Sniv's Custom Long Travel Build
- Thread starter snivilous
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Cartzo
New member
Cartzo
New member
Internally as in inside the weld? My dad is a 20+ year tig welder and tig is primarily used because you can be very precise with it. Not because it might be cleaner. A weld is a weld. If executed properly it will fuse completely with the steel.
I agree with you about tempering, but like it's been said before these are basically just tests. Once we have everything figured out from these then we can finalize the designs and refine them as much as we want. No sense in putting in tons of time when we are probably going to run these for a year at most. Definitely not going to be racing on them. Either way though I guarantee these hold up to as much or more abuse than a TC kit would take and they'll be pulling more travel.
snivilous
Senior Member
Quick post before class, not LT related. The company I work for sent me a 3D printer a couple weeks back that I've been playing with, today I did the first model of a potential Raptor-style grille lettering.
I have mounts on it that match my mesh pattern and slide through, with this one I had it setup so a little wire or clip could go through to retain it. I'll do something beefier that involves a zip tie or just snaps in for the next one probably.
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My grille is taken apart so the mesh isn't held down, which is why it's a little off in that photo. Also I'm just using the green ABS that I have loaded now but I also have black which I'll use in the future. I think it'll look pretty sexy! On the off chance anyone reads this post, would anyone be interested in grille lettering? I would have to talk to the company since it's technically their printer, but I don't see why I couldn't in my free time. Similar to what [MENTION=94545]MTD[/MENTION] is doing with emblems maybe. In reality I'm just doing this for myself to get the printer settings good before I start making parts, but it got me thinking if people are interested I could make a few.
Also I'm selling a 2" Daystar Spacer for the front and my K&N CAI if anyone is interested. Will keep everyone posted on the LT, just been lots of grinding and cutting lately! Thanks for reading
I have mounts on it that match my mesh pattern and slide through, with this one I had it setup so a little wire or clip could go through to retain it. I'll do something beefier that involves a zip tie or just snaps in for the next one probably.
My grille is taken apart so the mesh isn't held down, which is why it's a little off in that photo. Also I'm just using the green ABS that I have loaded now but I also have black which I'll use in the future. I think it'll look pretty sexy! On the off chance anyone reads this post, would anyone be interested in grille lettering? I would have to talk to the company since it's technically their printer, but I don't see why I couldn't in my free time. Similar to what [MENTION=94545]MTD[/MENTION] is doing with emblems maybe. In reality I'm just doing this for myself to get the printer settings good before I start making parts, but it got me thinking if people are interested I could make a few.
Also I'm selling a 2" Daystar Spacer for the front and my K&N CAI if anyone is interested. Will keep everyone posted on the LT, just been lots of grinding and cutting lately! Thanks for reading
MStudt
official vendor
MIG can be prone to lack of side wall fusion, so it is often classed (by some) as semi-skilled welding. TIG (in the right hands) is less likely to produce defects and as it uses a totally inert gas it produces a "cleaner" weld. With tig you also have more control over the heat / penetration and filler, but a mig set up correctly should get the same results.
Tig: inherently stronger, as it is the cleanest weld process available, but somewhat difficult to master
Mig: easier to get a good weld, usually stronger than the base metal
The thing is that TIG is not for everything. Each application will differ when it comes to TIG vs MIG.
This is just my opinion.
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D Farms
New member
Quick post before class, not LT related. The company I work for sent me a 3D printer a couple weeks back that I've been playing with, today I did the first model of a potential Raptor-style grille lettering.
I have mounts on it that match my mesh pattern and slide through, with this one I had it setup so a little wire or clip could go through to retain it. I'll do something beefier that involves a zip tie or just snaps in for the next one probably.
\
My grille is taken apart so the mesh isn't held down, which is why it's a little off in that photo. Also I'm just using the green ABS that I have loaded now but I also have black which I'll use in the future. I think it'll look pretty sexy! On the off chance anyone reads this post, would anyone be interested in grille lettering? I would have to talk to the company since it's technically their printer, but I don't see why I couldn't in my free time. Similar to what [MENTION=94545]MTD[/MENTION] is doing with emblems maybe. In reality I'm just doing this for myself to get the printer settings good before I start making parts, but it got me thinking if people are interested I could make a few.
Also I'm selling a 2" Daystar Spacer for the front and my K&N CAI if anyone is interested. Will keep everyone posted on the LT, just been lots of grinding and cutting lately! Thanks for reading
That's cool, I've been doing 3d printing for a couple years now, built my own machine at first then designed new one from scratch. Your prints look really good too. You should consider 3d printing out your long travel arms out, that would be pretty sweet.
snivilous
Senior Member
A few days ago I went to town on the passenger side and cut everything off:
And after many iterations of mounting to the mesh and having alignment bosses I just went with a smooth back and epoxied everything where I wanted. As [MENTION=89531]Cartzo[/MENTION] pointed out I should of combined the 4 into the R but oh well for now. I'll spray paint the mesh and letters black so everything is consistent. I have some little rock light type LEDs coming in tomorrow I'll mount down behind the grille and tie into my corner lights so the grille will be backlit to show off the lettering which I think will be sexy too.
