Builds Marshmallow's build thread (13 Viewers)

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Nothing says 'awesome stories incoming' like a guy who installs a axle winch.

I'm impressed CA lets you keep your plates as big as that's getting.
 
Lemme guess....

head gasket?

:rimshot:
 
Thoroughly impressed..... I didn't have the patience to go through and "like" every post, but, rest assured, I liked every post.

Brian
 
Nothing says 'awesome stories incoming' like a guy who installs a axle winch.

I'm impressed CA lets you keep your plates as big as that's getting.
So I have only put about 180 miles on it. Most cops and chp seem to understand this is not a daily driver and dont hassle me. I will probably just pay whatever fines I get along the way if it comes to that.
 
OK, so when the tow truck incident happened, basically the front end locked up on the freeway. The tow-truck guy dragged it onto the flatbed and then we had to figure out how to get it OFF the truck. I couldn't remove the drive slugs so he just started catapulting it off the bed with the hydraulics. Worked like a charm, actually. Once nearly off, the front end broke free and I was able to pull the drive flanges and front driveshaft and drive it back into the garage, discouraged and defeated.

Nothing seemed wrong when I popped the diff cover:
9b5Gkfv.jpg


But the pinion wouldn't turn and it was cooked:
daWAxtL.jpg

8iaInHy.jpg


So what happened? Well, a few things. First, oiling on front diffs is notoriously challenging. The 80 does a decent job of routing an oil passage to the outer pinion bearing but it depends on the slinger picking it up and getting it lobbed up there. The dana 60 is a little worse with oiling (at least the low pinion variant). It does the same thing - flings oil to the top and lets it drip back down - but then the gear oil has to go under a passage on the bottom of the outer pinion bearing and hopefully get splash lubed back to the bearing. This is made significantly harder when you run a front CV at 13 degrees or so.

Secondly, I'll admit that I was on the high side of pinion preload specs. Some people on this forum believe that's the way you keep the pinion from bending or something, but frankly, anyone who I respect that I consulted on this subject said that it's probably advisable to err on the high side of carrier bearing preload (which I always do) and the lower side of pinion bearing preload.

Thirdly, the original dana 60 front didn't have an oil baffle to prevent the small amount of gear oil that gets splash lubed from draining back down too rapidly. The install kits all come with them but I sort of naively figured that it was for a high pinion 60 or some other application. I mean, it's sort of reasonable to make that assumption, but I also don't know why I just didn't install it anyway to help retain some extra oil back in the pinion snout.

Fourthly, 6.17 gears are challenging to oil. Lots of pinion movement for relatively little carrier splashing.

Lastly, sometimes you get bad parts. I really don't think that's the situation here, but it's possible. The bearing could have just been improperly heat treated or something. Doubtful but possible.


So what did we do? Well, the pinion was toast, so that meant a new set of gears. And a new install kit for new bearings.

Put all that together:
2Eiuvhf.jpg


Then, I overfilled the diff by nearly a quart. This is sometimes a problem because gear oil runs up the vent line and heat pushes it out, but I drilled and tapped a 3/8 NPT and ran a 1/2" vent tube down to the center chunk. Works nice and gives me piece of mine about having enough fluid reaching the bearing. Then I ended up with like 13 in-lb of pinion bearing preload and called it good.

Figured I'd add in-cab winch controls while there:
Ho7VnjK.jpg


And some sweet USB ports:
MCkdm3H.jpg
 
Took it out for a shakedown run at Hollister in 112-ish degree heat:
GcwnP0q.jpg

DkHCJuE.jpg

RJP5rdT.jpg


And here's a quick vid of how the suspension works. Pretty good IMO - not a lot of drama or wheel recession or anything. Very pleasant:
 
None that I'm aware of. I'll ask around and see if anyone remembers anything.
The wisdom from the wise guys is: a gearset is a gearset. Engineers sometimes issue new part numbers for warranty related problems, but this mainly applies to heat treatments or finishes (shot blasting vs oven firing, black oxide vs paint, etc), but none of this affects the gearing design or operation. Some gearsets may have "industrial" part numbers, because they were designed for a specific customer; we did this all time, because we basically built boutique axles. Our daily production max was 120 units, and 60 was more like the average. The on-highway guys do that max per shift for, low volume models.
 
