rattle_snake's random shop projects v0.1

[rattle_snake]

With spacer height determined made some removable spacers. This allows them to be modified without removing spring plate and U bolts.

Bump stop is not centered to current axle location so landing pad is offset.


Then on to more sheet metal mods to figure out where front bumps need to be. Scribbled lines with sharpy until I had something I liked.


This allows the existing lip to be retained. close the gap, weld, repeat.


Needed a small scab to complete compound curve, easy enough?


Skipped filler, painted. Doesn't look factory but came out OK. Front bumper still needs to be modified to look better.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Fender mod looks good, Justin. Still matches the "lines".

Whats the plan for the front bumper, just a tuck? Or a "gull-wing" type mod?

 

[rattle_snake]

Man, that old truck has progressed nicely! I would say your vision from the beginning has been spot on...............well done!

Thanks Zip. It's moving along now. Almost ready for maiden trail voyage once tires won't crush sheet metal.

^^Agreed. X2

Thanks Mike.

Fender mod looks good, Justin. Still matches the "lines".

Whats the plan for the front bumper, just a tuck? Or a "gull-wing" type mod?

Not sure on front bumper. I like the look of stock but after cutting the fenders it is too tall on the ends. So might mod it to work with winch and taper ends, reinforce as needed.
Plan B is to make a period correct looking winch bumper to match the rear bumper. M8274

 

[OutlawDrifter]

As much as I like a stock chrome bumper on an old Ford, I vote custom made winch bumper. I wish I had a pic of the one on my Uncle Joe's old Ford. It was a black pickup with the crazy orange fade paint like you see on the Broncos. He carried a slide in camper like your setup and had a massive front winch bumper made out of diamond plate material.

 

[C91x]

You know Justin... you could have saved so much time by just taking it out to the trail and letting the tires self clearance

Its all coming together really nice. Between your build and a guy up here in my neck of the woods with a quad cab dent side, i'm really starting to want one of these old trucks.

 

[MP&C]

Nice mod on the front fender!!

 

[rattle_snake]

You know Justin... you could have saved so much time by just taking it out to the trail and letting the tires self clearance

Its all coming together really nice. Between your build and a guy up here in my neck of the woods with a quad cab dent side, i'm really starting to want one of these old trucks.

haha yes but trail clearancing usually leaves amess to cutt off when you get home. Glad I'm feeding the addiction, but don't you already have a old ford? Speaking of, how is that F1 project coming? close to finished yet?

Nice mod on the front fender!!

Thanks Robert. Continuing to learn things as I look back on these projects. Trying to tie curved pieces together to get a flat seam results in bends and distortions in other places. Some times things can be mitigate by moving a seam or working the pieces beforehand. But it only seems obvious after I'm done welding. It is much less work to get a 90% good enough result for a old truck to be driven offroad. I'm beginning to appreciate more what it takes to get a high quality result to go under a high end paint job.

 

[rattle_snake]

​With fender mods part 2 done I moved the axle back as far as I could. Only has about 5/8" of thread left on radius arm rod ends. Will need to cut tube and weld on new threaded inserts to go any shorter. Going to live with what I have for now.

Contemplating different solutions for front axle bump stop extensions. Already has 3" extensions between bump and engine cross member. I had set gap to 4" given stop compression and 5" theoretical up travel. With side flex the tire is stuffed with 2+" of gap remaining. So to protect fender gap needs to be reduced and adjustable. Pass side has track bar bolt to deal with, so lower extension will need to be removable. Ideally I would not want an upper extension but just trying to get something working for now. Going to tap threads in existing bump plates.

The limitation on up travel due to bump stop/sheet metal are more than I had planned, especially in side flex situation. I went to extra effort to compact engine cross member and steering to maximize axle up travel. Turns out this was unnecessary as sheet metal and tire size is limit instead. Same story on rear end, can't really utilized the margin I worked so hard for.

That said I will eventually have to pull motor to deal with oil leak (rear main?). When it is out I will modify engine cross member to allow engine to sit down about 1" lower. Can added gussets on bottom without impacting up travel.

But for now focus will be on getting it trail worthy. Would like to get a spare wheel/tire setup. The used tires I have are rough, guess I need to get out my wallet and buy a new set. What exactly is the dilemma. I seem to be stuck on Toyo MTs. Then I have spare and can sell the others.​

 

[C91x]

haha yes but trail clearancing usually leaves amess to cutt off when you get home. Glad I'm feeding the addiction, but don't you already have a old ford? Speaking of, how is that F1 project coming? close to finished yet?

