Been working on a swing arm lately

[derrickalda]

I spent some time working on a swing arm this weekend. I'll finish it up next weekend.

it has a couple of concepts.
1. adjustable tire mount (31-37 inch tire)
2. hold 2 5gal jerry cans
3. hold hi-lift
4. tray for recovery gear or cooler
5. * hinged parellel to the door

I wanted the swing arm to linked to the door so that when you open the door the swing arm will open 5% more as the door opens. This has a couple benefits..... being hinged to the body makes it more stable and takes away vibrations. when you lock your door the swing arm is locked also. plus if takes away from having a latch thats in the way on your bumper.

so far im very happy. on the left side there will be a small bolt on tray that can fit recovery gear or a small cooler. on the right side the hi-lift will mount vertical.

PS....my bumper is green because i only have a etching primer on it

 

[MUSKYMAN]

very cool

 

[p m]

Derrick, can I have just the bumper?

 

[derrickalda]

Derrick, can I have just the bumper?

The bumper is available through hicountry offroad, and you can get a good deal if you are going to the Nat. ralley and order one. actually we want to develope this swing arm so you can install it on other aftermarket bumpers too.

back to technical discussion... what do you think about the swing arm hinging parellel with the door.

 

[Red Rover]

Nice idea and it looks good so far. If I have this straight it sounds like you want the door and carrier to be mounted separately, but open as one...

If so, one thing to think on is the swing radius of the door vs the carrier since the hinge point is different for each. With this in mind you won't be able to attach the carrier directly to the door as it'll bind. You'll need to fabricate something that allows them to slide against one another while still being connected (Something similar to a slide track).

Also, I dont see your method for securing the swing arm to the bumper. On top looks like it will interfere with the door. I would suggest something like a tension clamp on the vertical face.

I do like your idea of making it adaptable to other bumpers... but then you are really going to need to focus on the mounting point for the hinge as that will be your weak spot. Especially if it stays as well-built (read: heavy) as this one and someone decides that would be a great addition to their TJM!

The only drawback I see to this is the fact that you are taking a lot of weight; large tire, hi-lift, 2x Fuel cans, and sticking it well back from the center of balance (axles) on the truck. Although it is an alternative to moving it away from the center of gravity (roof). And you might not need to worry about making the tire rach "adjustable", just make it so it'll carry up to a certain size and save yourself some weight/fab time. Other than that keep going with it! :applause:

 

[derrickalda]

Nice idea and it looks good so far. If I have this straight it sounds like you want the door and carrier to be mounted separately, but open as one...

If so, one thing to think on is the swing radius of the door vs the carrier since the hinge point is different for each. With this in mind you won't be able to attach the carrier directly to the door as it'll bind. You'll need to fabricate something that allows them to slide against one another while still being connected (Something similar to a slide track).

Also, I dont see your method for securing the swing arm to the bumper. On top looks like it will interfere with the door. I would suggest something like a tension clamp on the vertical face.

I do like your idea of making it adaptable to other bumpers... but then you are really going to need to focus on the mounting point for the hinge as that will be your weak spot. Especially if it stays as well-built (read: heavy) as this one and someone decides that would be a great addition to their TJM!

The only drawback I see to this is the fact that you are taking a lot of weight; large tire, hi-lift, 2x Fuel cans, and sticking it well back from the center of balance (axles) on the truck. Although it is an alternative to moving it away from the center of gravity (roof). And you might not need to worry about making the tire rach "adjustable", just make it so it'll carry up to a certain size and save yourself some weight/fab time. Other than that keep going with it! :applause:

yup, and ive done all the math and got it figured out and it works great. plus since im mounting the jerry cans behind i had to mount the linkage in a way so that the swing arm gets further away from the door and not closer.

this weekend ill take a profile picture of how far the wheel sticks out. i don't know the measurement, but its very little. remember the mount on the door pushing the tire out alot already because of the wiper.

