Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I have had a few people ask about pics of my spring over .. so I thought I shold post a few here for all to see ...

And a few more one from the rear ..

As well as a shot of the shackle angle and length with rears up front with just longer shackles .. (Using suzuki leaves)

do u drive it daily or is it a weekend warrior?

hows it handle with the long shackle and only to leaves ?

does it fell like it needs a panhard in the front or anything?

Thanks tim

redzook wrote:do u drive it daily or is it a weekend warrior?

Luv_mud tends to have reliability issues pretty often so it is more like a "one weekend a year warrior"

your shock mount looks like it's seen better days .

did you extend your shock towers as well or just lower the bottom mount?

Can you put up some pics of your drive shaft angles please?

I'm interested in the hi-steer linkage you have there.

I presume it's the original drag link, but how reliable have you found the steering since you've attached the steering to that slightly bent, but rather solid looking flat plate on the top of the caliper area?

Obviously they would have to be high tensile bolts, but it is OK with the engineer to do it that way, rather than make up a piece like Mick does that bolts to the brake caliper mounting bolts?

I look forward to your reply...thanks.

It handles reasonably well with the longer shackles .. at least as well as it did with normal sized (factory) shackles and standard fronts and way better than it did with "misisng links". I reckon the ideal way would pick up all the mount area's from kingpin and caliper.
The shock mounts etc are very rough .. the old shackles chopped up and welded to the diff housing .. I wanted to see how well the rears out front with just shackles would work so didnt bother putting to much time into them as I did not know if it would work.
Steering has been like that for over 80,000kms was a daily driven vehicle for 5 years with swampers etc etc to date only had one problem with steering comming loose, that was due to my screwup and not tighting the bolts holding the plate down properly it is also braced against the old steering arm cast into the knuckle sorta like a sideways V shape.

The front shaft angle is same as any other SPOA probarbly less as the springs are pretty well dead flat but the axle sits a few inches forward.

I would like a panhard to "crisp up" the steering a bit ..
But as a light vehicle sitting on heavy rubber ... it's not going to handle all that well .. EVER . The other reason I want some sort of extra linkage up front is to help with steering offroad when the wheels are hard up agains something steering tends to push the body sideways instead of moving the wheels. Also when having a bit of a flex you tend to run out of steering lock.

I will be reworking the front suspension again at the end of summer and trying a SPOA most likely with Hilux leaves.

The top of the shock mount has been extended by about 4 inches.

Oh and next time I see gerg .. I am going to park on him ....








Thats if I ever get my junk moving again

love_mud wrote:Steering has been like that for over 80,000kms was a daily driven vehicle for 5 years with swampers etc etc to date only had one problem with steering comming loose, that was due to my screwup and not tighting the bolts holding the plate down properly it is also braced against the old steering arm cast into the knuckle sorta like a sideways V shape.

I have to admit this was a very funny experience to see......

Good thing it happened on the trail and not on the freeway

Actually that was a good trip in all ways, but the steering failure was quite amusing.

Anyway I thought you were considering selling out to the "Sons of Dat" - whats this about new front suspension, or are you only selling out both axles??

axles and suspsnsion .. mods in near future ... sick of sub par brakes and doing wheel bearings every few 1000 Kms .. (the claws and 15x8 rims weight 44kg a piece ... a far cry from stock Zuki wheels and tyres)

love_mud wrote:axles and suspsnsion .. mods in near future ... sick of sub par brakes and doing wheel bearings every few 1000 Kms .. (the claws and 15x8 rims weight 44kg a piece ... a far cry from stock Zuki wheels and tyres)

Mmm kinda know that feeling with the 15x8"s on the Vit.... at least I'll run 33"s ok when I can get there

ever had any problems with the housing/perches fatigue cracking? I purchased the current zook with the spoa completed and the welds were shocking! Lack of fusion and incompleted runs were the problem, i have since rewelded and blended them to a flush finish....see how they hold up.

I have not had any issues with the welding on the spring perches, but I have had (and have again by the look of it) issues with the rear housing cracking up ... Its beginning to crack around the "pumpkin" again ..

I will be swapping diffs\diff housings as soon as funds and time allow to something much stronger including axles, housings, bearings and braking ability.

Why not get sierra tubes welded into a vit centre?
That would give you a really strong centre, same axles, brakes and wheeltrack etc as you have now, and the tube would be stronger around the centre.
Mine should be finished after christmas - I will post pics when i get it back.

Because axles, bearings and braking ability are all things I have issues with ..
I have twisted axles at the splines, but due to frequent bearing swaps I can keep an eye on this, brakes rear's are virtually worthless in drum form, disks are apparently better, but still aftermarket .. and no engineer in their right mind would let you run 35's on a sierra or even vitara hybred diff ..