[AssBurns]

Made some progress this weekend. Did a whole lot of cutting. At first it was a little nerve racking cutting into so many irreversible parts, but eventually you get used to it. First I started with the inner fenders. I needed to make room for tires at full stuff and full flex. With enough cutting I was able to clear in all directions. The tire is super close to the door at full flex, but I am able to get away without touching the door itself. Now that everything was cut out of the way, I was able to start working on the new bump stops. Once I cut the old bump stop mounts off, I quickly realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as cutting a hole in the frame and welding the can into it. The bump stop was quite a bit further up into the frame than I was picturing in my head, so at this point it was time to get creative. I needed to make a sleeve to hold the bump can in, but the bolts they hold the strike pad in place are over 2.25” wide. So I couldn’t just sleeve it with 2.25” ID tubing. So I figured I’d just use 2.50 x 1.20” wall tubing, sleeved inside 2.75” x .120” wall tubing so that I had room for those strike pad bolts. Unfortunately the only metal supply that was open on the weekends, didn’t have any of that size DOM tubing. So I had to rethink my options and see what they had available. I ended up going with 2.5” x .120” wall HREW sleeved inside 2.5” Sch 40 Pipe. Now I know pipe doesn’t have the same structural integrity as tubing but I figured at over 3/16” wall thickness, I shouldn’t have to worry about much in the strength aspect. I got back home and went to town on cutting out the frame rails to French the bumps into the frame rails. After sweating in the heat for a few hours (well more than just a few hours), I had them in and gusseted. Now time to clean things up and prep for paint, then move onto finish tubbing the wheel wells. Thanks to @Black798 ’s great idea of using some round rod to creat a frame for some structure and for the sheet metal to form and weld to. I will be using some 5/16” rod to create a frame structure when tubing the wheel wells. It should be fairly simple, but I’m sure it’ll be way more work than I am picturing. I also cut my drivers side coil by a half a wrap to even out the coil height and lower the compressed length of the coil. I should have a collapsed height of about 4”, whole I have about 4.5” of clearance between top and bottom coil buckets. Fingers crossed that it works out fine.

On to some pics





Shocks completely bottomed out at 1/2” below the frame rails. Bump stops are set for about 1/2” below that for obvious reasons.



Where did my axle go?!



The 2.5” ID pipe over the 2.5” OD tubing







Welding them in with a piece of 2.0” x .250” Tubing to keep the cans from warping.



Some gussets to help keep the frame strength.



Finished product one the other side.

[theesotericone]

Originally Posted by AssBurns

At first it was a little nerve racking cutting into so many irreversible parts, but eventually you get used to it.

That is pretty much the sum of it. It also gave me a good laugh.

I'm sure it will all work out they way you have it planned.

[JBurt]

Hot dang. That made my morning. Keep up the good work!

[rkntoy]

Nice work!

I love seeing what you and @Dirtco are doing. Also confirms that I will most likely be stopping at 37's and stock-ish suspension front and rear. I need to be happy with "good enough" otherwise I won't stop - and my bikes need to be ridden.

[AssBurns]

Made some more progress on the wheel wells this weekend. It was a long weekend with this crazy weather. Friday was like 114° during the day. Luckily I didn’t have to work in that heat because I luckily work in an air conditioned office, but by the time I got working on the rig, it cooled down to a nice 106°. By the time I was done working on things at 10 pm it was barely under 100. Great weather to the start of a long weekend. It didn’t end there though. I woke up Saturday and it was already blazing in the early AM. By 12:30 it was 110° but thunderclouds started to roll in quickly with projected storms. So I cleaned up and pulled the welder in, swept all the metal off the floor and called it a day. It ended up only sprinkling on and off for a couple hours, so we ended up cruising over to my parents and cooled off in the pool. Today was just hot all day. Miserable but not having things done has been worse, so working in the rig was what I was doing. Now enough about the shitty weird weather. I’ll keep it short and simple.

