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SAS r50 :)


johann_peralta
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On 1/27/2019 at 10:03 PM, Bax03SE said:

Maybe I’m just not seeing your vision, but I don’t see how you can get the rear ride height even remotely close to the front without biting the bullet and doing the necessary fabrication to drop everything down. Just by eyeballing it, it looks like you’ve got in the neighborhood of 20 inches or so of lift in the front compared to stock? Trying to get the rear down to that level without fabrication just doesn’t seem feasible to me. And If you want it to ride and track safely I really think you’re going to need to move the mounting points for all the rear links down to keep them reasonably in line with the rear axle. If you drop the axle that far and keep the existing mounting points for the rear trailing arms, you’re going to have them at some very extreme angles that could compromise performance and safety. Same thing for the rear driveshaft. I don’t know if will even extend that far stock, but if it does it will be at an extreme angle. I’m not trying to discourage you in any way. I think this project is awesome and really want to see a well put together SAS R50 hit the trails! I just think it is worth taking the extra time and really thinking this out and doing it right now that you’ve gotten this far. 

Yesterday I stripped down the rear end completely, and you are absolutely right. Im gonna need to lower the brackets. Maybeeeee not the lowers but the uppers are most definitely going to need to be moved down. I didn't realize how far back the brackets were. In my head i saw them as about 2 feet further forward, but in reality the uppers are like a foot away from the axle and the lowers maybe 30"+-. the links in the front are probably 45" so this is a huge difference. Time to change my approach to the rear end. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
11 hours ago, XPLORx4 said:

How's it going with the rear axle progress?

Hasn't been touched since unfortunately.   Between doing my thesis, BioChemistry, Physics and my Biology classes, I have no time to spare. Hopefully after graduation this May i'll have a decent break to finish the rear. 

On the bright side, I just bought a new welder to help with this project, so that ought to make it go by a little faster than the front end. 

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  • 1 month later...

I found some used tires that were so cheap I couldn't say no, even though they weren't the size I was looking for. 40x15.5x20 Nitto trail grabbers. Something is probably going to break, but that's ok. Gives me a reason to fix it and make it better the next time around. 

 

Now I'm on the lookout for some rims. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, johann_peralta said:

I found some used tires that were so cheap I couldn't say no, even though they weren't the size I was looking for. 40x15.5x20 Nitto trail grabbers. Something is probably going to break, but that's ok. Gives me a reason to fix it and make it better the next time around. 

 

Now I'm on the lookout for some rims. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

40 inches tires on a 20 inches rims. damn your vg33 would hate you so bad. 

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Hope you can find the time to get your rear end sorted out!  I know the feeling for sure. You hit a bit of a wall and think "Well, looks like I've got other things I need to do anyways this week..." and the next thing you know it's been 6 months since you've even looked at it.

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18 hours ago, deltaR50 said:

 

 

40 inches tires on a 20 inches rims. damn your vg33 would hate you so bad. 

yeah I can imagine it is not going to want to roll around easily. The end goal is to locate some 4.9 gears from a frontier/xterra and match the front with 4.88. 

 

13 hours ago, Snowboarder12345 said:

Hope you can find the time to get your rear end sorted out!  I know the feeling for sure. You hit a bit of a wall and think "Well, looks like I've got other things I need to do anyways this week..." and the next thing you know it's been 6 months since you've even looked at it.

Yes! This is my senior year and I'm in the thick of it. Taking biochem, bio, physics 2, and writing a thesis. I'm also studying for my graduate exams at the same time. Its a handful for sure. I'm taking microbio, cell bio, and med chem over the summer so we'll see how much more free time I get over the summer. Hoping to knock it out as soon as possible though. The hard part is already done lol

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  • 1 month later...

