Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Bolted the header on, there’s a slight uphill tilt to the motor so I matched the header angle to the flex pipes and welded some steel to hold it in place.
Bolted the turbo on and welded a support to hold it as well.
I’m going to jig steering post next and then build the charge tube manifold.
Bolted the turbo on and welded a support to hold it as well.
I’m going to jig steering post next and then build the charge tube manifold.
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Finished jigging the steering post location. I couldn’t fit it to the steel jig so I bolted it to the table.
Started with welding 4 tabs to the jig, squaring it up on the table and then securing it.
Made some steel brackets to hold my 1” square. I leveled the table on my shop floor and the side 2x4’s weren’t completely level so I had to do the brackets this way so the 1” square tube could swing in/out a little until they were level. I have a Dewalt laser level I used for everything after verifying the table was level. The brackets are thru bolted with 3/8 bolts so the entire thing is easily removable.
7/8 tube welded in and everything else tacked. The 7/8 tube is 26.5” vertically from the front arm mount which is what I measured on a new sled at the dealer.
Bolted my riser & bars on and made a quick steering post out of aluminum to see if a straight post would clear the charge tube which it does. The manifold is 2” round aluminum tubing.
Old setup used vibrant couplings with hose clamps. My new setup will be shorter pieces of tubing with Oetiker clamps. It’s a more compact setup giving me additional clearance to the post and it’s also significantly lighter. The Oetiker clamps aren’t reuseable but I had to buy a bag of 100 (which I bought a few years ago) so I can remove it quite a few times.
Clearance to post
Started with welding 4 tabs to the jig, squaring it up on the table and then securing it.
Made some steel brackets to hold my 1” square. I leveled the table on my shop floor and the side 2x4’s weren’t completely level so I had to do the brackets this way so the 1” square tube could swing in/out a little until they were level. I have a Dewalt laser level I used for everything after verifying the table was level. The brackets are thru bolted with 3/8 bolts so the entire thing is easily removable.
7/8 tube welded in and everything else tacked. The 7/8 tube is 26.5” vertically from the front arm mount which is what I measured on a new sled at the dealer.
Bolted my riser & bars on and made a quick steering post out of aluminum to see if a straight post would clear the charge tube which it does. The manifold is 2” round aluminum tubing.
Old setup used vibrant couplings with hose clamps. My new setup will be shorter pieces of tubing with Oetiker clamps. It’s a more compact setup giving me additional clearance to the post and it’s also significantly lighter. The Oetiker clamps aren’t reuseable but I had to buy a bag of 100 (which I bought a few years ago) so I can remove it quite a few times.
Clearance to post
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
I’m going to build a jig for my upper a-arms and then I’ll probably start running chromoly tube.
Mountainbilly90
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Phenomenal work nikolai been following this post and your previous nytro build for quite a while, very very impressive you could make alot of people very happy making custom chromoly frames.
kinger
VIP Member
This looks awesome! I want to do the same for my apex powertrain! Nice work!
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Thanks. I started on the front tubing but the steering has had me stumped. I want to leave the steering geometry 100% stock but the steering arm is not in the best location for running tube. I think I got it figured out though.
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
The factory steering arm wasn’t going to work so I had to change things around and jig the tie rod positions instead. I have to build a new steering arm so this way I can ensure it still ends up in the factory location. The steering on my Nytro project was never right and I absolutely don’t want to change a thing geometry wise on this build.
Made it removable so I can get it out of the way once the steering is done.
With that done, step 2 was to start on the steering arm. I have 3 Nytro steering arms left over so I’m using them.
Pressed the 2 needle bearings out.
Cut off the arm then turned it smooth in the lathe.
I’m still thinking about the steering setup I want to do, but right now the plan is to build a steering arm using the Nytro needle bearing setup. On the top side of the tube(that I turned on the lathe) I’m going to weld a u-joint to it and then weld my post tube to the other side of the u-joint. This is the joint I’m currently looking at. The OD is 1.125” and the tube(housing the needle bearing) is 1.25” so they’ll weld together fine. Post will be 1.125” so no issues there either.
