Dirty Turd, converting 83 2x diesel to 4x
I've got a small farm on top of a mountain down a long dirt road filled with potholes that is absolutely brutal on vehicles. I drive into town every day and in the evenings drag hay bales and sacks of feed back home in my ugly beige 83 royal 2x diesel. (beige is Japanese for "color of dried up dog turd in the yard") Sprinkle the daily dirt road dust on the sagging leaf springs dragging it's behind like a dog with worms and you get the chick magnet I call "Dirty Turd". I'll take a before pic when I get around to it.
2 wheel drive is a misnomer, it's actually a one wheel drive as the inside tire just spins in the red clay mud, gets sideways, and drops me into the ditch if I don't get a running head start when it's raining. Snow? Fuggedaboudit. Gotta park down the hill and call the homestead for a 4x4 taxi ride. That chews up an hour both ways.
After the 2x front suspension broke twice in 2 years, I hotrodded it with custom coil springs and Rancho 5000's. That put me on the upper bumpstops up front and abused the lower arm bushings even worse. But now I can catch air over bumps other people don't notice.
And I love the way the rear drums lock up in the rain on a windy asphalt mountain freeway when everybody is panic stopping in front of you. Pucker power times 10, sideways...
So I've got a plethora of engineering goals to achieve to continue enjoying my 31 mpg without killing myself.
Let's start with limited slip so I can achieve actual 2 wheel drive. That's number one, right there.
4x would be nice, but not a requirement yet.
And rear discs so I can unclench and not fear mister wall or getting sideways in the rain. Ooh, an adjustable prop valve for empty...
Leafs and lift in the rear so 500 pounds of hay and feed or 1000 lbs of wet patch won't drag the rear bumper.
I'm thinking Spring Over Axle SOA for hero status.
And how bout a real front suspension with real front and rear bushings, top and bottom, that'll survive more than 12 months of pothole bashing. With replaceable ball joints since they're not going to live more than a year anyway.
And some real truck tires and rims while I'm at it. Because 14's are for wimmen and chiddren.
And a cab lift, cuz the tires still aren't big enough, even on paper.
And air conditioning, because sweat drenched shirts are so socially acceptable.
On a budget.
With all OEM or junkyard parts. In fact, all junkyard parts except consumables as needed.
I'll keep my cab and bed and whatever mechanicals apply.
Time to go junkyardin' and see what exists...
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Turd sunset pic (magazine quality)
Here's the dirty turd backdropped scenically against scotch broom and fox tails.
Note the exaggerated front fender gap vs. the de-arched leaf spring rear fender gap.
I can picture her a foot in the air, can you?
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SpOA, 16" rims, 30" inch rubber
Here's a picture:
Attachment 5863
Those are junkyard 16x7 alum rims of unknown origin. Got lucky they fit, paid 2 bills for 4.
They are wearing 215/85-16s Westlake SL-309 cheap chinese dually tires, 30.4" diameter, $140/ea from the tijuana tire store.
That's the back half of a 2x D50 frame with leafs, sitting on the factory SpOA perches of the Isuzu corporate 12 bolt axle, bed mounts mostly level.
The measurement everybody wants to know, what's the bed mounting pad height?
Right at 3 feet, (36" +/- 1) unloaded.
No sag in these springs, obviously a bed would push them down some. I can only push them down 1 inch with my body weight.
Notes:
16" rims clear the Isuzu rear disc calipers with room to spare. The Rodeo probably wore 15's.
215 85's look stock on a 7 wide rim, perfect fit. Rim has room to go both wider and taller.
But I shouldn't need to, because Max4D55 already posted a gear ratio to diesel rpm chart elsewhere and 30 1/2 diameter tires against 4.56's should actually read correct on the speedo with no other changes and keep the diesel in the sweet spot on the freeway in 5th gear.
Axle with rims/rubber are going to stick out 3 1/2 inches on each side of the bed, mandatory flares in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornica.
Westlake SL309's have nice narrow footprint where the rubber touches the road, hope to minimize rolling resistance for best freeway mpg. Gonna take a hit on aero profile, so try to make it up anywhere possible.
Another plus, 215's weight 38lbs, the 235's weight 50, less inertial mass to accelerate and brake. Not that braking will be any problem with those huge discs.
Isuzu 12 bolt springs perches are the exact same spacing as D50 leafs. Amazing. Now I need to carve off all the 4 link stuff on the axle tube to make room for the leaf u-bolts.
Need longer wheel studs in those axles flanges for the alum rims.
What's that frame in front of the mock up? Sharp eyes already know the answer...
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Time to examine the front end
Pictures:
Attachment 5896
bone stock 83 4x4 drivers front end. Full droop due to torsion bar. Missing swaybar but everything else is bolted together, including bump stops. Brakes look uninspiring on a good day.
Attachment 5897
Passenger side. Now we're talking.
Shiny new black 95 Montero upper control arm. No bump stops, top or bottom. No torsion.
2001 Montero Sport hub and brakes, donor had factory 16"s. 15's don't fit.
No shock, no bar, no bumpstops. It's at full droop and binding on something, maybe the cv's, maybe balls, maybe lower control arm bushings, dunno. Tie rod boots ripped, obviously farther than they wanted to go.
Close up of the new stuff:
Attachment 5898
Let's level the frame and shoot it head on:
Attachment 5900
Looks lower on the pass side to me. Wonder how much? Bolt on the tires and see what happens.
Attachment 5899
Frame is still level, wood 4x4 spanning both tire tops. Upper level stretches from rubber to rubber and needs one impact socket exactly 1.5" tall to level out. So the passenger tire got 1 1/2 inches of lift over stock. Not exactly earth shaking.
Notes:
Raybestos 502-1188 Professional Grade Control Arm and Ball Joint Assembly
Raybestos 507-1372 Professional Grade Control Arm Assembly
$115 shipped from Amazon. For both. Beats wasting 1/2 day at the yards.