6t38r6.jpg

 

got the 40s mounted. Sorry in advance if the picture is rotated. I have no idea how to upload pictures here. I have to use other websites to upload bc this site has a tiny size limit when directly adding pictures. I use a third party that makes the picture into a link, and the link shows up as a picture. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finished my thesis and graduated, so decided to buy myself a plasma cutter as a graduation gift to myself. Ended up cutting out the 4 link brackets yesterday for the rear end. Hopefully tomorrow I'll start getting them mocked up, maybe even tacked in. Stripping the Nissan underlining in tight areas, especially on the stock brackets where the ends are bend outwards is a pain in the rear. 

 

I still haven't decided on what to do for the springs... Need springs that are at least 10" longer, or need to incorporate spacers and longer springs. Ideas? 

 

what needs to be done still: 4 link brackets, panhard relocation bracket, longer brake line & breather, figure out what to do to lengthen driveshaft..

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Congrats on graduation! Looking forward to seeing some progress on this project. I still think it may be best to fabricate something to bring the whole upper spring perch down lower instead of just relying on taller springs and spacers. I just would worry about the lack of stability from a spring and spacer combination as tall as what it looks like you would need. Moving the upper perch would also let you customize it to line up straight with the new axle location so you don’t end up with too much arch in the springs. 

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On 5/15/2019 at 6:02 PM, Bax03SE said:

Congrats on graduation! Looking forward to seeing some progress on this project. I still think it may be best to fabricate something to bring the whole upper spring perch down lower instead of just relying on taller springs and spacers. I just would worry about the lack of stability from a spring and spacer combination as tall as what it looks like you would need. Moving the upper perch would also let you customize it to line up straight with the new axle location so you don’t end up with too much arch in the springs. 

Thank you!

 

maybe something like this but with the actual perch lower down..  https://www.artecindustries.com/TJ_rear_coil 

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On 5/15/2019 at 6:02 PM, Bax03SE said:

Congrats on graduation! Looking forward to seeing some progress on this project. I still think it may be best to fabricate something to bring the whole upper spring perch down lower instead of just relying on taller springs and spacers. I just would worry about the lack of stability from a spring and spacer combination as tall as what it looks like you would need. Moving the upper perch would also let you customize it to line up straight with the new axle location so you don’t end up with too much arch in the springs. 

Thank you!

 

maybe something like this but with the actual perch lower down..  https://www.artecindustries.com/TJ_rear_coil 

 

Instead of bringing the upper trailing arm mount down, I'm bringing the mount on the axle up. The gas tank is seriously in the way for doing any sort of work up there and I do not want to lower the tank. The plan is to fill the front and back with another piece of 3/16 and burn them in to strengthen the bracket. Not my brightest idea, but it beats dropping the tank IMO.

 

 a59ec3099f7c1e6202a93e2ff649d562-full.jp

 

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That bracket is interesting and might not be a bad starting point. I can see your reasoning for bringing the axle mount up instead of the body mount down and actually don’t think it’s totally crazy, lol. What are you going to do for the lower arm mount? I’m just thinking in order to keep the upper and lower arms in relative alignment with each other, they both need to be either raised or lowered from the same side. I. E. either lower both at the body or raise both at the axle. Or maybe it doesn’t really matter so much if they’re not kept in stock alignment with each other...idk. 

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The geometry of the trailing arms does have an effect on how the suspension moves. The uppers are shorter than the lowers, so the axle housing rotates a bit as the suspension cycles (like how camber changes with ride height in an IFS). This also means that when you apply torque to the axle, the suspension pushes it up or down. If it's set up right, the rear suspension effectively firms up when you get on the gas, preventing the back of the truck from squatting. This is called anti-squat (creative name, right?). Messing with the angles of the links would change the effect somewhat; whether it would be enough to matter on an SAS'd truck on 40s, I don't know (and it's not like your rear suspension angles were stock to begin with). I'd be more concerned about the extended axle brackets or the upper links hitting the body when the suspension is compressed.