On other fronts it turns out the uniballs we got are a weird ass size, they are 3/4" uniballs but the sphere radius is 1.375" which 98% of misalignment spacers are for 1.312" radius and 3/4" bore. So it will probably come to more customizing and modifying the misalignment spacers we have to work with the uniballs (which right now they don't). It's my fault for not checking all the specs, the spacers said they were for a 3/4" uniball so that's all I thought that mattered. It pisses me off that Poly sells a uniball and no spacers for it since only one company I found even sells spacers (only two sizes at that).
Tonight I was lazy, got the spindle reinforcements from Total Chaos tacked onto the drivers side spindle and tacked a filler piece into where the stock upper ball joint was. This weekend I want to go hard and get the LCA, spindle, and CV mocked up (shipping delays on the heims so no UCA to mock up but it can be figured out where it would be) and hopefully let me figure out where to mount the shocks and cut into the engine bay so I can start rearranging stuff for the shock mounts. She's getting there, one step at a time... Thanks for reading!
And after many iterations of mounting to the mesh and having alignment bosses I just went with a smooth back and epoxied everything where I wanted. As [MENTION=89531]Cartzo[/MENTION] pointed out I should of combined the 4 into the R but oh well for now. I'll spray paint the mesh and letters black so everything is consistent. I have some little rock light type LEDs coming in tomorrow I'll mount down behind the grille and tie into my corner lights so the grille will be backlit to show off the lettering which I think will be sexy too.
On other fronts it turns out the uniballs we got are a weird ass size, they are 3/4" uniballs but the sphere radius is 1.375" which 98% of misalignment spacers are for 1.312" radius and 3/4" bore. So it will probably come to more customizing and modifying the misalignment spacers we have to work with the uniballs (which right now they don't). It's my fault for not checking all the specs, the spacers said they were for a 3/4" uniball so that's all I thought that mattered. It pisses me off that Poly sells a uniball and no spacers for it since only one company I found even sells spacers (only two sizes at that).
Tonight I was lazy, got the spindle reinforcements from Total Chaos tacked onto the drivers side spindle and tacked a filler piece into where the stock upper ball joint was. This weekend I want to go hard and get the LCA, spindle, and CV mocked up (shipping delays on the heims so no UCA to mock up but it can be figured out where it would be) and hopefully let me figure out where to mount the shocks and cut into the engine bay so I can start rearranging stuff for the shock mounts. She's getting there, one step at a time... Thanks for reading!
downpour11
New member
Holy crap it's happening!! lol Definitely eager to see the build!
TheArkMaster
New member
Yay cutting :ak47:
snivilous
Senior Member
It doesn't feel like much but I got a lot done today (yesterday). Mounted the bushings and zerk, pressed the uniball into the cup, then filed down the misalignment spacers so they would fit the inner race, then drilled the holes into the plate I'll be using for my spindle to LCA adapter/steering knuckle, and finally did a quick mock up of the LCA/spindle/CV so I can make the mounting plates for the LCA so the spindle will be properly spaced for the CV.
Since my LCA is bigger than it should be, I may have to shorten it since the new mounts wouldn't work since the differential is in the way. I'll see what it's like when I actually start messing with the mounts.
My UCA hardware was delayed again with shipping and didn't get here today, but I'm getting closer to the drivers side being tacked up and ready to be fully welded. I'm working the passenger side as much as I can when I hit a road block on the drivers side, I just want the truck to be driving again and then I can go back and paint everything and pretty it up. I also got some LED strips in the mail, they are wicked bright and I got 4 strips instead of 2 like I thought. I'll put 2 in the grille for backlighting the 4Runner lettering and then maybe buy some more and have a full suite of rock lights in the fenders... Anyways, thanks for reading! Sorry for the lack of pictures from today, hopefully make more progress tomorrow :banana:
Since my LCA is bigger than it should be, I may have to shorten it since the new mounts wouldn't work since the differential is in the way. I'll see what it's like when I actually start messing with the mounts.
