molested st2

[Rick S.]

They are oilite bushings. (oil impregnated bronze)

[Tydra]

decided to mock up my rear-end, just used hardware i had sitting around. i picked up some 5/8 cold rolled rod out of the surplus bin, i intended to use it for a-arm pins. turns out it's 1/16 over (i.e. 11/16", should have checked) guess it was $3 well wasted. jammed some random bolts in the ends to hold them in place.

[Rick S.]

Ty,
Wrap a chain on the sprocket and check the clearance to the lower frame rail with the axle adjusted all the way back. You may need to spread the lower tubes a little wider at the rear.
I usually weld them flush or a little outboard against the rear housing plate. (never inboard)
It may be fine with the round lower rails. With square tube rails it would be very close the way you have it now.

[Tydra]

thx rick, i don't have a chain yet but i did weld them flush to the outside, with the round tube that meant i could move it even further out then square tube. it appears that there's plenty of clearance.

i took a trip up to the cycle salvage yard on the hunt for calipers. from the wedsite i knew they had an 01 arctic cat 500 atv they were parting out (front calipers are dual piston) but they'd already been grabbed, the rear caliper is the same but i need a pair. looked around, could find anything suitable. for my rear caliper i had some pics of what i was looking for and a hint that it may be a honda caliper. dug through 3 recycling bins of honda calipers. i found a whole wack load of ones that were close to matching the pics. pieced a complete unit together from them. test fit it when i got home. it fits but will need a mounting plate (i knew it was going to). while i was there i was scopin some tires, i think i'm gonna go with ITP Mudlites on all 4 corners, 25-8-12 on the front, 25-12-12 on the back. anyone used these?

talk to the laser guy, he'll have all the plate for my a-arm jigs as well as a gift for my uncles rock crawler. we started a bed delete for his buddys rig for clearance for rear steering, the tiny bed on a samurai weight surprised us, took all three of us to lift it (300+ lbs). by the next weekend my uncle had decided he should shed the weight too. which then turned into an air shock suspension conversion (18" sway away airs). he was goin to weld some expanded steel in between the tubes to make a tray, i told him to hold off. i'll post pics of it tomorrow.

[Rick S.]

So do you need me to draw up a dxf for the mount plate?
Or maybe Doug will help. He should have that dxf.

[RC51 Rhino]

 Where are you located? I have a set of the mudlites I'd like to part with.

[Tydra]

dropped by the shop and watched the lazer do it's thing... never get tired of that... all the jigs are ready to be assembled, all the bracing for the front a-arms, a few other odds and ends but by far the most badass piece was the plate for my uncle. there's a plate that goes being the big S and lettering for support and paint constrast(different colours).

[Doug Heim]

So do you need me to draw up a dxf for the mount plate?
Or maybe Doug will help. He should have that dxf.

I had the DXF and already sent it. Hope it helped.

Good to see the build progressing. Sorry I havent been following as close as I like. Great stuff your doing there!

You may also want to look at notcing that lower tube in question for A-arm clearance to obtain more droop. Ill dig up some pics to show how I did it. Its mainly the area that the front outward tube on the lower A-arm woud be.

[Engineer]

Buggy's looking good Ty.

That Suzuki plate is very nice!  Did you do the cad work for that?  Isn't making letters fun.  :P

[Tydra]

thanks for the look doug, progress has been a little stalled lately but it's about to pick up. i think i'm gonna offset the tube on the lower a-arm so i can get the max droop for type4 cvs. should have the a-arms on it by the end of next weekend.

thanks engineer, i did all the CAD work myself but i cheated... downloaded the logos and drew over top of them... we tacked it in today... looks wicked... tried it on top of the lower tube, didn't fit, cut some off, clued in that it might look better on the bottom of the tube, it did, wished we hadn't cut it. oh well. once again forgot the camera... next time i'll get some pics.

[Rick S.]

Your a arms will probably clear since you used round tubes for the lower rails.
And welding the front lower a arm tube on top, like I have it shown, will gain even more.

[Tydra]

spent the last week building the suspension, first 3 pics are the jigs, the rest are the progress so far.

[Doug Heim]

Excellent work my friend. Nice to see that rear used in somthing other than a Piranha.

Nice and simple jigs as well. Great progress! So when do you plan on having it as a roller? Must be close now!

[Wyattboche]

In picture 100_0688.JPG how you make the plates or where did you buy them from? Looking to make a similar front spindel.

[Tydra]

UPDATE. finished fabbing the suspension, except for the upper shock mounts, waiting on shocks (a pair of used 8.5 travel fox airs are on the way for the front and i might go with a pair of 12-14" sway-away racerunners for the rear that i can order locally, anyone have experience with them? just put a pair of 18" on my uncles crawler). i included a pic of the brace plate i was gonna stitch to the lower front a-arm, it looks like i might suck up too much ground clearance, do you think i should cut it down?

mocked the motor in on my milk crate engine cradle, so i could see how it would look, gonna take it back out so i can fab the exhaust before i do the motor mounts. i'm thinkin, i'll hard mount the rear mounts to guarantee alignment, and soft mount the rear with a couple of 1/4 plates and a chunk of 3/8" conveyor belt. opinions?

got my tires and rims, 25x8x12 ITP mudlites on 12x4 trailer rims (will be 12x5s after beadlocks) on the front and 26x12x12 ITP blackwaters on 12x7 ITP delta rims (will be 12x8s). they look awesome already. the beadlocks are gonna be sick. i've narrowed it down to 2 designs, the first looks mean as hell, but i'm almost quaranteed to loose some skin too. the second is a little more user friendly and probably a little stronger. gonna cut them out of 3/8" plate i think, do you think i should go to 1/4"?

and lastly a pic of my dads new toy!