Isuzu MU Solid Axle Swap - Day 8 - Getting there...slowly :?

[SupraLux]

Well, had to get some engineering work done for a couple of things reasonably fundamental to the truck actually going, and going around corners.

The driveshaft and steering

For steering, I have initially decided to go with the most simple option, which I believe should be certifiable,... but I don't have $500ish to throw at a crossover Y arm from OZ so I've made one.

This is from an idea throw at me by Mike (SupraSurf) who saw it used on a Cruiser somewhere up north. Basically is uses 4 longer studs, machined from high-tensile bolts and a spare steering arm flipped on top of the existing one, all locked together by the usual cone washers and 4 machined spacers to separate them.



another angle:


Now all I need is the right balljoint for the tierod - I have used the rod off a 40-series cruiser which is almost the perfect length, but I need to somehow fit an Isuzu balljoint to the steering box end... but Isuzu balljoints have a threaded sleeve and the tierod for Toys is also a threaded sleeve of considerably different size... I'm going ball joint shopping tomorrow Apparently a Ford F250 one might do, I'm looking forward to looking through boxes for hours

The next thing was the driveshaft. As the truck is going to be lifted more in the bum, I need a pretty high angle driveshaft so opted to use a double-cardan on the gearbox output to sort that, and I need a Hilux UJ at the diff end for the Hilux diff... well... starting to sound like a Hilux front driveshaft, just a bit longer... easy, I have a couple of those - well, one is in my hilux... so damn, I only really have one.

Enter the miracle! Just Cruisers (beside Lineside Automotive) had a broken driveshaft with a good double cardan which he couldn't sell me, but he could swap it for beer I love buying stuff with beer... Thanks Just Cruisers.

So, armed with that and an old rear driveshaft I went to my trusty engineer and had it 'glued together' in accrodance with proper driveshaft gluing rules, of course - there are a lot of requirements and things relating to driveshafts as I have found out.

Here they are side by side:


And the adaptor to mate the driveshaft to the gearbox output:


I'm hoping to get that bolted up tomorrow, and then with the draglink sorted I can drive it No brakes... but hey, I said it once and I'll say it again... I don't need no stinkin brakes

Steve

[wopass]

same cheap hi-steer arm as my cruiser wonder if he was talkin bout mine , havent broken mine yet, the link rod to it turned into a banana when winching with the wheels caught at a funny angle to the point where the wire rope broke and the over turned arm and associated longer studs,spacers etc havent budged so im gonna say its "strong as F#@K" . be good to see you finished and diggin holes mate

[SupraSurf]

If you want to make the flip arm setup a bit stronger then get rid of the spacers and use nuts to lock the bottom arm down, then flip the top arm on with more nuts.

[LT1-62]

Looks good Steve. Excuse the ignorance but why leave the old steering arm on?

[wopass]

steering link rod to top arm
drag link rod to bottom arm

if its the same as mine that is.... or is it correct me if im wrong

[SupraLux]

It might have been your one he was talking about... I think it will be pretty good although I doubt 4 extra nuts will make it any stronger - its all locked together and can't move because of all the cone washers. Besides, the studs are only threaded down enough for the top nuts - which makes the studs stronger.

Oh, Matt... The bottom arm is for the tie rod to the other hub, the top one is to the steering box.

I spent an hour going through a huge stock of tie rod ends to find one I can use but the Isuzu taper is F*&king huge compared to most other ones and their ends are internal thread not external, so I may have to have a new taper fitted to the pitman arm (if I can get it off ) to suit the Hilux/Cruiser taper.

I'm away to Queenstown tomorrow, so I have to leave it for a week or so... which is gutting me. I just want to get it running now...

Steve

[wopass]

for my double arms i used some grade 12.10 allen bolts at 10 buks each with a plate inbetween,washers on top of the cones and pulled it down(to the correct crush) hard, gave me a bit more confidence in it knowing that you cant get much stronger bolts, seems to be good to
there's a pic of it in my album if you wanna have a look

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules ... _photo.php

not a very good pic but you get the drift, much the same as yours,except i have the damper hooked to the top rod and my top arm has a bit of a tweak down so it clears the underside of the engine/pto shaft when suspension is at full compression

[De-Ranged]

Hi Steve, if your interested, I'm doing up another couple of sets of high steer X over arms (I did the ones for tom) I'm making them a lot shorter and they will fit with out spacers this time
Work willing and with a bit of luck I should have them finished in a couple of weeks
As for cost, I'll do you a trade I've still got a bit of a list of stuff I need for my Lemon

Cheers Reece

[SupraLux]

Well, I'm willing to trail-test a set for you, but yeah... they need to be a bit shorter, and would prefer if they had their own machined kingpin seats rather than cut-off ones, so they are the exact length of a factory one.

Also would be keen to see it (not sure if they were on Toms - didn't look too closely) recessed into the arm by a good 5 or 6mm, tight fit and high tensile cap-screwed in.

Now I've got the fussy details out of the way, what do you need?