My UCA hardware was delayed again with shipping and didn't get here today, but I'm getting closer to the drivers side being tacked up and ready to be fully welded. I'm working the passenger side as much as I can when I hit a road block on the drivers side, I just want the truck to be driving again and then I can go back and paint everything and pretty it up. I also got some LED strips in the mail, they are wicked bright and I got 4 strips instead of 2 like I thought. I'll put 2 in the grille for backlighting the 4Runner lettering and then maybe buy some more and have a full suite of rock lights in the fenders... Anyways, thanks for reading! Sorry for the lack of pictures from today, hopefully make more progress tomorrow :banana:
snivilous
Senior Member
After seeing the full heim assembly and how perfect it was I said screw if and am returning my current uniballs after I couldn't find any spacers that actually for the weird size I had... So I'm gonna run 1" uniballs now and they are ordered along with more heims. Pain in the ass but oh well, if I'm gonna be running this setup for a year I want everything working.
Someone should also try a mid-travel setup on their runner, since I bet you can pull 12" of travel from the stock suspension if you remount the shocks and cut off the stock bump stops to utilize the up travel that's available. Don't know how much travel I'll have yet, but the uniballs are gonna be limiting probably and it's way more than what a TC kit will pull...
Someone should also try a mid-travel setup on their runner, since I bet you can pull 12" of travel from the stock suspension if you remount the shocks and cut off the stock bump stops to utilize the up travel that's available. Don't know how much travel I'll have yet, but the uniballs are gonna be limiting probably and it's way more than what a TC kit will pull...
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snivilous
Senior Member
Got some toys after getting back from my first test :naughty:
I don't know if the can cooler and bottle opener are just random or from spending so much with Poly but it's wicked cool I think
So I got two more heim kits and two 1" uniball kits. These things are huge! To reiterate, I am only going bigger because the previous size uniball I had was weird as hell and I couldn't find the right size spacers so said screw it and got a prebuilt kit with the cup and spacers, etc. Now I need to buy 3/4" bolts and a bit which will cost a hefty amount...
And this is a picture from last night, I realized I hadn't shown that I had the A-arm mounts welded in. I had to lube up the bushings so and then tap the arm with a hammer to get the bolts lined up, super tight fit but there won't be any slop! Hopefully I can get some decent work done this weekend! Thanks for reading
P.S. - Sorry for the shitty image quality, someday when I don't spend every penny on my suspension I'll buy a real camera
I don't know if the can cooler and bottle opener are just random or from spending so much with Poly but it's wicked cool I think
So I got two more heim kits and two 1" uniball kits. These things are huge! To reiterate, I am only going bigger because the previous size uniball I had was weird as hell and I couldn't find the right size spacers so said screw it and got a prebuilt kit with the cup and spacers, etc. Now I need to buy 3/4" bolts and a bit which will cost a hefty amount...
And this is a picture from last night, I realized I hadn't shown that I had the A-arm mounts welded in. I had to lube up the bushings so and then tap the arm with a hammer to get the bolts lined up, super tight fit but there won't be any slop! Hopefully I can get some decent work done this weekend! Thanks for reading
P.S. - Sorry for the shitty image quality, someday when I don't spend every penny on my suspension I'll buy a real camera
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EatonKyleH
New member
Sweeet work man. I've really been enjoying checking in on this. Always nice to see something original. Keep it up!:thumb:
snivilous
Senior Member
Nothing exciting, I just cut out the smaller uniball. I will probably cut another hole and move the new uniball in further since I think my A-arm is 1.5" too long. Anyways, comparison shot of a 3/4" uniball and a 1" uniball... Probably won't post until this weekend, got a test Wednesday and a lot to do for work so slow week on the Yota
snivilous
Senior Member
Well I was hoping to have most if not all of the drivers side mocked up today, but after spending an hour trying to get the uniball in and finally smashing my thumb pretty good I called it a night.
The other day I finally figured out how to get the ball joint out of the steering knuckle. There is a plate on the top of the knuckle (spindle side) that is set into a groove, it appears the groove is pressed in around the plate to constrain it. If you grind off the lip exposing the groove you can pop the plate out and the ball joint will just fall out. After accidentally figuring this out after prepping the two halves of the stock LBJ I had to be welded back together, and having already chopped up my other LBJ, I went to O'Reilly and got a brand new LBJ And lifetime warranty! That's nice 
Ball joint removed from the steering knuckle. I then made a 1" metal slug with a hole saw and dropped it in and [MENTION=89531]Cartzo[/MENTION] welded it up today and it was absolutely beautiful! But no pictures... I then drilled the 3/4" hole I needed for the mounting bolt to the LCA uniball. The next issue was the bolt head was too thick to fit under the CV.
There's no room to remove material on the spindle since the CV's dust shield thing is right there, and I didn't want to grind down the knuckle more or counter bore it to fit the head in. I did a shear analysis of the head of the bolt and concluded I could shave it down considerably to fit. I also needed to pound in the CVs dust shield to clear the bolt head easier but that was as simple as tapping the thin sheet metal with a hammer.
