OBS F250 slow adventure build

[amgvr4]

Underdrive;

Thanks for the compliments. I ended up cutting the slot larger similar to what you suggested and added some gussets as well. Great minds think alike!


I was able to work on the towers today. It took a lot of thinking but I am pretty sure how I want to proceed. I toyed with several ideas including shock hoops but in the end I wanted something that will be possible to remove in case something ever happens to this truck or I need to make changes to them.

I added a gusset to the track bar/radius arm mount to add more lateral strength



I started the towers by bending some 4"x.250 plate into a 3" channel and then drilling the holes for the weld in spacers



Then I used a 16" long section of 4x.250 plate to make the back bone of the towers. I bent it to allow for the bump in the drivers side and to space the coilover properly. Both tacked together




I drilled two holes in it to be able to bolt it on for the fitting process. As soon as it is all done and fully welded I will weld it to the frame.



The lower mount


At full compression


I didn't pay enough attention to the overall height of the tower vs the centerline of the shock bolt so my ride hight is too tall. I measured properly when sizing my shocks, but the bracket ended up pretty large so it hits the inner fender well and does not allow the tower to be as tall as it needs to be. The axle is at least 1" too low compared to where I want it at full compression.


I had originally planned on about a half inch of clearance between the track bar and crossmember. It's about 1 3/4" now.



This is full droop



So I need to trim down the top mount and raise the height of the tower at least 1" to have the ride hight I am looking for. Once I have the passenger side where I want it I will get the drivers side to the same point and fully cycle the axle to make sure everything clears and works as it should. Then I will box in the towers and make the bump stop and remote reservoir mounts. Getting close!

 

[underdrive]

Passenger side looks quite strong, but what about driver side? There's no trac bar mount there, how do you plan on beefing that side up?

By the looks of it you should be able to take at least 1/2", possibly 3/4" off the top of the shock towers. The strength you lose from removing so much material above the bolt can easily be regained by doubling up the wall thickness, basically when you add your vertical reinforcing plates to the front and rear side of the towers make them overlap on top of the 3" channel you formed so the bolt can pass thru both the channel and the plates. Also remember the inner fenders are plastic and therefore have quite a bit of give to them, thus they can be pushed up a bit by the towers likely without any ill effects on anything above them.

 

[java]

Looking good! I think you will be happy you went with the CO's

 

[Sooper Camper]

progress! let me know if you need any reservoir mount solutions, we have a few that are easy to make work. be careful if you are tack welding things with the shocks in place...if you ground to the axle but weld to the frame i've seen the shock act as the ground between the two and it can fry the seals/shafts...happens way more often than you'd think...

 

[amgvr4]

progress! let me know if you need any reservoir mount solutions, we have a few that are easy to make work. be careful if you are tack welding things with the shocks in place...if you ground to the axle but weld to the frame i've seen the shock act as the ground between the two and it can fry the seals/shafts...happens way more often than you'd think...

I'm not sure what I will do to mount the reservoirs just yet. Thanks for the heads up about welding with the coilovers in place. I had never thought of that. I haven't done any welding with them in and don't plan on it, but great info for sure.

I got home late from work so I didn't get a chance to work on the truck tonight for very long. All I was able to do was get the drivers side spacer bushings milled, drilled and tapped. I am not using nuts on the back side of the bolts, instead I threaded the opposite side bushing to be able to use shorter bolts and have double the thread engagement. Hopefully I can make it home on time tomorrow and get the drivers side to the same point as the passenger to check the clearances.

 

[underdrive]

Regarding the threaded bushings, rust development and build-up would be something to consider. For example should those bolts ever rust to the bushings, extracting them for shock removal can easily turn into a nightmare. In the common bolt with external nut arrangement the nut can usually be torched off quickly before any significant heat is transferred to the shock and then the bolt can be air-hammered or even manually pounded out of the whole works, with the threaded bushing if you heat the bushing you're practically heating the shock's heim joint

 

[amgvr4]

I got both shocks mounted and cycled tonight with the raised towers. Everything looks much better now that the top of the coilovers are located where my initial measurements were taken from. I need to tweak the profile of the towers slightly to give more clearance for the preload adjusters and plate in the sides before I can put any weight on the axle to see how the spring rates look.

First I made the drivers side lower mount. I bent some .250 plate to match the front of the radius arm mounts




Then I made the second plate and drilled the holes for the bushings




I am using a really thin washer to space out the bushings just slightly so when they are welded they do not shrink too tight to fit the coilovers in


Tacked in place. I did not offset this side since it was not needed for spring clearance at the frame. Since the axle shifts to the drivers side under droop the passenger side coilover needed to have slightly more room to keep the spring from hitting the frame, hence the off center lower mount. Also I won't need to add as much gusseting to this side since I did not notch the bracket




I used the plasma to cut down and add some shape to the tower brackets

 

[amgvr4]

Pass side full droop




Drivers side full droop





Drivers side full bump



Pass side full bump




At approximate ride hight. Should be pretty close to 4.5-5" of up travel and 4" of suspension lift from the leafs and d50





The top of the towers are as high as they can get. The inner fender wells are actually not the same on both sides and the drivers side provides about an inch less clearance then the pass side. I didn't know this when I started and took all my measurements for the towers off the pass side so when I got to the drivers side I was thrown off for a minute trying to figure out a solution. I ended up pulling the air box and cutting away the sound deadening over the portion of the fender liner that was causing the interference. Then I made several slices in the plastic to create flexible "fingers" that the tower could push out of the way for now.




