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my new front end
http://www.woodsbuggy.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6750
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Author:  afterburnt [ Sat May 30, 2009 11:02 pm ]
Post subject:  my new front end

I started on the front end before december, and i just finished it a week before memorial day. tried it out on memorial weekend, and i was so impressed with it, it worked perfect. the only problem i had was a flat tire, but i had bead locks up front, and i drove from scobby doo, down the power line and back to camp and I didnt even notice in the performance, I love those bead locks. what i did is, i made a new front beam, and i made it a ball joint width, and 3 inches wider than stock. when i made my trailing arms, i used 1 1/2" 3/16 thick square tubing, i made them 2 1/2 inches longer and 1/2 inch wider than stock. i made my link pins out of 4140 chromemally 7/8 thick. I made my king pins out of 1 3/4" 4140, and i had them heat treated, because i used torington needle bearings with square O ring seal to seal the dirt out of the bearings. I kind of copied the ones made by Foddrill. what i made different than everyone else, is instead of the spindle being welded on, i used ford explorer spindles. i went up to the junk yard and picked up the spindles and the rotors. the spindles bolted on with 6 bolts, thats why i used those, and the rotor was too heavy. so i took a chunk of aluminum and i turned up a hub, i bolted on wilwood rotors to the back of it, i even made a stainless steel dust cap, and its all polished, it looks pretty cool. I got rid of the Ghia calipers and bought wilwood calipers to save on weight. i used fox nitrogen shocks, to support it all. Then I used a jeep cherokee power stearing box, to stear it all, i could ride with one hand and drink a beer with the other, its sweet. the front suspension works so good, you feel very little bumps and its kind of cool, when you step on the breaks, the front end would dip down a few inches and you step on the gas, it would lift up a couple of inches. all in all, it gave me 19 inches of clearance under my front beam. I even got a piece of 1/8" thick armor plating, i formed it to fit underneath my bottom tube on my front beam so i dont dent the front beam again, the front end works so good, i recommend it to everybody. all in all, i think i got about $ 900 invested in the whole front end. but my garage is a small machine shop, and i did fab every little piece and part, thats why it took all winter.

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Author:  davehix [ Sun May 31, 2009 12:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Real nice work Dave looks great !! 8)

Author:  wbsouth [ Sun May 31, 2009 1:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Very impressive ,nice work !!

Author:  Stevo [ Sun May 31, 2009 8:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Nice work! I like the use of late model everyday parts, I dont think those bearings will ever wear out.

Author:  gasman [ Sun May 31, 2009 11:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

very nice,are you taking orders for production yet.lol.chad :mrgreen:

Author:  DVS1 [ Sun May 31, 2009 2:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Awesome job!!! I couldn't tell the craftmanship under all the dirt the night I talked to you.

Author:  wreckincars [ Sun May 31, 2009 7:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Looks to me like you are slacking off. I see a few welds in those pictures. It used to be you never saw any welds on your buggy at all. :D

Author:  purplerail [ Sun May 31, 2009 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Author:  RaceBugg1098 [ Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Impressive! Looks great

Author:  Odyknuck [ Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Innovative and Very nicely done.

Author:  hyde [ Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Nice work :!:

Author:  afterburnt [ Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

thanks for all of the good coments. i guess it was worth being out in the garage everynight until midnight for months. when i do a project like this, i do alot of research on the internet, and i always end up just walking around the junk yard, looking at what i could use. You'd be surprised with what you find, if you have alittle bit of imagination,
thanks again, dave

SubySteve wrote:
Nice work! I like the use of late model everyday parts, I dont think those bearings will ever wear out.


if you like what i did with my front end, you would love my back end. :lol: i took and made new 3x3 trailing arms with microstubs. what i used for that was, the front hubs off of a 1992 chevy 4 wheel drive pickup. i took the truck axles and busted the cv out of it, so i had a stub with a cup on it. i put the stub in the lathe and cut it down, and drilled and tapped the holes so i could bolt a bus cv on it. oh ya, when i was cutting the stub, the material was like case hardend, so i had to use ceramic tooling inserts. but once i got through the hardness, it was pretty soft so i was able to use high speed tap and drill for the holes. the tubing i used for the trailing arms was 1 1/4" x 0.180 wall dom tubing. i was able to use the front rotors off of the chevy truck, but i had to turn them down so they were 7/8" thick because i used wilwood calipers. the best part about this was when i went to the junk yard, they charged me 40 bucks for that whole spindle and axle. heres some pictures of it.

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Author:  Andrew_Ha [ Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

man i wish i had your fab. skills i don't know which ones i like better front or back both are cool as hell

Author:  JeffClay [ Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

wow!

Author:  hillaholic [ Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

OMG nice work. I talked to your brother in Wellsville but never got to meet you or see your buggy. That looks like you could run off one of the look outs and it would hold up.
Very nice…

Author:  ky-bc [ Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Amazing work!!

