93 RC Trail Rig

[ProjectM880]

Making progress!

[ProjectM880]

Jungle front rear hanger!

[SixGun]

Nice hat!!

Are you guys gonna bolt the hanger as well as weld it?

Those hangers a major PITA to remove from what I remember. Those rivets don't like to come out easily.  How did the new air hammer work? Or did you burn the rivets out?

[rjtx667]

new air hammer is amazing!!!


put an x in them and it's like cutting hard butter 

[ProjectM880]

Nice hat!!

Are you guys gonna bolt the hanger as well as weld it?

Those hangers a major PITA to remove from what I remember. Those rivets don't like to come out easily.  How did the new air hammer work? Or did you burn the rivets out?

Nothing is a bolt on. They are welding them on. The air chisel is a beast and made short work on the rivets .

[ProjectM880]

More progress

[ProjectM880]

Progress 

[taz_man440]

So there are adjustment holes to run different springs??  Nice setup..

[rjtx667]

It was a long hard weekend with lots of rivet cutting.

I had 30 rivets I cut off, and Noah had to attack 8 on Keystone himself.

We got a lot done, but a lot left to do. It starts again (removed the gas tank) and it now has a better parking brake than before... but the brakes need to be bleed and the driveshafts no workie... way to short and not good angles.

Noah believes we might have to put new spring perches on the rear driveshaft to help the angle... and that is on top of needing a Cardon joint front and back... both 1350's for better angles.

it also appears we are going to have to clearance the transmission mount/ brace.

I found a site talking about shims for the cardon joint, anywhere upto 8" but suggested no more than 5".

http://www.driveshaftsuperstore.com/LARGE%20CV%20TUTORIAL.htm

seems interesting, but worry about the stress that puts on the transfer case.


On the way home I started thinking about this whole deal... and yeah we have issues here at rc.net

here is more or less how it went:

oh you broke your spring pack bolt. that stinks.

Yeah not good, I think I might do a few upgrades.


(it took about 10 minutes to fix the broken spring pack bolt, those springs are now on keystone). and it would have been done and fixed.

so now we spent probably close to 40 hours (lets say at least 75 man hours) doing this upgrade, and its not done. but it was a good weekend because "we made good progress" even though it can't move under its own power? 



its some messed up fun. Had a great time and we did make good progress. but so much of what we did is new because ... well lets face it no one really wheels or hacks on the newer ram chargers so its all uncharted territory.

I appreciate all the help I got, and will need a lot more to get it driving again. But once it does... it should be fund and interesting.

[rjtx667]

Oh so one thing I don't think was mentioned... and is very awsome is I made a deal with Eric. Not sure who got the better end of the deal but we are both happy in the end.

I gave Eric the seats out of the ramcharger in exchange for helping mount new seats in. Eric did some great work and I now have a 20/40/20 bench seat out of a  99 ram 1500.

its a bit funny to look at, because of the angles it makes you think the seat is at the wrong angle and won't be comfortable, but it is anything but! It is at a good height and a very comfortable seat.


not sure why it turned them sideways, and not sure how to fix that.

[rjtx667]

here are a few more pics


you can see how far off the front driveshaft is now at full droop.

[rjtx667]

so at this point what needs to be done is:


bleed brakes
get new 1350 yokes for both axles
get flange plate for rear output of transfer case
measure for driveshafts

Oh... yeah we had to order a 2" drop pitman arm... we got it on and noticed that we suddenly had no left turn ability (or hardly any)... Noah was quick to figure out that the drag link was now too long. So I either need an adjustable drag link or I need to do cross over steering.


The last thing that happened is that Eric also donated a driver door off his 91 cummins truck he did not need. It was blue, but a little spray paint and its much better. It got hung with the help of Mr Troxell and it shuts probably better than brand new !!!. thats good because with the lift on it now, you can't get leverage to lift to open the door like it was. 

[rjtx667]

So there are adjustment holes to run different springs??  Nice setup..

Noah said its to run different springs, 46" stock, I guess maybe 48" rear's then 52" chevys.

a bit of adjustments to play with, but we just put them in the front and it seems to work good. won't really know until its out on the trail.


The rear axle got pushed back 1" and the front forward 1"... give or take.

the rear I just went ahead and cut some sheet metal to help with the rub issue, I will do the same in the front.

[ProjectM880]

This ramcharger is going to be mean on the trail! Plus have a comfy seat and air conditioning!! Wait....... I'm jealous

[rjtx667]

I am going to keep an eye on it, I can just see me showing up next time and my engine and ac being gone. be harder to sneak the seats by me.

I love the mpfi and how it starts even after months of sitting!!