Uberoo

a 6K rpm clutch drop in 4wd will do it,driving aggressively with a front axle blown will do it.It will still bend just like a ea81 bar.. The only reason ea82 bars seem more resilient is the front diff bushing isn't totally gone on ea82's like it is on most ea81's.

If you want to bend an ea82 diff bracket-back into a stump/boulder with enough force to get high centered.

Probally because they bend if you look at them funny.

Actually on a pound on pound basis the aluminum wheels actually *are* stronger than steel wheels.With the strength however comes brittleness.Hit something hard and cheap aluminum wheels will crack,steel wheels will bend, but the steel can be hammered out again. there was a video that I can't seem to find.Anyway the video mounted just the wheel to the front suspension and crashed into/ran over a cinder block at 35 mph.Factory steel wheels bent enough to stop rotating,aftermarket steel wheels bent alot but still rotated,factory alloy wheels bounced over the cinder block with no damage,cheap alloy wheels cracked and bent.

Now go find some wheel spacers and put some better tires under it.At least so it doesn't look so top heavy.

Then I would have to make a centered toyota diff and find the right combination of axles for the width.To the best of my knowledge making a centered diff requires either alot of machine work or sourcing a supra rear diff.Both of which require cubic dollars.I dunno maybe I can find a toyota/isuzu/nissan diff to play with.

you can do that but that doesn't add any more suspension travel.

now you made us all look bad.

Anyone every done some tinkering with the old Saab 99/900 front suspension?Ive had a few saabs but Ive never really took the suspension apart and flexed it.I was up at Pull and save getting a driveshaft for a mazda and I found an old saab 900 sitting up there and its only crime was that it was old.The body was straight,and it was labeled as running before it got in the yard.While I was lamenting the fact that it was much too nice to end its long life at a junkyard, I took a look at the front suspension.Double wishbone FWD, with a 5" id coil spring and a cheap shock. I didn't have a spring compressor with me to compress the coil so I could work the suspension through its travel,but its OEM shock has a travel of only 4.35" but the shock mounts further inward than a strut, so there is a fair bit more wheel travel.Now I am wondering how much travel the axles or the balljoints can physically take before they bind up. While I am still planning on moving forward with my lengthen subi suspension, I know I wont get alot of travel with the strut limiting travel,the suspension revisions will mostly make the EA81 axles live a decently long time with 1.5" of suspension lift.Maybe sometime in the future I might go grab the saab front suspension and make some frankenstien subi/saab axles with the saab hub/brakes and balljoints.

So after running the numbers,even though that tube front end is way stronger than the factory sheetmetal it ends up weighing just about the same*. 58" of 2x2x.120 = 14.83 lbs 10.71' for 1.5x0.83=13.45 lbs 10"x3"x.75" steel plate = 6.37 lbs = 34.65 lbs The front clip I pulled off weighed 35 lbs on my bathroom scale. *discounting the weight of welds,and the little pieces of steel to hold fenders and such on.

However, the problem becomes a legal issue.The subaru is a car so its only allowed on "jeep" type trails.Where the smaller UTVs can fit on preexisting 53" wide trails. Alot of people buy the bigger side by sides only to find out they can't ride them anywhere because they are close to 60" wide.A park ranger will ticket a UTV if its on a trail designated for 53" or less.They will throw the book at you for a car based buggy.

*CRIES* I know.Its been over a year but I haven't been working on it that whole time.the majority of time its been sitting neglected in my garage for days,weeks,and months at a time.I'm sure if I would have forced myself to work on it like a job from sun up to sundown,day after day, that it probally would have only took a couple months.However, I am tentatively shooting for it to be fully operational by augest.It still needs some major work in the front end but its starting to resemble a car.Once I get the front bumper done and the front suspension fabricated up its down hill from there.

Need to get off my arse and patch that other hole though..

So while I am waiting for the bank and the metal shop to be open, I planned out 4 main goals and all of their sub-steps.For instance, I need to finish at least the lower bumper before I can start mocking up the extended front suspension and its revised pivot locations.Not to mention clearancing the transmission tunnel,making transmission mounts,yada yada. The bumper will be done as soon as I can get some steel,but for instance clearancing the transmission tunnel requires the engine and transmission to go in, and then back out,same with suspension mounts and transmission mounts.Turns out clearancing the transmission tunnel is really quite simple.This entire section of the tunnel needed extensive reworking in all directions to clear the transmission,I figured it it would be easier to cut the whole damn thing out and then tack up some panels around the transmission. So here is the section of transmission tunnel that I removed: I know where the control arm pivots on the cross member need to be moved, so once I finish at least the lower portion of the bumper I can cut the little metal rods off and remove the cross member to fabricate those revised pivot locations.Then the cross member back so I can put the engine and transmission where it needs to go and fabricate the rear control arm pivots,the transmission mounts,and the engine mounts...With the engine in place I can also work on the grill guard because it will be supported by tubes that head back into the engine bay and I will need to know where/how to mount them.