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20 hours ago, Bax03SE said:

That bracket is interesting and might not be a bad starting point. I can see your reasoning for bringing the axle mount up instead of the body mount down and actually don’t think it’s totally crazy, lol. What are you going to do for the lower arm mount? I’m just thinking in order to keep the upper and lower arms in relative alignment with each other, they both need to be either raised or lowered from the same side. I. E. either lower both at the body or raise both at the axle. Or maybe it doesn’t really matter so much if they’re not kept in stock alignment with each other...idk. 

 

Yes of course! That is what I spent this afternoon doing. You beat me to it. This afternoon I mocked up the lower trailing arm drop brackets! I'll post pictures in a sec. 

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18 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

The geometry of the trailing arms does have an effect on how the suspension moves. The uppers are shorter than the lowers, so the axle housing rotates a bit as the suspension cycles (like how camber changes with ride height in an IFS). This also means that when you apply torque to the axle, the suspension pushes it up or down. If it's set up right, the rear suspension effectively firms up when you get on the gas, preventing the back of the truck from squatting. This is called anti-squat (creative name, right?). Messing with the angles of the links would change the effect somewhat; whether it would be enough to matter on an SAS'd truck on 40s, I don't know (and it's not like your rear suspension angles were stock to begin with). I'd be more concerned about the extended axle brackets or the upper links hitting the body when the suspension is compressed.

 

To be honest, I don't know much about the topic. I did use a link arm length calculator for the front (I have to admit I had no idea how the algorithm works, but I just did as was directed by the website). For the rear, I'm not worried about the links hitting the body. The links are essentially in the same location as originally, the rear end won't have crazy flex or anything so it should be fine (I hope lol). But, thanks for the suggestion, and I will keep an eye out for any hitting on the first tests. 

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Here is what I spent this afternoon doing. I mocked up the 3/16" brackets for the lower trailing arms. The bolts are in temporarily and they are just there to hold the bracket in position while I welded some of it in. Unfortunately, In the shed I'm working in, there is literally less than a foot on the side of the car, and it's not ideal to do work like that. These brackets are not done, nor fully installed. 

The plan is to box the brackets in, and once the rear end is done I can push the car out of the shed. Once out, I can get better access to the brackets and weld them in fully. 

8aca69c0b905dfc9bdc5807341e71450-full.pn

 

8297a90b6d61508b65f982d019f983f7-full.jp

 

 

Also, For anyone interested in installing longer trailing arms, the uppers from a jeep JK fit as extended uppers on the Pathfinder. The lowers, not so much...

8e21fa3307856b3828656c548b1ac099-full.jp

 

 

 

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Ended up going with spacers and longer coils. Maybe down the road ill switch it up. 

uvuba.jpg

 

Got it back on the ground, but still lots to do: lower trailing arms, extend driveshaft, panhard bracket, brake line and a bunch of small things here and there.

fdda43d726c2a37ee84bb2215a99c4e7-full.jp

 

Rear bumpers is going soon after, going to make a rear bumper to add the carrier to.

 

 765186b1e84b875dd71e45297388fb74-full.jp

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

slowly coming together.. put the tires on and rolled it around a little

 

4862f3fef7db4a2b33cd21117154cdfe-full.jp

 

e733f20a3f1892bc906492ff09c46b33-full.jp

 

486e844c7c6a907de948e8d1ea6a414b-full.jp

 

here is a side by side to 12" lift on the green r50 (35s). white is on 31s in the front here.

76c35840552f6e35ebf986aebae4f08a-full.jp

 

still have lots to do here and there..

 

 

 

 

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I can click those links and see the pics, but in neither thread can I see your most recent embedded photos (and scrolling up I notice I can't see all of your previous photos anymore, although a good number of them I can).  Personally I use Imgur (because it's been around long enough that I trust it to continue to stick around), people use other sites with great success (I believe Flickr is another one; just don't use PhotoBucket!).

 

That rig looks like a beast in the pics with the big tires bolted on!  Any driveshaft binding when rolling it around?

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