Suspension going under the knife....W/ NEW PICS!

After spending some time with Spencer Low, finalizing a deal and checking out his truck in person at the Off-Road Expo I've decided to go ahead with a new,long travel front suspension.

My truck is leaving for Arizona today for a little vacation and should be back by the end of the week.

The highlights will include:

Frame gusseting

All New , longer center link
w/pitman arm, idler arm and longer tie rods

Billett upper controll arms 2 1/2 inches wider

Boxed lower controll arms 2 1/2 inches wider

Spindle extentions

Billstein 9020 resevoir shocks

Billstein Hydrolic bump stops

Everything , with the exception of the shock hoops are completely bolt on using the OE pivot points.

SLR makes outstanding products for the pre-runner and 2wd trucks and I am fully looking foreward to my new truck!

How much longer travel are they talking about? Does it include shafts?

Shafts? You mean axle shafts or cvs?

It's a 2wd . Yep, I drive a minivan.

12-13inches of useable travel. I opted to stay with torsion bars using the Sway-a-ways instead of coils in the attempt of keeping as close to a factory configuration as I could. Less sprung weight and I just couldn't get my head arround the fact that my truck would be completely supported by a welden on shock hoop.

Sounds like it will be a pretty badass outfit - post a lot of pics when its done.

Sorry Socal, I thought it was a 4x. I was thinking of the cv's.

A prerunner X would be cool though!

We have a customer that wants us to put a locker in his new Titan. He bought it before the factory locker was available. He's been to SoCal a couple of times, and to Baja once. But keeps getting stuck. So I think I'll be putting in the Detroit E-Trac for him. Should be cool.

Definately interested in seeing the results of your project. Should be saweet!

Sounds close to what I am running now. Looks like the only major difference is in the T-bars vs. the Coil-Overs. You are going to love the LT suspension. We need to go on a run when you are ready. I have a great place if you don't mind a little drive.

Been there done that.

Well, we're at the point of no return. I'm pretty damn excited.

Step one: Remove everything.

Holy bald X, batman! Looks kinda like a pickup with one of those ill-fitting bed toppers.

Nice.

SoCal, It looks like you've got the fiberglass fenders.. Are they SLR or the 4x4parts set? From the earlier pics it looks like SLR still has the small trim piece to the rear of the wheel, and the 4x4parts fenders do not.

If what you are pointing out is the narrow section between the front doors and the fender, they both have them. From what I understand, the SLR Fiberglass and AC are both from Hanniman.

Now for the good stuff.

Got Arms? 1st mockup.

Day 2 .

Good stuff up front going to do something about those rear springs?

Now that Editor and you will soon have full on prerunners were going to have a smack down run

Just made a deal for a used 85' GW D44 axle I'm going to use on my newly acquired Black Hawk 2k X. It's going to be Jan before I get around to my build but with the eventual fox coilover's I may just give you two a run for your money. Although we might have to handicap Editor w/ the SC.

Seriously we're doing a Mojave Rd run 11/20-21 and we could get you stuck if you want to test it out?

Brian

Sure why not. Could be fun.
Hmmm...Ok, I won't use 5th.

Progress. Moving right along...

Oh and Ed, go ahead and use 5th. You'll need it.

Shocks and bumps ....everything set up..just needs paint and powdercoat and final install.

Riiiiiight. :p

Nice work...

I'm thinking of using a Frontier rear housing, as it's already spring over. I think a set of All Pro Offroad Orbit Eye rear springs should do the trick. But, may forgo the Frontier housing, as it may prove too high of lift in the rear. Will have to eyeball the driveline before that swap.

I'm planning a trip after Halloween for my D44 hunt. We have a nice Pic 'N Pull around here. Sweet deals on just about anything. Are you planning on the Calmini kit, or doing it yourself?

Ok its awn then, let the smack down begin if you guys can use 5th gear in the dirt then that's something I just have to check out On a tight/twisty course I think I might have a chance but out in the open on the whoops I dunno?

Cycle,

Yeah I like the AP Johnny Joint Shackle Mount design where you weld the mount to the frame.

I was also thinking about some sort of drop shackle. The nth degree Zig-Zag… combo track bar and slider shackle system looks promising to me and works really well on Rick's CJ. A SYE and new CV drive shaft would be need for this option IMO www.nthdegreemobility.com

I figure I could use my stock X rear & weld on the spring perches, plus new plates, shock mounts if the only kit that's offered is SUA and I end up going SOA. My SAS 90 Pathy is SOA F&R, the rear stock drive shaft/angle is ok even with the RE 1.5” lift reverse eye spring + 1.5” lift shackles. I want to run 35's on the X and have less of a lift so I figure 7-8” of lift with flat rear springs is doable with a SOA. I'm waiting to see what CALMINI comes up with the SUA & longer spring designs but I will be using their kit for the front for sure.

The '85 grand axle seems a bit more beefy to me than my 83' standard waggy I have on the pathy and is ~ 1” wider so that should help match the wider X rear (~63 WMS) better.