OK, so when the tow truck incident happened, basically the front end locked up on the freeway. The tow-truck guy dragged it onto the flatbed and then we had to figure out how to get it OFF the truck. I couldn't remove the drive slugs so he just started catapulting it off the bed with the hydraulics. Worked like a charm, actually. Once nearly off, the front end broke free and I was able to pull the drive flanges and front driveshaft and drive it back into the garage, discouraged and defeated.

Nothing seemed wrong when I popped the diff cover:
9b5Gkfv.jpg


But the pinion wouldn't turn and it was cooked:
daWAxtL.jpg

8iaInHy.jpg


So what happened? Well, a few things. First, oiling on front diffs is notoriously challenging. The 80 does a decent job of routing an oil passage to the outer pinion bearing but it depends on the slinger picking it up and getting it lobbed up there. The dana 60 is a little worse with oiling (at least the low pinion variant). It does the same thing - flings oil to the top and lets it drip back down - but then the gear oil has to go under a passage on the bottom of the outer pinion bearing and hopefully get splash lubed back to the bearing. This is made significantly harder when you run a front CV at 13 degrees or so.

Secondly, I'll admit that I was on the high side of pinion preload specs. Some people on this forum believe that's the way you keep the pinion from bending or something, but frankly, anyone who I respect that I consulted on this subject said that it's probably advisable to err on the high side of carrier bearing preload (which I always do) and the lower side of pinion bearing preload.

Thirdly, the original dana 60 front didn't have an oil baffle to prevent the small amount of gear oil that gets splash lubed from draining back down too rapidly. The install kits all come with them but I sort of naively figured that it was for a high pinion 60 or some other application. I mean, it's sort of reasonable to make that assumption, but I also don't know why I just didn't install it anyway to help retain some extra oil back in the pinion snout.

Fourthly, 6.17 gears are challenging to oil. Lots of pinion movement for relatively little carrier splashing.

Lastly, sometimes you get bad parts. I really don't think that's the situation here, but it's possible. The bearing could have just been improperly heat treated or something. Doubtful but possible.


So what did we do? Well, the pinion was toast, so that meant a new set of gears. And a new install kit for new bearings.

Put all that together:
2Eiuvhf.jpg


Then, I overfilled the diff by nearly a quart. This is sometimes a problem because gear oil runs up the vent line and heat pushes it out, but I drilled and tapped a 3/8 NPT and ran a 1/2" vent tube down to the center chunk. Works nice and gives me piece of mine about having enough fluid reaching the bearing. Then I ended up with like 13 in-lb of pinion bearing preload and called it good.

Figured I'd add in-cab winch controls while there:
Ho7VnjK.jpg


And some sweet USB ports:
MCkdm3H.jpg
That's my kind of pattern.

Where'd you get the USBs?
 
OK, well, times a wastin'. I just had my 3rd kid at this point in the story, but occasionally I had some free time and toodled out to the garage. Time to build the front axle on the bench. Here's a step-by-step guide:

First, you cut the ends off at unequal distances from the outer edge, then you weld them back on - on opposite sides - to give you the proper 6-ish" of offset that the cruiser transfer case likes. While you're there, add a bunch more caster because we're going to be running a CV front shaft as well (especially with a low pinion!)
WDUdGgX.jpg


Then, make a magic weeble wobble tool out of little DOM tubes and the hydraulic press and a wire wheel for cleaning the inside of the tubes (remember the seals are at the center section, so all kinds of crap gets in the tube on a dana 60:
PaOhZqp.jpg


Then set up some gears just to get that over with. Don't forget to forget to install your inner axle seals so you can remove it all and re-assemble it.
34qNMTZ.jpg


Then polish your turd. Start with foote 35 spline custom inner shafts (remember, odd offset! hooray!), CTM u-joints, Reid knuckles, Foote outers, new SRW hubs, etc. And add a truss some day.
DaLYZFZ.jpg


Thats a baller axle.