Friday I got off work and started working on the drivers side wheel well. I started with the 5/16” rod to frame the shape of things. Easy peasy. Next was the actual sheet metal. All was going great, I took some measurements, traced some paper as templates, cut some metal and test fitted. Looked like I didn’t cut enough. Cut some more. Still didn’t fit right. Cut some more of the body to get things to fit right. Realized I cut too much. Tossed the piece in the scrap bin. Called it quits for the night and proceeded to drink many beers on the sidewalk and watch the local forest fire with a pair of binoculars.

Saturday woke up early with a clear mind. Already hot as hell. Looked at the big hole and came up with an idea to use the piece I cut about a 1/2” too short. I was able cut and bend a piece of the existing wheel well up to fill the gap cleanly. Easy peasy. Immediately ran out of welding gas. Good timing because the welding supply closes by noon. Refill my tank, pick up some cut off wheels, and new welding gloves. Back to work. Get back to welding and fitting things. Storm rolls in. Call it a day.

Sunday. Got another early start and helped a buddy weld some mounting nuts for the skid plate that he ripped the bolts out of last weekend. Done in 30 minutes. Back to more sheet metal work. Today I had no major issues and was productive all day without any distractions or hiccups. Finished the actual tubbing of the wheel wells and covers for the holes from the new bump stops. What a relief!

Now I gotta patch the hole in the floor and undercoat & paint everything. Still gotta trim the plastic panels to fit around the new wheel wells, bleed brakes, tighten link jam nuts, replace fuel pump, hit the desert (hopefully).

[4-Ripcord]

You sir are a legend. This is amazing!

[psraff]

Great job on everything you've done on your rear end. The Engineering, Thought Process & Quality is all top notch. Everything that I couldn't do right now. Work like that sets the bar for the rest of us.

Keep it up!

[AssBurns]

Originally Posted by 4-Ripcord

You sir are a legend. This is amazing!

Idk about the “legend” status, but I really appreciate the compliment! Thanks dude!

Originally Posted by psraff

Great job on everything you've done on your rear end. The Engineering, Thought Process & Quality is all top notch. Everything that I couldn't do right now. Work like that sets the bar for the rest of us.



Keep it up!

Thank you! There has been a whole lot of thought that’s gone into this project. I’m just glad that I was able to execute it how I had it pictured in my head (for the most part). I’m mostly excited that’s it’s just done now. Sheet metal work is a lot of work. Not a lot of room for error. I’m sure if you took the time to take on something like this, you could pull it off. It’s not super hard, just a lot of work. Practice and patience are key.

[AssBurns]

Alright guys I need some opinions. I’m desperately in need of fixing my front end now before mine and @theesotericone ’s Dusy Ershim trip in August. My budget right now is extremely tight because of all kinds of other life stuff (like gotta buy my wife a new car, just moved, starting newish career, etc) that I need to save money for. Originally my plan was to go with the Dual ARB compressor. Now I am rethinking things. Does spending over twice as much on the dual compressor make sense? I’ve learned the whole “Buy once, cry once” thing and would like to follow that great rule of thumb, but budget issues are what is holding me back from just pulling the trigger on it. Since that will basically wipe out my extra savings fund.

So a couple options I have. I’ve already done the cost breakdown including tax for everything.

1) Just do it right the first time and go with the Dual ARB. Ya know, “Buy Once, Cry Once”.
Cost $2,260.56

2) Single ARB. I don’t plan to go to larger tires than the 35’s I have now (at least not any time in the foreseeable future. Need more power if I want more tire). Do I really need a dual compressor? What is a few more minutes gonna cost me in the long run? I’m just gonna drink a beer and wait anyways, right?
Cost $1,925.67
Difference $334.89

3) Just go with the Mini ARB for now and continue doing what I have been doing for the past couple years. I’ve been either using my CO2 tank, borrowing my brothers Viair compressor or bumming air from a friend. All those options worked fine so far. So just save the money now, and upgrade later on down the line once I have an extra $600 for a Dual ARB.
Cost $1,811.56
Difference from Dual ARB $449
Difference from Single ARB $114.11



I’d like to hear your guys’ options if you were in my shoes. I’m really leaning towards options 1 or 3. I can definitely pull off option 3, but is it worth just spending the extra and getting the dual?

[eimkeith]

Damn. I had no idea compressors cost that much.

