fl-krawler
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- Aug 27, 2009
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Ok so with the end of the semester at school, now comes the time to finally start the build thread to my new buggy. I will now have some time to devote to this project every week and my hope is the pressure of a build thread and a planned ride at Harlan, Ky, Memorial weekend will keep me motivated and on track to get this rig done.
This buggy is a result of my A.D.D. for the last 3 years. Almost every aspect of it has been worked, reworked, the worked over again in my mind, in bend tech, and then in solid works with the help of a friend who is a M.E. Everything can be improved on, and this project is an in progress example of this. So here we go:
Everything started not soon after I built my last buggy at the end of '06
For the most part I was extremely pleased with this buggy. It went where I wanted, and was surprisingly agile and stable for its size. I had a custom soft top made for it, and IMO was the ultimate in a hardcore "family" rig(it was a 4 seater)
As with any rig, the more you wheel it, the more you find things that could be improved on and my old buggy was no exception. The most major concern I had with it was the weight. At 6000lbs it was no lightweight. While most of the time it was a blessing more than a curse, I felt the new buggy could be downsized a little, and still retain all the good qualities of the larger buggy. A smaller chassis would also help drop some weight, as would a step down in tire size(also planned). And last but not least, I wanted to change to roofline to allow a flat roof with an aluminum panel, since it would provide a little more protection for the occupants of the rig, and wouldnt get as easily destroyed as the soft top I had made.
So with that I started a new chassis. I knew I wanted to stick with rockwells since the cost to strength factor was very appealing, not to mention the fact I already had two steering axles sitting in my shop waiting to be put to use. Originally my goal was to drop 500-600lbs of overall weight and use a LT1 I had sitting in the shop.
Not long after I started it, I came across a deal on a LS1, and quickly relised that the chassis didnt fit the LS engine as well as it did the LT. I also started to get a little greedy with my weight goal, so I decided to drop it to a 4500lb trail ready weight. I was pretty much willing to do whatever it took to meet this goal, BUT I made it a priority to maintain the comfort/legroom of the old buggy,keep the rockwells, and retain the heat/air conditioning from the old buggy since it was a family rig. So I scrapped the idea of using the chassis I had started and went back to the drawing board
Now with a 4500lb weight goal, I knew I needed to drop some weight anywhere, and everywhere I could without sacrificing strength, reliabilty, safety, and the things I wanted to keep from the old buggy.One of the heaviest components on the buggy is the axles, so thats where I started. After a few weeks of research, I didnt turn up many options to drop weight on the axles other than using different wheel hubs(more on this later). After discussing the issue with a friend, I was pointed to a thread on another forum of a truck that was being built for the TGW events.
I found out that Steve Gerstner at www.differentialeng.comhttp://http:// had built a one off set of rockwells that had been modified to be lighter. So after a phone call to Steve, and a wait to get worked into his schedule, I finally had a pair of modified steering housings. They have been milled, machined, and retubed and should result in around a 40lb weight reduction per housing once everything is done on them.
Its getting late so I will stop right there for now. I will try to get more pics uploaded before the end of the weekend
This buggy is a result of my A.D.D. for the last 3 years. Almost every aspect of it has been worked, reworked, the worked over again in my mind, in bend tech, and then in solid works with the help of a friend who is a M.E. Everything can be improved on, and this project is an in progress example of this. So here we go:
Everything started not soon after I built my last buggy at the end of '06
For the most part I was extremely pleased with this buggy. It went where I wanted, and was surprisingly agile and stable for its size. I had a custom soft top made for it, and IMO was the ultimate in a hardcore "family" rig(it was a 4 seater)
As with any rig, the more you wheel it, the more you find things that could be improved on and my old buggy was no exception. The most major concern I had with it was the weight. At 6000lbs it was no lightweight. While most of the time it was a blessing more than a curse, I felt the new buggy could be downsized a little, and still retain all the good qualities of the larger buggy. A smaller chassis would also help drop some weight, as would a step down in tire size(also planned). And last but not least, I wanted to change to roofline to allow a flat roof with an aluminum panel, since it would provide a little more protection for the occupants of the rig, and wouldnt get as easily destroyed as the soft top I had made.
So with that I started a new chassis. I knew I wanted to stick with rockwells since the cost to strength factor was very appealing, not to mention the fact I already had two steering axles sitting in my shop waiting to be put to use. Originally my goal was to drop 500-600lbs of overall weight and use a LT1 I had sitting in the shop.
Not long after I started it, I came across a deal on a LS1, and quickly relised that the chassis didnt fit the LS engine as well as it did the LT. I also started to get a little greedy with my weight goal, so I decided to drop it to a 4500lb trail ready weight. I was pretty much willing to do whatever it took to meet this goal, BUT I made it a priority to maintain the comfort/legroom of the old buggy,keep the rockwells, and retain the heat/air conditioning from the old buggy since it was a family rig. So I scrapped the idea of using the chassis I had started and went back to the drawing board
Now with a 4500lb weight goal, I knew I needed to drop some weight anywhere, and everywhere I could without sacrificing strength, reliabilty, safety, and the things I wanted to keep from the old buggy.One of the heaviest components on the buggy is the axles, so thats where I started. After a few weeks of research, I didnt turn up many options to drop weight on the axles other than using different wheel hubs(more on this later). After discussing the issue with a friend, I was pointed to a thread on another forum of a truck that was being built for the TGW events.
I found out that Steve Gerstner at www.differentialeng.comhttp://http:// had built a one off set of rockwells that had been modified to be lighter. So after a phone call to Steve, and a wait to get worked into his schedule, I finally had a pair of modified steering housings. They have been milled, machined, and retubed and should result in around a 40lb weight reduction per housing once everything is done on them.
Its getting late so I will stop right there for now. I will try to get more pics uploaded before the end of the weekend
really nice to see someone doing new tech. for rockwells let us know how the knuckels hold up 
