearance should be OK. When compressed the shackles touch the chassis and the shocks bottom out before the bump stops. on the drop side the shocks aren't at full extension. but there is probably more flex in it. I stopped when I realized the shocks were bottoming out or close to it.

How would I be best to fix this? My thoughts where to perhaps get some longer shackles and extend the bump stops or redo the upper shock mounts a bit higher. Will longer shackles help? Thoughts?

now the rear..








When level the springs are quite parabolic and the shackles at what seems to me to be a rather steep angle. When compressed the shocks are no where near full compression and neither are the bump stops (though there is more left in it)

My thoughs where to maybe take a leaf out of the spring pack (would you take the bottom one?) and maybe depending on the height (would rather not) put slightly longer shackles in. After this i plan to check the up travel and extend bump stops to this level then if there is still room lower the top shock mounts a little.

Thoughts?

Also there is some interesting welding on the truck this is an example which is the rear shock mount bracket.



Would Stuff like this pass a cert or would I need to redo it properly, Its mainly non structural stuff like the shock mount bracket and the rock sliders that are welded on.


Cheers,
Pete

[Chopper01]

dont piss about pete and just chuck some rears up front , I can help you with the steering arm issues it will not be certifable but will still work mint and you will get alot better flex in the front not to say your aproach angle will be a hell of alot better , take out a coupple of leafs and bring the bump stops down to stop anything hitting , there is not a hell of a lot you can you can do with the back unless you want to throw in some drop shackles but I would say you need to do the coon converson and it will only cost you a coupple hundy and you will have more flex than you will know what to do with , I can also help you out on that also , you can beat around the bush all day trying to get good flex out of that or just do the job right the first time

cheers chop

[niblik]

well bud, unfortunately i'd be thinkin a certifier would be iffy on passing those those welds, if not a 'no' outright. i'd redo now as peace of mind rather than resit.

leaf packs.

front.. is the steering clearing all that it passes when on max artic? may have to do cross over.. when ya go swappin to falcon rears and rears up front, it'll definitely need to be done. longer shackles would fix the chassis clearing issues me thinks.. just quickly make up a couple of bits of flat to suit for one side and flex up to see.. only a couple of holes and two bits of flat bar but makes good sense to trial.. bumpstop adjustment to save shocks is a great move.

rear.. play round with the leaf packs. remove a leaf or two and get the thing so the springs sit just above flat.. problem with removing too many though is ya get rear axle tramp when ya gun it, so a fine line of oober flex and no flex applies.. also ya gotta think of when ya load it up to go campin/long trips, so there'll be extra weight in there. longer shackles on the rear would create a bit more flex/drop. from memory, the rear shackle should sit at about a 45 degree angle??

while i was writing this, chop chimed in, and for the amount of work i've mentioned, it'd be a pity to do and then redo to go coon styles.. so as choppa said, go there now.

trust me. this is from someone who had a couple of different versions and plans. go there straight away. be cheaper in the long run..

[bigstu]

Ive got a pair of 6 pack coon leaves if you want them, theyl need drilled to suit but less than $20 to get done at an engineers
make me an offer was guna put them on trademe.

[J_Dub]

im saving my pennys for hi-steer and ruf, the way i see it its something i wana do right once and its a mod that does 4 things in 1 go, approach angle, alot more flex, makes your car feel safe on-road and gets steering gear up out of harms way.
Not sure about the rear yet, but with a locker, huge flex isnt a must

[Petemcc]

Right cheers for that guys. Sounds like the go no point avoiding the inevitable i suppose haha! But will be a few months away as I have a few other commitments to sort out. At this stage I might just extend those front bump stops a bit to watch I don't lunch the shocks. Will snap up those coons too stu, will send you a pm soon.

Cheers Pete