Building a truss

#1
I dusted off the jeep stuff the other day hoping to drive it sometime before the weather gets cold again (only kind of joking) I have a lot of parts laying around but i find myself being held up on building trusses for the axles to move forward in any direction.

I'd planned to run my upper on the driverside up front but i have little room on the driver side of the pumpkin to build off using ballistic's coil/shock/control arm mounts. i think i'd prefer not to run it on passenger side because of the starter and probably placement of panhard but if it's the easiest way, i'll just run it on passenger.

Pic of the axle before i had it to see what i mean, I cut the passenger upper mount off
the44.jpg


For the rear i'll be running an 8.8. I happen to have 2 pieces of 1/4" that are 8" long by 3.5-4" wide and then 2 other pieces same measurements but i believe 3/8" thick laying around and i thought of using it to build something along the lines of this then tying it into the diff where 8.8 have the little hole. If i was to do it like this, should i plate it in anyway or strengthen it somehow?
ford88.jpg


Is .25" to thin to build a truss from?
Is new dorito taco from taco bell really that good?

Post up what you have going on and any insight or advice or inspiration is appreciated.
 
#2
for the front why not just build a simple bridge/truss that hugs the top of the diff for the front. Then just have tabs for your control arm to bolt to or have a johnny joint welded to it.

like this

 
#7
I did none of that with mine for some reason? :confused:.... I dont have any close up pics at the moment. I contoured some 3/8 plate to the top of the housing and drilled and tapped 7 to 8 holes into the diff housing and bolted down the contoured plate. I then welded the perimeter of the plate to the housing. I then welded a (insert your fav flex joint here) to the 3/8 plate.

Ill see if I can take some pics tomorrow.
 
#8
The way my coil bucket is on the driver side, i couldnt weld it to the tube on that side, i'd have to weld the bucket to the truss but it will all be tight as hell. I'm running heim's for uppers as well. That is what i've been thinking about doing anyways just brain fart when i'm sitting there trying to do something productive. I have a 2'x4' sheet of .25" i'm thinking of drawing something out like that and plasma it out at school then heat it up and bend it.

Snap some pics of yours sometime if you think about it.
 
#11
No lower than the center section. Not how I would do it, but I don't think it will be as bad as you would think. Read the thread though. The idea is pretty bad ***. Full active suspension ran by a computer with 24" of travel.
 
#12
This not mine but it is what I copied mine from. Obviously instead of having a johnny welded you could have two tabs there for you heim to bolt to.

0220001321a.jpg

for the coil bucket being half on the cast and a control mount you could also do something like this

154_0706_14_z1998_jeep_tjcoil_mount.jpg
 
#14
What do you mean by "weld your joint"?. I did weld a rubicon superflex joint to the attached plate for the upper control to bolt to. " as state in my previous post #7" :hnd:
 
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#15
I like how that second picture tied it into the axle. You happen to have anymore pics of it?

My minds definitely brewing with ideas. Although I've been tossing the idea around for awhile to run JK axles instead of the 44/8.8 and have a line on a rear now for a good deal, the width is attractive to me among some other things.
 
#17
Heres my rear truss on the 9"
1/4" plate on top and plated the front and back with 1/8". It is completely welded the the tubes,chuck, everything since there is no cast on the 9". Seems to be holding up.
03110919301.jpg
0311091930a1.jpg

sorry for crappy old cell pictures, i can get better ones tonight.
 
#19
Wheeling this weekend got me motivated to do some work on the jeep. Taking the idea that simple is good, I came up with something like this

94050bc6.jpg
46f16c66.jpg
6518f541.jpg
f5cd2786.jpg

It's only tacked but you get the idea. 3/8" for the /\ part and stacked .25" for the top that I welded together. Gonna knock it off and finish welding it up then burn it on in.
 
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