I will most likely cut out the liner over the tower and pop rivet some thin flexible plastic that I have to seal off the wheel well but provide some more room. The pass side did not need any work to clear



Hopefully I will get a chance to work on it tomorrow as well. Got to take advantage of the dry weather when I can.

 

[underdrive]

Hm, never knew the inner fenders are different between the two sides, learn something new every day. Ah well, you got it done, that's what matters. So overall what would be your ride height, measured from the top of your outer fender arches down to the center of the axle hubs? Also I would be looking for ways to get the reservoirs on the top side of the inner fenders, just to keep them away from road grime and whatever nasties you happen to drive through. Not sure how much space you have available up there though.

 

[amgvr4]

Hm, never knew the inner fenders are different between the two sides, learn something new every day. Ah well, you got it done, that's what matters. So overall what would be your ride height, measured from the top of your outer fender arches down to the center of the axle hubs? Also I would be looking for ways to get the reservoirs on the top side of the inner fenders, just to keep them away from road grime and whatever nasties you happen to drive through. Not sure how much space you have available up there though.

I think it is a diesel thing since the air box is so much larger on them then the gas engines. From the fender edge to center of the hub is 27" and fender to ground is 44". I would love to have the reservoirs out of the wheel well but with the non flexible hose and limited space it will probably have to keep them down low and just make some protector covers.

 

[amgvr4]

Not a lot done tonight since by the time dinner was done and the kids were in bed it was too late to do any cutting and grinding. I did however reshape the flat back bone plate for the towers to clear the preload adjusters and springs better. I had originally bent too slack of a radius too far down, so I had to fix it now before the sides get plated. Then I fully welded the brackets to the back bone and the spacers to the towers and driver side lower mount.

Here is the profile before fixing it


And after with the spring mounted to check clearance


Clearances look good on both sides with the springs. I am super close to being able the put this thing on its own weight and dial in the ride hight and bump stops

 

[amgvr4]

I got some more done today. Not as much as I wanted to but still progress. First I had to tack the drivers side lower coil mount in so it was strong enough to support the truck when setting the ride hight. Next I set about plating the sides of the towers. I needed to fish mouth the side plates to have enough room for the springs. The back plate is 4" wide and the springs are 4.25". I was shooting for the opening to be 6" wide to give enough space for the shocks to move throughout the travel. Unfortunately it ended up at only 5" wide and it interferes with the spring at the ends of stroke. I will need to trim the side plates back from 4" to 3" to clear the springs.

Side plates bent and tacked





Trimmed the edges and welded enough to support the truck



Tested the spring clearance




Marked off where I will trim the side plates



I ran out of time to do any more noisy work so I will have to trim and grind the towers tomorrow. After that I should be good to go for setting the ride hight and testing the spring rates.

 

[amgvr4]

Finally got the truck on its own weight with the coilovers. The springs turned out to be perfect for the ride hight I wanted. Right now it is sitting at 44.5" from the fender edge to ground and 5" of remaining shock travel. The rates also seem about right, though I won't know for sure until I drive it. I also measured for the rear shocks so I can order those tomorrow. The last thing I worked on tonight was the mounts for the remote reservoirs. I will finish those up at work tomorrow but they should work well.

I used the plasma to trim back the towers for better spring clearance. I started with 1" and then went back another .5" after testing showed the springs were still not clearing like I wanted.


Test fitting





At full compression and full steering lock everything clears perfectly




Both springs installed at full droop




Sitting on its own weight





On the tires, some underneath shots




This is with a jack under the rear bumper to simulate the rear being done as well, otherwise it has the super gangster lean.




This is the start of the reservoir brackets. I used some 3/16x3/4" stainless stock I had laying around. I will bolt them to the front of the coil buckets



Tomorrow I need to finish the res mounts and make the bump stops. Then I can pull everything out and finish weld all the brackets that are not done. I also need to plate over the frame side track bar mount and do a bunch of clean up grinding. I have a bunch of little odds and ends to button up so I will make a list tomorrow and start checking them off. I have to give back the work truck I have been borrowing for the last two weeks so I got to get this thing road worthy ASAP. I might even have to drive it before I get the back done so I can make it to work. I never seem to get as much done each night as I want to though so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[TheViking]

Great progress and your doing a great job everything is very clean!

 

[seanpistol]

Nice work! Looks so good!