"nose cone saver" my interpretation.......

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orangefj45

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since i'm already making t-case savers i thought that i might as well make some "nose cone savers".
if you're not familiar with the concept, here's a quick run-down:

under extreme loads the early cruiser cases ( pre split case ) have been known to fail/break or "blow off" the nose cones. the common fix for the case failure is to install a t-case saver. this idea has been around for man yyears and a lot of people have built them in different shapes and sizes. mine is very close to don anways design.
the other failure; the nose cone breaking off the case, is caused by the helical cut in the gears putting excessive pressure on the 5 bolts holding the nose cone in place. so the weakest link fails; the nose cone itself. more specifically, the small castings around the 5 bolts.
to prevent this, i came up with a simple yet effective idea. it's basically a large steel washer with 5 holes in it. the parts is laser cut from 1/4" plate steel and helps "sandwich" the nose cone and distribute the load along the entire outer edge of the nose cone. this will help prevent the failure, but it may not eliminate the possibility of failure. if you try hard enough, you can break just about anything.
i designed this part to work with the mechanical shift linkage. it can be used with the vacuum shift also but would need to be modified to create enough clearance. it's a simple cut with a band saw.

fairly easy install:
1) drain transfer case
2) remove front driveshaft at t-case end only
3) remove shift pod on side of nose cone
4) remove all 5 bolts that hold the nose-cone to the case itself
5) slip on nose cone saver
6) install 5 new bolts with lockwashers and washers. make sure to use either silicone or permatex "518" gasket maker to threads on bolts to prevent leakage and bolt loosening
7) re-install shift pod with new gasket supplied
8) re-install front drive-shaft
9) fill t-case ( i like to wait at least 12 hours to allow the sealant on the bolts to set up properly
10) start the cruiser and go for a ride!

below are a couple of pics of the nose-cone saver and the t-case svaer installed on a mock-up case. the other pic shows what i'll be selling as far as the "kit' goes.

lemme know what you guys think! :cheers:
IM000527.webp
IM000528.webp
IM000529.webp
 
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I still believe that many nose cones get levered off the front of the transfer case because of drive shaft travel issues, either by the drive shaft being the lowest point hitting an obstacle and being loaded vertically, or being pulled off the front of the case from driveline binding at extreme suspension droop.



If you could bring the ring up and tie it into the top of the transfer case somehow, or, just talk with Danny and ask him to make some more of those beautiful and effective billet nose cones again. ;)



Good on you for working at something to remedy this issue.


:beer:
 
thanks steve.
i have seen one particular failure where gear stress was definetly the culprit, as i'm sure it has been in other instances. but i do hear ya on the other possibilities that can cause the nose cone to fail.

i have talked to danny ( have known him for many years; the "orange" LV came from him afterall....) and he's only going to do another run of the bitchin billet nose cones if he comes up with a minimum of 10-12 people who'd be willingto pre-pay for them. this conversation went down a while ago and he might have changed his mind. not sure and don;t want to speak on his behalf. maybe i outta make another call............

either way, this is a cheap piece of "insurrance', just like the t-case svaers. :)
 
ps: i have thought about incorporating the nose cone saver into the "HD t-case saver" i've been tinkering with but i found another design for the t-case saver that i like better. hence the seperate nose cone saver. it would be a pita to install a one-piece nose cone/t-case saver combo.
 
also, has anybody busted the nose cone off a regular orion ( not the orion HD )?????

i have not seen one fail yet except for an obvious issue where the driveline came down on a rock. and it's part of the reason why i think that most of the failures are to be attributed to the angle of the gear teeth in the stock case versus the much shallower angle of the helical cut of the gear teeth in the orion.

just my $.02
 
So how much will it cost vs. how much did the billet nose cone cost?
 
Awsome work! I will soon be running all split-cases, otherwise we would be in touch. A little cheap insurance goes a looong way when the other hand is a ruined trip!
 
afaik, the last batch of nose cones went for $225 to $275 each. so this is definetly cheap insurance............
 
I've broken two nose cones. In both cases badly adamaged the front output shaft - once tiwsted, once snapped right off. These were both due to too much front wrap causing the ujoint at the front pinion to bind up.

A saver like this wouldn't have helped me :(

Am runnings 37s and a front locker which doesnt help...

I ended up changing the front pinion angle by about 20 degrees. No problems since.
 
So how much will this kit be?
 
obviously, preoper u-joint angle is a pre-req for keeping the t-case alive........

it's just like having an soa 40 with no track bar. even if you tun a t-case saver, you can still damage the t-case if the pinion does'nt snap first.:frown:
 
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haha, that figures. glad the knuckle kit made it there right away. lemme know if you need anything esle, i just got a bunch of marlin's new HD pinion seals in as well. :grinpimp:
 
Georg,

Bring some to the Crawl. I'll buy one there.

Thanks!
 
Georg,

Bring some to the Crawl. I'll buy one there.

Thanks!

i plan on bringing one for the raffle, along with some other items. but i'll bring some extras as well.:)
 

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