Front Suspension Upgrades, it needs to be better! (free downloads)

[@ataxpayer723]

Nice use of the car trailer as your vehicle lift. This avoids having to bend down to work on the suspension!

[@DougBugBuilder]

Works great in the front, little clunky in the rear working around the tires. But it does help to have it up off the ground some.

[@chrisscoleri2341]

4130 will make it a bit stronger, but you could also redesign it to support that hub flange better and make the flange from a thicker material. At a glance, I can see a few places where you could create a more rigid structure, you could also add some internal bracing, or start with a laser-cut and CNC-bent main structure. I think the two biggest improvements would be to go with 4130 and to thicken that hub flange. Maybe thicken it and add some bracing to spread the clamping force from the bolts. The bolts could go through a boss that webs out to place a larger and more consistent force across the whole flange. It's hard to say without being able to carefully look it over and look at any interference potentials. Love this project. It's been fun to watch.

[@DougBugBuilder]

I agree, I'm trying to keep it really light. But even in this design I see areas that can be better. The next one might be chromoly, 1/4" face, and get stress relieved after it's welded. That would most likely check all the boxes.

[@victor440_]

Hey Doug it's been awhile since I watched one of your videos because of going through cancer treatments and now I might have to do it again but anyway awesome 👍 job will be keeping up on all your videos thanks.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Thanks for watching and for commenting, I hope things get better for you. 👍

[@victor440_]

@@DougBugBuilder thank you

[@ciobanuvalentinmail]

I'm happy to see your videos again, I like your improvement Have a nice moments with it

[@DougBugBuilder]

Thanks! 😃

[@MiahsBug]

As always, thanks for all you do and for sharing your knowledge/design with the world.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Yes sir, I know you are paying close attention to these details. 😉

[@MiahsBug]

@@DougBugBuilder yes I am! 😃

[@kevinhamling1963]

G'day, Great video. It will be interesting to see how the testing goes with these upgrades. Maybe next time your out on the tracks attach some camera's to this area. Thanks for sharing the knowledge man. ✌️ Peace from Melbourne Australia.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Hello Kevin, good to hear from you. 👍 Peace!

[@kevinhamling1963]

@DougBugBuilder Happy new year man to you and your family. May you be safe and productive. ✌️

[@DesertRatFabrication]

Hi Mike, very nice upgrades and nice fab work as usual, Wratchet held up great on those jumps, will be even stronger now, catch you soon buddy😀😀

[@DougBugBuilder]

Thanks Mike, good to hear from you. 👍

[@DesertRatFabrication]

@@DougBugBuilder 👍

[@TheEZGZ]

Ahhhhh the pursuit of lighter weight and enough strength..... R&D never stops. Drive, break, reengineer and repeat. These project are always a compromise. Just thinking of that woods ride we discussed when the breaks got hot..... I see formula one video's where the ceramic brakes glow in the dark. Crazy stuff.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Greg, with these brakes I'll never make it down the mountain. lol

[@jimhowell4937]

I’m probably wrong but 4130 Cromo is a better material but to gain the strength it must be heat treated after welding to normalize. Regardless it will need additional steps to be stronger as I understand it. But glad you’re back. I thought maybe you took up fishing.

[@DougBugBuilder]

I know 4130 needs to be welded a little more carefully, but I think weather its 4130 or regular steel they all benefit from stress relief. But I'm not sure, honestly getting this technical about getting maximum strength is new to me. Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon Wratchet for fishing. 😉

[@b-lopez394]

@Doug Bug, I think the hub mounting plate that you made should be the same thickness or thicker as the hub mounting flange unless it is made out of stronger material. You have to sacrifice weight though. If you look at those SXS spindles, they are made that way. The spindle that you made could work but it should be gusseted up and down also. The force being applied while jumping is from the bottom of the tire not on the front or the back of the tire, I think. JMO

[@DougBugBuilder]

Maybe, but I'm trying to keep the components as light as possible. If this one seems stronger then the next one will likely be chromoly, and the faceplate will be a little thicker for insurance.

[@tptrsn]

This is great stuff! Since you're whittling down your unspring weight, do you think you might try some lighter weight upper control arms sometime? I see on a lot of race off-roaders that the lower control arm is usually pretty beefy, but often the upper is quite light weight looking. I gather the lower absorbs most of the real abuse.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Funny you say that, for sure the upper arm will be next on my radar. But after this I have to go to the rear and give that some love.