[octanejunkie]

Just use @theesotericone 's compressor = FREE

[JBurt]

PM incoming

[theesotericone]

Originally Posted by AssBurns

I’d like to hear your guys’ options if you were in my shoes. I’m really leaning towards options 1 or 3. I can definitely pull off option 3, but is it worth just spending the extra and getting the dual?

You know the co2 tank is by far the fastest. You already own it. If you really need to save some cash go option 3.

That being said the 114 buck difference to step up to the CKMA12 is maybe worth it. It's what I run and it fills my tires in about 3 minutes from 10 PSI to 38 PSI. If times not a worry it works well.

The only real advantage I see for the CKMA24 is it's twice as fast. You can also run air tools off it with an external tank. Or so ARB claims. I seriously doubt it would be able to run anything for long. Plus, everyone has cordless stuff now so I don't really see that as a useful feature.

If you just want a compressor that works for the locker and filling tires go option 2. I wouldn't even consider the dual. To me it wasn't an option then and it's still not now.

[rkntoy]

I would go with #3 until I had the money. $449 would get me 44.9 CO2 refills and would fill up about 718 of my 37s

[AssBurns]

Originally Posted by eimkeith

Damn. I had no idea compressors cost that much.

Well that's the cost of new gears, locker, compressor, manifold, etc.
Compressor costs are $587.75, $275.50, or $169.10. Dual, Single, Mini

Originally Posted by octanejunkie

Just use @theesotericone 's compressor = FREE

I'm not with him often enough to use that as a long term option...

Originally Posted by theesotericone

You know the co2 tank is by far the fastest. You already own it. If you really need to save some cash go option 3.

That being said the 114 buck difference to step up to the CKMA12 is maybe worth it. It's what I run and it fills my tires in about 3 minutes from 10 PSI to 38 PSI. If times not a worry it works well.

The only real advantage I see for the CKMA24 is it's twice as fast. You can also run air tools off it with an external tank. Or so ARB claims. I seriously doubt it would be able to run anything for long. Plus, everyone has cordless stuff now so I don't really see that as a useful feature.

If you just want a compressor that works for the locker and filling tires go option 2. I wouldn't even consider the dual. To me it wasn't an option then and it's still not now.

So I have a few issues with my CO2 tank that have caused me to not really use that option much these days.
1) It's bulky and is kind of annoying to tie down. A hard mounted compressor would take up almost no room compared to a tank.
2) Refilling has become a PITA and I feel like all the local refill places have become a ripoff besides the welding supply 20 miles away in San Bernardino (I avoid that area at all cost). They charge the fee and say we are almost out so we can only fill it half way. Then they charge for 1/2 tank but I feel like it runs out well before what a half tank should be.
3) The valve I have is some 50psi valve that really isn't meant for high flow, so it ends up freezing up after 3 tires and takes FOREVER to fill the 4th tire. A new 200psi higher flow valve only costs about $70 or a Powertank Valve & Hose costs $300- $350.
It's just been frustrating with the CO2 tank lately, but I've gotten my moneys worth from it. Only paid $10.

I don't plan to run an air tank, so air tools are not a concern since I plan to buy battery powered tools instead. I don't ever really rush airing up, but it would be nice to just have that extra flow to make it super quick or be able to help a buddy air up when needed. I do feel that the Dual ARB is quite overpriced compared to the single. The single seems like a pretty solid priced option for what you get out of it. That's definitely making me reconsider option 2. The single should still be able to air up all tires in one duty cycle pretty easily. Having double the CFM with 100% Duty Cycle would be super nice though!

Originally Posted by rkntoy

I would go with #3 until I had the money. $449 would get me 44.9 CO2 refills and would fill up about 718 of my 37s

As you can see above, I'm pretty much over the CO2 tank option these days. A solid, reliable, maintenance free, always working option would be nice to have.




Now I'm really considering the option 2. Taking 15 - 20 minutes to air up tires really isn't much of a problem. Especially on weekend trips where I'm air down for multiple days and only have to air up at the end of the weekend. Anyone with 35's have one of the ARB's that want to chime in? Ever regret not getting the Dual, or thing you would have been alright with the single?