Sadly its waiting for me to finish my new shop. My signature line is from when I first joined. Before I sold my last place I had almost finished the chassis, just needed brake lines, fuel lines, and box in the engine and coilover mounts. I ended up putting it back together just to move and its been sitting ever since Only attention it has received in the last 4 years was me dieting the engine and trans harness. New shop is 99% complete so its going to get some love soon.

Here are the pics from the home listing that I sold.

 

[nsula_country]

EDIT.

Live in shop?

CT

 

[rattle_snake]

No not yet. She lets me sleep in the house.

 

[rattle_snake]

Played around with a bunch of scraps until I came up with a removable and adjustable lower bump spacer. Can cut short welds and replace the chunk of pipe with different length to adjust height.


Passenger side drove the removability aspect so the track bar bolt can be removed.


At ride the bump gap is now only 2" even though tire to fender gap is about 8". Will see how this works out and adjust from there.


Also installed 1/2" thick wheel spacers on the rear axle. This will center tire in rear wheel well better and prevent rubbing inside sidewall.

 

[Yarz]

Passenger side drove the removability aspect so the track bar bolt can be removed.

Was there no room to install the bolt the other direction? Even if you turned the tires to get the tie rod at it's farthest forward point?

I'm assuming you looked at this, but with my luck, I'd do all the work and then realize there was an easier way..

 

[zmotorsports]

Bumpstop fine tuning is a tedious task Justin, as I'm sure you are aware of, but a very rewarding one when everything works perfectly.

One common misconception is when people measure the distance directly at the bumpstop and compare that measurement to the wheel opening. While they are directly related they are usually not the same dimension. Mine for example has 4.25" of uptravel directly at the front bumpstops but the tire is just over 7 inches from the underside of the fender. If I set my true bumpstop to allow 7" of uptravel I'd rip the front fender off. The front tire has the ability to be stuffed up under the fender and I can barely get the tip of my finger between the tire and the nearest interference point but that is with the opposite side dropped clear out. As the axle pivots on the attachment points and one side droops out and the other side is at full stuff, the tire can move much more than just the bumpstop clearance.

I'm sure this is not news to you but thought it worth mentioning as I am certain there are some following along on your thread that are not familiar with setting up bumpstops. Most people in our Jeep clubs just simply bolt on the bumpstop spacers that came with their kit and call it good. They look at me like I'm speaking a foreign tongue when I tell them they can do better with a little time and effort. I also get criticism over my Jeep for running the OEM fenders but I get a good deal of flex out of my configuration even with the OEM fenders but it took some time tweaking things.

Great job and looking forward to seeing more action photos of it out on the trail.

 

[rattle_snake]

Was there no room to install the bolt the other direction? Even if you turned the tires to get the tie rod at it's farthest forward point?

I'm assuming you looked at this, but with my luck, I'd do all the work and then realize there was an easier way..

Hey Yarz, thanks for stopping in to ask. Yes the bolt can be installed the other way, but clearance is tight from bolt head to bump stop itself, even before I moved axle back all the way. And also as you have pointed out the tie rod blocks. The other main reasons to make it removable is to allow it to be tuned/modified off the vehicle, like the rear axle bump stop spacer.
As soon as I posted this a member on another forum also provided some feedback with another method so I am glad I did not weld a bunch of stuff on it. More on that below.

Bumpstop fine tuning is a tedious task Justin, as I'm sure you are aware of, but a very rewarding one when everything works perfectly.

One common misconception is when people measure the distance directly at the bumpstop and compare that measurement to the wheel opening. While they are directly related they are usually not the same dimension. Mine for example has 4.25" of uptravel directly at the front bumpstops but the tire is just over 7 inches from the underside of the fender. If I set my true bumpstop to allow 7" of uptravel I'd rip the front fender off. The front tire has the ability to be stuffed up under the fender and I can barely get the tip of my finger between the tire and the nearest interference point but that is with the opposite side dropped clear out. As the axle pivots on the attachment points and one side droops out and the other side is at full stuff, the tire can move much more than just the bumpstop clearance.

I'm sure this is not news to you but thought it worth mentioning as I am certain there are some following along on your thread that are not familiar with setting up bumpstops. Most people in our Jeep clubs just simply bolt on the bumpstop spacers that came with their kit and call it good. They look at me like I'm speaking a foreign tongue when I tell them they can do better with a little time and effort. I also get criticism over my Jeep for running the OEM fenders but I get a good deal of flex out of my configuration even with the OEM fenders but it took some time tweaking things.