[@tptrsn]

@@DougBugBuilder Awesome! I love the suspension build content!!

[@pwrfab6263]

02 thin wall hub flange lol, even the new one. I know that car don't weigh much, but on spindles always overkill it.

[@ataxpayer723]

Have you thought of changing the mounting of the lower limit strap, from a single flange, into a double flange, to give that lower mount some more beef?

[@DougBugBuilder]

Thought about it, but the front is under so much less stress than the rear. I thought it would be overkill. Not saying I'm right or wrong, but that's why I went that way.

[@arrindaley3714]

I'd be interested to know if the bottom of the spindle flange was bent further than the top? Unless the wheels you're running have a significant positive offset, which would make clearance issues worse there's going to be a leverage from the wheel through the hub trying to peel the hub from your spindle. If have thought aluminium would be way too soft for a rotor? I'd be surprised if steel doesn't need to be hardened or similar.

[@DougBugBuilder]

The bottom was pulled out more, for sure. I think it did put more force on the bottom than on the top. The aluminum might be to soft, I'm really doing this as an experiment. This Baja is not driven on the street, so I can do things like this without putting others at risk. I'll definitely give updates on future videos if the aluminum works or not.

[@Tanks-Link]

I’m curious when you had your main plate cut out why didn’t you just make the caliper bracket all part of it that way you wouldn’t have to weld it on yourself? Or is it just because that’s the measurements came Soso and it’s actually just pretty easy to hold it together kind of curious

[@DougBugBuilder]

Depending on the diameter and offset of whatever rotor I happen to be running the caliper position can change. So I like to have the freedom to put it where I want it. As an example there is about a 3/16" difference in the offset between this new aluminum rotor and the old rotor. So the caliper tab on the new spindle is a different offset than the old spindles. Hard to tell in the video, but they are different.

[@rickrack78]

Could you bolt the spindle to the upright during welding to help keep it flat?

[@DougBugBuilder]

It might reduce the warping, but it would still warp. And the hub would pull heat from the part you are welding, so you'd need to throw more heat at it. It's really hard if not impossible to stop warping. The best thing to do is stress relief it in an oven after welding. This allows most of the warping to undue itself. I should look into getting an oven so I can try it on some smaller parts.

[@rickrack78]

@@DougBugBuilder, how high would the temperature have to be to relieve stress in the welded part?

[@DougBugBuilder]

@@rickrack78 I think around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or something like that.

[@BlackMetalRC85]

Hi, do you also have the problem that your welding helmet fogs up from time to time, if so. What can you do about it?

[@DougBugBuilder]

Yes I do, especially if I'm wearing a hood in colder weather. The moisture from my breath gets caught in there and it fogs up. But really what I've learned to do is control my breath. If I notice things are starting to fog I breath down when exhaling. And sometimes I hold my breath a little to let the fog evaporate.

[@Tanks-Link]

0:07 yeah, probably gonna answer this but I have to ask before I forget what type of deal are you making your disc out of

[@DougBugBuilder]

This one is T6 or 6061. I'll see how it holds up. I can still go up to T7 aluminum, or go to steel.

[@rickrack78]

Good morning!

[@DougBugBuilder]

Good morning, you got that 12 seconds after I posted!

[@DJ-yp4kc]

thats part of the funn..finding the weak points.. 1/4" 4130 should help

[@DougBugBuilder]

I agree 100%, I actually really like the fine tuning stuff like this.

[@BStrick1993]

How're those Locked coilovers holding up? I'm strongly considering them for a long travel suspension build on my utv.

[@lt1bajaandy961]

China

[@BStrick1993]

@@lt1bajaandy961 so is most of KTM's lineup now. What's your point?

[@DougBugBuilder]

They're not bad, I've taken them apart and revalved them a couple times. I've taken some serious hard hits with them and no issues. Plus they hold their nitrogen charge really well. I'm happy with them. 👍

[@darrinbega302]

Why didn't you make the caliper bracket and the hub one piece so you wouldn't have to weld on the caliper bracket

[@DougBugBuilder]

Gives me the flexibility to move it around or give it an offset. Usually they don't fall right in line. Although in this situation it did, but usually you need to be able to offset it some.

[@BaldyTron]

GUSSETS

[@DougBugBuilder]

Yes thanks, I call things by the wrong name all the time when making videos. For some reason it's hard to get all the facts straight while also thinking about the video I guess. 🤷‍♂️

[@Doggo_on_vr]

This is not the guy from gorilla tag