 

[RoverInTheRockies]

Derek that looks great... When do you think you and Matt will have the bumper and s/a ready for the DII? I think that the idea of not having a "cam lock" style latch is great it kind of cleans up the "extra crap" look... Also is that pivot point greasable?:victory:

 

[derrickalda]

Matt's working on the D2 rear this week. Well finish the swing arm this weekend. currently I still live 1 1/2 hrs away, and I drive down to the shop every weekend.

yeah the swivel will have a greasable cap. its not on in the picture because we are currently taking the swing arm off and on. we make everything in house including the swivel joint. keeps us in total control over turn around time.

we moved to Evergreen....swing by the shop sometime. we are next door to MIT, one of the only two Rover Indy shops in the Denver area.

 

[Tempest]

:applause: nice work... subscribing to keep updated on forthcoming results...

 

[RoverInTheRockies]

Yeah I meet up with Matt on the last day when he had that sic Rangie in there... Hopefully soon I will be getting the rear from him... do you know how much xtra that s?a is going to run???

 

[derrickalda]

Yeah I meet up with Matt on the last day when he had that sic Rangie in there... Hopefully soon I will be getting the rear from him... do you know how much xtra that s?a is going to run???

we'll probably wait until the build is done to make that public. Matt might chime in though.

 

[evergreendisco]

We don't have a price yet on the swing arm as we are still finalizing the design and therefore the total cost. We will have pricing though prior to the rally as well as the D2 will be finished as I have to have one on mine for the rally.

 

[derrickalda]

heres the tire on the swing arm. the jack is in the wrong location here. it will be mounted to the right of the tire. the jack is only there for testing. you can see the relation of the tire to the swing arm mount. tire is a 33x10.50

 

[RoverInTheRockies]

Well it is looking great... Matt just email me when you are ready with the s/a and bumper combined cost... the only thing that would probably change is the top where the tire frame is square it kinda looks out of place... is the cooler tray going to mount to that? If not do you think that angleing the corners to kind of "tuck" out of site would be a possibility? just wondering...

And I will have to come up there soon to see your new shop and DII when its all on there... That beast will be looking good...

 

[derrickalda]

i am actually thinking of droping it 3 inches

 

[Steve Rupp]

What is it about the american racing wheels that they all have a shit load of weight on one side? Or is it the tires that go on them. I know the swampers are horrible to balance but i have those wheels with 33x10.50's and they don't want to balance either. ticks me off.

 

[D Chapman]

Steve,
Local shop here will spin the wheels only to find the "heavy side". Then, they install the tire and give it a spin to find the "heavy side". They then match the heavy side of the tire to the light side of the rim. It works out really well.

I don't know what this type of balancing is called, but it's the cats ass for big rubber.

 

[Eric N.]

What is it about the american racing wheels that they all have a shit load of weight on one side? Or is it the tires that go on them. I know the swampers are horrible to balance but i have those wheels with 33x10.50's and they don't want to balance either. ticks me off.

Are your center sections bent? My AR's are. Not much but, enough to make it harder to balance. Put a couple of them on the machine without tires and spun them. You could see they were off a little.

 

[Steve Rupp]

Dan, that would make sense to anybody except the meatheads that work at discount tire and other places like that. People just don't give a shit anymore. I've got a buddy that works at a Ford dealer down the road. One of these Saturdays i'm going to go over there and balance them myself. I've actually got another set of wheels coming and i'm going to start by throwing them up on the machine without tires. The shitty wheels are going on my zuk project. We'll see what happens, but i guarantee i'll get them balanced better than the douche bags at these tire shops.

 

[derrickalda]

i have a balancer and i balance them myself. so i really don't care if i nock a weight off because i can just rebalance when i get home. dan ill have to try that. it is soooo hard to get those swampers to set a bead so once i got them on there i just balance with what i have. the bead machine is not strong enough...i have to use ether to set the bead. it takes everything my machine has to break the bead too....in other words i have yet to pop a bead on the trail at 7 - 12 psi