That would interfere with the engine,but it is reasonably braced side to side.The lower frame and the upper frame are separated by a distance of 9" in the horizontal as shown by this picture. Sure a bit more would be nice but its what I have to work with at the moment.

Why can't you weld the steering extension?Do it right or have a shop weld it for you and it will be stronger than the base metal.

I added a bar from the low frame up to the top tube after the picture to help tie things in better,I have all the clearance in the world for my radiator because its going in the bed.Engine wise if I wanted to I probably could fit a v8 in there,but I have no intention of a v8 engine.I like the stability and low center of gravity of the boxer engine.

Yea there isn't really a "one size fits all" ratio because the ratio changes depending on how much lift.

So I got the other lower support in,then I hanged all the sheet metal so I could figure out where to run the top support tube. Here is the front end with all the respective pieces in place: Here is what the engine bay looks like right now: All Sorts of room for anything really.. So after I put up all the front end pieces I figured out where I could run the upper support tubes: The bar comes down just to the outside edge of the lower bar.I wanted it to be more or less on top of the bumper and the lower tube but it would interfere with the lights, so off to side it went.Because I messed up the first piece I don't have a long enough piece for the other side,Then because of Memorial day both the metal shop and the bank are closed until tuesday.I suppose I could make the last patch panel for the cab floor, or clearance the transmission tunnel,But I need lunch before I do anything though.. I might add a bar from the lower frame rail to the upper bar just to tie the triangle together, seeing as my whole design operates under the condition the the upper and lower frame rails wont move and will stay the same distance from each other.Then after all that I need to get started on the grill guard.

So I got a little bit done today.I kept getting interrupted when ever I tried to work on it.First things first here is a picture of the D ring mounts I made: By the time I actually had some time to work on it I only managed to get one of the support tubes cut and welded into place.I cut one piece wrong and it was way too short, so I had to make a second piece,and the second piece finished off what was left of my chop saw blade.So after getting that one piece welded in I decided to call it a night. Next up is make and weld the piece for the other side and mock up the panels again to see where the valance panel needs to be cut.

So I made some D ring shackle mounts.I made the mounts out of 3 x .75 flat bar.The mounts go through the bumper on both sides and are welded solidly enough that I shouldn't have a problem.I put the mounts so that the center of the hole is in line with the frame,at least as close as I can get it.So with every thing lined up with the frame it should help to reduce bending stresses and just load the steel in tension or compression,fingers crossed.Once my camera battery charges up I'll post some pictures.

Its not needed to drop the diff with a 2" lift.

So according to a rollcage calculator I found online,if I use the bumper as a jacking point and somehow have the entire brat's weight on the bumper the .0625 tubes would have a 1.7-1.8 safety factor while the .095 would have a 3.2-3.5 safety factor.So if I was to stuff the front end into a dirt bank at 10-15 mph the 0625 tubes might bend but the 095 should be plenty strong.So I guess .095 it is then.

So I finally got all four frame plates welded in.They are made out of 1/8" steel that I bent using my vise and a hammer.The top plates wrap around the sides and bottom of the upper frame rail while the bottom plates just wrap around the sides of the bottom rail for a good distance.I cut windows in all of the plates so I could weld those edges into the sheet metal as well.Then I filled those windows with lots of weld too.Then I ran a flap wheel over them just to remove all the sharp edges so I wont cut myself.They should be very strong...Now to get some 1.5x.095 or 1.5x0.0625 round tubing to attach the bumper.Both tubing should be just fine considering that 4 pieces of tubing will be used to tie into the bumper,plus 2 more bracing the grill bar.I haven't decided on which thickness to go with. 095 will be stronger, but 0625 weighs alot less.I would like to build light and only beef up areas if they need it,but if the bumper moves the brat sheet metal and grill could be damaged.

I didn't build my trailer, I bought it like that.The trailer was a late 60's camp trailer that was converted to a flatbed sometime in the 80's.I knew it was weak but never had a problem before.The trailer will be fixed before I haul anything on it ever again.