Project idea I am considering...

[Bigiron]

Ok. I have seen truggies and buggies. I have seen jacked up 4x4s of all kinds. I have been messing with 4x4s for over a decade. I want to build my own buggy/truggy to haul to various rides and so on. I know the basics of how and what I want to do. I am curious about building the frame instead of chopping and welding on an automotive frame. How hard is it to build a custom frame? I will be running a small block v-8, most likely a chevy 350 variant. If I can find an sm-420 or 465 tranny and an np-205 splitter. I'm in the air about the axles and suspension. I want to be sturdy yet light for the horsepower. I also want to be able to tackle a variety of terrain. Not much for rocks in Louisiana, but I need to be able to handle them if I travel. Basically I need to find and all around platform to work with and build. Hills, mud, ravines, rocks, water crossing (i.e. snorkeling the intake). Any experiance and knowledge will be helpful. Materials info, tool info, the works. Thanks fellas.

[Paul Seaman]

I would look into an already designed chassis and virtually copy it. Most of the attachment points and hardware mounts are available from competition engineering or one of the other chassis parts builders. You are looking into a long term project, an idea is to use basically factory designed components and make the adaptation from there. Jeep hard parts are plentiful in junk yards and relatively solid, but for serious tire combinations you may want more like dana 60 rear and dana 44 front as the axles. I prefer the NP 208 out of 1 ton fords and the like , {gear to gear as opposed to a chain** Never broke mine with over 270,000 miles under a very heavy foot. Trans, your choice in chevy can built as heavy as needed for your duty. I would recommend a low cam lift with lots of duration, not a high bumppppp stick. Low end torq is where big tires live mostly in the grunt zone.

Paul

[Bigiron]

I got...

a line on some 2 1/2 ton rockwells that I am considering for the beef, but I don't know for sure if that is the direction I want to go. I am having my wife's step dad check on them for me. He does part time work for the guy who has them. I'll be honest. I never heard of the np208, or had forgotten about it. I'd like to keep the overall length around that of a short bed short wheel base toyota. The width I am still trying to decide on. I want to keep the center of gravity low. Minimum tire size would be 37". Maximum is undetermined at this point. I may end up using a toyota frame if I can get a line on one that is not toast. Just to ease up the build some. I can spec out the roll cage from there.

Yes, it will be very long and time consuming. I like the idea though. I plan on trying to make a very capable rig that can stand up to a lot, and also be extremely functional. On board air and other necessities. Any more tips and hints would be well appreciated. Thanks.

[MMW]

np205 is all gear driven & virtually bullet proof. You can't go wrong with it although some of the newer transfer cases have a lower low range. 2 1/2 ton rears might be to heavy for a buggy.

[Bigiron]

On the other end of the spectrum.

I could always take it slow and small. Use 8 inch toyotas front and rear. They hold up pretty good with a little common sense. There are a ton of options out there that are workable. Just throwing the idea out there to see what kind of responses I get mainly.

[Paul Seaman]

The best diffs are going to the main stays from ford dodge or chevy,{parts available and upgrade choices** 10 bolt chevy or 12 belt chevy, dana 60 rear and dana 44 fronts, and ford 9" and 8.8" rear difs are all serious with the available upgrades.

I appologize for my earlier NP 205 mistake, I was confusing the 203 and 205,,,too long since I built a 4x4. My f150 has a 208 one ton transfer case.

Also, building the connection links for the multi-link differential suspension setups, use 4130 CrMo steel.

[Desertrider33]

A kingpin high pinion Dana 60 front out of an '86-'91 F350 would be my choice for the front axle. Rear axle, GM 14-bolt 10.5". Transfer case, NP205 with low gear kit. Trans, NP435.

[Flyingpig]

Im pretty lost here. What is a truggie? When I look it up all I find is radio control toys. SBC in an rc? I dont think so.