Author:  gasman [ Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

guys that right there is why you should join this site if for no other reason,to see some of coolest ideas for outside the box thinking that you will ever see.i am a firm believer in that you can build anything if you put your mind to it,research it,trial and error it and you will more than likely have something twice as good as if you had bought it,and you did it yourself,and at probly half the cost or less at times.great work and for what it's worth you should be nominated for one of those buggy of the month spot's for inovation alone,so with that i nominate afterburnt.your buggy is truley a hand built one off custom machine,anybody can buy it and put it together but bygod you built your buggy and it is sweet. great job.chad :mrgreen:

Author:  Andrew_Ha [ Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

gasman wrote:
guys that right there is why you should join this site if for no other reason,to see some of coolest ideas for outside the box thinking that you will ever see.i am a firm believer in that you can build anything if you put your mind to it,research it,trial and error it and you will more than likely have something twice as good as if you had bought it,and you did it yourself,and at probly half the cost or less at times.great work and for what it's worth you should be nominated for one of those buggy of the month spot's for inovation alone,so with that i nominate afterburnt.your buggy is truley a hand built one off custom machine,anybody can buy it and put it together but bygod you built your buggy and it is sweet. great job.chad :mrgreen:


well said

Author:  davehix [ Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

told you Dave BOTM!!!! that is some awesome work!

Author:  nitro_mudder [ Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

He sure is elegant :? elequant :? awww shucks, you sure do talk perty chad! :lol:

Author:  afterburnt [ Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

thanks for the good feedback, but you know, i couldnt have done it without all of you guys on this site. alot of the times i dont reply to all of the posting but i look at them all, and i look and see what you guys are doing, and basically, i wanted to build mine better than all of your buggies, and what i mean by that, is i see through the postings, what works and what doesnt work. this woodsbuggy site has really made a machine out of my bug, and has brought me to the next level of buggy riding. the best part about it, is i go out riding and i barely break anything anymore. if any of you guys want to copy anything i made, or need help with it, just let me know, i would be glad to help you all.
thank you woodsbuggy gang
dave

ps. i am buttering you guys up because within the next couple of days i am gonna post my stuff up for woodsbuggy of the month. back last winter dave hix told me to go for the buggy of the month, but that was when i was starting on my front end. now thats all finished, I'll try for it.

Author:  wreckincars [ Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

All joking aside, afterburnt's buggy is one of the nicest bugs I have ever seen. There is a amazing amount of attention to detail on it. If you ever see him on the trail you should stop him,and check it out, he loves to talk about it over a beer :lol:
Also I want to give a huge thanks to Dave (afterburnt) for all the help he gives me with my bug. I REALLY couldn't do this without his advice, loaned parts and use of his shop.

Author:  Odyknuck [ Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

Nice job on the rear too. Not to hijack the thread (well maybe so lol) I noticed you are using air and a emulsion shocks with out torsions. How is it working out for you? How much pressure are you running in the airs to get you to preload. My torsions are sacked out and I am considering going this route. I may or may not leave the torsions in.

afterburnt wrote:
thanks for all of the good coments. i guess it was worth being out in the garage everynight until midnight for months. when i do a project like this, i do alot of research on the internet, and i always end up just walking around the junk yard, looking at what i could use. You'd be surprised with what you find, if you have alittle bit of imagination,
thanks again, dave

SubySteve wrote:
Nice work! I like the use of late model everyday parts, I dont think those bearings will ever wear out.


if you like what i did with my front end, you would love my back end. :lol: i took and made new 3x3 trailing arms with microstubs. what i used for that was, the front hubs off of a 1992 chevy 4 wheel drive pickup. i took the truck axles and busted the cv out of it, so i had a stub with a cup on it. i put the stub in the lathe and cut it down, and drilled and tapped the holes so i could bolt a bus cv on it. oh ya, when i was cutting the stub, the material was like case hardend, so i had to use ceramic tooling inserts. but once i got through the hardness, it was pretty soft so i was able to use high speed tap and drill for the holes. the tubing i used for the trailing arms was 1 1/4" x 0.180 wall dom tubing. i was able to use the front rotors off of the chevy truck, but i had to turn them down so they were 7/8" thick because i used wilwood calipers. the best part about this was when i went to the junk yard, they charged me 40 bucks for that whole spindle and axle. heres some pictures of it.

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Author:  afterburnt [ Wed Jun 03, 2009 11:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

the fox air shocks are amazing. I have 12 inch shocks on the back and 10 inch on the front. when i figured the backs out, i figured i needed 10 inches of travel, so i bought a 12 inch shock, i wish i would have bought a little longer shock to try and see if i could run a little less pressure, because right now i have the backs at 400 pounds psi. the neatest thing about them shocks, is when you make a jump it feels like your landing on a pillow. i have limiting straps and bump stops on the back, a couple of weeks ago, i looked at the bump stops and believe it or not i never hit them, because when you jump and land, the shocks actually build pressure inside to absorb the rebound. when i run down trails, i could watch my tires move all over the place and the frame runs straight and smooth. its pretty awesome. i ran the back nitrogen shocks for about a year before i put the emulsion shocks on, and that made it even more smoother. you might want to try and leave the torsion in and set it real light to try and help out a little bit, like i said, im running 400 pounds of pressure and the shocks max out at 550. we are going out to wellsville this weekend. if you come out, i could give you a ride around and you could feel for yourself how nice the shocks are.
dave

Author:  frankenbuggy06 [ Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: my new front end

wreckincars wrote:
All joking aside, afterburnt's buggy is one of the nicest bugs I have ever seen. There is a amazing amount of attention to detail on it. If you ever see him on the trail you should stop him,and check it out, he loves to talk about it over a beer :lol:
Also I want to give a huge thanks to Dave (afterburnt) for all the help he gives me with my bug. I REALLY couldn't do this without his advice, loaned parts and use of his shop.

i TOTALLY agree. He donsent just have a nice buggy....... Hes a great dude. Awesome to talk to and willing to help. Not that everyone on here isnt, i HAVE not found a person on this site that wouldnt help. AWESOME site, thanks again dean

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