Build Thread Ibex remodeled

[MNorby]

A little snow wheeling this winter. Snow was super dry, sugary, and deep. Had to train up to make progress for quite a ways.

 

[woody]

Looks like a ton of fun Have the valve cores pulled on those tires??


We've had a VERY dry winter here....usually "visit" the snow in the mountains for some snow wheeling, but it's slim pickings....not that wheeling yesterday in the 50's was bad

 

[MNorby]

yeah, run about 1-2 psi

 

[MNorby]

Played in some crusted sugary snow this weekend. Here is my GoPro footage of a stretch. Horse Power was working pretty good and tires at 2 psi.

 

[woody]

nice and powdery...love it!!

 

[OldRocDoc]

The rig worked good in moab. Initially had the ride height a little low and was hitting belly hard a lot but adjusted that easy enough one evening.

Nice Remodel!!

 

[MNorby]

Had it out snow wheeling again back in April


Then went out to play in the rocks a few weeks ago. Kept hearing a rythmic clicking noise on the way to the rocks and after doing this one V notch the buddy I was with (Whose Rockwell S10 is for sale, BTW) and I had to head in and the clicking was worse. Could see the damaged gears through my inspection/fill hole. After discussion with few guys I decided to have the new gearset cryo treated and am also going to switch to amsoil severe gear 190 oil. The gears showed lots of wear so hoping those help out. Don't think it was a shock load break, but more of a wear/fatigue leading to the failure.

 

[MNorby]

While waiting for the front ring and pinion to get cryo'd by Performance Cryogenics so went ahead and swapped the oil pan. The chassis is designed to fit the factory truck oil pan but it barely clears the skid. I had shimmed the skid down 1/4" to help with some breathing room but has always been a concern. After seeing a few recent guys kill oil pans I decided it is much easier to change now then deal with a broken pan later.

Changing the pan will also allow me to lower the drivetrain in preperation to re-tube the front half this winter for better visibility. I now have a touch over 2" clearance at the oil pan, 2" at the trans pan, and 1.625" at the converter/crossmember. Thinking of lowering it about 1" so keep a little breathing room.

The next step is to try a different exhaust manifold/header to gain clearance to the engine crossmember or re-build the crossmember. Will tackle that next.

The new oil pan is a champ pan made by JR Manufacturing. Same pan that Tilden and Autokraft rebadge. With ebay deals recently I am into the pan $376 shipped. Here are the P/Ns if anyone is interested:
Pan Champ LS1000
Pickup tube Champ 750LS1
Oil Filter adapter Champ LS1001

 

[MNorby]

Here are shots with the new oil pan. One concern was this pan is wider and driveshaft to oil accumulator adapter clearance but the picture at flex shows plenty of room still. The oil pan won't drop out of the engine crossmember so I cut it out and cut 1/2" out of it and made some flanges to make the crossmember removable. Didn't have my rivnut setter with me so will made a hose retainer bracket later to tidy up that hose and wire.

 

[woody]

Good to know Performance Cryo is still around....I may get my next rear gearset done.

Love the snow wheelin! One of the things I miss here....well....kinda...lol

 

[MNorby]

Time to update this. I built a shaved rear steer 14 bolt with a slightly offset pinion so both inner shaft end up being the same length for easier spare. Used a single ended cylinder since it is stronger than the comparable double ended cylinder of similar size. Used dana 70 Cs and 60 solid knuckles and some dually hubs I converted to SRW.

 

[MNorby]

more rear steer install and controls

 

[MNorby]

Then I redid some of the rear tube work to change from having like 9" of up travel to 6". Also changed the rear roof extension supports to take some of the boxy look out of it.

 

[MNorby]

Then went ahead and cut the front tubes off and redesigned the front to fit a Twisted Customs 54" Cadillac CTS-V hood and get rid of the bent up ibex shape. Made the winch mount out of tube so running the rope down to the front axle is wide open. Radiator used GM style bushing mounts to hold it at the tank seams and is a snug fit between the shock hoops. I notched out the hoop to give the radiator cap room to be operated.

 

[MNorby]

Then installed the hood so the side body lines line up with the top of the door skins. Re-skinned the buggy with some free .120" aluminum that was an old faded sign at work that was replaced. Hopefully they last longer than my old .040" and .050" skins of past that within a few years had gashed holes and sharp edges from rock scraping. Also built the skins for a fully body set which I think improves the look. Need to decide on colors and design and paint it when the weather gets warmer.

 

[woody]

Car looks great! Well done with the changes!

do I see a lockout link mounted on the rear axle housing??

I'll be curious to how you like the DE front ram with the SE rear...I'm considering the same setup on my build. I know the SE rams tend to wander and need occasional correction, but packaging is SO much easier that way.

 

[MNorby]

Thank you, I'm happy with the cosmetic change over the old setup.

Yes, I did add a rear tierod lockout in case of hydraulic failure or maybe an extended road section. Also give spare rod ends on the rig if needed.

I did the single ended cylinder with the idea of it being theoretically stronger than an equivalent double ended cylinder. With a 2.5" bore and no rod on one side and the other side only has a 1.125" rod vs a double ended being a 2.5" bore with 1.5" rod it should have more mechanical advantage. Also I don't see how it would wander any unless you have a bad seal or valve that could leak by. Maybe in a front steering with an orbital that is load reactive I could see some wandering but not on a system that locks that ports unless input is given thru the spool valve.

 

[MNorby]

Have had the rig out a few times now trying out the new stuff. So far working good. Finally got the rest of the cosmetic stuff on as well for now.

 

[MNorby]

Rig is working great. While the PBRs work good and way better in cold/snow, the BFGs can't be beat in the rocks.

 

[woody]

looking great!! I haven't moved mine since June, anxious for weather to cool and get out in a few weeks