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Last week was a disassembly week as I pulled parts from the old buggy to sell.  About the only thing I managed to cross off the to-do list for the new project was to get the rear axle under the new chassis. I did have a whole week to evaluate what I had done up to this point and out of that came the realization that I would have to extend the roof back a bit.  The short pickup like cab just didn't provide enough protection for the rear  passenger for my liking.  I also noticed the 3rd seat would be fully exposed to the sun which is not a good thing here in Arizona.

The solution is to move the C pillar back so the rear seat will have more structure over it. The new tubing levels off from the initial slope of the front cab. then tapers down and in.   I chose to taper in so the buggy is narrower as you go further back which should help when dragging the cage thru some of the narrower obstacles. Getting the cross member in under the C pillars was fun with most of the time spent notching the tube ends till they rotated into position.

The back end is starting to look like a buggy. I deviated from the chassis plans a bit when I made the lower portion of the bed from two "L" shaped sections of tube as opposed to a "U" shaped hoop.  If you want the rear to be more squared of the two "L" shaped pieces are a bit easier to work due to the orientation of the bend radii. With a "U" shaped hoop you end up having to place sections of tube that tie the top and bottom portions together on the radii which makes notching harder.

At the end of the day I was playing around with some of the bracing options based on where I was planning on placing the shock mounting tabs.

he suspension link mounting points are also in the back of my mind at this point and I the old links on to get an idea of where the mounting points would be sitting. I was actually going to start in on the lower link mounts but the Ballistic Fabrication bracket kit I ordered seemed wrong.  It is supposed to fit around a 1.75" dia tubing but from the looks of it needs a 2.5-3" diameter tube.  I am hoping it's just the tabs that are wrong as they are driving the mounting height.

Next up was to figure out how to lay out the fuel cell and muffler.  I envisioned the fuel cell either directly behind the 3rd seat of in the back of the rig like my previous buggy.  After some playing around I chose a rear mounted fuel cell again with the muffler tucked under it leaving plenty of space for a heat shield.

Like my previous buggy I have the tank resting against two 1" bars and will utilize the included tank straps to hold the tank in place.  My sump is facing forward to hide the plumbing and since I run internal fuel pickup really serves no purpose as far as fuel delivery goes.

In case you are wondering I have the axles sitting on small stands that I made from scrap steel I had on hand.   They both used to be on a rolling cart but it was too easy to bump that and lose the axle alignment.  With the blocks it is much harder to move the axles but you can still tap them around with a hammer.

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