Finding the time to work on a project is almost as challenging as some of the actual work being done!
But Bobby from Sadistic Iron Werks makes it happen and has been spending nights and weekends to bring us a little insight into what it takes to build a truck from scratch. For the last few weeks we spent the majority of our time building all of the body mounts to match and working on our front suspension. Here's what we've come up with so far. For more information, contact the companies listed in the source box, and visit Minitruckinweb.com for more pics of the buildup.
1. This month we started by...
1. This month we started by building the body mounts. Bobby machined the ends and TIG welded them to the pieces that Joel from Mindliss Metal Fab cut for us.
2. It might look easy in the...
2. It might look easy in the pics, but Bobby had to machine all six body mount ends to match perfectly. This was more than a day's work but after he was finished with all six mounts he was able to setup, mark, and weld the mounts in place.
3. And there you have it,...
3. And there you have it, perfectly set up to use proper Energy Suspension body mounts.
4. Designing front suspension...
4. Designing front suspension is probably one of the most complicated pieces of any build done from scratch, which is one of the reasons why there aren't many scratch-built trucks out there. This topic takes up books and books and is not even close to possible to explain here in a few short steps, and for those reasons along with the huge safety issues, a front suspension design should be left to the professionals. Bobby took about 1,000 measurements, went through about 13 sharpies, mocked up the Summit Racing spindles, marked up the frame, and almost killed me in the process, before he had it all dialed in.
5. Using his measurements...
5. Using his measurements and guides, Bobby drew up the upper and lower control arms to be laser cut.
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7. Joel at Mindliss Metal...
7. Joel at Mindliss Metal Fab is a whiz and laser cut our arms with plenty of time to spare. Choosing to go the route of having most of our parts laser cut allows us precision control over even the smallest details. This allowed us to create arms, suspension, and an entire truck that is truly one-off yet everything matches, complements, flows from front to back, and is very purpose-built.
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10. Once the laser-cut pieces...
10. Once the laser-cut pieces arrive, Bobby is like a kid at Christmas and tears through all of the wrapping so he can get to doing what he does best: welding.
11. The arms are TIG-welded...
11. The arms are TIG-welded and the edges are cleaned up before the ball joint cups are welded in place.
12. One of the advantages...
12. One of the advantages of building the suspension is that we're able to set our wheelbase exactly where we want it and center the wheel in the wheelwell. Everything is still in mock-up phase for now as we have to work on the Shockwave placements still.
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14. The upper control arm...
14. The upper control arm was designed with a curve so that the Shockwave can mount to the lower control arm and not interfere. This design is similar to off-road trucks running big coil-over setups to the lower arms.
15. And there we have it:...
15. And there we have it: our upper and lower arms are really lookin' good so far! Check back with us next month to see how the front and rear suspensions come together.