Hey Guys, I wanted to start a build thread to document my progress and gain from the collective knowledge of people who have gone before. (wise old farts) I've always been into Internationals because they are rare(ish), generally cool looking and I never wanted to be able to buy anything off the shelf to fit them. I must either hate myself or love a challenge. I've had numerous scouts, all offroad builds, and been an on and off again part of our local IH Club. Back in 2013 I was heading up our annual car show and RatPin from the board here showed up with this thing. https://imgur.com/a/gMExdNR Link to his build thread: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1954-international-r-100-build-thread.614359/ I had never seen a lowered truck I liked the look of better. So I promised myself one day I'd build one just like it. So here we are a few years later.
Since every International has to have a parts rig, I found the green one first then bought the white one a few months later.
Daniel, that looks great! You should probably move your thread to the "off topic" forum though, since it involves more modern suspension. Just select "forums" and "off topic" and you'll find it. Show us more!
First order of business was the rear axle and frame. I found an 8.8 from a 98 Mustang that will be the correct width after swapping in two drivers side ford ranger shafts. (narrows it 1.5" overall) Being on bags the frame was in the way. I've never been a fan of notches and since everything behind the axle was going to be custom anyways I designed up some frame plates and went all new from the axle back. This allowed me to mount my bags directly under the frame and well and place my lower links basically anywhere I want. This got me really good numbers for the rear 4 link.
On the same trip to the Pick-N-Pull that I got the axle, I found a 5.3l from an 04 Tahoe. It was their 50% off Black Friday sale so I got the axle and the fully dressed LS for under $300.
Front end is a 58.5" wide Mustang2 from Paul Horton's https://welderseries.company.site/New-Products-c24567209 Using Ridetech upper and lower control arms with 4" travel Shockwaves. I got everything tacked into place yesterday. This is where I need some assistance/checking. Few Specs that should align with other build threads I've read on here. 4* caster 0* camber 4* anti dive on the upper control arm mounting plates Lower arms level at ride height Upper arms aim down from the ball joint towards the center of the frame at 10* for bump steer Link to a video of the travel: https://imgur.com/a/9gsf0Uv How does this look?
The suspension arc looks good to me. Ought to handle well. The numbers at the rear are nice...you may be able to get that power to the ground! Nice work.
Last night I got the tires and fenders mounted to check for steering clearance. Full turn lock to lock with about 1/2" to spare at ride height. Like a glove.
To get a rolling chassis and since I'm pretty happy with the front end, I shifted my focus back on the rear axle. Rear upper link mounts are in according to my dimensions in the 4-Link calculator. I cycled everything and found that my links were binding pretty bad. I had this suspicion going into this but everyone on the internet and every build I saw used these same poly bushings. Coming from the off-road industry where we have huge articulation built into our suspensions, bind really isn't an option. Bind+Torque=Broken. My bind is exaggerated because of the triangulated links but even in a dual parallel with a Panhard bar setup, like this one, https://welderseries.company.site/Parallel-Rear-Four-Link-Package-for-Air-Springs-p51448832 the axle shifts left or right a little bit putting the bushings in a bind. Is this just normal and accepted? I think I'm going to swap those threaded bushings out for a set of these, https://ballisticfabrication.com/forged-chromoly-2-0-in-ballistic-joint/ They have articulation and are rebuildable. One more question about air bag mounts. When the axle move from ride height, to slammed. (4"higher) the axle travel in an arc because of the link setup so my lower bag mount isn't parallel with the frame anymore. Should I angle my top bag mount so that the top and bottom of the bag are parallel at full stuff? These Slam bags have internal bump stops and I don't want to damage that by hitting it at an angle.
The Ballistic joints came in and they fit perfectly. The rubber joints in the housing still bind at full stuff but the rubber should allow for that and keep things smoother on the road than the poly joints. I'll just swap out the bushing once they wear out. The specs on the SS7 bag says 2.7" minimum height so I spaced the plates 3" and at the correct angle when compressed. This should allow the internal bump stop to work properly and the frame bump stop will stop the bag from ridding fully on the bag bump, hopefully extending its life.
Got the motor mounts and transmission crossmember in this weekend. Also working on layout for behind the cab under the bed floor. The round scraps are representing two 3 gallon tanks on either side of the driveshaft. Dual battery box on the passenger side and compressors and air management will go on the drivers side. Unless I go with an engine driven compressor, then layout get much simpler.
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