Steve

[De-Ranged]

thats a good idea I never thought of recessing the kingpin in (toms ones I machined the arm off the top of a couple of standard arms and bolted them on with a couple of 8mm cap screws) Thanks for that

As for dimensions:
Length
Center kingpin to center tie-rod bolt std 180mm, mine 120mm
Hight
From base of arm to tie-rod center std -75mm, mine 85mm with the X drag link being turned in and seated at 10degrees up angle and a bit higher than the tie-rod seat

They are made to take a standard lux steering ball joint, not cruiser ones (think late model lux has bigger ones too ) so the standard tie-rod can be used

I'm getting the kingpins turned up (too expensive on milling cutters doing it the other way ) and I'll recess them in I'm also making a set of shim's to adjust the kingpin down (even tho I machined toms kinpins to within 0.1mm of there standard height, they still came up short )

As for the steering geometry, its exactly the same as standard.

as for my wish list heres whats left on the to do/get list
-rear disc brakes (not high priority) not certain if its worth it
-shocks front and rear, not certain on length yet
-winch, lights etc
-LPG for the 5m
-new dash and gauges
When I get this finished and start back onto the rover there is gona be a huge list of goodys
If your keen give me a call and we can talk projects
027 541 8794

Cheers Reece

[Jafa]

Well done Steve, jeez you are nearly ready to drive yours!, fark mines still a bare chassis with no end in near site , aint even thought about front suspension and steering yet .
damn that MU looks good on those big ole 'mexes, I luv it!
I still think if its gonna look that beasty it shuld be a HiMuzuLEXILux!

[hiriklux]

nice set of maxi track springs on there steve wish i had a pair just like it rik

[tomsoffroad]

De-Ranged
Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 2:46 pm

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thats a good idea I never thought of recessing the kingpin in (toms ones I machined the arm off the top of a couple of standard arms and bolted them on with a couple of 8mm cap screws) Thanks for that

:pale: Oh god I'm going to die!!!!!

[SupraLux]

A few replies in one here... Reece, I'll give you a call about the arms... they sound good... I always prefer the MK2 version of things like that

Tom, thanks for being the guinea pig

Jafa... mate yours makes mine look like a rough-ass bush-fab mess... Thats one helluva impressive piece of kit you are assembling... I might steal the rear setup idea and throw the leaf idea away on the MU... then stage two, do something similar in the front... I like it.

And Rik... they are rears, not fronts... I can't get the fronts, but I can get several sets of rears - which is, as I said, just what you really need

Steve

[De-Ranged]

Don't panic Tom... its not a biggy, the tie-rod ball joint bolt is the weak link (you've got 5 times more bolt steel holding the steering arm down than the tie-rod bolt) and how many balljoints have you heard of going?
Heres a shortened bit of engineering theory, would you beleave the bolt dosn't anchor the two bits of steel from moving, its main purpose is to provide preasure to cause friction between the surfaces and thats what keeps it there... if they come loose then the bolts themselves take the load and thats where Steve's counter sunk kingpin idea works, trust me I think I know what I'm doing
If your really worried whip them off and I'll do a set of counter sunk kingpins for your ones as well

Cheer Reece

[tomsoffroad]

De-Ranged
Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 9:19 pm

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Don't panic Tom... its not a biggy, the tie-rod ball joint bolt is the weak link (you've got 5 times more bolt steel holding the steering arm down than the tie-rod bolt) and how many balljoints have you heard of going?
Heres a shortened bit of engineering theory, would you beleave the bolt dosn't anchor the two bits of steel from moving, its main purpose is to provide preasure to cause friction between the surfaces and thats what keeps it there... if they come loose then the bolts themselves take the load and thats where Steve's counter sunk kingpin idea works, trust me I think I know what I'm doing
If your really worried whip them off and I'll do a set of counter sunk kingpins for your ones as well

Cheer Reece

Reece, I'm not even remotely worried
I've given those arms absolute death and they are still fine.
Even if the bolt holding the king pin did break the king pin can't move anyway.

Dude you've made a good job of them and I will recommend them to anyone.

Cheers Thomas

[De-Ranged]

Cheers Tom, glad to hear your happy

Oh and Steve I don't think I've said it yet but massive work on the MU I don't think its going to be a "Mother's Utility" any longer

Cheers Reece

[tomsoffroad]

Oh and Steve I don't think I've said it yet but massive work on the MU I don't think its going to be a "Mother's Utility" any longer

No no........ its....................


Mad Ummm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hehe, everyone loves a smartass :cheers:

[mumad]

Hey steve, could you please put up some measurements for that gearbox mount you had made, Maybe a pic of it in place. Am thinking about making one for my truck. Thanks.

[DieselBoy]

So how's the progress??
Its been quiet for a month or so!!!!!

[SupraLux]

Yeah, between being sick and other jobs it's kinda just sat idle. It is running and I've driven it around the yard a bit but its just not quite ready to roll.

Theres a lot of tidying up to do, and shocks to be installed... and tyres... they arrived this morning

36" Simexes which should give road useability like my 35"s never had, plus reasonable off-road ability.

Hopefully I will get the thing finished in the next couple of weeks, I'm hoping to 'stress test' everything in a couple of weekends time, and take it up to Wellington mid-september for a play since my wife has to go up for work.

Also need to machine up a new knuckle steering arm as the MU pitman arm is too short so I don't get enough steering with the long hilux one on the knuckle.

So, as usual... watch this space

Steve