Still waiting on parts ... so, weight weenie in me went at the lower a arms and tackled a couple other items.
Made my new shock mount plates to force more droop. this in turn is increasing my caster by bumping up the ride height--need to be able to plow into and over the rocks better. whole lotta fun making the spacers and grinding the plates down so everything fits nice and snug. mic and file ... over and over.
Trimmed about 1.5 pounds out of the arm ends with the drill press and grinder.
Made and installed the first bash guard.
Decided that the 3/4 diameter through bolts and bronze bushings are going to be history. too much slop has worked into them. weld in bungs and heims are on order. going to be a bit of a pain installing the mounts for them, but i have a plan
removed my 2 inch wheel spacers. that'll help tuck the arm ends in closer to the tire as i'd bashed them into some rocks already. going with the heims and bungs will catch some of the lost track width back, it'll be about 1.5 inches narrower overall--increased droop is causing most of it, but it's also better to be narrower for the course.
last pic shows unloaded ride height (without me) with the frame base now having an upward angle adding to the caster. I have a slightly taller 4-lug 12" rim/trailer tire that i considered using, but i'm not sure it'll survive with it's shorter sidewall. They're also 5 pounds heavier each.
weighed out both sides at full droop without the shocks in place and pre-mod is 15.3 pounds, post-mod, even with the bash guards and some extra bushings i added to my spindles is 11.9.
swapping the bolts for heims is going to save about 3 pounds, the "snout" gone is another 3 pounds off, the new tie rods are about half the weight of the old ones, but that's offset by the drop link.
Now if i can find a cheap enough pair of Floats from a sled, i'd cut another 10 pounds off. That's a funding issue though LOL.