super steering box mod

[Rioshilo]

Decided to redo my steering gear box mount. I had installed the D44 about 2" forward from the stock postition. This combined with the longer steering arms of the ford knuckles put the tie rod almost in front of the pitman arm. I also hated the fact that it hung down so low and drug in the rocks.

So... I cut out the frame brace in the front of my TJ and raised the gear box up and leveled it out.


This is the addition that I made to the frame for the top bolt.


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/brframepiece.JPG


I left the stock gear box mount there as it should provide good protection for the pitman arm from the evil rocks. :D


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/brside2view.JPG


This is the view from the top. The lines almost touch the bottom of the grill. I also had to space up the pillow block for the steering shaft.


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/brtopview.JPG


This is the view from the side. Reused one of the original sleeves for the gear box mounting.


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/brsideview.JPG



More to come...

[Rioshilo]

This is the bumper before I put it on.


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/bbumper.JPG


Here it is installed. I decided I wanted to sink the winch down the bottom of the frame.


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/bbumperon.JPG


A view from the top with the winch installed.



http://members.cox.net/riophaz/botopside.JPG


Some new and improved draglink angles. It actually goes back to the tie rod now instead of forward to the tierod.



http://members.cox.net/riophaz/bdraglink.JPG



http://members.cox.net/riophaz/bounder.JPG

[Rioshilo]

some more shots of it. I not finished yet. I am putting a rad hoop on there and some clevis hangers at frame width. Probably something that protects the forward edge of the pitman arm, and something to finish off the sides of the bumper.

http://members.cox.net/riophaz/bobumperfront.JPG

http://members.cox.net/riophaz/bofontview.JPG

http://members.cox.net/riophaz/boprofile.JPG

http://members.cox.net/riophaz/boprofile2.JPG

[Wind_Danzer]

Pretty impressive Rio!!!!! :D :D :D

[k7mto]

And I thought I was cool with my bolt on Bid Daddy CJ steering bracket :rolleyes:

Lookin' good, Rio :D

[JamesT]

And I thought I was cool with my bolt on Bid Daddy CJ steering bracket :rolleyes:


I don't know, you might be. I have serious concerns when a frame member that is round is cut out and replaced by a bumper that is a "C".

Rio, Did you replace the frame member with something other than the bumper? If not, did you have to hold the frame rails apart until the bumper got installed? What happens if you bend the bumper? (I have bent mine, I still have the frame member (in my CJ) and I made the bumper out of 3/16" steel, in addition, you have the winch mounted to it). Did you do any stress anaylisis on it?

Maybe just the engineer in me coming out....

[Rioshilo]

No stress analysis on it yet. I'll get it out on the rocks and do some field research stress analysis tests on it soon. :D

I was a little nervous about cutting out that frame brace, but only so many things can fit into one spot. I allready have an additional frame brace back at the track bar mount going from frame to frame. The bumper is more than just a c channel. It is partially boxed, providing an additional plane. There will also be a brace running across at the bottom of the radiator hoop that is going on. The bumper is 5/16" and should not be bending anytime soon.

In those first pictures with only the gear box moved I wanted to see if there was any frame deflection without that brace. It turned those boggers without any visible movement of the frame at the front. Granted, I didn't want to drive it on the street like that, but no I did not need anything to hold it in place.

I am very pleased at how my steering is on the street now. My tie rod used to roll as the draglink pushed or pulled on it, giving my steering some play.
The new draglink angle does not roll the tierod at all, so my steering is now tight and responsive. Moving the draglink forward also gave my room to mount my hydro assist stuff. Things were really tight in there and this really opened it up.

Rio

[Stu Olson]

Rio.....I like the picture that shows how much of the grill/radiator is available for air flow with the winch mounted low. ;)

[flxy_tj]

That looks good, I want to do something like that with my winch. A guy on pirate4x4 did something along the same line by sinking the winch. To compensate he took tube from the back of the bumper/frambrace and tied it in to the frame and welded it all up.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311080&highlight=sinking+winch

[DrunkenKyle]

nice welds

[Rioshilo]

Some pictures of the finished product...






http://members.cox.net/riophaz/nbumper2.jpg

http://members.cox.net/riophaz/nbumper3.jpg

http://members.cox.net/riophaz/nbumper4.jpg

http://members.cox.net/riophaz/nbumper1.jpg




For those of you that did not see the old bumper I made, here it is for comparison...



http://members.cox.net/carlinenicole/ruler1.jpg

[Rioshilo]

Finished up the radiator-grill hoop. Kind of a lot of tube for a grill hoop, but it should do the job in protecting stuff...

http://members.cox.net/riophaz/grilltube1.jpg


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/grilltube2.jpg


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/grilltube3.jpg

[Rioshilo]

Made some more progress,

I finally got around to installing the ram assist that I have had laying around for a few months. I had a gift cert. for AGR so that is the ram that I bought. Found a spare box that was a bit tighter as my gear box was loosening up quite a bit. Drilled and tapped the spare box and then plugged the ports and drove around for a while without the assist installed to make sure the box was ok by itself and didn't have any problems.

Installed the ram a couple of weeks ago and it works great. The steering is nice and easy now... a little slower but still nice. In fact, the only part I haven't liked is the slower steering speed in high speed dirt trails with sharp turns. Guess I'll have to slow down on the dirt track, or learn to aticipate my turns a little earlier.


Here are some pictures...



http://members.cox.net/riophaz/ram1.jpg


http://members.cox.net/riophaz/ram2.jpg