project Grocery Getter, the build up of my Tracker

[Joe S.]

Plasma cutter wouldn't work last night. I'm headin there now. Looks like we cutting what's left by hand.

[Joe S.]

well we had to cut the plates by hand/ er, grinding wheel. what fun! lol

i got it to a point. it is on the truck, but we still are not finished. you can see in the pics where we are at now. still have to cap the ends, and install 2 more mounts, then modify the lower mounts, as they didnt quite line up.

you can also see what i have planned for the future for the bumper.

AND!!! you can also see my FIRST EVER WELDS!! the fab guy showed me how to weld and this was my first time to ever get some welds to stick. (i did try once a long time ago, but couldnt get the welds to hold). these held!!! they are UGLY, but that will improve with practice!! i am HAPPY!!

[weed]

 Looking good Joe!
 Don't feel bad, I've had some of those, I call those kind of burns "Gorrilla welds" not very good looking but strong!    Weed

[Joe S.]

Lol. Well I just hope ONE day I can say I'm close to as good as you are with a welder

[BLKZUKI]

ok not once in this thread does it say you were able to make it to the grocery store?..........







looks good JOE

[weed]

Lol. Well I just hope ONE day I can say I'm close to as good as you are with a welder

Thanks Joe,  but just don't ever inspect my welds to close!

And yeah---  where is this grocery store you speak of,  "Mother Hubbards cupboards" gotta be bare by now!?  ---    Weed

[Joe S.]

my trail slayer kit came with 14" 175# coil springs.

i just ordered (2) 16" 150# springs and (2) 18" 150# springs. i am going to run the 18s in the rear without the spacer trail tough included in the kit and i am going to run the 16" in the front with the spacer from the rear. with the compression of the 175# springs, and adjusting for 150# springs, that should net me about 2.5" of lift all around.

anyway, i used the hilift and floor jack last night to check the angle of my links and to get an idea of the height my truck will sit at 2.5" taller...

[waiukea boi]

Looks good Joe. Did your coils come in yet? Post a picture of them when you putem on !!! My friend is making a winch bumper for my Tracker and hopefully will be done soon. I will post pictures of it when I am done.

[Joe S.]

springs made it the other day and header is on the way...

next weekend, i plan to start:
1) spring install for 2.5" more lift
2) move rear axle back 2"
3) header install
4) 4.24:1 gear install in tcase (if they dont sell before then. i am tired of sitting on them)


got my baby this weekend and will be out of town all next week, so wont have time to fool with it till probably next saturday

[Joe S.]

ok, got some work done on the truck.

last sunday i installed the header. then i left to go out of town monday-wednesday.
thursday i took it the muffler shop to get it closed up because my truck didnt have a cat on it, and i had to have the flange from the cat welded to the exhaust pipe. it sounds a lot better without that exhaust leak.

today, i pulled the rear axle and extended the link ends. i was going to extend them out 1" on each side, but decided to only go about 3/4" on each side. this caused a nice bind on my shocks to shock mounts, so i had to trim a little metal off the shock mount. i am not crazy about the angle i have now on my shocks, or the angle on my springs. so i will probably end up pulling the links again, and moving the axle back forward another 1/2", which will give me 1" more wheelbase than i was this morning.

i have about 1 1/4" of threads left in the links. i talked with a guy today and he said that should be fine, but i would like another opinion on that. i am sure it is, but what do yall think? is the angle of my springs as bad as i think it may be? could i tilt the pinion down a little more to have a little less angle on the coils?

here are the pics of what i did.

these are the new springs compared to the old ones. they are 18" vs. 14" but they are 150# instead of 175#


these are the position of the link ends now. i probably have that much thread inside the link as well.


the angle of the springs. this is pretty close. they compressed a little more when i let it down, but this is pretty close. notice my homemade shock extension (not permanent).

[Joe S.]

tomorrow i hope to get the front springs in, and get the tcase pulled...

monday i go to the powertrain shop to get the drive line modified.

[redidbull]

Looks great Joe. Weather is starting to get cold here and working outside is ending. Love seeing these projects to keep my spirits up. Jim

[Joe S.]

thanks jim, i just spoke to scott at rock 4x and he gave me an idea on how to better the angle of that spring... just gotta tie my welder guy down to take care of it.

think we are gonna extend the mount out a little bit forward on the bottom and gusset it, similar to the front axle. this will give me a better angle on that spring, and keep me from having to completely rework the upper mount and shock mount...

[Joe S.]

After talking to scott, I called my fab guy and he was heading to the shop so I rode over and we added an extension to the spring mounts on the axle to move the spring forward. Worked like a charm. The spring sits straight now

I will get pics today while I am working

[Joe S.]

FGIALS came over and helped today and we got a lot done! got the front springs done, driveshaft measured and pulled for modding, and tcase pulled for new gears...

also found a NICE crack in my frame...   

pics:
new mount



crack:


new stance: