Not your everyday Datsun 520!!!

[0.C.]

I mean how were you able to turn the steering box (gear) around?

Mine is facing the other way. and to me the only way to make it rhd would be to cutting the frame.

[airedout]

I would think twice about putting that bag on the upper arm. At 1st it seems like a good idea. Frees up room, more lift, simple setup. But think about it for a second. The upper arm was never designed to take the load of the truck. The lower arm is the load bearing arm. If you put the bag on the upper arm there are many variable you have to think about.

 

1. The bushing in the upper arm will wear quicker.

2. It will put more stress on the upper control arm mount. You will be placing the load of the truck on the upper control arm mount. This mount was never designed to take very much load. It only takes a small load from the weight of the vehicle, and slight side loads from cornering. I will tell you from my experience of removing the upper control arm mounts on my truck. The facotry welds suck, they came off like butter with my air chissel.

3. Drastic increase of the load placed on the upper control arm crossshaft.

 

I personally would never put a bag on an upper control arm, its just not my thing. Just wanted to point some things out to you.

[doord521]

Will be reinforcing the mounts and plating the upper arm. I have seen a few trucks with this done and I kinda look at it like this, frames where never intended to be cut in half for stock floor body drops but we still do it. If it is done right then there is not a problem. I can handle premature bushing wear to get more lift. It isn't gonna be a daily any ways. That and I am keeping the stock 1300 so I am not adding any more weight to the front either.

 

I personally wouldn't put shockwaves on my truck, just not my thing!! But really, I do appreciate the feed back. Thanks

[kansascity1]

get that shit done bro.

 

The way I look at it is........If 200psi blows my uppers off then I'll rebuild it, but until then, I think our idea will work. Thanks for the input Dwight, it all makes since, but like Steven said everything will be reinforced so we shouldn't have any problems. If we do feel free to say I told you so.

[mklotz70]

It would have been on nwde, but someone did the bagmount that way and said they'd never do it again. I don't remember why. The lower arm has a 3/4"(approx.) fulcrum pin holding the dogbone on. The upper is held on with a 3/8 or 7/16" bolt and two rubber bushings. I'd be afraid of shearing that bolt.....so you might want to consider an upgrade to that if you continue down the same path.

 

As for the steering box....the 520 and 521 were different. The 320 and 520 were the same and the housing is built to allow the steering shaft to be mounted on either side. The idler arm setup can also be swapped from one side of the truck to the other. I thought about going rhd, but I had a mail jeep when I was younger....so I got it out of my system. Daily driving a rhd is a PITA. But for the WOW factor and a uniqueness.....they're awesome! BUT...to make the box work on the other side, you would have to swap the shaft (because of the worm gear) and the block/arm in the box with one from a rhd rig, since the worm gear would have a different pitch. So...it works for mock ups but you might as well get the whole unit if you have to swap the guts. You could actually build a different frame mount, but it wouldn't look as nice.

[mklotz70]

As for the upper bolt prob....you could use a much bigger bolt, maybe sleeve the bolt...either way, I'd get some delrin and turn down some new bushings since there's no way the rubber is going to take that abuse....heck..mine are squished just from the load on them trying to hold the caster angle.

[kansascity1]

I'm gonna have to throw my truck in the air tonight and look at it, to see exactly what you are talking about. I t has been a while since I've actually pulled the wheel and got in there and looked. I'm really trying to avoid having to do all the work that Dwight (airedout) had to do. Granted it was probably a little easier for him, since he did a frame off. Plus it looks better, IMO.

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Mike i have that pic,it was posted on NWDE. This is Courtney holowells old 521. He mentioned that he wasnt happy with the way it performed but it was functional...

and this is the front of James's [layinga521] 71 521..in this pic & when fully aired up [you can see the lower outside edge of the bag rubbing the kingpin. This was corrected later by moving the lower bag mount in just a tad. I believe hes running Conitech's or firestone 2500's up front...

[mklotz70]

sweet...thanks for the pics Mark.

 

The bolt I'm refering to is the one that connects the upper arms with the top of the dogbone. You can see the nut in the top pic and it's blocked by the wires in the bottom. Looks like the bolt might be 7/16 or 1/2". Did Courtney say how long he'd been driving on it that way?

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Mike im not sure how long it was driven like that. Im with you as far as just going w/ a grade 8 bolt & a sleeve around that.

[BEEBANI]

Not sure what these guys are whining about, what they're proposing to do is way more work than just putting the bag on the lower arm. I've done it on 2) trucks; a 521 and a 620 with AIM bags and had no problems.

[mklotz70]

I was simply saying it was the bare minimum option.....I wouldn't do it, but it's the very least that should be done. If that top bolt broke driving down the road, it wouldn't be pretty. The bottom fulcrum pin is made to handle the abuse, so there shouldn't be any worries about it breaking.

[doord521]

I haven't heard any whining. I don't have any problems with a little constructive criticism, but don't rag on my design please. We are just trying to do something a little different. I know the bag can be put on the lower with less work but that is not how we want to do it. If it doesn't work then you all can give me all of the hell you want but I am doing it this way. Don't get me wrong we are taking in all of the comments from everyone to make it as safe as possible...

[BEEBANI]

Oh, I'm just messing with ya! I've kicked around the idea before, but haven't seen any done that I liked enough to copy or make as my own. I agree with these guys about the upper arms needing to be strengthened up though.

 

If it works, more power to ya! If not, make it work...that's what the sport's all about; being different.

[doord521]

You will want to copy this one!!! LOL!! Yeah, everything is going to be reinforced good.

[airedout]

I was thinking about running a shockwave like the ones in the rear of my truck, down through the upper arm to the lower at one point. I would have ended up with a cage like your planning to mount the top of the shockwave too, but the bag would have been above the upper arm, and just the shock passing through the arm connecting to the lower. I think the only reason i didnt was because i didnt wanna spend another grand on custom shockwaves again. Good luck to ya

[doord521]

I thought about something similar to that but with a bag.. Some sort of cantilever setup for the front. I just really like how the engine cages look on Pre runners.

[airedout]

You could also run an air over hydro setup to get more lift and take less space. That was one of my other plans.

 

Something similar to this, my buddy rigo's s10. (you end up using this setup in the front instead of the rear)

 

[doord521]

Never thought about that on this one, but that would work too..

[tnip]

i just can't figure out that picture. i see the hydros on the outside that lift the frame off the axle, but what is the purpose of the airbags and other set of hydros?

[airedout]

Its simple fluid dynamics. On setup, one cylinder is collapsed, the other is extended, they are plumbed together, and topped off with oil. The air bag acts at the pump by collapsing the extended cylinder, forcing the fluid to the other cylinder extending it.

 

This setup works well when theres not space for an airbag, and you dont want to mess with all they pumps, dumps, and batteries of a conventional hydro system.

[doord521]

You get a nice ride out of it to compared to just hydraulics..

[airedout]

You get a nice ride out of it to compared to just hydraulics..

 

The ride quality is a mix between hydros and air. Not quite as good as air, but not as bad as hydros. One other good thing about it is you dont have to run a shock, the fluid filled cylinders act as the shock.

[mklotz70]

Took several looks before I made out the cylinders being pushed by the bags.....now I get it :) ......read the siggy :)

[tnip]

yea i looked at it again and figured it out. doesn't seem like you get much lift out that setup, altho i guess you could valve the hydros differently to get more travel out of it right? but yea i've heard that just running hydros is a rough ride. there was a setup at the "summer showdown" in perry that had hydros, i thought that they were outdated.