Old school 61 baja project

[MikeAdams]

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I think I've got everything I'm gonna need before starting.
Just waiting on a tapered reamer and a left hand tap.

Rarely do I find exactly what I'm looking for in the IMS rem pile but I got this 7 foot bar of 1" OD 1/5" ID 6061 for 20 bucks! . . . Sweeeeet

Late model backing plates were donated...thanks Manny

I had an early pitman arm in my stash so was able to get it ready before the teardown. Just waiting for the reamer.

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Looks like I'm out of excuses now.

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2 small notes about the spindles.

There was a high spot here that wouldn't allow the inner bearing to slide on smoothly.
I hit it with some fine sand paper and it good to go.
I only did this to help when it's time to remove the drum for maintenance.

Also this area was keeping the backing plate from sitting flat so had to clearance a little bit.

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A funky setup but this cheap reamer worked just fine.

[dustymojave]

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Got started Monday evening, got it all apart then Tuesday morning figured out my shim stacks.

Pre greasing the kingpins. These take a lotta grease to fill up the void in the kingpins.

And got the pitman arm replaced.

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Finished up the tie rods yesterday, my lathe spindle is only a .870 diameter so I gotta do some funky stuff to ream and thread these things.
But I can't really complain, some guys don't even have a lathe.

And finish taping by hand.

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After making sure the length was right I put in some flats for a 7/8 wrench.

[Safety Ed]

Nice! I wish I had some cool tools to be able to do some custom machining. Looks great!
Ed

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I know a lotta you guys already know this but I'll post this up for the new kids.

On a link pin front end when relocating the stock suspension stops to get more you run into a problem with the passenger side tie rod hitting the frame head.
It will need a little rework to allow the suspension to fully cycle.

So here is how I did it, it ain't super pretty but with a cheap hobo freight flux welder, grinder and hammers it's pretty simple.

After test fitting the tie rod mark where it is at full turn left and right.

Then did some relief cuts with a part off wheel.

Then it's weld, hammer, weld, hammer, test fit, hammer, weld hammer, weld, test fit . . . You get the idea.

By time it was clearanced enough I had a good size gap on the front end so I patched it up with a piece of flat bar.

When I was satisfied I hit the area with some rust neutralizer because why not.

Lighting kinda sucks but here are the results after about 4 hours.

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Hello again dirt people.
Well my plan last weekend was to get the 61 back on it's wheels again but that isn't how it went.
Had the drums all cleaned up and ready to roll on Saturday morning, pressed in the outer bearing race then flip over and do the inside and that's where it went wrong.
The inner races just dropped into the drum without any press fit what so ever. WTF??

UGH!!!

get out the micrometer to check things out.

New bearings O.D. are 2.438 . . . . yes china
Old ones I knocked out are 2.441 . . . Japan
a full .003 undersize

Not much I can do at that point until Monday morning.

The one thing you don't check ahead of time will always come back to haunt you.

Used the down time to clean up and organize the garage back to normal so at least I got that

Monday morning I make coffee and call Kartec and explain my situation to Mike in the buggy department.

Mike explained to me that yes the China bearings do run a little undersize compared to the old style.
So over the phone he got out his calipers to check the Timken bearings they have and those he said are 2.440
So I had to spend the extra cash and step up to the better quality bearings.

I do wanna say that Mike was really helpful on the phone and said he would send out the Timkens and include a return slip in the box and he wouldn't charge the account until the returned bearings are credited back to me. . Awesome!

Tuesday the bearings showed up and measured out at 2.441 . . BRAVO, I'm back in action.

She's back on the ground on all fours.

[DesertSasquatchXploration]

You inspired me to convert from ball joint to link pin. Those spindles are beefy. I'm going in the morning to look at a couple used beams. I want the beam pushed out 3-4 inches and a little caster built in to the adapter. I'm thinking steel 2 inch thick wall tubing and a steel plate that has the tube buggy beam clamps welded on the accept the link pin beam spacing.
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Key is to have downward travel Preload keep both wheels on the ground at all times once you lift a tire your DONE. Guys worry about clearance instead think of the opposite you want the suspension to drop that tire in the hole and keep you going. A spider for example they keep their body low but their legs can reach pretty far so they don't (bottom out)

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[MikeAdams]

[dustymojave]

It's looking great Rick. Coming together.

To deal with tie rod clearance and 10.25" of wheel travel in my 58 Bug still using the original beam and steering box with 1" aluminum tie rods like what you made for yours, I used a rosebud tip on my acetylene torch to heat up the top of the tunnel, then a 4lb hand sledge hammer to beat it down. Worked out about the same, but a lot less grinding.

I still have reinforced stock spindles (also original to the car). Longer wheel travel helps prevent spindle bending and breakage.

Our Chenowth with a stock linkpin beam and the same spindles you just put on with 2.5" over arms, and Fox 10" coilovers, bent and broke a couple of pairs of spindles. But the droop in that setup was restricted by the lower frame rails in the way of the tie rods. It had less than 8" of travel. After a crash broke a couple of arms (the LR Combos held up just fine!) and the builder of the arms is no longer around, new arms have been fabricated and awaiting heats treat, but my son decided that they should be 4" arms. I don't know how he (builder of hundreds of Crumco Bajas, lauded by Brent King for suspension setup) thinks the 4" arms will serve any better than stock arms, I really don't know. Maybe building F35s now has twisted his sense about beam front ends.

I think that short of completely replacing the front frame structure, stock arms would provide all the wheel travel the frame will allow.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

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