driffter33
New member
When is King of the Hammers? I may have to take a day or tow off work. Are you driving your Flexy Beast down? Can't pass up a photo opp with that thing.:cheers:
Brian2sun Build Thread
- Thread starter brian2sun
- Start date
When is King of the Hammers? I may have to take a day or tow off work. Are you driving your Flexy Beast down? Can't pass up a photo opp with that thing.:cheers:
brian2sun
Elite Member
I'm definitely down!! I would love to see that sweet 4runner in person too! KOH is in Feb right?
Mr. Leary
New member
Irony!
J-money$$$
New member
Ill be camping out there this year so im down too. It is feb 7-11 with the main race on friday the 11th. I think the UTV KOH is on the 10th and the LCQ is on the 9th
AddictedOffroad
New member
Yes, I will be driving the 4runner out towing my pop-up this year.
AddictedOffroad
New member
The lake bed usually starts to empty out Saturday and Sunday. By Monday its pretty empty. My plan is to stay until Wednesday this year. So, it should give me a good solid three days of wheeling.
driffter33
New member
Thats Flexy!!
driffter33
New member
Ya those links are amazing. We went out in the snow today and they rock.
brian2sun
Elite Member
On Saturday Driffter33 and I modified my new Lil Skip's Gas tank skid to work with my heim jointed rear control arms (which if you've been following the build, increase my travel - a lot). My drive shaft was not just rubbing on the skid, but the 3rd member was getting hung up on it because my links allow the axle to move more off center and swing more forward then the rubber jointed stock arms allow. Lil Skip's makes a helluva skid plate and I want to make it clear that it is only because of my custom links that I needed to modify it.
1st we took a f*****g felt tip pen (sorry, movie reference)
and marked the area that obviously had to go and cut it off with the 'ol torch.
Then we mounted it up and checked clearance again with it flexed out and realized that if we weld the bracket to the skid in place then we can eliminate the bolt and gain more clearance. We also took a diagonal cut out of the vertical side to make room for the slip yoke.
^^ That bracket is just tacked on in this pic. Jay put a solid bead all the way around it. If the skid gets hung up on a rock, the bracket will bend before it will break that weld.
We put it back up and decided just to be safe that we should beat the tank in slightly to be sure the shaft didn't come in contact with the side of the actual gas tank. With the weight of the truck sitting on the bump stop, the driveshaft clears both the tank and the skid with no rubbing but it's close, damn close. What's the saying, "An inch is a mile"? In our case it about 3/16", haha.
Flexing is so easy when you have a forklift in the family.
Here it is in action completely stuffed and no issues.
In this pic it looks like the tank is exposed on that edge to damage from underneath, but it's just the pic. The skid still fully protects the whole underside of the tank.
Here are some pics of the run we had today in the snow http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/76700-first-snow-run-season.html I finally got to test out my front locker too and it worked awesome! I tried all day to get myself good and stuck in 4Lo with the rear locked (which isn't easy) and I finally did. It's a nice thing to have one more button to push and just roll on out. Lockers rock.
1st we took a f*****g felt tip pen (sorry, movie reference)
and marked the area that obviously had to go and cut it off with the 'ol torch.
Then we mounted it up and checked clearance again with it flexed out and realized that if we weld the bracket to the skid in place then we can eliminate the bolt and gain more clearance. We also took a diagonal cut out of the vertical side to make room for the slip yoke.
^^ That bracket is just tacked on in this pic. Jay put a solid bead all the way around it. If the skid gets hung up on a rock, the bracket will bend before it will break that weld.
We put it back up and decided just to be safe that we should beat the tank in slightly to be sure the shaft didn't come in contact with the side of the actual gas tank. With the weight of the truck sitting on the bump stop, the driveshaft clears both the tank and the skid with no rubbing but it's close, damn close. What's the saying, "An inch is a mile"? In our case it about 3/16", haha.
Flexing is so easy when you have a forklift in the family.
Here it is in action completely stuffed and no issues.
In this pic it looks like the tank is exposed on that edge to damage from underneath, but it's just the pic. The skid still fully protects the whole underside of the tank.
