Stage one saga.

[Jamie_grieve]

You can thank Ross for the thread revival. It’s a bit of a spoiler to see it further on than where we left off but in some ways it’ll probably make it easier to see where I was trying to go with it. It’s been a fairly tortuous and long drawn out journey thus far. My lack of internet bandwidth and general hopelessness is also an inconvenience to thread updates 😂.

i wonder if this will be the last biannual update or will the trend continue..?

[Jamie_grieve]

Opening pictures for the Grenadier post made me think it was time I uploaded a video of this thing. I think followers of this thread are quite used to getting abandoned. 

The main to-do list items are to get the air suspension on, the hydraulics and winches, ground anchors, get the brakes happy with 170 bar, finish the cooling and electrical and maybe after that look at seats, cage and welding it all together.

[Anderzander]

[landroversforever]

Video isn't working for me?

[Bowie69]

Nor me.

[Bowie69]

.mov,  apple only?

[landroversforever]

4 minutes ago, Bowie69 said:

.mov,  apple only?

So it does work on my iPhone…. But I’ve played plenty of .mov files via windows before  

[Jamie_grieve]

55 minutes ago, landroversforever said:

Video isn't working for me?

 

41 minutes ago, Bowie69 said:

Nor me.

Oh nooo, apple got me, damn, imagine just expecting tech to work. I didn’t want to post a youtube link because of the bloody adverts but I put it on youtube too after I noticed that the thumbnail didn’t come up. I posted videos before from my iphone and they worked? What else I noticed, I was actually typing the post and the curser was hidden and now it works. Maybe there was a glitch in the matrix?

 

[missingsid]

Ooh I like that a lot!

[Stellaghost]

Bloody fantastic, but without seeing it I'm more jealous of your back garden if that's the sort of toys it can cope with keep it coming regards Stephen

 

[FridgeFreezer]

That is definitely a thing. Very interesting!

[richp110]

Looks great fun. Your fiddle brake video is really clever on YouTube. 

[Jamie_grieve]

Not really an update because it's been abandoned all year but I had a visitor: 
 

I think he did a great job of editing it, especially considering who and what he had to work with!! With hindsight we should probably taken it into the woods for the video. I cringed the whole way through watching it with how rough it is but here it is warts and all.

I'm embarrassed by just how ghetto it is but keeping it moving so I can play with it is more important to me than finishing anything.  I definitely realise that it's more about a series of projects within projects rather than a vehicle build, well, of course, any vehicle build is a series of projects but I mean, the hydraulics will be a totally separate thing to the suspension to the cooling to the winches to the cage, then there'll be axle upgrades and a load of finishing that might never happen. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Jamie_grieve

[Anderzander]

I liked that Jamie 😊

[uninformed]

5 hours ago, Jamie_grieve said:

Not really an update because it's been abandoned all year but I had a visitor: 
 

I think he did a great job of editing it, especially considering who and what he had to work with!! With hindsight we should probably taken it into the woods for the video. I cringed the whole way through watching it with how rough it is but here it is warts and all.

I'm embarrassed by just how ghetto it is but keeping it moving so I can play with it is more important to me than finishing anything.  I definitely realise that it's more about a series of projects within projects rather than a vehicle build, well, of course, any vehicle build is a series of projects but I mean, the hydraulics will be a totally separate thing to the suspension to the cooling to the winches to the cage, then there'll be axle upgrades and a load of finishing that might never happen. 

👍🍺

[missingsid]

Nothing wrong with evolution not revolution.

Firstly it's purpose is to enjoy it, second using it you can refine your next idea.

I got too involved in formulating my axles then gathering parts followed by problem solving. Although I have reached my goal and at much less cost than expected, it has taken 4 years. It all started with a broken rear halfshaft which I should have replaced and used it whilst I worked on the axles separately but I am too tunnel visioned.

[Jamie_grieve]

2 hours ago, missingsid said:

Firstly it's purpose is to enjoy it

You hit the nail on the head there, the whole purpose of this thing is purely for entertainment and I find it's just not as entertaining if it doesn't move. 

At some point it's going to need completely stripped back to the chassis and rebuilt properly before it can actually travel anywhere. I've been surprised at the axles holding up as well as they have but that can't possibly last as it gets heavier, the lower half shafts are only 45mm in diameter. I keep second guessing myself that I should have got crossplies instead just because they're so much lighter with much less inertia to break stuff.

[Jamie_grieve]

https://youtu.be/9Q9cgacecA4

Time for another wee update for anyone still following. 
I’m looking for input on my suspension.
I added double acting hydraulic cylinders to function as suspension components. In this video they’re just charged with air at 115psi but I intend to fill them with oil and use an accumulator on each one. 

I’m not sure whether to join the ports using the rod as displacement like an air shock but with a Tee piece to an accumulator probably around 800psi or put two accumulators at much lower pressure, maybe 150 top, 30psi bottom per cylinder to keep bump and rebound totally separate without valving? Any thoughts on what the cylinder seals would think of being abandoned for a good while at say 1000psi? That’s my main concern about tee’ing the ports together and running with a higher pressure. It would also allow me to drill the piston and pass fluid internally for a better high speed response, well, relatively speaking obviously, the unsprung weight is around 1300lbs each end.

I was also thinking about putting air at the top and oil underneath at maybe 30psi but do wonder how bad the rebound hitting any cavitation might be?

Also thinking of using an electric power steering pump to adjust the ride heights, any thoughts on what’s good? A tipper or tail lift one will work too but I’m thinking that a steering pump might be more suitable and easier to package.

Feel free to post in the comments any suggestions about suspension valving or fluid or whatever, cheers.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Jamie_grieve

[landroversforever]

That looks great Jamie! 

Any idea what it weighs at the moment? 

[Jamie_grieve]

3 hours ago, landroversforever said:

Any idea what it weighs at the moment? 

Yeah, half the reason for the air was to use the pressure to weigh it. It’s got heavy, it was never meant to be a lightweight when I decided to build it as a recovery vehicle but it’s 2700 kg now which ties in with what the crane scales say picking up each end. It’s still to get a cage, winches and hydraulics which will add a fair bit too.

From the start I’ve been more concerned about the ground pressure than the actual weight. As it stands it’s between 1.5 and 2.5 psi depending where you take it from and around 8psi on the cleats.

Now it’s a fully functional proof of concept I would like to build it a new frame or even complete vehicle that’s both lighter and stronger than what’s there. I’ve been trying to scan it and learn about point clouds but haven’t really got into that yet as I also need to learn a modern CAD package that goes hand in hand with it all.

 It’s amazing how easily it drives over things and how stable it is at the same time.

I’m looking at different preloads people use on their coilovers and I know my tide height and full bump pressures so I can hopefully fairly accurately size my accumulators so it doesn’t unload on side slopes like badly set up airshocks can.