BTW is it possible to use rear Ring & Pinion Gears from early 90's WD21 (Pathy/HB) V6's in newer H233b 3rd members like the X has? If the ring bolts are the same (12mm) is there anything other mods/parts that are needed?

[edited to fixed my typo]
Brian

That's a good question. I hadn't considered the possibility of that. If so, then Nismo has a Detroit Locker for the rear for the D21. I'll have to look into that (woo hoo! another junk yard trip!).

I had forgotten the Nth Degree guys. I saw their setup in Moab, but didn't consider it for the X at all. I think they'd have to build a one off, correct? I think the Orbit Eye would still be needed for the front of the spring though. You could go with the Revolver shackle, get about 1" of lift with that, but still have the problem of the front of the spring twisting. Many possilities for sure.

I looked at the perches on the X tonight, and see your point about reusing them. Cut the welds front and back, reweld them on top. That would be much more cost effective.

Nice ideas. Definately outside the box. (did I just freakin' say that?!)

Why would you want to use early-90's (W)D21 gears in a late-model (W)D22 diff?
They should work, as far as I know the only difference isn't the gears themselves, but in the OD of the pinion bearings.
Either way, the Nismo Detroit locker for a D21 still wouldn't work. The late-model 33-spline axle shafts won't go into a 31-spline D21 unit, gears not withstanding.

Any updates, Socal?

David,

Hows it coming along? Got the rear leafs done? fenders?

Good. The new leaf pack and the bilsteins go into the rear tomorrow night. Then it's off to SEMA. We are taking a route through the desert on the way back to So. Cal. Wanna come?

I guess I could strap that skateboard to my truck again and drive it out there

When is it anyway? SEMA is the reason Skid-Row is taking almost a month or more to get the rest of my bumper to me. not like it matters really, but still. :rolleyes:

If you can make it out there by Sat the 6th we are leaving Vegas by 10:30. I'd go Friday and see the show though.

Yes , I just picked it up on Saturday night. SLR trailered it to Palm Desert and we met there.

I have to have the ride height set and get it re-alligned after that and we're good to go.

It swallows up bumps like they aren't even there. Very nice ride.

The spring rate wtih the sway-a-ways is a little soft but it will have to do until I get the 300m bars.

Plus it looks amazing.

I'll get some new pics up soon.

It still in Palm Desert? Right in my neck of the woods.

Sounds like fun, no way I will have my truck back by then, it's still sitting under a tarp in my driveway.

WolfmanX , I drove it back Saturday night/Sunday morning.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

For years I have lumped you in with Todrick as all talk and no action.

I am glad to say I stand corrected.

I look forward to seeing pictures of another Southern California Xterra being first in making the leap into prototype status.

XTOOLBOX...
its not 9th degree mobility.com, its "n"th degree, as in the consonant. this denotes a number raised to any power etc...brush up on your calc if you want to help a company and boast the effectiveness of their products.

Still wondering why you would want to do this. From what I've learned just in the last week, it appears the pinions are likely the same, but one of the pinion bearings has a larger OD on the newer diffs. If you use the older pinion with the newer bearings (same ID I believe) it should work.

Brent

pics?

Sorry. I've been busy with life and I don't have a camera. I will borrow one and get it done.

Completely off topic - whats a black hawk xterra? super black?

the toolbox version of super black I guess hehe

Did somebody say Las Vegas to Barstow race in two weeks? Come awn now let the wagering begin We could always wager concert tixs with socal

Cyclemut… yeah i was just thinking about buying the customized "DIY' Zig-zag version with the crossbar assembly to fit the distance between the springs I'll use and weld a bracket on the frame that would be needed. Pretty sure you will have to ditch the stock spare location underneath, but I'm not going to use it anyway since I will be running 35's.

For the front if the CALMINI kit doesn't come with some sort of sway bar, I'm planning on putting one in like a currie anti-rock through the frame with the arms down to the axle

Jr… chill fixed my typo, had the URL correct from the get go so people could check them out

OffroadX… thanks because I have access to 5.14 gears out of a pathy 3rd member for relativity cheap

Koalakilla…yeah super black is what everybody else drives Like to be a bit different, nickname my trucks and customize them, look for some custom hawk graphics soon.

I have the route loaded and am ready to go. It's actually Las Vegas to Victorville though. However it does cross three dry lakes (maybe dry anyway) and has waypoints listed for gas 'n stuff along the way.

Allright. So I finally got a chance to get out and test the X and take some pictures. It really performed well. Taking bumps and dips with a lot of controll and I was able to get it in the air a couple of times.

So here we go:

(thumbnails)

Stretching it's leggs:







I was really impressed that I could run over little washouts and ruts and hadly notice due to the droop:



Same hole with a little droop:

Man that is one sweet X!!!! Nice job.

P-Side Droop:



P-side:





Front:

More

Driver's side:

That was all SLR right? Looks good. You need to come back to AZ for the Parker 400 it is a Baja style race in Parker, AZ. AZXC is planning to be SAG support and we get to run the trail a few days early. It would be cool to see the LT.

That' just crazy.

Who built your roof rack?

It was a prototype that Calmini did for a pre-production Xterra.

I like it better than the one they went into production with.