[LAYEDOUTB2K]

It's so nice to finally be back to working on this. I kind of took a hiatus from forums and vehicles in general due to some personal issues lately but seem to have my cards straight now. I'm getting real close to having this down to a bare frame now. On to the pics...

Once I clean up the garage a little I'll be able to move the body over a couple feet to have more room. I plan on building a little rolling stand for the body to be able to move it around.






The rearend is very close to coming out.


One pesky bolt that won't come out even with a BFH. I'll just cut the hanger off now because it won't be used.


Thinking about keeping the kingpins for easy long travel and using RE6s on the upper arms. I'll build hoops off the frame and a removable brace across to the other side since I'll have good height clearance with the 12a that's going in. Thoughts?


If I get time tonight, I'll get the last few measurements needed to start designing the back half and 4-link setup. I'll be designing it in 3-d Solidworks so that I can check for clearance issues and get my locations of the link bars right. I will also be able to check my pinion angle change and it'll give me all my cut lines and angles.

[burrito213]

hey..... you got the frame off... its probably a stupid question but how did you do this?.... i want to do the same eventually.

or the more common sense question is, was it that hard to remove the frame being that this is a unibody?

[LAYEDOUTB2K]

burrito213, on 08 June 2010 - 09:49 AM, said:

hey..... you got the frame off... its probably a stupid question but how did you do this?.... i want to do the same eventually.

or the more common sense question is, was it that hard to remove the frame being that this is a unibody?

It's not necessarily a true unibody so it's connected pretty much the same way a cab and bed is on other trucks, it's just one piece. There's 12 bolts that connect the body to the frame and I just had 2 friends help me lift it off.

[Farmer Joe]

putting the bag on the top of the upper control arm is gonna prolly be a bad idea. the upper control is not designed to support the weight of the vehicle no matter how small the truck is. theres a reason the lower kingpin bushing is brass or copper or whatever it it.

i also though about doing the same thing, but its just not a safe option. the lower control carries the weight of the truck, and the upper is there to support the kingpin in the correct way.

thats just what im thinkin....

oh yeah, why is that steering box on the wrong side of that frame?

[Pacific coast Datsun]

"Thinking about keeping the kingpins for easy long travel and using RE6s on the upper arms. I'll build hoops off the frame and a removable brace across to the other side since I'll have good height clearance with the 12a that's going in. Thoughts?"

i too was thinking about a setup like that. I have a pic of a 521 that was done that way & i spoke to the builder. He said it rode ok but didnt get that much lift.
I would definately reinforce / plate the upper arm as a precaution.

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Ok i found that pic..........

[LAYEDOUTB2K]

I know what you guys are saying about the weight issue on the upper arm. I would reinforce the arms at the very least if I do that or just build my own.I haven't pulled the suspension apart to see what kind of bushings are in there. I will be turning my own bushings for it but just not sure what kind of material. That's interesting that he didn't get much lift out of that. The bags can be placed closer together a little bit but I'll look into that.

Farmer Joe, on 08 June 2010 - 06:59 PM, said:

oh yeah, why is that steering box on the wrong side of that frame?

Take a guess... I was mocking it up but ran into a pretty big issue but have found a steering box that should actually work.

[Farmer Joe]

well its not the upper thats the weak point, its the upper control arm bushings that arent gonna be able to take the weight of the truck. your gonna be putting bushings in it every 100 miles.

now this isnt sayin that a different type of bushing could be used. i know mikes delrin bushings might work. id ask him how theyre working so far with his 320.

[LAYEDOUTB2K]

I was actually already planning on making my own bushings for it regardless of how I do the bags, but the material I use will be dependent on where I place the bags. I'll shoot him a PM and see how they are holding up.

[burrito213]

I would like to see what solution comes out of this.. My hope is to bag my truck but I don't want to limit myself or do more harm than good.

bagged 320 offered to do a 3-link on my truck because I really wanted to avoid chopping the bed. Based on what he said and what I want to do, I wouldn't get much drop (3") to the floor..

I dunno, but some good ideas floating around