Dave’s long-term Lil’Bugga Buggy Build

Baloo i'm running mk1 Honda CRV rear coils on my Jimny
These are quite soft and cheap 
~around 3" lifted above standard 

wrote:

Baloo i'm running mk1 Honda CRV rear coils on my Jimny
These are quite soft and cheap 
~around 3" lifted above standard 

Hi     thats the  sort of info i need,  i want longer than stock but softer rate as i think my buggy will be half the weight of a  standard jimny    thanks Jack

 

with both my Zooks off the road, this project hasn't started yet

Hoping to get back to it late October... depending on how the Boogie head repairs, and now my NGeeVee road car repairs go

Run of bad luck at the moment... I've now been recovered five times this year...

Made a start today!

Here's the blog page - lilbugga.wordpress.com/2021/10/20/making-a-start-axles/

Stripped and rebuilt the rear (front) diff to convert it from 22 spline to 26 spline to suit the TG HD shafts -

 

And then cleaned the axle up ready for cutting soon -

 

 

Unlike my rich friend Baloo on here I couldn't afford to send them for media blasting... I had a wire brush attachment in my angle grinder!

So the axle tube needs 13" / 33cm cut out here'ish -

 

Lots more photos in the blog linked above...

More soon...!

Bit more today...

There's lots more photos and blurb in the blog - lilbugga.wordpress.com/2021/10/24/narrowing-the-rear-axle/ - and on facebook too, but here's a summary!...



Full width front axle, starting point...



Committed now (or I should be! )



Ooops, the anglegrinder won't fit into the radius arm mount?!



Hand job it is then!



Awww, look at that bless it!



Looks better with the shafts in though, gives you a better idea of the final (50") track... (The Boogie is 65")



Bevelled up and ready to weld up...

I’ve ordered a length of M12 studding to insert through the axle and bolt it up with big washers on the end to keep everything in place and aligned for welding up. Something a "friend in the industry" suggested, and what I’ve seem done similar on “Texax Metal” on the Discovery Channel.



Some thick wall box section based gussets will be added like this, and the -

 

Ball gussets (also from a friend in the industry) under the axle too...

More soon!

After a little bit of confusion on Facebook as to where I'd cut and why...

 

This bit has been removed from the front axle casing's longer side of the tube... it had to be 13" long that was removed as that's the difference between a long and a short half shaft... I had to start at the limit of the widening of the axle 'pumpkin' so that the tubes being welded up would be "the same" (ish) diameters... that pushed the other end of the cut right into the middle of the (nearside) radius arm bracket, which while being a bit of an inconvenient cut, will give plenty of meat around the welding up area as can be seen in the photo above, and then more gussets will be added as per the magic of paint shown below

Yes, sort of...
Think miniature American Rock Buggy and you'd be closer...?
That's what's in my sick mind anyways...

Bit more today, as usual here in the blog - lilbugga.wordpress.com/2021/10/27/narrowed-axle-part-2/

But in summary -



Todays jobs -

• Breather tube cut down and threaded for the breather elbow
• Anti-Roll-Bar mounting brackets removed
• Spring seats drilled for spring clamps
• Trusses designed with CAD (Cardboard Aided Design ) and cut out and prepped

So Sunday will be spent doing the other axle now I "know" what I'm doing... then they can both be welded up when the threaded studding bar finally arrives...

Another good full day in the garage today...

All in the blog here - lilbugga.wordpress.com/2021/10/31/narrowed-axles-part-3/

But as usual a summary here too



I made a rotisserie for the axle to sit on to facilitate welding...



So the axle can be rotated with the welding torch...



To get a good series of deep thick welds...



I then ran out of welding gas! So the gussets aren't glued on yet

Shame as I was hoping to finish this - the rear axle - today...

So I set it to one side, but then decided to mock it up...



Set at the intended 50" track width (My Boogie is 65" by comparison)

Hmmm, might as well get on with the other axle then?



All cleaned up...



Oops!



And then the cut awkwardly right in the middle of the radius arm mount, but that's where the 13" cut needed to be - that's the difference between a long and a short shaft, as I'll be running two short sides, on both sides of the diffs...



Awaiting the radius arm mounting bracket's arc'ed bit around the axle tube grinding out to suit the wider diameter of the axle tube as it meets the diff pumpkin...

More gas and I'll be back on the job again soon...

Bit more today... again all the blog here - lilbugga.wordpress.com/2021/11/03/narrowed-axles-part-4/

But...



One gusseted and cleaned up axle ready for paint soon...



One interesting photo... you can see on the axle ball the wear where the dust cover has arc'ed with the steering, that gave a good indication of where to weld the RW ball gusset in...



Mocked up again...



Now doing the other - the front axle - on Sunday, with a view to then painting and building them up with all new parts added, so that the wheels can be bolted on, and then it can be laid out to work out the position of the transfer box, the length of the props. and begin the design of the chassis...

More soon...