Here are some pics of the run we had today in the snow http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/76700-first-snow-run-season.html I finally got to test out my front locker too and it worked awesome! I tried all day to get myself good and stuck in 4Lo with the rear locked (which isn't easy) and I finally did. It's a nice thing to have one more button to push and just roll on out. Lockers rock.
driffter33
New member
I want one more button LOL
AddictedOffroad
New member
Brian, if you are getting that much lateral movement out of the rear panhard, then you need to start re-thinking the bracket locations. I would strongly consider raising the axle side bracket and moving as close to the drum as possible and potentially moving the frame side further towards the outside of the frame. It should NOT be moving that much laterally.
brian2sun
Elite Member
I'm in the process of planning how I want to do my panhard now. I definitely want to replace the bar itself with a stronger tube and get new rubber joints on the ends and also beef the brackets up. I may relocate the brackets too like you suggested, but if I strengthen everything up and it can take the angles as it is now, I'm wondering if I still need to move the brackets since the driveshaft still spins free in "N" with no binding when it's flexed out. What do you think?
AddictedOffroad
New member
Yes, but when the axle is moving that far to one side when it flexes, then the panhard is the issue. It needs to be as flat as possible and as long as possible. In the stock configuration it will work okay, but when you starting adding the lift and weight, then making some adjustments is going to be needed.
I would run a heim at the axle end and a bushing at the frame side. Then move the axle side bracket further outside and raise it until the panhard is parallel to the axle at ride height again. This alone should help. Go with .250 wall DOM material. The heim will make it adjustable.
brian2sun
Elite Member
That sounds like a good idea to me, thanks for the advice. Better to take care of it now than wait till something breaks. I do have one concern though.. if I run a heim on the panhard, won't that make it even easier to move laterally? It seems like the rubber bushing are what's limiting it at the moment.
Pikeman
New member
Even with my factory lower links the front of my diff gets pushed into the tank when full stuff driver and droop passenger. Has to do with the arc swing and not have equal length arms with factory four link. It causes the droop side to push forward and tilt pinion up and when drivers side to push to rear. The nose of the diff then angles toward the stuffed side. The panhard sitting level as you mentioned will help out but wont solve the problems.
AddictedOffroad
New member
Lengthening the panhard will keep it from swinging so far in the arc pulling it closer to the tank. The longer it is, the less arc it will move through.
LINY4Runner
New member
And as you've all seen...this guy knows a thing or two about suspension geometry!
brian2sun
Elite Member
No doubt Scotty knows his stuff. I'm keeping a close eye on everything down there, especially since our links are still pretty much in the design testing phase, but so far so good with the stock panhard. No weird noises and all the mounts look good. I just went out to Johnson Valley (where the King of the Hammers is) and gave my truck a good wolluping and everything seems to be fine. That would be the place to break something if it was going to happen. The only thing we are thinking about doing right now is to put a rubber bushing on the frame side of the uppers only (instead of running dual heims) because my uppers make a lot of noise. The lowers are a-ok being dual heimed.
I do get more lateral movement but most of that is just because I have more flex, that's all. My axle moves <.5" closer to the tank and ~.5" more forward than the stock arms allow, but that isn't a big deal IMO. It looks worse because of the amount I had to hack out of my Lil Skip's gas skid. Jason's (J-money$$$) isn't that much different than before, it's just that the stock gas skid will bend and smash out of the way, but the Lil Skips skid is too rigid so I had to cut out the entire area that would normally just get bent and not be a problem. That makes it look worse, but anyone who runs without a rear sway bar is hitting and smashing their stock skid and getting almost as close to the gas tank as I am with my links.
I do get more lateral movement but most of that is just because I have more flex, that's all. My axle moves <.5" closer to the tank and ~.5" more forward than the stock arms allow, but that isn't a big deal IMO. It looks worse because of the amount I had to hack out of my Lil Skip's gas skid. Jason's (J-money$$$) isn't that much different than before, it's just that the stock gas skid will bend and smash out of the way, but the Lil Skips skid is too rigid so I had to cut out the entire area that would normally just get bent and not be a problem. That makes it look worse, but anyone who runs without a rear sway bar is hitting and smashing their stock skid and getting almost as close to the gas tank as I am with my links.
brian2sun
Elite Member
I finally got my fog lights mounted and installed. I did them last weekend, but of course it hasn't been foggy since. It was foggy for like 3 weeks straight, I go and put fogs on (while it was foggy mind you) and then it disappears as soon as I'm done.
At 1st I thought they were ugly, but now I like the look (even if I look like a snow plow). They came with 2 sets of clear lenses also (long range driving and fog) so I will use them as spots in the summer. I have them turned wall-eyed so they shine right down on the lines and the eges of the road, but they still light up the center also. They're KC Series 26 All-Season lights (2x6")...
At 1st I thought they were ugly, but now I like the look (even if I look like a snow plow). They came with 2 sets of clear lenses also (long range driving and fog) so I will use them as spots in the summer. I have them turned wall-eyed so they shine right down on the lines and the eges of the road, but they still light up the center also. They're KC Series 26 All-Season lights (2x6")...
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