[Joe Dillard]

Back in March was a good opportunity to play around in the garage without too many distractions. So.....as I promised my friend Martin (leftlanetruckin) when he was over visiting my place from MO a couple weeks ago, I told him I'd build him a front truss similar to mine for his SOA HPD30. This is about my 5th variation so far & I think my design is getting a little better each time.

Anyway, on with the pics. Hope Martin likes it.

It starts life out as a couple 1/4" x 5" steel plates that I cut down to size. I drill holes to match the 2 different ubolt patterns, then I drill a hole for the centerpin and flare the edges a bit to give it some character.



Next up is the upper center section that passes from spring plate to spring plate. This is made from .188 wall 2" x 2" steel tubing. I cut it to length, then notch the lower ends a bit so I can weld it in a manner that supports itself with a better degree of strength for the remainder of my design.

You can sort of see it here. Plus I was fitting the center support bracket at the same time, plus I had already welded in the end support sections of the truss which also act as built-in bumpstops.


Speaking of the center support brackets here's what it looks like. It's made from 2 pieces of angle iron butted up against each other. One piece is trimmed since it ends up being too wide otherwise. Then I add the center support stantion made from 1/4" x 4" plate. Here's what that looks like in the begining phase.

Feel free to critique my weld.




Here I'm test fitting things which is kinda time consuming since I no longer have a spare HPD30 that's already SOA laying around. So, I simply remove mine, then use my Jeep as a template to ensure fitment is correct.




Next up was drilling the center support bracket and the upper center section with my press. My drill press has one of those fancy laser pointers, so I figured for Martins sake I’d use it since he recently bought the same press. I normally don’t use the lazer.


Later tonight it should look something like this, which is mine.

I have made a few different designs. One is 100% bolt-on, while the other can be welded if you wish. In both cases, since the center support bracket is bolted to the upper portion of the truss, you can easily completely remove the upper section by removing the 8 ubolt nuts, and the 3 support bracket bolts.

[Wildbill]

Looks Great But I must being missing something in the pics. Where does it attach to the Axle housing/tubes? Doesn't it have to act as one integral component to be effective?

Wildbill

[Joe Dillard]

Yep, to be effective it does. Sorry for not making it more clear.

The center support bracket (that cradles the center cross brace) gets welded to the axle tube, housing, and vacuum disco housing. In the bottom pic it's not welded yet because I was still doing final fitment checks.

In the full bolt-on variant where no welding is required by the installer (which I haven't released for public review yet), the center support bracket gets tied to the axle tube by ubolts & extra bracket support gussets on the center support brace.

[Jerry Bransford]

What is that big red 'X' in the above photo Joe, is that from some sort of a laser gizmo you've acquired? If so, you are just making too much money now that you're retired from the Navy and now have a real big $$$ job. :D

[Joe Dillard]

Howdy Jerry. Yep, the red X is from the laser pointer that attaches to the drill press. It came as standard equipment with my Craftsman drill press. I rarely use it. It operates off a 9VDC battery.

[Jim B]

Real nice write up and pics!

Too bad it's got square headlights.
You retire guys make me angry ....

[Wildbill]

Joe Dillard, on Jul 3 2007, 02:38 PM, said:

Yep, to be effective it does. Sorry for not making it more clear.

The center support bracket (that cradles the center cross brace) gets welded to the axle tube, housing, and vacuum disco housing. In the bottom pic it's not welded yet because I was still doing final fitment checks.

In the full bolt-on variant where no welding is required by the installer (which I haven't released for public review yet), the center support bracket gets tied to the axle tube by ubolts & extra bracket support gussets on the center support brace.

OK.....Thanks, that's what I thought Great write up.

Wildbill

[Rollbar]

Jim B, on Jul 3 2007, 07:20 PM, said:

Too bad it's got square headlights.

Nice job but I agree w/Jim,

[Joe Dillard]

You guys are a tough bunch.

I have designed a similar truss for a HPD30 that's still SUA, and another for the 8.8. Once my finished products are fine tuned a little more - I'll probably post a thread for those too.

My guess is that a similar approach could be taken on a front SOA D44 or D60, which is one reason why I have shared this design so you folks could build your own relatively easily & inexpensive.

The 8.8 design is much more tricky due to clearance issues and axle bracketry that tends to be in the way.