So the bottom of the post/u-joint with the needle bearing would slide over the sleeve that will be bolted to the steering arm, then bolt into the steering hoop up top.
I didn’t want to have to run a u-joint but it’s the only way to avoid having other linkages and keep the steering arm swing/arch/travel/whatever stock.
That’s what I have for now unless someone has a better idea.
Made it removable so I can get it out of the way once the steering is done.
With that done, step 2 was to start on the steering arm. I have 3 Nytro steering arms left over so I’m using them.
Pressed the 2 needle bearings out.
Cut off the arm then turned it smooth in the lathe.
I’m still thinking about the steering setup I want to do, but right now the plan is to build a steering arm using the Nytro needle bearing setup. On the top side of the tube(that I turned on the lathe) I’m going to weld a u-joint to it and then weld my post tube to the other side of the u-joint. This is the joint I’m currently looking at. The OD is 1.125” and the tube(housing the needle bearing) is 1.25” so they’ll weld together fine. Post will be 1.125” so no issues there either.
So the bottom of the post/u-joint with the needle bearing would slide over the sleeve that will be bolted to the steering arm, then bolt into the steering hoop up top.
I didn’t want to have to run a u-joint but it’s the only way to avoid having other linkages and keep the steering arm swing/arch/travel/whatever stock.
That’s what I have for now unless someone has a better idea.
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Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Cheaper option, only $44.99. Probably heavier than the above joint.
And this one. The OD is 1” so it would fit inside my 1.125 x .058 post and still weld to the lower needle bearing tube ok. From some reading I’ve done these seem to be the least smooth joint but I don’t know how noticeable it would be on a sled.
And this one. The OD is 1” so it would fit inside my 1.125 x .058 post and still weld to the lower needle bearing tube ok. From some reading I’ve done these seem to be the least smooth joint but I don’t know how noticeable it would be on a sled.
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kennyspec
Expert
I am going to get to my shop this weekend and explain my cooking setup for you. I will also take pics of my steering setup.
It uses one of those spherical ball joints that is in the end of a Nytro lower a arm. I put a 2” long bolt into the ball of the joint and welded the head of the bolt to the ball. then pressed and welded the race into my chromoly tube that is my steering shaft. Then just slip the threaded part of the bolt through a flat plate for a mount, add a lock it and done. Works awesome and is probably a lot lighter than the universal.
It uses one of those spherical ball joints that is in the end of a Nytro lower a arm. I put a 2” long bolt into the ball of the joint and welded the head of the bolt to the ball. then pressed and welded the race into my chromoly tube that is my steering shaft. Then just slip the threaded part of the bolt through a flat plate for a mount, add a lock it and done. Works awesome and is probably a lot lighter than the universal.
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Template for new steering arm. Dimensions are same as stock arm.
The factory arm is made of .070 and I’m assuming mild steel. The thinnest 4130 plate I have is .090 so that’s what I used.
Made some spacers on the lathe so I could get everything clamped properly while I tacked it up.
Welded. Used 1/16 tungsten and .045 filler. Had a bit of shaky hands. Definitely need to fine tune my welding skills with the small filler.
Obviously no bushings in either arm but I was happy to be lighter while using thicker plate.
Made a couple more pieces on the lathe so I didn’t have to press the needle bearings back in yet. I’m undecided on a u-joint/pivot right now so the Alu bushings will allow me to keep going and finish the post later.
The front two a-arm mounts will be all plate and boxed in. I’m going to use .125 4130 and the plate will extend upward at an angle and the steering arm will bolt to it. Hope that makes sense. The plate will go between the bottom washer and nut.
The factory arm is made of .070 and I’m assuming mild steel. The thinnest 4130 plate I have is .090 so that’s what I used.
Made some spacers on the lathe so I could get everything clamped properly while I tacked it up.