The spindle hasn't been cleaned up from the welds of the reinforcement gusset. The UBJ area had a slug get welded in and then plated top and bottom and just needs to have a 3/4" hole bored through and then it will be finished.
Blurry picture time, I cut the correct hole location for the uniball into the arm to correct for the LCA being too long. I then dropped the uniball cup in and tacked it. My plan was to then put the uniball in so I could verify my measurements of the UCA and see how much travel the LCA and CV would provide. Cartzo also got the tubing needed for the UCA, and I have the uniball hardware and heims as shown previously in the thread to get everything mocked up and ready to be welded... Though obviously then the uniball didn't want to drop in.
I have both uniballs for the LCA and UCA in the freezer right now. Hopefully tomorrow I will have the UCA, LCA, and spindle mounted and that will allow me to figure out where I want to mount the shock. Finally I have all the hardware I need to finish the drivers side so it's just a matter of completing everything!
The other day I finally figured out how to get the ball joint out of the steering knuckle. There is a plate on the top of the knuckle (spindle side) that is set into a groove, it appears the groove is pressed in around the plate to constrain it. If you grind off the lip exposing the groove you can pop the plate out and the ball joint will just fall out. After accidentally figuring this out after prepping the two halves of the stock LBJ I had to be welded back together, and having already chopped up my other LBJ, I went to O'Reilly and got a brand new LBJ
And lifetime warranty! That's nice
Ball joint removed from the steering knuckle. I then made a 1" metal slug with a hole saw and dropped it in and [MENTION=89531]Cartzo[/MENTION] welded it up today and it was absolutely beautiful! But no pictures... I then drilled the 3/4" hole I needed for the mounting bolt to the LCA uniball. The next issue was the bolt head was too thick to fit under the CV.
There's no room to remove material on the spindle since the CV's dust shield thing is right there, and I didn't want to grind down the knuckle more or counter bore it to fit the head in. I did a shear analysis of the head of the bolt and concluded I could shave it down considerably to fit. I also needed to pound in the CVs dust shield to clear the bolt head easier but that was as simple as tapping the thin sheet metal with a hammer.
The spindle hasn't been cleaned up from the welds of the reinforcement gusset. The UBJ area had a slug get welded in and then plated top and bottom and just needs to have a 3/4" hole bored through and then it will be finished.
Blurry picture time, I cut the correct hole location for the uniball into the arm to correct for the LCA being too long. I then dropped the uniball cup in and tacked it. My plan was to then put the uniball in so I could verify my measurements of the UCA and see how much travel the LCA and CV would provide. Cartzo also got the tubing needed for the UCA, and I have the uniball hardware and heims as shown previously in the thread to get everything mocked up and ready to be welded... Though obviously then the uniball didn't want to drop in.
I have both uniballs for the LCA and UCA in the freezer right now. Hopefully tomorrow I will have the UCA, LCA, and spindle mounted and that will allow me to figure out where I want to mount the shock. Finally I have all the hardware I need to finish the drivers side so it's just a matter of completing everything!
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snivilous
Senior Member
Been going hard since I woke up and taking a dinner break.
After freezing the uniball all night it dropped right in no problem. I was then able to mount the LCA and spindle and CV but the CV was fully compressed and wouldn't let the spindle have a neutral camber. I slotted the LCA frame mounts so I can move the LCA to the point I need and then I'll just weld some washers in to locate it.
Travel is a little weird, I won't get an accurate number until I mount the UCA. So far I can easily pull 14" of travel but I think I can go further. I've already cut a spot in the inner fender since it can bump so high before the uniball binds. Something I hadn't thought about before and realized is at full droop the spindle hub moves in relative to the LCA but at full bump it pulls away.
So much stuff I'm forgetting... Anyways, I got the UCA cut and tacked up and my goal is to have the suspension fully setup and a good idea of travel numbers and maybe get the shock mounted once I know the mounting geometry.
Will update later on probably, thanks for readying :bigok:
After freezing the uniball all night it dropped right in no problem. I was then able to mount the LCA and spindle and CV but the CV was fully compressed and wouldn't let the spindle have a neutral camber. I slotted the LCA frame mounts so I can move the LCA to the point I need and then I'll just weld some washers in to locate it.
Travel is a little weird, I won't get an accurate number until I mount the UCA. So far I can easily pull 14" of travel but I think I can go further. I've already cut a spot in the inner fender since it can bump so high before the uniball binds. Something I hadn't thought about before and realized is at full droop the spindle hub moves in relative to the LCA but at full bump it pulls away.
So much stuff I'm forgetting... Anyways, I got the UCA cut and tacked up and my goal is to have the suspension fully setup and a good idea of travel numbers and maybe get the shock mounted once I know the mounting geometry.
Will update later on probably, thanks for readying :bigok:
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