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Project Rear Steer

23K views 63 replies 19 participants last post by  jason m 
#1 ·
So what do you do when you get a free front steering Chevy 60 in good shape that has mactching 4.10 gears. Well you turn it into a rear steering axle of course.

Now i run Coils in the rear of my YJ, so the OD of my coild buckets are 46"s outside to outside. So this left no room on the short side tube for the upper truss to be welded to that side.
So what i did was drill and tap the OEM spring pad with 4-1/2" hole's and will run 4 grade 8 bolts that will lock that side down. And i also picked up the two 5/8 factory hole's that hold the spring plate down.

I'm going to run 2x2 1/4 wall tube for the upper truss and tie it into the other end buy welding it staright to the tube and to the top of the center section. I'm going to run the the rear 60 offset, I'm not going to center it. For a trail only Jeep that will see low speeds it shoud be fine.

The axle was a DRW axle so i took the OEM hubs and chopped off the flange and ground them till the rims would go over OD of the hub.

I have more to do but this is were I'm at now. Sorry for the fuzzy Pics, 39" iroks and camera's dont mix.

Jason.











 
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#2 ·
For brakets I need to duplicate what was welded to my 14 bolt. This way i can re-use all the spacers and hardware. Agin sorry for the fuzzy pics hope you have your beer goggles on:D

Jason.



 
#4 ·
LOL. ya i gave that 14 bolt hell for years. I think for now it will go on the pile of axle's.

Jason.
 
#5 ·
Are you sure the rotation on the tires will be correct? I think the gear patterns are reversed front to rear, so running a front axle out back might result in the tires spinning backwards. I'm trying to puzzle it out in my head, but I think they will spin backwards unless you mount the axle upside down...
 
#7 ·
very cool thanks for posting. but you are replacing the 14 bolt youve flogged for years with a dana 60 with stock knuckles and stock sized ujoints? ctm or not are you concerned about durability? what else have you got planned?

for years ive had the opinion that rear steer was an unneeded extravagance that would hinder more then help, even though i was a closet fan and always wanted to build one. after watching a koh rig with portals and rear steer scream though the rocks i was out of the closet. still want to build one but i just finished a long term steering axle build and dont want to revisit that epic again.

ill just have to enjoy your pain. keep us updated.
 
#8 ·
No gear swap needed (its not running "rev. rotation" now. its a Chevy axle), and I'm pretty sure it will turn the correct direction as is. If anything, he would flip the axle (so the diff would be a high pinion) to make it rotate the other direction. I'm 99% sure that would only be needed in a rear engine configuration.
 
#9 ·
very cool thanks for posting. but you are replacing the 14 bolt youve flogged for years with a dana 60 with stock knuckles and stock sized ujoints? ctm or not are you concerned about durability? what else have you got planned?

for years ive had the opinion that rear steer was an unneeded extravagance that would hinder more then help, even though i was a closet fan and always wanted to build one. after watching a koh rig with portals and rear steer scream though the rocks i was out of the closet. still want to build one but i just finished a long term steering axle build and dont want to revisit that epic again.

ill just have to enjoy your pain. keep us updated.
I agree Ive beat the snot out of my 14 for years with no problems and I also agree it was a very usefull axle. But the level of trails I'm running trying to keep up the buggys I run with is getting harder and harder to keep up.

I have sevral friends that run rear steer chevys with the stock inners and just the 35 spline outer stubs and flanges. So for a guy running 39's NON stickys I think I can keep the shafts stock for now. As far as the knuckle's, there the thicker Chevys ( not the thinner fords ) so i will probally just plate them.

As far as running a LP front as a LP rear for the guys asking about it. Its actually going to be stronger as a rear rather than a front. A LP front is runing on the coast side, so when you put the LP front in the rear is will be driving on the corrcet side, drive side. Dont confuse this with a HP front.

So gearing is not an issue or running just the way it came out of the factory truck, trust me this is not the first time ive done this:thumbsup:

Got alot of snow today so no playing axle, got some High steer arms made up last night. Not sure if I'm going to run those are make a thicker set. I made these out of 3/4 inch, I have some 1" that i might build them out of.

More to come and again trust me the axle is fine the way it is.

Jason.
 
#11 ·
Amazing project man I love it! Wish I could do something like that lol, I only got a little mig so my welding world is very small :(. And a driveway and tool shed as workspace lol
Thanks, trust me its taking alot to get my jeep to this point.

Jason.
 
#13 ·
Wow, cant wait to see this finished. Lets see some pictures of the jeep. :thumbsup:
I havent upgraded my Accnt here so the only Pics i have are on my photobuck witch is not alot.



This is the axle that im pulling in place of the 60 steering axle and trust me i looked all ways to make a 14 bolt to steer. But the 60 is a cheaper route.







Jason.
 
#15 ·
not much jeep left there, is there. But you've got some mad welding skills, great looking beads. I have a question, when you weld the tubes to the iron pumpkin like you did, do you have to preheat up the housing or anything, or can you just start welding it like it was two pieces of mild steel?
 