Welded. Used 1/16 tungsten and .045 filler. Had a bit of shaky hands. Definitely need to fine tune my welding skills with the small filler.
Obviously no bushings in either arm but I was happy to be lighter while using thicker plate.
Made a couple more pieces on the lathe so I didn’t have to press the needle bearings back in yet. I’m undecided on a u-joint/pivot right now so the Alu bushings will allow me to keep going and finish the post later.
The front two a-arm mounts will be all plate and boxed in. I’m going to use .125 4130 and the plate will extend upward at an angle and the steering arm will bolt to it. Hope that makes sense. The plate will go between the bottom washer and nut.
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
I’ve been working on the front section trying to get it done. All the plate is .125” 4130.
The Mag side is super tight so the lower 1” tube pretty much has to tie in where pictured. The tube/plate joint will be reinforced later.
I still have some welding and gussetting to do that I’m going to try and get done tonight. I don’t like using plate because of the weight but it was the easiest way I could come up with for tying in the front a-arm mounts and steering together. A lot of this is due to the fact I have the motor so low and so far back.
The Mag side is super tight so the lower 1” tube pretty much has to tie in where pictured. The tube/plate joint will be reinforced later.
I still have some welding and gussetting to do that I’m going to try and get done tonight. I don’t like using plate because of the weight but it was the easiest way I could come up with for tying in the front a-arm mounts and steering together. A lot of this is due to the fact I have the motor so low and so far back.
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Finished the bracket.
Weight isn’t too bad considering it’s both the a-arm and steering mount. Probably could have used thinner plate but I didn’t want to chance it.
Weight isn’t too bad considering it’s both the a-arm and steering mount. Probably could have used thinner plate but I didn’t want to chance it.
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Clearance is tight, about 1/16”. I guess I’ll find out how much the Nytro motor moves around when I ride it. If it moves enough to hit the tube I’ll have to put a small notch in it.
Probably do the other side tomorrow and then work on the upper a-arm/shock tubes next.
Probably do the other side tomorrow and then work on the upper a-arm/shock tubes next.
Nikolai
TY 4 Stroke God
Other side is done.
After some thought I’ve concluded the running boards need to be done next. Probably won’t have updates for a few days until I figure out what to do. My plan has been for the fuel tank to double as the top of the tunnel, the cooler to cover everything behind the tunnel, and to use 1/16” UHMW for the sides from the rear suspension mount forward. I wanted to avoid using a tunnel skin as even .040 alu will be 8.5-10 lbs, and then it needs to be painted, wrapped or powder coated to keep snow from sticking all of which are expensive. UHMW is cheap and durable. Having said that, if I don’t use a skin to share the load, then the tube structure has to be strong enough to support everything. It’s a compromise of tube layout, tube diameter & wall thickness and trying to achieve the strongest chassis with lightest amount of tubing. Less tubing also equals less welding and less warping.
So in short, I have no idea what I’m going to do. For now I ran a string line to represent the top profile(lines up with top of header bracket) and straight boards with a steeper angle.
After some thought I’ve concluded the running boards need to be done next. Probably won’t have updates for a few days until I figure out what to do. My plan has been for the fuel tank to double as the top of the tunnel, the cooler to cover everything behind the tunnel, and to use 1/16” UHMW for the sides from the rear suspension mount forward. I wanted to avoid using a tunnel skin as even .040 alu will be 8.5-10 lbs, and then it needs to be painted, wrapped or powder coated to keep snow from sticking all of which are expensive. UHMW is cheap and durable. Having said that, if I don’t use a skin to share the load, then the tube structure has to be strong enough to support everything. It’s a compromise of tube layout, tube diameter & wall thickness and trying to achieve the strongest chassis with lightest amount of tubing. Less tubing also equals less welding and less warping.
So in short, I have no idea what I’m going to do. For now I ran a string line to represent the top profile(lines up with top of header bracket) and straight boards with a steeper angle.