Great job and looking forward to seeing more action photos of it out on the trail.

Hi Mike, thanks for sharing the reasoning, I'll expand a bit more for others as well.
Like a seesaw even if height is fixed, one end is affected by the others position. Track bar is more complicated as there are 2 pivot points, but concept is same.
The ratio of bump gap to tire gap is mainly dependent on bump position along axle axis. Your JK I assume has bump inside coil spring that is located pretty far to the end, this is good. Your ratio is 7/4.25.

Currently on my truck the bump locations are father inboard, on the frame and axle is quite wide 84" @ outside of tire. This results in a poor ratio, around 8/2. So someone smarter than me suggested to move the bumps out farther. If bumps are redesigned to contact radius arm brackets they can move 5" out. So lets do the math to see what improvement could be had, before doing any work. We all love math.
Pivot is at 24", down travel 7", shock is 6" from pivot. This yields axle angle of about 12*, so moving 5" out gains 1" of up travel.
Downside is when bump contacts it will want to rotate axle, have to move limit strap, grease zerks and so on. So for now going to live with it and progress on other items.

 

[zmotorsports]

The see-saw analogy is perfect Justin. I couldn't explain it the way I wanted to but that nailed it. And yes, the spring position along the axle will affect articulation greatly so as you mentioned yours being mounted more inboard will have a greater separation specification.

 

[rattle_snake]

Completed some preventative maintenance on Mrs. rattle_snakes horse trailer. 4 new tires, was surprised to see tread worn down on trailer tire. Usually they fail from tread separation long before many mile can be put on them. One failed a year ago so had one fairly new tire so it become the new spare. Old spare was from 2010. I don't typically swap out spares for age unless it is a trailer as probability of having to use it is higher.
Also pulled all the brake drums and inspected bearings/seals/shoes. I did this after we first bought it used, all spindle nuts were quite loose. All is still OK now so a clean up and some fresh grease.

Axle maintenance is much less on this compared to boat trailer that gets submerged when really hot. Have to check it every other year and usually find something that needs attention. I have yet to have an issue on the road but that is why it's called 'preventative'.

That said the boat is due for axle check and engine/drive oil change.

 

[zmotorsports]

I agree about axle maintenance Justin. Back when we were snowmobiling, duning and racing I would go through my trailer axles every 3-4 years and most of my clients would have me do the same to theirs. However, on the few boats that I worked on for clients I was doing their trailer axle maintenance annually.

 

[Monza Harry]

.......
As soon as I posted this a member on another forum also provided some feedback with another method so I am glad I did not weld a bunch of stuff on it. More on that below.

Hi Mike, thanks for sharing the reasoning, I'll expand a bit more for others as well.
Like a seesaw even if height is fixed, one end is affected by the others position. Track bar is more complicated as there are 2 pivot points, but concept is same.
The ratio of bump gap to tire gap is mainly dependent on bump position along axle axis. Your JK I assume has bump inside coil spring that is located pretty far to the end, this is good. Your ratio is 7/4.25.

Currently on my truck the bump locations are father inboard, on the frame and axle is quite wide 84" @ outside of tire. This results in a poor ratio, around 8/2. ... suggested to move the bumps out farther. If bumps ... radius arm brackets they can move 5" out. So lets do the math to see what improvement could be had, before doing any work. We all love math. [Math is my Friend! He gets me in all kinds of $#!+]
... 1" of up travel.
Downside is when bump contacts it will want to rotate axle, have to move limit strap, grease zerks and so on. So for now going to live with it and progress on other items.

To get the project making "Smiles" Yes [to living with it] but with them so far inboard you are sacrificing 2 wheel bump "uptravel" [you will have only 2" + whatever those stops compress (~1"?)] for the sake of articulation clearance. That would make a great next winter project though, we know you will not have anything else to do by then either! As for causing a rotation issue, you have fully demonstrated that the issue will not be much of a concern for you when you start to make plans for the upgrade! Keep on making it Happen! Harry

 

[PhantomEB]

Thanks. Now I got some ideas to put air bumps on my EB. Just need to find something I can mount under my frame as I am coils all around.

