well i know i have been talking a lot of junk lately about going to full width axles and its finally happening. Im doing this transformation on a separate thread than my regular build just to make it easier and less cluttered.
So this is where im at right now...
got everything ripped out from under blue and sold. Both axles are gone as well as all of the suspension. I traded someone my 4.5 RE springs for some 7" claytons and im building my own long arms. They are going to be basically like claytons arms just home-made. well to make this less boring, here are some pics....
axles are a hp d44 front and full floating d60 rear. both have 3" OD tubes
so im thinking that its going to sit even higher than i have it mounted right now. i had the axle set at 18" to the center as that is about where it would be with a tire mounted and i put the spring up to it. Idk how much the spring will compress but as of now im thinking its going to be pretty high which im not fond of. i might need to get some smaller springs...
today we welded up everything on the axle and started to paint it. We need to get some cast rod to weld a few more spots so i couldnt paint it all up. also added another small gusset to the truss and pressed in the upper CA bushings.
yea that cart has made everything so much easier. Its actually adjustable so we can level the axle if needed. Works really well. my buddy has his HP30 on his engine hoist that was also converted into a stand. then we have a isuzu 44 thats going in the back of his rig and a waggy front 44 on a double stand. Im not looking forward to moving that 60 around even with the cart.:laugh:
im hoping to have it all put back together by saturday when i leave for florida for 2 weeks. i wish i wasnt going so i can keep moving on the jeep but at the same time, ill be making money, doing less work that usual and sitting on the beach :cheers:
My buddy is the one that knows what hes doing there. lol Im just going to let him work his magic. It will be done today. waiting on him to get off work so i can head over there.
welded up the brackets to the cast yesterday. Today ill be putting the axle back together. I dont have any pics right now and im leaving saturday morning for florida. DUMB! no work will be done for 2 weeks.
well i got back from florida on friday but i didnt get anything done this weekend. carrier is in and the axle is painted. also fabbed up the u shaped portion of the front uppers.
and now i got stuck working weekends so that doesnt help either. this is so gay. i just want to finish it!
we used cast rod. Just left it out in the sun for a bit and peened the snot out of it during cooling to relieve stress. havent seen a crack yet and now its painted so if it does happen, it should be noticeable. I think it will b fine though especially considering it is welded to the tube on the other side and there is another good bead to the coil bracket.
You only grind away a minimal ammount. Only enough to clear the snap ring. If u buy an aftermakret axle shaft, it comes exactly as I made my stock ones look. The major cause of breakage as far as axles shafts go, is the gay half c-clip things popping off and the u joint wobbling the ears out. With a full circle snap ring, this makes it a lot less likely.
fast?! I should almost be done by Now. I wanted the front axle in before I left for Florida 3 weeks ago! Haha and it still isn't in. There is stil ALOT of work to do but I think the front axle was the biggest challenge and I'm past that. Should b smooth sailing now.
ok front axle is completely done and ready to go under blue. this think is so effin heavy lol. tomorrow its going under and we are going to finish fabbing up the front uppers and hopefully get it sitting on its own weight:2thumbsup:
BTW, just for grins i did the math to see what ive got into this thing. between the brackets, gears, brakes, the axle itself, cover, ect, ive got close to 1000$ bucks in it! haha and we did the re-gear and all welding/fabbing ourselves. if i had to pay for that it would be closer to 2000$ im sure.
that looks great...i wish mine was that wide...:thumbsup:
good luck on the install!:cheers2:
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