Buggy build

collinmaune · Feb 16, 2021

I posted a picture of my buggy the other day and few people anted a tech form. It will be a bit backwards as I have to buggy done now and will be posting unfinished pictures as I find them in my phone.

The specs of the buggy when I first started bending setting the chassis up were

Ls/ Th400/ SCS
14 bolt front and rear
triple bypass and Coil carriers
trailing arm rear.

The finished buggy has
LS/TH400/ SCS
steering Dana 80's
4 tube King 16" bypass and coil overs
trailing arms in the rear

The rig has full functioning doors that I will post more details about along with pictures and part numbers

Bebop · Feb 16, 2021

Hell yeah ! Let's see more pics !

collinmaune · Feb 16, 2021

collinmaune · Feb 16, 2021

So after a lot of talking to different people I finally came up with an axle shaft combo that I think will hold up and brings a lot of benefits to the table. The dana 80's are setup to take 47 spline inners that are factory length rockwell shafts, both front and rear. The rear is offset to the passenger side 2.125 inches from center, while the front is a drivers drop setup. The inner shafts are a 2 piece setup like you see branik or spidertrax use. The inner double spline shaft is 47 spline at the diff and 39 spline at the yoke. It uses a rockwell billet u joint and all the parts are thru hardened 4340 that have been heat treated as well.

The reason i went with this setup is I can keep 1 or 2 yokes as spares and 1 long and short double splined inner shafts for spares. Hopefully I will never need them but I just didn't like the idea of getting a custom 1 off 40 or 47 spline inner shaft and have to wait weeks for a replacement if they broke.

Blase · Feb 17, 2021

Dang I can't wait to see more updates on these axles!!

ridered3 · Jun 28, 2021

Got anything new for us on this buggy build?

collinmaune · Jun 28, 2021

ridered3 said:
Got anything new for us on this buggy build?

I will update in in the next few days,

ridered3 · Jun 28, 2021

collinmaune said:
I will update in in the next few days,

ridered3 · Jul 15, 2021

collinmaune said:
I will update in in the next few days,

It's been a few days so time for an update. molaugh

collinmaune · Jul 15, 2021

I'll post up some pictures, finishing up the rear steering this week. I went with Leroy Lathams kit for simplicity. I ended up cutting the existing dash to get some more visibility.

ridered3 · Jul 15, 2021

Thanks for the update and just minor updates between rear steer and dash modifications.

collinmaune · Jul 31, 2021

To give an update, most everything is done besides the driveshafts getting made (which I have the parts on the way). The major step back is the steering setup. I originally was going to run 2 pumps one for front and one for the rear, this meant 2 reservoirs, etc. I started talked to Scott at Scotts custom offroad. I am not in the process of getting his pump to run 1 pump for both front and rear. Scott says it will work no problem his pump flows a lot. So this lead me to my next problem, upgrading my PSC reservoir. I talked to howe about running one of their big trophy truck units but it was close to 18" tall with the filter. So after some measurements I decided to order parts to make my own reservoir. since the pump will be doing double duty I decided to run 2 howe coolers, and the reservoir will be roughly 1 gallon. I will updated with pics of the reservoir this week along with all the parts to make it. The main reason I'm building my own is for placement. I know I'm not as knowledge as howe psc or other companys, however the new reservoir will be above the bellhousing and rear of the motor compared to above the headers.

TBItoy · Jul 31, 2021

A big reservoir is one of the best upgrades to a steering system, gives you a lot more cushion for heat and aeration.

collinmaune · Jul 31, 2021

TBItoy said:
A big reservoir is one of the best upgrades to a steering system, gives you a lot more cushion for heat and aeration.

So after an hour call with Jeff Howe, along with messages back and forth with Scott at Scotts pumps and Eric ant Radial dynamics, it was pretty clear the more fluid the better. It stays cooler, less air etc. So since my buddy is an amazing tig welder I figured why not make mine bigger and in a better place on the buggy, I ended up getting 8"x12" diameter 6061 tubing for around 20 bucks we cut it to 7.75 inches tall. Next me templated the buggy dash bar bend and translated to part of the reservoir. So on one side it is 7.75 inches tall the other is 6 inches tall. It is built to fit 50% under the dash bar and 50% flat with the dash bar. it should hold roughly 1.2 Gallons of fluid with a baffle in it at 6" from the bottom. The pump suction is 3/4" from the bottom of the reservoir, while the inlet side is 4". We went with -16 an fittings for both inlet and outlet, as well as a 16 lb weld on filler neck 2 howe 3x12 inline coolers and a remote baldwin bt839-10filter. The pump suction part of the reservoir is still 4 inches higher then any other part of the steering. Like I said in the post before this is just something i dreamed up and there is a chance it won't work.

extremetownie · Aug 1, 2021

It will work fine. The gear pump he uses is much better at sucking fluid than vane pumps generally used in power steering. Just like the gear pump on the oil system in a ls motor. It picks up from the pan below. I think the filter is a great idea./

ridered3 · Aug 2, 2021

collinmaune said:
I'll post up some pictures, finishing up the rear steering this week. I went with Leroy Lathams kit for simplicity. I ended up cutting the existing dash to get some more visibility.

Purely out of curiosity, what made you go with Leroy's kit (other than just simplicity) vs another option out on the market?

collinmaune said:
So after an hour call with Jeff Howe, along with messages back and forth with Scott at Scotts pumps and Eric ant Radial dynamics, it was pretty clear the more fluid the better. It stays cooler, less air etc. So since my buddy is an amazing tig welder I figured why not make mine bigger and in a better place on the buggy, I ended up getting 8"x12" diameter 6061 tubing for around 20 bucks we cut it to 7.75 inches tall. Next me templated the buggy dash bar bend and translated to part of the reservoir. So on one side it is 7.75 inches tall the other is 6 inches tall. It is built to fit 50% under the dash bar and 50% flat with the dash bar. it should hold roughly 1.2 Gallons of fluid with a baffle in it at 6" from the bottom. The pump suction is 3/4" from the bottom of the reservoir, while the inlet side is 4". We went with -16 an fittings for both inlet and outlet, as well as a 16 lb weld on filler neck 2 howe 3x12 inline coolers and a remote baldwin bt839-10filter. The pump suction part of the reservoir is still 4 inches higher then any other part of the steering. Like I said in the post before this is just something i dreamed up and there is a chance it won't work.

Got any pictures of the reservoir?

collinmaune · Aug 2, 2021

ridered3 said:
Purely out of curiosity, what made you go with Leroy's kit (other than just simplicity) vs another option out on the market?

Got any pictures of the reservoir?

Should have some pic of the reservoir later this week. The quality of Leroys kit is awesome, I also like the fact the electronics on his kit are away from the axle. I ended up building a vented box where his kit sits underneath the passenger seat.

ridered3 · Aug 2, 2021

collinmaune said:
Should have some pic of the reservoir later this week. The quality of Leroys kit is awesome, I also like the fact the electronics on his kit are away from the axle. I ended up building a vented box where his kit sits underneath the passenger seat.

Soudns great all around. I knew Leroy's kit had lots of trial/error/abuse via Havoc events etc, but did not realize you could mount them away from the axle. That's pretty cool.

collinmaune · Aug 17, 2021

I got the reservoir all done , getting it polished up to put into the buggy. will get some updated pics of it in the buggy... Don't mind my $5 auction deep freeze.