#16 ·
not much jeep left there, is there. But you've got some mad welding skills, great looking beads. I have a question, when you weld the tubes to the iron pumpkin like you did, do you have to preheat up the housing or anything, or can you just start welding it like it was two pieces of mild steel?
Thanks.
Clean the area good. Then I pre-heat till its hot to the touch ( maybe 180* ) then I weld them Vertical up, back step the welds and grind down the starts and stops. I do them in sections of 3's, like a 1/3 at a time, stop and spin the housing on the jackstands then weld that next 1/3 section.

And that was done with just MIG, not knickle rod. I used my MM250 set at 19.5 Volts and 185 IPM's.
Heres a close up with the MIG



And heres a friends 60 done with Knickle rod, stood this axle up flat and welded it.



Jason.
 
#17 ·
Thanks, I'm not a trained welder, but I have been welding with my MM210 for a while now, I build all my own stuff, I used to build sand rails and dune buggies, so I learned to build cages, but I don't know the ins and outs of welding different metals together, 180* is all it takes ah, thats good, I thought you had to get it like cheery red or something. I'm sure some others were wondering the same thing
 
#18 ·
Thanks, I'm not a trained welder, but I have been welding with my MM210 for a while now, I build all my own stuff, I used to build sand rails and dune buggies, so I learned to build cages, but I don't know the ins and outs of welding different metals together, 180* is all it takes ah, thats good, I thought you had to get it like cheery red or something. I'm sure some others were wondering the same thing
Certon Cast and Nodular irons need to be heated up, Alot. But since no one I know or really anyone on the internet can say for sure the chemical mix of certon center sections ( Dana 60's, 44, and GM 14-B's ) I play it safe with small amount of pre-heat.

Ive welded alot of Big cast blocks and final drive housings when I worked for CAT. But they normally have some type of paper that tells the cheimcal desrpition or what type of rod to use along with pre-heat.

I'm going to cut the new arms tonight and will post Pics of them when i do.

Jason.
 
#19 ·
Got the axle all cleaned today, but damm it was cold out. I got more wire wheeling ( is the right way to say it:rolleyes: ) to do. I did this under an hour as i didn't have a alot time today.
I did have a chance to cut and grind down all the brackets to. It needs more cleanning but i feal better that the heavy stuff and brackets cleaned off.

Heres the High steer arms i cut out of 3/4", I'm going to use them. I do have some 1" stock, but i think these will be plenty tuff.
Tommorw afternoon i hope to have the arms on and the TRE holes drilled and reamed. Will post more later, then its off to coil buckets and link tabs.

Jason.





 
#20 ·
Haven had much work done with this lately, been busiy. More to come with plenty of Pics. Trust me i wont leave you guys hanging.

jason.
 
#21 ·
Well I guess I left you guys hanging:p

A little update on this after alot of fabbing on two other buggys, one for KOH ( well assesting in plans and tube chassie ) and the other for a friend I put this back on the choppen block.
I have a RC date in July and want to have it ready for that. I found a set of used 5.38's for a LP 60, so I figured I will install those if I have time. But that also means getting a set for the front.

I'm ordering the valve this week and the I have a stock chevy P-pump I will run in place of my stock A/C pump. It served me years as a OBA but now with bead locks I no longer use it.
If I can sqeeze the pump in there without removing the A/C then I will try, but its not looking good.

I still dont have another new cammera since I ran it over, but I will get some updated Pics.

Jason.
 
#22 ·
Well allmost a year to the date and still not done yet, getting close but life gets in the way.

So, I got a 78/79 ford front now and bolth axle's are spooled and geared. I have the front mostly done just need to install the ram. Skipped the high steer arms for now and will run the steering off the OEM hole's in double sheer.

Pics soon and now that my 14 bolt went to a race buggy I have no choice but to get this axle installed, well bolth.

Jason.
 
#23 ·
Update, yes this along with alot of other prodjects is taking the normall to much time but heres some Pics of where I'm at.

Axle installed for mock up,


Using the OEM low steer arm but in double sheer,


another and thats a piece of 2" .250 wall DOM steering tube, should be enough,




Front with a 2x3 tube truss welded to the center section,






You can see the welded diff in that last pic and I'm going with the same style off the OEM arm steering for now. Over the winter I will make my own arms and tie them in.

More to come, but life allways has a way of slowing down the fun stuff.

Jason.
 
#24 ·
Lower link tabs are set now I can work at getting the tube work done for the upper mounts. A big hurdle was getting the old coil buckets space filled with some tube, I didn't want to re-do the hole back end of the Jeep so i came up with this.
Also made the upper monts brackets this week and got them tacked on, as much as it take's time I like hand fabbing my own tabs, plus the steel is free.
The axle is set at full stuff with 3.5"s of up travel, I will flex it before welding all the mounts in.

Pics,










Jason.
 
#25 ·
Got the upper shock mounts somewhat done, tabs are set and I just need to beef them up with some gussets, also got the hydro ram mounted.

Next is brakes and brake line's then I will plumb the hydro lines to the back then work my forward to the steering valve.







Got a good finger full at full stuff before hitting the frame.


Jason.
 
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