With the axle back in place, it was time to install the steering box. I picked up a Toyota steering box from a 90's 4 runner with IFS. These Boxes seem to be quite easy to work with, easy to find also. They mount on the outside of the frame which makes mounting a bit easier also. Here you see the temp location where I placed it..
Hind site being 20/20, I should of probably tilted the box upwards a bit to reduce angle on the steering shaft. but it worked well this way also.
So I cleaned up the frame front and back.. To get to the back side, I had to remove the lower rad hose and move a few things around. clean up the frame with the grinder.. I then placed the steering box and marked the location of the holes.. then took out the plasma and cut out 3/4" holes..
Then I used some 1/4" plate to brace the frame.. I used some 3/4" sprinkler pipe I had lyin around and sleeved the holes then welded the plates front and back so I can't crush the frame when torquing down the bolts.
finished product minus the paint of course.
AT this point I had to get the pitman arm in so I could put the drag link in the determine location for the track bar.. So I tried Modding the stock pitman arm. It has a balljoint on the end unlike the Jeep pitman arms. I cut it off thinking I would still be able to use it.. unfortunatly, that was not the case. So I grabbed a XJ pitman arm.. SUrprise, surprise.. the spline on the steering box is much finer then the Jeep boxes.. so I guess I can't use one of those..
2 options, 1 get after market pitman arm(at least a week before I get it), 2 machine a plug with the right taper and weld it in the toy pitman arm.. This was the route I was going to take I was looking for some solid stock to machine(read grinder here to fit the OD and ream with proper reamer) when Eric(Redyotarunner on the NBoffroad board) Dropped in. He's buildin a 4Runner but isn't quite done yet. As we were chattin away I explained my dilema and he offered me to use his TRailgear pitman arm he was using with his high steer kit. i can pay him for it or replace it.. THis way at least I didn't have to wait a week to get it in. THanks Alot ERIC!
So I took a shot over to his place and picked up the pitman arm, reamed it out for the Chev 1Ton Tres and was good to go..
With that in place, next step was to take the 2 steering shafts and make 1 out of them.. Yota shaft top, Ranger shaft bottom.
what I did was on the yota shaft, I pounded out the sliding peice. Then cut the main peice with the knuckle down a bit shorter. then on the ranger shaft, I cut the knuckle out and left about 1" of the "flange". I machined the flange to fit inside the yota shaft I had cut down. THis worked like an indexing ring like a driveshaft to line up the shaft straight and welded it in. So I still have the saftey compression(read slip) of the shaft in case of front end impact. worked out pretty good. (sorry for lack of picks on this one was just workin away in the "zone" and forgot to take some.. lol)
Here you see it mounted. tight squeeze, but it fits withouth interfearance.
Once that was done, I installed the drag link and mounted the trackbar.. Looks a little off here but it's parallel
another shot
axle Mount for trackbar/panhard bar
frame mount for trackbar/panhard bar
Heres a shot of the arms when sitting at ride height. the upper is pretty much parallel to the ground with 9" separation from the lowers.
Time to install calipers, brake lines, rebuild the hubs, install lockouts, all the little tidious stuff.
Speaking of shocks, had some 14" travel shocks to use, but due to lack of space on the ranger, couldn't install them. needed to figure out a location to put them and allow good travel without causing any stability issues.. This is what I came up with..
Not optimal, I know, but works pretty good. doesn't interfear with anything else and once he lifts the rear a bit more and adjusts the coil buckets for more height, he can relocate the shocks if there is enough room then..
couple finished shots...
tire clearance from the back
So that ends the build. I had to do something for the rear and originally was goin to be shackles, but he came to get the truck and the bolts were seized in the bushings.. so he opted to just put blocks in the rear for now so he could bring it home.. We finished the truck at 5:30AM.. yup.. all nighter. lol. and had to go to parts counter in the AM to get a caliper retaining key so he could drive it home.
Truck works pretty good, you can brake hard and it doesn't nose dive at all, so that tells me the Anti Drive/Anti Squat was pretty good for road use, but does need a bit of tweaking to get things dialed in. Also he's going to need a sway bar. it's a bit slinky.. I thought the ZJ V8 lift coils would be stiffer, but I guess the Ranger 4.0L is quite heavy. lol.. He also said he's got a bit of a wobble at a bit 90Km/h.. Told him to tweak the caster a bit and to check all the bolts to make 100% sure everthing is still tight, test until no more wobble, then put a steering stabilizer... AFTER it no longer wobbles...
If everything is tight and caster is good, then possibly 12oz or powder to balance the tires was a bit too much? Also, when he hits big bumps, the UCA does hit the exhaust so he can play with the UCA mount location since I made it adjustable.
anyway, hope you enjoyed the build..
2 weeks from this Thursday!! ;D