The Lunchbox Build... 4x4 chevy shorty van

[Lunchbox2]

How long a Pitman Arm do you need?

Scout II pitman arms are 9.5" C-C. They've got about 1.25" drop and 1 ton TREs would work with them. If you rotated them a few splines you could likely get around they are straight (with a longer drag link).

I'd rather heat, bend, and re-heat treat... Than weld.

The main problem I keep running into, is the shape of the arms. This one needs to be flat, because the steering box mounts vertically instead of horizontally. All of the dropped pitman arms, with their "dropped" angle, would put the TRE over the top of my tie rod and create interference.

 

[Bikersmurf]

It's hard to tell from the pics the alignment.
If the taper was reversed so the TRE sat on 'top' of the pitman arm, would the angles work?

 

[Lunchbox2]

It's hard to tell from the pics the alignment.
If the taper was reversed so the TRE sat on 'top' of the pitman arm, would the angles work?

Hmmmmmm.... Maybe?? I'd have to buy an insert for the tapered hole, as it would be too big once you drilled through the back side with the tapered bit. But nothing that's not manageable. That might be worth looking into....

 

[Bikersmurf]

To fit 1 ton TRE they'd need to be bored out. There's lots of meat there to do so.

You'd may not need inserts.

 

[Lunchbox2]

To fit 1 ton TRE they'd need to be bored out. There's lots of meat there to do so.

You'd may not need inserts.

Good point... I've been working with this one ton stuff for the past year, and I forget that 1/2 ton parts are smaller... lol

 

[philos]

Flipping the TRE, why didn't I think about that? And yeah, it does look like there's enough meat for a bigger end or a sleeve to reverse the taper.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Lunchbox2]

I went to the junkyard last friday and pulled a couple leaves out of a 97 chevy truck. I pulled the rear spring packs apart, installed the additional leaf, found a longer bolt and put it all back together. I probably should have cut off a couple inches on either side of the leaf to fine tune it, but it all went together well and the end result is great regardless. I can travel down the road at highway speeds and curves aren't butt-puckering anymore, and it feels much more under control driving the back roads, I'm happy.... AND it brought the rear up a couple inches so I don't look like a Bro-Dozer anymore! lol






My friend Lenny joined us for the day and we took the van over to LBL to see how the new spring set up works. MUCH better off-road as well, things were just moving around too much because there wasn't enough spring rate before. We wheeled the crap out of it all day without a hiccup, and ended it with a nice view of the sunset while we roasted some hot dogs over a fire... We were having so much fun I forgot to take pictures really

We're standing on the edge of a 100' cliff here such a great view...





I've been trying to get some painting done on the house all this week, so I can build bumpers for the van NEXT week. Hopefully my front yoke shows up soon and I can put in a front driveshaft as well, I thought it would be here today but it didn't show...

Here's my steel that I want to use for my bumpers, it's 2"x2" .150 wall structural tubing. I have (12) 6' sticks of it, and it was basically free. I'll build the winch mount out of 1/4" plate, so that'll all be thick, then build off of that with the tubing. I need to incorporate some D-rings into the winch mount, because I'll probably rip one off if I weld to the .150 wall stuff. I think with enough support pieces, it'll be ok. I know it's not ideal wall thickness, but does anybody see any major problems with using it for bumpers/sliders?

 

[Lunchbox2]

Well.... it's been 2 weeks and I finally find out today @4pm (after several phone calls) that my yoke hasn't even shipped from High Angle Driveline yet.... "It just came off the mill and will ship out today" he says.... "Wait, it hasn't even shipped yet??" "sorry for the wait man, it'll go out tomorrow...." hangs up.... Which really means, we completely forgot all about you, and I'm going to make it right now, and it'll ship out next monday...

I was told 3-5 days to make it, and 4 days for shipping when I placed the order over 2 weeks ago. Which would've been yesterday at the latest. I haven't been able to reach anybody all week, left messages, and nobody would give me a call back. I had to just keep calling to finally get ahold of somebody, only to find out it hasn't even left their facility yet.

I understand that I'm a nobody, and ******** happens, but he obviously just doesn't care. Customer service is everything in this world man. When yours sucks, it's like shooting yourself in the foot every day.

 

[chiliVANilli]

Van looks killer! Sorry to hear about the drive shafts. One of the main reasons I went with Tom Woods was the after reading comments about his customer service and also the way he treated me when I called. Van looks good and be proud of what you've done, it sucks when you relying on someone else and that holds up your build.

 

[Lunchbox2]

Van looks killer! Sorry to hear about the drive shafts. One of the main reasons I went with Tom Woods was the after reading comments about his customer service and also the way he treated me when I called. Van looks good and be proud of what you've done, it sucks when you relying on someone else and that holds up your build.

Thanks man! I've got the suspension dialed in finally, no more butt-puckering going around curves in the road... lol. I'll go with Tom Woods for EVERYTHING from now on, I should have never even called Jess. Funny thing is, he was bitching about how business was down, and how everybody just calls and doesn't buy anything, blah blah blah. Here I am giving credit card numbers right away, and he waits 2 weeks to even build it? It's cool, I have thousands of people following my blogs, I'll just tell it like it is and let the rest sort itself out.... He won't get another penny from me.

How's Lucinda doing, you been wheelin' lately?

 

[Bikersmurf]

That sucks... you've got my kinda luck. I hope you see it soon.

I've given up on buying stuff from many suppliers and am hesitant to buy from new ones, because service standards don't exist anymore.

 

[Lunchbox2]

That sucks... you've got my kinda luck. I hope you see it soon.

I've given up on buying stuff from many suppliers and am hesitant to buy from new ones, because service standards don't exist anymore.

You got that right man! It's not everybody, because I've used many other smaller vendors before with great success, but it seems like a lot of people just don't care anymore. All this guy had to do was let me know what was going on, like... "hey steve, I'm really slammed in the shop this week, it might be another week before I get to your order", and I would've been completely understanding. Don't tell me something takes 3-5 days to build, and an additional 4 days to ship, then when I call you 2 weeks later because nothing has shown up yet, and you tell me it hasn't even left the building yet? That is not how you do business.... Now I'm angry and am not interested in excuses, nor will I do business with you again. AND nobody that knows me will either.... Word of mouth can be a Bit@#

 

[Bikersmurf]

True not everybody... just almost everyone I try to deal with.

 

[chiliVANilli]

Thanks man! I've got the suspension dialed in finally, no more butt-puckering going around curves in the road... lol. I'll go with Tom Woods for EVERYTHING from now on, I should have never even called Jess. Funny thing is, he was bitching about how business was down, and how everybody just calls and doesn't buy anything, blah blah blah. Here I am giving credit card numbers right away, and he waits 2 weeks to even build it? It's cool, I have thousands of people following my blogs, I'll just tell it like it is and let the rest sort itself out.... He won't get another penny from me.

How's Lucinda doing, you been wheelin' lately?

Yeah, I've been working on driveability with Lucinda, too. Getting the steering a little better and doing some fender well clearancing, cleaning up some wiring, and doing more insulation. I've been driving the crap out of it, because I won't drive it much this winter when they start spraying magnesium chloride on the roads, that stuff eats cars. Tons of mountain biking eating up my time. Been doing some wheeling, too, but just in my 4runner. I'm getting ready to trade it out for something bigger, because I have boy due in mid December, and we need more room. I'll miss it, but I think I have something in the works that will be a good replacement.

 

[M35A2]

I know it's not ideal wall thickness, but does anybody see any major problems with using it for bumpers/sliders?

[/URL]

I don't see why it would not work. Maybe laminate / fish plate it at key stress points? Probably not needed.