2000 Mercury Mountaineer Build
- Thread starter mounty71
- Start date
mounty71
Observer
Going well so far:
Dual sump Mustang oil pan is in (not sure I like the green that the previous owner painted it), and I notched the inside of the frame and inset the steering box for clearance for hydro-assist lines.
Crossmember is close to ready for final installation. A few more things to finish up like some welding, rerouting some electrical, drill and tap the steering box for hydro assist, and then mount the crossmember and mock up the fully assembled beams so I can build radius arms!
Dual sump Mustang oil pan is in (not sure I like the green that the previous owner painted it), and I notched the inside of the frame and inset the steering box for clearance for hydro-assist lines.
Crossmember is close to ready for final installation. A few more things to finish up like some welding, rerouting some electrical, drill and tap the steering box for hydro assist, and then mount the crossmember and mock up the fully assembled beams so I can build radius arms!
elpoffroad
Adventurer
Wow what a build... keep us updated. All the work looks really clean, you my friend are a good fabricator.
poorboy1964
New member
Mounty71
All I can say is wow wow wow
great to read along with ya on this when I got to your rock sliders I was hooked they are what I was thinking about only better you have a talent
All I can say is wow wow wow
great to read along with ya on this when I got to your rock sliders I was hooked they are what I was thinking about only better you have a talent
mounty71
Observer
Thanks for the compliments.
Spent most of Saturday resealing my steering box and drilling and tapping it for hydro-assist. I just plugged the ports for now and will tackle that later. Also finished up a bunch of welding. Today got the crossmember in its final position and tacked into place, got a wheel and 35" tire on and set the wheelbase at 113". Started on the radius arms too! Tire-to-body position is approximately what ride height will be.
Spent most of Saturday resealing my steering box and drilling and tapping it for hydro-assist. I just plugged the ports for now and will tackle that later. Also finished up a bunch of welding. Today got the crossmember in its final position and tacked into place, got a wheel and 35" tire on and set the wheelbase at 113". Started on the radius arms too! Tire-to-body position is approximately what ride height will be.
mounty71
Observer
After a lot of test-fitting this what I ended up with remaining from the original TTB crossmember. Looking back now I could probably have saved a little more of it.
I have the radius arms built and did a bunch of plating on the beams, in addition to welding in the uniballs.
Crossmember is fully welded in now too and the steering box has a perfect amount of clearance over that gusset luckily.
Gusseted the driver's beam mount
Drilled out the spindle steering arm taper and TIG welded some sleeves into the steering arms to be through-bolted
Beams and radius arms hung
Cut out the shock hoops and put a coilover in position. I'm guessing this will be about where the coilovers will be at droop. I need to mount a tire and bump out both sides equally and then compress the shocks to actually know where full bump will be, and built shock hoops and steering from there.
Decided to switch to King everything so I got some new 2.5x12" coilovers from Downsouth Motorsports for a great price. I think I'm just going to go for the secondary shock up front now too. I'll keep the 12" Swayaways in the back for now but my plan is to do a cantilever setup in the future. I feel like there is so much more that I've done but that's the gist of it.
I have the radius arms built and did a bunch of plating on the beams, in addition to welding in the uniballs.
Crossmember is fully welded in now too and the steering box has a perfect amount of clearance over that gusset luckily.
Gusseted the driver's beam mount
Drilled out the spindle steering arm taper and TIG welded some sleeves into the steering arms to be through-bolted
Beams and radius arms hung
Cut out the shock hoops and put a coilover in position. I'm guessing this will be about where the coilovers will be at droop. I need to mount a tire and bump out both sides equally and then compress the shocks to actually know where full bump will be, and built shock hoops and steering from there.
Decided to switch to King everything so I got some new 2.5x12" coilovers from Downsouth Motorsports for a great price. I think I'm just going to go for the secondary shock up front now too. I'll keep the 12" Swayaways in the back for now but my plan is to do a cantilever setup in the future. I feel like there is so much more that I've done but that's the gist of it.
ExDementia
Adventurer
Man, seriously impressive work. Looking forward to seeing the 4WD conversion complete!
mounty71
Observer
Setup swing steering this weekend. Still need to double shear the pitman arm and set up the hydraulic assist ram.
Double sheared the knuckles
And added an overlay plate to strengthen the radius arm mounts on the back of the beams, and a place for the hydraulic bumpstops to land. Decided to TIG weld them since the other plating on the beams was TIG welded by Solo.
Double sheared the knuckles
And added an overlay plate to strengthen the radius arm mounts on the back of the beams, and a place for the hydraulic bumpstops to land. Decided to TIG weld them since the other plating on the beams was TIG welded by Solo.
Jim Oaks
Observer
Replacing the SLA with a TTB. Love it. I love those suspensions. It doesn't take much to get a lot of wheel travel out of them, unlike the SLA. It doesn't have to be a rock crawler or prerunner to appreciate wheel travel. It's all about maintaining traction and keeping the tires on the ground.
seanpistol
Explorer
Where can I find more details on the long travel Tundra you were out with?
Coolest Mountaineer I ever seen!
Coolest Mountaineer I ever seen!
thats our good friends truck.. here is his build thread...
Truckstache
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=155545&share_fid=1643&share_type=t
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seanpistol
Explorer
Awesome. I have seen that before on socaltundras but not since the updates. Cool truck.
mounty71
Observer
Modified my pitman arm today. Drilled out the taper to 3/4" and sleeved it with tubing so I can run a 5/8" bolt. Then double sheared the heim joints and plated it all in. I'm fairly new to TIG welding so I'm loving how I'm finally seeing real improvement being made and being able to actually apply it to certain areas where MIG would be more difficult.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk