Unchewable, the D170

[kingcrunch]

After a lot of debating with myself, i think large coilover shocks with custom built shock towers are the way to go.

"Just" need to find out if these can be made road legal.

[kingcrunch]

Will have to look into 78-79 Ford truck coil towers. They might just do the trick.

[kingcrunch]

One step closer:

This is the steel bumper, ready to make the tool.



The tool beeing made:





The finished tool to make laminated, light weight bumpers for Dodge trucks!
We can make about 80 bumpers from that single tool, who wants one?

[bovey]

So. Jealous. AMAZING.

[vwmopar]

I want one. How much?

[kingcrunch]

They run about 550EUR (which is 575$) plus shipping. I don't make any money with these and i do not intend to do so.

[moregrip]

very nice! keep the updates coming!!

[kingcrunch]

Bumper No 1 is done:







It shaves 13.6kg (29.98" lbs) off the front end of the truck.

[linkstar69]

Looks great

[kingcrunch]

Picked it up this weekend. Holy cow. The tool and the carbon fiber bumper together are lighter than the stock steel bumper...
And this is the heavier foam reinforced version of the carbon bumper.

Alright.
With this down, i can get to the next carbon parts which will be the fenders...

I still do not have a solution for the front suspension thingamajig...

[Tincup]

Picked it up this weekend. Holy cow. The tool and the carbon fiber bumper together are lighter than the stock steel bumper...
And this is the heavier foam reinforced version of the carbon bumper.

Alright.
With this down, i can get to the next carbon parts which will be the fenders...

I still do not have a solution for the front suspension thingamajig...

Can't you just purchase a IFS setup from someone, or is there some kind of Law that prevents you from using aftermarket parts?

[kingcrunch]

Aftermarket IFS systems are even more complicated to make road legal than my fabricobbled stuff that basically uses a complete OEM suspension setup.
I have an idea for a coil spring tower in my head... just need to chew on that a little longer and start making templates and take more measurements.

I could not manage to find a set of OEM Ford 73-79 spring towers and judging from pics they would not reach out far enough anyways.

[kingcrunch]

I was able to determine, that the Ford spring towers are not a solution for my problem.
Instead i was able to take some better measurements.

Apparently, when i raise the upper spring cup by a 100mm (roughly 4") i don't have to extend the spring cup as far as initially feared (which was like 80mm or 3" but around 25mm or 1" instead).

[kingcrunch]

Poking around in the mess to see if some idea pops up.



At least the hub is centered in the wheel arch.

[kingcrunch]

Ok, here i am, playing with cardboard.

I kind of decided to try and go the coil spring route, replicating the Ram 1500s spring perch.
Inspired by the guys of Bad Obsession Motorsport and because of my lack of ability to teach myself 3d CAD (computer aided design) i am switching to CAD, cardboard aided design :D

Let's just forget about the first attempt and start with the second:



What you can see here is an attempt to build a "housing" for the Ram 1500s original spring perch that was cut off the donor frame (which was used for measuring, etc.).
This one was botched up because i measured the distance from the frame face to the center of the spring perch from the wrong edge, leaving it 40mm (1.57") short.
ARGH!

Enter attempt number three.



It doesn't look like it differs a lot from number two and that is correct. It is just like 40mm longer.
I yet have to build in an 8° angle for the spring perch and re-think the triangulation on top of the perch, i don't like that setup very much.
So far it looks like i will have plenty of clearance for the upper A-arm.

[Tincup]

That's a good one, "Cardboard Aided Design"....

[kingcrunch]

Concerning CAD:
I recently learned about Fusion 360 and by chance learned that Autodesk is giving it away for free to hobbyists. Friggen awesome!
I am watching tutorials on Youtube right now and it looks to be quite easy to learn the basics.
While my funds are dry right now (had my '85 W250 long bed 4x4 painted and that ate a lot of money) i will try and dig into F360 and learn how to model my trucks frame and suspension and all the parts i want to build in there.

[CSG]

I do CAD all day and still use a lot of cardboard at home...

[kingcrunch]

Little beginners project, two days into Fusion 360. Took 5 hours to make. Certainly not perfect but it sure motivates to dig deeper into the Fusion-topic.





This is a trim piece retainer for my other Dodge project truck, which is basically a restoration project with a few little modifications.

[kingcrunch]

Small update:
Found my u-bolts. I tried to contact several us-based companies offering custom made u-bolts but NONE of them replied or could make the stuff i need.
For sh... and giggles i tried to source them locally and contacted one company. Two hours later i got a reply "No problemo, how many do you need?"...

The odd part about this was the leg spacing of 3.716" (roughly 94.4mm). Of course they are metric thread now but M20 about equals a 3/4" thread in shaft diameter.