DIY Quigley to MG 4x4 Conversion

[Jsweezy]

Did you get the springs and shocks from Ujoint or just the springs?

The shock should be halfway between full extension and full compression or near at ride height.

Good job on the springs! Those are definitely tough to stretch sometimes..

Edit - I reread and saw you got them both from Ujoint so yes it should be the correct height unless an error was made somewhere.

[ohsix]

Originally Posted by Jsweezy

The shock should be halfway between full extension and full compression or near at ride height.

I got 2 sets of shocks from U-joint. Presumably 1 set for the front and 1 set for the rear. The shorter set isn't quite long enough to reach both mounts with the weight of the van on the springs. The longer set is probably 2/3 collapsed/compressed with the weight of the van on the springs. Neither set seems perfect, but only one fits at all. I'll e-mail Chris at U-joint and see what he suggests.

[ohsix]

I made a little more progress this past Saturday. I removed all the Quigley parts. They weld on their trac bar mount in several different ways and heavily modify the engine cross-member to the point that it's not very compatible with MG's trac bar mount, but I''ve got it to a point that I think it will work. I got the MG trac bar mount installed, but only 1 bolt through the engine cross-member. I'm going to weld it to the cross-member as well to insure a solid connection. I got the driver's side radius arm mount installed and torqued down. I broke off the tip of a bit while drilling the passenger side radius arm hole in the frame before the bit was all the way through the frame, so I called it quits there. I was trying to get all the MG parts bolted on, but ran out of time.

I hope to finish up the install next weekend. I have to finish the hole for the passenger side radius arm mount, bolt up the mount, weld the trac bar mount (only needed because Quigley removed part of the engine cross-member) then slide the new axle under and bolt everything up.

Here's some pics of the parts I've installed.

[Jsweezy]

Looks good so far, other than your lack of crossmember that is. If I were you I would weld a good mount of support to make up for that. Your axle is literally held in place by a bar attached to that bracket so it's kind of a big deal that it doesn't flex.

Make sure your using a good amount of cutting fluid when drilling those holes through the frame. I also saw that dewalt is now making short 1/2" bits. I just used one along with a right angle drill to install a kit and it flew through the frame and fit perfextly between the body and the frame.

Just trying to help, I look forward to hearing about how it drives!

Oh, how did the shock situation get smoothed out?

[shenrie]

huh, the trackbar mount is one piece i didnt help with on tysons van. interesting though. the bottom half of that trackbar mount obviously needs to be secured, is there additional bolt holes that we cant see? can you bend down that flange above it to do so?

[Jsweezy]

The only bolt holes are the two that the steering box bolts go through and thetwo you see there that are supposed to go through the stock not totally cut off frame crossmember.

[ohsix]

I haven't done anything with the shocks yet. I'm going to finish installing the kit then check suspension articulation. I'm guessing I'll need shorter rear shocks, but I need to see exactly what length would work best.

There's currently one bolt in the trac bar mount through the engine cross-member. I'll weld something from the engine cross-member to the lower part of the track bar mount to make it more rigid.

One thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post regarding the radius arm mounts is the holes didn't line up perfectly with the existing holes in the frame. By putting a jack and a board under them and adding adding some pressure, they twisted slightly to conform to the frame rail and the bolt holes lined up. No need to drill the holes larger as was my first impression.

[Jsweezy]

If you have any more questions or want some clarification on the brackets feel free to ask me.

I'm glad you didn't enlarge the first 3 holes as it's not neccesary as you found out, MGs kit has very tight tolerances.

[Jsweezy]

Also just to add, the shocks you want for the front if you have the Fox Performance Series are the 980-24-677. It will say that on the bottom of the shock body etched into the black part.

I don't know what your supposed to have for the rear but if you have anywhere between 4-6" of lift in the rear then your gonna want the Fox Performance series 985-24-009. With those installed the distance between the center of the bottom shock mount bolt hole (on the axle) and the metal that the top stem goes through on the frame should be near 10" at ride height.

If its less than 10" then those shocks I listed for the rear probably wouldn't be ideal.

Another option for the rear shocks if you can weld would be to get the 985-24-008 shocks that would be around 8" at ride height, then cut and reweld the shock mounting locations on the axle higher up. This would also get your more clearance underneath the rear axle.

Just some thoughts.

Edit - Looking at the last photo in your recent post I see you have Ujoints rear springs, so refer to the first shock I posted on here and thats what you should have for the rear.

Also, I noticed that the rear shocks arent mounted into the lower hole on the shock mount on the axle, Are they just hanging there? Or do you have them mounted higher on that axle shock bracket?

[ohsix]

Looking at my UJOR invoice, it looks like I have Fox 985-24-068 shocks on the rear. Chris also sent, and I installed, these stem adapters for the rear where the shock mounts to the frame cross-member: https://www.amazon.com/Explorer-Pro-.../dp/B002SJBXPC

I'll measure the distance from upper shock mount to lower shock mount this weekend.

Thanks for all the help.