 

[rattle_snake]

To get the project making "Smiles" Yes [to living with it] but with them so far inboard you are sacrificing 2 wheel bump "uptravel" [you will have only 2" + whatever those stops compress (~1"?)] for the sake of articulation clearance. That would make a great next winter project though, we know you will not have anything else to do by then either! As for causing a rotation issue, you have fully demonstrated that the issue will not be much of a concern for you when you start to make plans for the upgrade! Keep on making it Happen! Harry

Hi Harry, thanks for stopping in. Yes well said, 2" is not acceptable to me so changes are needed. I think I have found a decent workaround, more on that below..

Thanks. Now I got some ideas to put air bumps on my EB. Just need to find something I can mount under my frame as I am coils all around.

Just make sure to put them out board as far as you can. Something I did not considerer when I designed my suspension/chassis, still learning.

 

[rattle_snake]

I tested the new spacers, they do there job of protecting the sheet metal.

Looking at things it looks like I can keep the bumps centered over axle and just move them out. Build some outward extensions onto engine cross member. Initially I was concerned the coils would come too close to frame, so I made my own brackets with coil over bolt moved outside radius arm brackets to axle 'C's. Turns out not needed but now allows room for bump. I think I can move them out 4" or so and gain about 0.9". The other easy option is to raise ride height but has other downsides.

Axle moves horizontally as suspension cycles, so bump alignment can vary quite a bit. We can see here that is room between frame and coil to place extension and have bump land around top of inner bracket. Make a pad on top of arm bracket. Figuring out how wide the frame extension can be is the hard part.

2nd fender mod, axle relocation, and bump spacer working to protect fender. Tire is stuffed pretty good.

Opposite corners are on bump stops. Front right is almost at full droop, left rear has a ways to go.

 

[rattle_snake]

Took a break from truck this weekend. Lots of kid sports activities. Made some bar stools out of junk. Started with base, it is a F-250 brake rotor, SBC flywheel ring gear and valves out of a BBF.

For the seat, I took some rectangles and glued into them into a square, then cut to a circle.

The post was to be a Saguaro cactus skeleton. The piece I have was too big around. Looked out of place and rendered foot rest useless. Took away from look of foot rest, uncomfortable. So abandoned that aspect and moved forward with simple.

Then made the sibling and called it a victory. The foot rest would be better if it was up higher and/or larger radius. Considering cutting them down to counter height.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Those stools are awesome! I like how you used the valves for the footrests.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

I like the stools Justin, very cool idea!

How much were you smiling, backing the F250 up to flex it out?

 

[rattle_snake]

Thanks guys. Fun short project even though the main design element was a failure.


I was listening for crunching sheetmetal while backing up. Smiles after I verified stops were working. Crew dumped some little dirt piles in the way so had to improvise on location.

 

[rattle_snake]

Wanted to get a spare for the trail and couldn't find one. Ended up getting a set of new tires and using one old for spare. The used Toyos were beat and a temporary solution for getting the truck built for 40s. Still glad I went that route, would **** to spend 2k on tires to realize they wouldn't fit.
I ended up going with Nitto trail MT in same 40x13.5r17 size. Very similar tire and specs as Toyo, different tread/look Heavy, tuff, the KOH tire. I've bought 5 sets of Toyo MTs so time for something else. I guess I didn't get to far away from them though..


Picked the best Toyo and bought a cheap steel wheel for spare setup. 140 pounds! Plan to sell 2 and keep one extra just in case. hard to find them. would make a great redneck porch swing.

 

[cspcrx]

The stools and bar top are awesome. Great mix of different materials!

 

[Boosted1]

Truck looks good.
Nice work on the suspension and subtle, blended in body mods

 

[stinkity stoink]

Truck looks great and so do the stools !! Some really awesome stuff you are doing.

 

[rattle_snake]

Thanks for the complement guys. Was thinking about how it is nice to work IN the shop and not ON it. A shop is never really done, but I have realized that I have done very little on it over the last 2 years now. Now it is more of a balance of working on the things I WANT to vs HAVE to.

 

[cspcrx]

Some day I hope to have a small shop instead of a garage that gets used as a shop at times. Being able to dedicate spaces for different tasks makes things much nicer.

 

[rattle_snake]

Working on simple tire mount scheme, likely to change. Decided to go with left side for a few reasons;
-right rear spring is sagging already, put weight on other side
-I'd like to reserve the option to add an aux fuel tank in the bed. With main tank fuel fill on right, aux tank and filler should go on that side.
-The tire spaces stuff up off bed floor, so easier to grab things sitting on it. Not sure how truck got so tall.

So 1st step was to removed the abandoned OEM aux fuel tank fill cover. Ford used a torch to cut crude holes in bed. I cleaned up slag and hit with some paint.


