And now for some real world criticism. I'm not bashing but I think you need more feedback than "awesome build". Here is a touch of what I see. A D30 is in no way stronger than your IFS, the ujoints and shafts are like toothpicks. The front suspension cross member and leaf mounts have no gusseting. The winch is mounted to the suspension cross member, really? The front winch mounting steel has no support and most of the welds look sketchy. One hard winch pull and the axle is coming out. You need to rework some of your engineering before you put your kids in that thing and drive down the road, seriously. Your family's safety should be priority one.

I would be glad to help with any design questions.

Tim

 

Hmm, looks like I`ve missed that build the whole time...

I have to agree to BigBlockBlazer. There`s a lot of gussets missing, the leaf mounts look like they`ll break the first time with some articulation.

And that winch mount is just dangerous! I`m not sure if the winch brakes from the crossmember and fly`s in someones face or the whole crossmember is coming out...

The idea is good, but not how it is done. Add a lot of gussets to this and it`s almost safe. But you`ll always have a tiny axle under there, that`ll break if you do some serious offroading.
And please, redo that winch mount, or make sure that no one is with you when you try to use it!

 

Pulled a tractor trailer today with the winch...nothing moved. When off roading in a frozen field that was plowed at 60+km/h... Nothing budged... I will be adding alot of gussets soon. Just havent had time. Put 13 000km on it with zero issues. And this d30 is getting built. In a few years when i can afford the d44 I want, ill do it. Im only gonna bulid a D44 once... High pinion, 62" WMS-WMS, 4.56 gears, chromolly shafts, ARB air locker, and warn hubs. Until then ill spend the $300 on the 10 year warranty chromolly shafts for the d30.

And the welds may look like crap, but they hold. And everything has 3 layers of weld. This was built in my driveway with cheap tools. And only have $900 into it excluding axles. But again... when there isnt 2' of snow on the ground and -2- -30 degree Celsius weather, everything will get a good going over.

Oh ya, and my old winch...well it was mounted way worse then this, and it never budged... this one is on there like a tank compared to the jimmy rigged set up I had.

 

So, If you add gussets, that's fine, but please do it soon. It's just dangerous to drive it like this.

Are you serious trying to compare pulling a trailer with a hard pull to get unstuck? Those little flatbars have no support, not to mention the crossmember where they're welded on. I'm happy there's no chance that I'm near you when you try this!

I don't want to flame, but that's just dangerous!

 

Been stuck really bad, and had a truck giving it his all to get me out. Nothing moved. I dont think you really know what ive put this thing threw already. I am confident nothing is going to break, or it would have by now. And if it wasnt pitch black, i would have taken a video of me getting pulled out. We were about to get buddies backhoe to come get me out, cause his truck almost didnt do it.
As soon as my truck was road worthy, I tossed it in 4x4, and gave it hell threw the field and ditches, rocks, mud, etc behind my house. Came back, washhed it off and took 3 hours looking for cracks and tears. Didnt find anything with 2 of us looking.
Next week im getting my plow mounted, and then I will be adding 3/8' plate to lots of areas in the front. Plus I just got a Miller 130 welder with the gas, and I want to play with it. No more no name welder for me

Oh, and i was giving it good trying to get the tractor unstuck... Whats an international 9400i weigh? about 13 000lbs I think...

 

Broke it on the weekend... of all the parts... the front yoke was the last part I thought I would break... But the cross member snapping might have had something to do with it...and the 100km/h wheel spin drifting and doing donuts...lol

 

The crossmember snapped like Steinbruchsoldat called?

 

Didnt snap at any welds though. And I think he ment the front cross member. This one snapped 1/4" away from the weld. Its been broke for a while, kept wondering what was clunking. Oh well. Took a half hour to fix. Snapped it in the middle of a lake during a fishing derby... Alcohol was not involved in this stupidity what so ever...lol...Wish I took pics. Thing was plowing threw 2' of snow, water, and slush like nothing. A sled got stuck so I drove around them for fun. The 2wd's, 3 wheelers, and sleds where the only ones that got stuck. We were wondering how the only car that was there was going to get out... After all the 2wds tore up the exit trying to get out, all the ruts were about a foot deep. 4x4 where starting to have a hard time.

 

Slush must have been bad for sleds to get stuck considering with all the **** I"ve been through I've never gotten one stuck in slush...

 

at least it was an easy fix for that cross member.