Buggy Build

[waynehartwig]

A friend of mine just bought this buggy - some of you might recognize it from WEROCK or a few videos...

..Well, before he bought it, I was in the process of building him a HPD60 front end to replace his HPD44 in the front of his Ranger. The Ranger ended up getting scrapped - literally... A friend of his took the tub/frame and sold it for $.40lb after pulling the motor and trans for his sand rail.

Loaded up and off to get sold (the axles will be pulled first)...

Since he's used to the width/length, he was not at all happy with the stability of the buggy - especially after rolling it in a stupid location second or third time out - I think the rear winch line snapped (it was broken when we righted it, but it could have been the way it was righted), suspension unloaded and down the hill he went. Now he has a use for the D60 instead of selling it like originally planned...

So we started first thing in the morning at his place by stripping it and getting rid of the Toy axles... I'm in the sweats (it was cold) talking to the kid that is there buying the front Toy/D44 hybrid...

And stripped with the bare 60 housing sitting underneath seeing if it will fit as a passenger drop - buggy has a D300 behind the stock Sami box and I'd rather not flip the 300...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Hold the press! Is that Wayne NOT in sweats... ie wearing shorts

Whats the story on the front Toy axle? Looks like a hybrid but what knuckles/joints?

 

[waynehartwig]

So time to work on the HPD60 and make it a passenger drop instead and still use the stock 79 F350 shafts...

Before surgery...

Old knuckle next to the new Dedenbear's that I'll put on afterwards

Long side made short, short side cut flush to get ready for the press...

Time to press out the short side

Tada! HPD60 passenger drop

 

[waynehartwig]

Hold the press! Is that Wayne NOT in sweats... ie wearing shorts

Whats the story on the front Toy axle? Looks like a hybrid but what knuckles/joints?

Either sweats or shorts is all you'll see me in for the most part

The front is a hybrid - Toy center with GM D44 outers. I believe it was 30 spline all the way through (19 outers)... Neither of us had the front apart to see what was inside, though... He sold the front end to the kid I was talking to in the one picture for $650. Complete with elocker, harness, 4.10's and 4340's.

 

[waynehartwig]

Oh, and here's what happens when things go really wrong!

We were trying to pull the saw horse out from under the front end, so we could remove all of the present tubing after talking him into tubing out the front end. The things I wanted him to do (and the result he wanted), required to stop thinking like noobs and just tube the front end. Well, the entire dang thing fell to the ground. Sad part is we hadn't cracked a beer/Jack and Coke YET - this required it. We ended up calling in some friends that lived in the area to help us lift it back onto blocks (tire in the center) - remember, it is a Samurai - buggy no less, so it literally weighs 10#'s more than a childs gokart! lol

 

[waynehartwig]

Anyway...

The rear 9" from the Ranger had been rubbed/beat on a lot of rocks, so Mike thought he'd mohawk/plate it and add some more bracing to prep it for 40+ tires...

Here's the brace traced out onto some 2x6 after making cardboard templates - he thought I was God when I suggested the cardboard part

Gotta love the plasma

Mike's a pretty good welder for being self taught... Practice, practice, practice! And no, those aren't start/stop welds - 'one' continous pass

All welded up and gussetted...

And the look Mike's going for... You can see the tires under the belly and some of the Ranger's panels up against the fence

 

[waynehartwig]

So here's the front end cut up after we stopped thinking like noob's... Not exactly sure where we were cutting to, so we stopped here to be sure. I wanted him to go back behind the motor mounts to where the frame arches, but he wasn't going for that. This took a lot of talking to even get this much.

Axle is in, links are setup and tires are on. The rear is also in the same shape - under, linked and tires on. So now this is 'sitting' on it's tires - technically it's full stuff and sitting on the frame/stops.

Need a winch mount.. Mike didn't want a winch, but I talked him into putting it back on

Side shot of Mike's tube work

All in and painted

Got the shocks charged and reinstalled. Suspension cycles really well - no surprises yet.

Other than not having a track bar and the body shifted way driver

And where we left it tonight. This is ride height with roughly 4" f/r of up travel. With the 39.5" IROK's, there is 17" from ground to the belly.

 

[waynehartwig]

Still have lots to do... Brakes, steering, trackbar, drivelines and put the front D60 together.

Specs:
Full hydro steering
5.13 gears; welded rear, Detroit front - rear still has OEM shafts, front is Yukon 4340 w/Summit Machine 35 spline slugs
5 on 5.5" conversion done to the front to match the rear - even used 1/2" studs to match the rear w/GM calipers
Zuki 1.6 EFI motor, stock auto trans/tcase with a D300 behind it - at some point the D300 might get a 4:1, we'll see how it crawls now with the bigger tires and gears
111" wheel base
86/83" - wide F/R outside of wheel to outside of wheel
17" ground to belly at ride height with ~4" of uptravel

 

[Bart]

Looks great Wayne. Wish you still lived close to me. Did it have an Anti Rock on it?

 

[Tacoma]

He's going to gusset that winch mount, right??????


Nice build thread.

 

[waynehartwig]

Looks great Wayne. Wish you still lived close to me. Did it have an Anti Rock on it?

I wish I lived close, too

No anti rock or sway bars of any kind. He has suck down winches front and rear. When sucked down, it really doesn't have any 'roll' issues.

 

[ChestonScout]

I like the axle work!


Good job Wayne!

 

[waynehartwig]

He's going to gusset that winch mount, right??????


Nice build thread.

Yes, just trying to figure out the best/cleanest way of doing it. Most likely there will be two pieces of tube come from the top bar to mid/side of the hoop. And possibly a gusset underneath between the shelf and the down tube.

 

[waynehartwig]

I like the axle work!


Good job Wayne!

Thanks!! Which - front or rear? Front was all me, but rear the only thing I did was make the cardboard template otherwise it's all Mike. He even learned how to use my plasma to cut the pieces out.

I taught him how to air up shocks yesterday, too... He thought it was going to be hard. I told him I wanted to take the air out of them to get them put in place (bracketry and etc). He wasn't too happy about it, but I did it anyway. Afterwards, I aired them back up to the same PSI they were at before. It took my longer to get the tank and etc out of my truck than it did to reset them. He thought that was really cool and way too easy.

Since they are at the same PSI as before, and the sprung weight hasn't really changed, we can tell that it's been lowered about 6" from before - rear mount used to be single sheer on a down hoop from the rear tube. I moved the mount to the tube near a node, made some tabs and made it dual sheer.

 

[Bart]

I would still add at least one sway bar of some kind. When those air shocks unload it can get unpredictable. The difference in the ride is night and day, seriously.

 

[ChestonScout]

Mostly the front but I do the rear as well. Got to love plasma cutters.

 

[Kiel]

Looks good wayne. Working outside sucks though. Not sure about the sami case with 39.5's

 

[waynehartwig]

I would still add at least one sway bar of some kind. When those air shocks unload it can get unpredictable. The difference in the ride is night and day, seriously.

At some point he's actually going to dump the air shocks for coil overs, but I'll pass on the suggestion. He's already rolled it once because of the air shocks unloading and his girlfriend is actually afraid of riding in it. She was never afraid of the Ranger, even though Mike rolled/flopped it often. His Ranger didn't have sway bars, but it was still leaf/coil sprung...

Mostly the front but I do the rear as well. Got to love plasma cutters.

Thanks! I'll let Mike know his rear end is liked lol

Looks good wayne. Working outside sucks though. Not sure about the sami case with 39.5's

Working outside way sucks! When we started tearing into it, it was hot out. Now it's getting cold. Our plan is to get it rolling, onto the trailer and then over to my place to finish it inside. He was starting to get frustrated, and only wanted it rolling so he could put it inside and forget about it for a few months. But now that it's on it's own weight/tires, he's loving it. Especially how low, long and wide it is. He's like a kid with a new toy again.

The Sami case is in front of the D300, so it's really not seeing much torque - just the torque from the motor and trans, so I think it will be ok. But if it does die, he's already expressed interest in an Atlas or STaK to replace it and the D300. If it holds, he'll probably just put a 4:1 in the D300 and call it done. A friend of his was going to give him a 4:1 kit for trade for the rear axle out of the buggy (Toy, e locker, 4.10's, disc brake conversion, wide track, etc), but then later changed his mind and went a different route with the axle. So now he'll probably put that axle in his other Sami that he's going to run in WEROCK next year - he has the same thing already, but not wide and no disc brakes, otherwise identical.

His drivelines are budget builds. Currently they are actually D44 axle shafts with splines twisted off

 

[waynehartwig]

UPDATE:
FIgured I'd update this since it's been so long...

A bunch of us got to together yesterday and played...
First thing Mike wanted to add more air to the shocks so he could jump it...

Time for the rock garden...

Bound up and so long OEM 31 spline 9" shaft (rear driver SNAP!)

Now time to jump it...

 

[waynehartwig]

Mike got some pictures of the carnage
Stock shaft and he said that it twisted 360* before breaking :shock: