My Buddies Warthog Build

[RobertShively]

What sort of ball joints do you plan on running? I know Chevy ball joints are prone to failure due to the fact that they are responsible for holding the weight of the vehicle for the suspension, as well as act as the main pivot point for steering... it's a lot of abuse for one joint to withstand!

Edit:
I'm also curious as to what sort of spring/shock/coilover/strut combo you are planning to run. I've been looking into ORI struts for my jeep, as they are a single unit that both supports and dampens, sense sideways force, and act as a bumpstop, all in one clean and very cool package. They are a little spendy, but will run roughly the same price as a decent set of coilovers and air-bumpstops. You can also scrap the need for a sway bar, which further cleans up and simplifies a build.

Edit 2:
Read your first post and saw you plan to go with king's. ... but I'll leave that info on the ORI's because they are super cool haha.

At the moment we plan on using Rock Krawler Ball Joints, here. As I get closer to completing the design, I can get a better idea to how much it will weigh, then I plan on contacting Rock Krawler to get some numbers on how much weight their joints are designed to hold. Their parts are only built for Jeeps, but with all of the aftermarket parts you'd expect on a lifted Jeep, bumpers, light bars, roll cages, etc, I don't see an issue with their joints. If they don't meet our expectations, we might end up going with after market ball joints for a Chevy/GMC 3500HD, and that size truck weighs about the same as what I'm guessing the hog will weigh.

As for the shocks or coil overs, like you noticed, we plan on running King 2.5 or 3.0 coil overs with a separate bump stop, as well as limiting straps to not over extend the shocks. They're expensive, but from what I've heard about them, and seen of them in use, they're top of the line. We're still a little ways off from purchasing any of the parts yet, so I'll definitely look into the ORI struts.

 

[RobertShively]

Got another update on the hog. I've been out of town the past month, but got back a few days ago and was able to get some work done on the design.

View attachment 20103View attachment 20104View attachment 20105View attachment 20106

So the first 3 images are from left to right, our planned ride height, which should match the in game warthog quite well, full suspension droop, and full suspension compression. The full compression is limited by the fenders on the warthog, and these calculations were done using 40" tires. If we went to a bigger tire size, like 44" tires, the full compression would be roughly 2" less. Either way, the hog will end up with between 18" and 20" of total suspension travel, with 16" of compression. The last picture is of the work I've gotten done so far on the entire suspension. The next thing I plan on working on is the steering assembly, and then its on to the rear suspension.

 

[Vrogy]

Weird, looks like the forum migration shuffled linked attachments around. I see a CG bus, two photos of a foam magamum, and some other random foam armor piece. Nothing warhoggy.