[FusionKing]

Im pretty lost here. What is a truggie? When I look it up all I find is radio control toys. SBC in an rc? I dont think so.

word play....a buggy made from 4wd truck....TRU(ck..+..bu)GGY= TRUGGY

[Bigiron]

I suppose...

I am to blame for mispelling truggy and buggy. Lol!! Admittedly, I do have a toyota 4x4 already. I am not interested in reworking it for the project in mind. It's still a good little truck. I am actually going to sell it if I can find a buyer. I have too many vehicles laying around anyways. Need to free up some yard space. Not many folks interested in a standard cab model I guess. I am going to post on a couple of 4x4 sites under local area and see if it sells. I want to start from scratch on my project anyways. I don't need the excess parts laying around that I don't use. I Had a guy who was supposed to talk to someone about an old 3/4 ton ford 4x4 for the axles. A '79 model I believe. Any thoughts on that year and size?

[Blondie_486]

word play....a buggy made from 4wd truck....TRU(ck..+..bu)GGY= TRUGGY

I always thought the truggys were only 2 wheel drive. Perhaps I've been mislead?

I much prefer the mud boggers myself. If it ain't muddy it ain't worth a pinch of owl poop!

[Bigiron]

Muddin.

Man. I remember the days when I got off work, bought a sixer or a twelve pack, met up with some friends and we just hit the back roads looking for some mud holes to play in. My old toyota hardly ever let me down. Truggies are being built in 4x4 versions. I think they have been for a while.

[Blondie_486]

From what I've seen of the truggys they have a very long travel front suspension from fabricated A arms and usually 2 or 3 shocks one each side. That would mean if they were 4 wheel drive you would have to use a differential in the front without axle tubes but rather flanges to mount CV joints to and use a half shaft for each side of the front end.

Is this how they're doing it? I've been out of the offroad scene for about 25 years or better now. Back then I was building Volksie powered buggies and at the local strip mines was chewing up the 4x4's through all but the mud holes. Then I made the mistake of driving a 4x4 in the mud pit and was instantly hooked. Went out and bought a rat Bronco and built a really overpowered engine, welded the spiders and went muddin.

[Bigiron]

buggys now.

Buggys now are by defenition rock buggys or mud buggys. Most have some varient on the front suspension, but all are four wheel drive. Either solid front axle or independent front end. Sand rails and dune buggys are still two wheel drive. I am speaking from the four wheel drive point of view. Check out a 4x4 mag, and or go to poisonspyder.com or bluetorchfab.com. They build tube chassis for the rock climbing buggys and offer some accessories. Man, and I thought I had been out of touch. 4 wheeling is bigger than ever. Mud racing is going full bore. We have guys around here doing some bigfoot style trucks just to mud race with. It's insane. I love my 4x4s. You can take the kid out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the kid. LOL!!

[Blondie_486]

Buggys now are by defenition rock buggys or mud buggys. Most have some varient on the front suspension, but all are four wheel drive. Either solid front axle or independent front end. Sand rails and dune buggys are still two wheel drive. I am speaking from the four wheel drive point of view. Check out a 4x4 mag, and or go to poisonspyder.com or bluetorchfab.com. They build tube chassis for the rock climbing buggys and offer some accessories. Man, and I thought I had been out of touch. 4 wheeling is bigger than ever. Mud racing is going full bore. We have guys around here doing some bigfoot style trucks just to mud race with. It's insane. I love my 4x4s. You can take the kid out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the kid. LOL!!

I may have to think about building another mudder. Where I live there 2 places that have mud bogs now. Buckeye Lake has them every Friday night and I forget what the other was. They have classes for the little 1.3L Suzuki Samurais and Sidekicks to full blown boggers running blowers, nitrous or even some alky burners too. I've got this old ragged out Burb. I had been thinking of building a panel truck out of it and tricking it out complete with a hummin Cummins under the hood. I'd of course have to scrap the bowtie engine and put something with a blue oval in the engine house but that can all be done. Would also have to find a set of Danas to beef up to pull it through the mud without breaking easily.