Instead of spending a lot of time on quality repair welding in flush patch panels and filling all the holes, I just made a simple cover. One bend in the press, paint on both side to prevent corrosion, seam sealer, rivetted in.


I spend a looooong time pondering tire mount options. I guess I enjoy this part, engineering creative solutions. Had to be very simple, adjustable, secure and lockable. I drilled a hole through bed and frame at transverse bed support location. This did not align with any lug holes, so needed some type of plate to adapt. Ended up using 1/2-13 all-thread that makes everything adjustable. Modified a unistrut square washer to fit bed floor nicely to spread load and prevent rotation.


I stole a 6" round, 1/4" thick spare tire mount ring out of my wife's horse trailer. Had an offset hole and a 2nd hole for lock pin, so already perfect. I wanted to use an extra 5/8 hitch pin lock as it is keyed the same as every other lock I have for all my trucks and trailers. Didn't want another key just for spare. Used some hose to hold in position, added more hose below after this pic to prevent just removing nut and lifting plate/pin to access nuts.


End result. Uses same nut size as lugs, and bottoms out on nut below not just squishing tire, as that just comes loose over time.
Could just remove nut on frame below to steal but that is outside of the scope, goal is to prevent quick ****** in mall parking lot

 

[OutlawDrifter]

In true '72 Ford fashion, I feel like I need to locate you a period correct "cow catcher" so we can mount that spare tire on the front...might even be one out in the FIL's bone yard.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice clean solution for the spare lock/mount Justin.

 

[WoodsTruck]

40" mall crawler

You'll fit right in with the Jeeps.

 

[rattle_snake]

In true '72 Ford fashion, I feel like I need to locate you a period correct "cow catcher" so we can mount that spare tire on the front...might even be one out in the FIL's bone yard.

I can envision that yes. with old school cab over camper in bed.

Nice clean solution for the spare lock/mount Justin.

Thanks Mike. Was hard to be patient and wait for a good solution to fall into my head.

40" mall crawler

You'll fit right in with the Jeeps.

Yes, I even bought a brand new shiny shovel so the world knows I'm *********.

Given some of the issues I had to deal with lately I now look a little differently at the wannabe off road crowd. Instead of convincing myself than I'm somehow better I just accept that we all share the same hobby. Everyone has different budgets, experience and goals with their rig. Like others, this truck is dual duty and will see a lot of pavement miles.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Given some of the issues I had to deal with lately I now look a little differently at the wannabe off road crowd. Instead of convincing myself than I'm somehow better I just accept that we all share the same hobby. Everyone has different budgets, experience and goals with their rig. Like others, this truck is dual duty and will see a lot of pavement miles.

Justin, it's all in the eye of the beholder(or is it beer holder?). Even if I don't "like" a certain build or style of vehicle, I can appreciate the time/labor/money/blood/sweat/tears involved in building it.

Quite honestly, if I didn't live in the country, I probably wouldn't even own anything with 4WD...but with the 10+ inches of snow we are receiving today, it's a necessary evil.


By the way, on the Mach 1 front, AFS has the 17x10.5 wheels back in stock...

 

[rattle_snake]

Been working on getting my trail tools together for 1st trail run. I went through what I had and filled in the gaps. Goal is a limited set of tools to do minor repairs. Light weight. Enough to replace u joints. Most of it fits in the yellow tool bag, that fits in the bedside tool box.

Mounted jack and fire extinguisher in the cab on speaker box.

New shovel was too out of place for my old truck so I had to swap it for a seasoned one I carry under the bed my 2014. Handle was really loose so I back cut the seam until the bolts could grip the shrunken shaft. Made a simple mount, there was already so many holes didn't have to drill any more.

 

[rattle_snake]

Justin, it's all in the eye of the beholder(or is it beer holder?). Even if I don't "like" a certain build or style of vehicle, I can appreciate the time/labor/money/blood/sweat/tears involved in building it.

Quite honestly, if I didn't live in the country, I probably wouldn't even own anything with 4WD...but with the 10+ inches of snow we are receiving today, it's a necessary evil.


By the way, on the Mach 1 front, AFS has the 17x10.5 wheels back in stock...

Even for those who don't build or work on there own vehicles at all, we still share the same basic idea of what is cool. Big tires, mods for increased capabilities. Some people have no time or place to wrench, others no confidence or mentor to show them how. Physical limitations from injury, old age or whatever.

Yes the 10.5s and steam roller rubber will look sweet on the back of the Mach.