109 Expedition rig build

Mercedesrover

Explorer
Funrover: The axle is wider on a coiler but with some cutting and welding it could be done. It has been done. I've often wondered if a coil swivel housing would fit a leafer swivel ball. I've never had the two side by side and I'm sure this has been tried before so I never pursued it. if it would work it would be an easy conversion though.

Seriessearcher: Yup, many miles on the drums in the 88 and never a problem, even heavily loaded. Disks are cool but I'll have enough money and thought tied up in this truck just doing what I'm doing. It's alway something I can do later if I'm not happy with the drums.

Dave: Drop me an email and I'll send you some pictures. It's a pretty easy chop and weld if you have a tig.

Linus: I'm using a stock NADA bulkhead on a Stage One frame. As you know that bulkhead is deeper to allow room for the 2.6 6 cyl engine. It's this depth that'll give me the extra room for the 5 cyl. The Stage One frame also has the first x-member 4-5 inches further forward than the Series frame and doesn't have the huge welded second x-member that the Series frame has and only a small bolt-in x-member further back. That gives me 6 feet of unobstructed frame length to play with. As long as I have the space between the bulkhead and the radiator (which I do) everything else will work. I did knock the inside corner out of the passenger side foot well when I welded it in to give me a little extra room for the turbo/exhaust. If you look at that picture of the bulkhead you'll see that. Except for that the bulkhead is stock.

jim
 
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Mercedesrover

Explorer
I'm a bit hung-up right now waiting for tranny parts and for the frame to get galvanized. (The galvy shop had a breakdown and won't be up and running for another week or two) Decided I'd do a little work on the engine and get it painted. Got the oil pans on for good and things cleaned up and sprayed it today with Sem Rust Shield. Good engine paint...Sticks like glue and shines pretty well.

engine7.jpg


jim
 
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TeriAnn

Explorer
Any chance of a good detail picture of the right side of the assembled engine?

I'm still really curious about the right side modifications for clearance and how things now look in the frame/front propshaft area.

Thanks!
 

Grim Reaper

Expedition Leader
Mercedesrover said:
I'm a bit hung-up right now waiting for tranny parts and for the frame to get galvanized. (The galvy shop had a breakdown and won't be up and running for another week or two) Decided I'd do a little work on the engine and get it painted. Got the oil pans on for good and things cleaned up and sprayed it today with Sem Rust Shield. Good engine paint...Sticks like glue and shines pretty well.

engine7.jpg


jim


You must be in the body shop buisness. Down draft paint booths are out of budget for most home shops LOL.

Nice build. Look forward to seeing the completion.
 

Mercedesrover

Explorer
TeriAnn said:
Any chance of a good detail picture of the right side of the assembled engine?

I'm still really curious about the right side modifications for clearance and how things now look in the frame/front propshaft area.

Thanks!

This thing won't be a rolling chassis for a couple months but I'll take a few then. I can post a picture of the oil pan now if you want to see one.

Grim: Yup, I spend my days in the the collision business and have two, 1 million BTU down-drafts among other toys. Nice to have a shop like this to work in. Also have a good buddy with a machine shop. :)

jim
 

Mercedesrover

Explorer
Galvanized!

Back from the galvanize place with my new frame. Got there at 5:30am this morning, didn't leave until 12:30. Crazy place.

Anyway, I'm very happy with what they did and I can't wait to start bolting things to it.

newframe2.jpg


newframe3.jpg


jim
 

KevinNY

Adventurer
That frame on a trailer looks kind of familiar.

I just love that paint booth. I want my truck in there bathed in a mist of Sandglow someday.
 

Mercedesrover

Explorer
Spent that last couple of nights rebuilding the transmission for the 109. It's a Ford NP435 with a 6.68:1 first gear. It now has a Pangolin4x4 main shaft to mate to the Series transfer case as well as the adapter plate to bolt the two together.

np4351.jpg


Next it's on to the Ashcroft high-ratio transfer case....

jim
 

DCH109

Adventurer
Looking good Jim,

I have not touched mine in 3 weeks, but i did get the new Bulkhead last weekend so that has me stoked.
 

TeriAnn

Explorer
Mercedesrover said:
Spent that last couple of nights rebuilding the transmission for the 109. It's a Ford NP435 with a 6.68:1 first gear. It now has a Pangolin4x4 main shaft to mate to the Series transfer case as well as the adapter plate to bolt the two together.

np4351.jpg


Next it's on to the Ashcroft high-ratio transfer case....

jim


Almost like deja vu all over again!

T18AndAdapt.jpg

T-18 with special main shaft & adapter plate. 6.32:1 first gear.

ahscroftKitjpg

Ashcroft high ratio kit as delivered directly from Ashcroft

If I had it to do all over again knowing what I know now I would have gone with the NP435 over the T-18 just because the shift pattern is tighter. The T-18's pattern is more touchy feely to find the correct gear.

What ring & pinion ratio are you going to use?
 

Mercedesrover

Explorer
That's Timm Cooper's adapter, right? Funny they look so similar, but I guess they would.

This truck is getting Toyota e-locker centers with 4:10 gears. I'm hoping they're not too tall. My 88" has 4:56 Toyota diffs and an overdrive, but it's only about 80hp. This motor is 125hp so I think I'll be ok. I'm expecting this truck to cruise down the highway at 70mph and still return 20mpg or better. Time will tell.

jim
 

TeriAnn

Explorer
Mercedesrover said:
That's Timm Cooper's adapter, right? Funny they look so similar, but I guess they would.

Yes, Timm made it. Near as I can tell the only difference between adapters is the mounting hole location & number for mounting to the gearbox. I too was struck by the similarity, but form follows function.


Mercedesrover said:
This truck is getting Toyota e-locker centers with 4:10 gears. I'm hoping they're not too tall.

With 4.7:1 R&P I'm 4.09:1 at the rear axle high range fourth. With 33 " tyres that puts my rig at 2680 RPM@ 65 MPH.

Your rig will be at 3.57:1 at the axle which would put you at 2434 RPM @ 65MPH with 32 inch dia tyres. It should allow good highway fuel mileage if your engine has enough torque to economically push that ratio in the hills.
 

Mercedesrover

Explorer
That should get me to around 2650 at 70mph...Just about what I'm hoping for. I'm still a little nervous about gearing and am putting a lot of faith in the extra 45hp this engine has. Worst-case scenario I pull the 4:56 diffs out of the 88", put them in the 109 and re-gear these to 4:88 and put them in the 88". Guess we'll see when I'm done!

jim
 

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