Nashville TJ's Build - Continued

[NashvilleTJ]

Here is a pic of the final mockup - sitting here at full droop with the weight on the limit straps.

This pic reminds me that I also checked out the driveshaft, and no need to make any changes there.

 

[B00mb00m]

Here is a pic of the final mockup - sitting here at full droop with the weight on the limit straps.

This pic reminds me that I also checked out the driveshaft, and no need to make any changes there.



View attachment 222643

Were you able to match up travel with the rock jock and the 14B?

 

[Mike_H]

Man, I love to see a well built rig, going through everything it takes to make it a well built rig. Thanks for documenting this. Its impressive!

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Were you able to match up travel with the rock jock and the 14B?

Yes, no loss in uptravel at all. I had to take a big chunk out of the crossmember, but it will work fine.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Man, I love to see a well built rig, going through everything it takes to make it a well built rig. Thanks for documenting this. Its impressive!

Thanks Mike.

 

[Wildman]

A mod that I did to the '60 many years ago was to add a tab for strapping it to the trailer. It made it much easier to strap it down, and eliminated the need to crawl under the rig to look a strap around the axle. The position of the tab allowed me to attached the strap by just reaching under.

Here it is on the '60:

View attachment 222581

I cut the tabs out of 3/8" plate, and milled a 1" whole in the center.

View attachment 222582

I then extended the hole to the inside edge with the death wheel. A little flap disk to ease the edges, and instant tabs:

View attachment 222583

Tacked in place on the 14 Bolt:

View attachment 222584

I like those tie down points. I need to add those to my axles while I have the out and still working on them. Who's lower shock mounts are those?

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I like those tie down points. I need to add those to my axles while I have the out and still working on them. Who's lower shock mounts are those?

Genright. I’m a big fan of their builder components.

 

[Wildman]

Genright. I’m a big fan of their builder components.

How wide are they? I need some new lowers but only have about 3" of space.


Just to tempt you a little F&B Throttle Bodies makes a 6 pack kit for your Hemi too.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

How wide are they? I need some new lowers but only have about 3" of space.


Just to tempt you a little F&B Throttle Bodies makes a 6 pack kit for your Hemi too.

Just measured - they are 2 7/8” outside edge to outside edge.

 

[Wildman]

Just measured - they are 2 7/8” outside edge to outside edge.

Thanks those will WORK...

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Being president of the "Can't Leave Well Enough Alone Club" can be challenging at times. Since I had the axle out, and needed to get in there anyway to put the cross member back together, I decided to raise my tank.

When I build the suspension a few years ago, I was not running a body lift, and the tank was installed tucked up to the body. When I did the Hemi, I had to do a 1" body lift to clear the trans. Consequently, there is a little bit of room above the tank. Looking at it, I can raise the tank an inch or an inch and a half. So why not.

Here is the before:

First up - drain the tank - which was unfortunately full. I tapped into the fuel line at my fuel filter with an AN fitting.

Jumpered the fuel pump relay,

Pumped out about 18 gallons.

And then dropped the tank.

---

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Oh shit....

 

[NashvilleTJ]

After some figurin' and cyphrin', I concluded that I could raise the tank 1.5" with not toooo much work.

The aluminum Genright tank I have sits in a steel skid which bolts to the underside of the rear cross member using these tabs:

To accomplish the raise, I pulled out the death wheel to cut those tabs off flush with the horizontal top edge of the skid.

And then welded them back on the the face of the skid so they were 1.5" lower.

The front of the skid attaches with two 5/16" countersunk alan bolts at the base of my shock mount. You can see those two holes on the mounting arm at the lower right hand side of the skid in the picture above. Lowering the front was just a matter of positioning the skid, an drilling new holes in the mounting arm.

Here is the tank put back together and ready to install.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

And here is the result. A good bit of work for an inch an a half, but it is really noticeable when you look at it from the rear.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Here is the hack repair I did to reconnect the cross member after cutting it to clear the upper control arms. I wound up cutting all the way through the rear portion of the cross member, and my quick fix was to weld a short piece of 3/8" flat bar across the top.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

And that completed the fab work to get the 14 bolt under the rig. After cleaning up the shop I assembled the axel for the last time. Here it is in all its glory - shafts, calipers, rotors, brake lines - and actual brake pads.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

And I wrapped up the day by doing another one of these. Three down, two to go..

 

[Wildman]

It's looking really good. Can't wait to see you out beating on it again.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

First order of business today was to build the hard brake lines for the axle. Mocked them up with heavy wire, and then replicated it in 3/16" coated brake line. I tucked it back out of the way as far as I could.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Always nice to pull out the specialized tools. I bought this Mastercool hydraulic crimper a few years ago. I don't use it often, but it's worth its weight in gold when I need it.

Clamp in the line and then it takes two steps, first using a bulge die (no idea what it is actually called) to shape the flare, and then the flare die to, well, make the flare.

One really nice thing about this unit is that it is hand held, and you can easily flare lines while still on the rig - which I've had to do a few times.

Perfect flare every time. No fuss, no muss.

Bolted in place and secured.