The windshield frame is back in place. Once the build is done I will have somebody replace the glass. I used Honda Shin-Etsu grease on the weather seal.
The steering was a big pain. It's consists of a bunch of trial and error. You move one thing and you must adjust everything else, and then do an alignment.
I finally dialed in the steering gear to steering stop ratio I previously had mentioned I was working on late last year. The more perfect it is the less wear you'll have on rod ends, ball joints, and links. As I started to get it more dialed in I kept working towards finalizing more parts and firming them up with more welds and more finished of a design. Once everything starts getting firm with less play the ratio needed to be changed again slightly.
I am running 1/8" of toe-out and about 6.5* of caster.
At this point, I can stick a business card behind the physical steering stops on the knuckles and hold it in place with the steering wheel. As soon as the steering wheel is backed off at all, the card drops.
This is the mocked up pitman arm I made. I would not drive on it aside from a couple of feet in a straight line across the yard or onto a trailer. Once I have a final pitman arm made I can still adjust and correct the plate on the knuckle slightly if it changes my ratio at all.
I clearanced the motor mount for the UCA and notched the frame for the drag link and track bar. This is where the plasma comes in handy! When I pull the axle out later to finalize and paint it I will also plate these areas.
It's nice to see that the frame is solid with no rust since I reused this section of frame.
The lower radiator hose had to be moved out of the way of the UCA. This was simply done by rotating it.
There is 6.5" of up travel in the front. The limitation is the 37" tires on the highline fenders:
There's not many exact measurements that I can give that would be helpful here. It comes down to following the philosophy and guidelines. What's probably more helpful is looking through the detailed pictures. Once I pull the axle for final welding I will also be replacing some of the mockup brackets I used for final bracketry.
The track bar and drag link are parallel:
The track bar is at the same angle as the drag link for no bump steer:
The UCA bolt had to be flipped to stay off the AC pump:
The frame side track bar backet is angled off the frame to keep the heim joint straight at ride height:
The 3/4" 8" bolts are the perfect length for the steering arms:
