Quote:
Originally Posted by enkeivette
I've always always wanted to buy a Jeep or a Ranger/ Explorer and build it up.
Anyways, I'm not really thinking about buying a truck right now. I would need to sell my Neon or my boat before I could justify another project or even a place to put it.
But I've been reading a lot about suspension geometry and welding and fab. (Trying to think of a solution to my friends problem.) Anyways, here is my thought process, (not for my friend, but just curiosity/ semi-serious future interest/ project).
When you get crazy with the rear suspension, a lot of guys back half (I think it's called) the truck, cutting the rear frame rails off behind the cab. This is pretty common actually, I was checking out a Ranger like this at the Muffler Man shop.
And, I have seen a Ranger before that cut off the frame rails from the cab forward, because he needed to weld a set more inward for his longer control arms (because the motor was moved back and not in the way). So... would it really be that difficult to redo the frame with square tubing under the cab? And just fab it all yourself? With a full cage and tubing everywhere I think it would be pretty easy to make it damn strong.
Just curious what you guys think.
|
Hard? Well, thats relative. It's certainly done and not all that uncommon. But you've got to be mega-anal about measuring and geometry. Screw something up a little bit and you'll never be able to get the alignment right etc. Also, structural welds on box tubing need to obviously be of a consistent high quality for pentration, or they'll crack. If you use something like chromoly instead of mild steal, you'll have additional issues like annealing. Guys who do this stuff professionally spend forever setting up their jigs to hold things in precise location so they can repeatedly fab things up.