One of my biggest regrets is not cutting the Cs off my front axle and rotating. I have a truss now so it'd be awful.


I got to see how easy the whole process was though - my buddy flipped tubes on a HP ford 60 to give himself the correct drop. He had some sleeves machined to go in the tubes and plug welded those and then welded the beveled ends.

I also regret not just going to 41.5s, I was eyeing those when I bought my 40s and almost bought a set when Pitbull had the 50% off sale. I need more money...
 
Thats a baller axle.

One of my biggest regrets is not cutting the Cs off my front axle and rotating. I have a truss now so it'd be awful.


I got to see how easy the whole process was though - my buddy flipped tubes on a HP ford 60 to give himself the correct drop. He had some sleeves machined to go in the tubes and plug welded those and then welded the beveled ends.

I also regret not just going to 41.5s, I was eyeing those when I bought my 40s and almost bought a set when Pitbull had the 50% off sale. I need more money...
Thanks! So I used an alignment jig that goes all the way out to the spindles. The alignment is ANNOYINGLY precise - the bar goes from spinning freely to completely bound with just a few tacks. Very challenging to get right. It binds, then you weld the opposite side, then it cools and binds again, etc. The passenger side tube on the front had to be completely cut off when the distortion from welding managed to warp it just enough to concern me. May be less critical on a front axle in terms of keeping the shafts happy, but you do have axle seals and other stuff that like to be aligned. All this said, I'm sure your buddies is fine, but if you ever want to go down the road I went down just find an alignment jig since it's not every day you have to re-weld an axle. I have mine sitting on a shelf and would probably consider selling, renting, or lending it to the right person.


40s are easier to fit, cheaper overall, and you have multiple brand options. I would actually recommend people go with 40s, not 41.5s :) I really only went with these because of the 50% off - they did take 5 months or so to arrive.
 
The wisdom from the wise guys is: a gearset is a gearset. Engineers sometimes issue new part numbers for warranty related problems, but this mainly applies to heat treatments or finishes (shot blasting vs oven firing, black oxide vs paint, etc), but none of this affects the gearing design or operation. Some gearsets may have "industrial" part numbers, because they were designed for a specific customer; we did this all time, because we basically built boutique axles. Our daily production max was 120 units, and 60 was more like the average. The on-highway guys do that max per shift for, low volume models.
Awesome. You rock. Thanks for the follow up!
 
Thanks! So I used an alignment jig that goes all the way out to the spindles. The alignment is ANNOYINGLY precise - the bar goes from spinning freely to completely bound with just a few tacks. Very challenging to get right. It binds, then you weld the opposite side, then it cools and binds again, etc. The passenger side tube on the front had to be completely cut off when the distortion from welding managed to warp it just enough to concern me. May be less critical on a front axle in terms of keeping the shafts happy, but you do have axle seals and other stuff that like to be aligned. All this said, I'm sure your buddies is fine, but if you ever want to go down the road I went down just find an alignment jig since it's not every day you have to re-weld an axle. I have mine sitting on a shelf and would probably consider selling, renting, or lending it to the right person.


40s are easier to fit, cheaper overall, and you have multiple brand options. I would actually recommend people go with 40s, not 41.5s :) I really only went with these because of the 50% off - they did take 5 months or so to arrive.

I guess I should have added he did have an alignment jig, he wasnt using the sleeves for alignment - just to add strength, but I didn't see the welding part. Either way it's worth it.

When I was building my axle I thought I'd need to torch the welds on the Cs off and beat them off the tubes then press back on. If I'd have realized that I could have just cut the tubes and spun, even with the hassle of the alignment jig, I'd have done that in a heartbeat for the extra caster. :doh: Too late now!

The 41.5s are just tempting. :cool:

Seriously though, thats some nice work and cool build. Clean and impressive.

Would love to run into you at the con or something
 
I guess I should have added he did have an alignment jig, he wasnt using the sleeves for alignment - just to add strength, but I didn't see the welding part. Either way it's worth it.

When I was building my axle I thought I'd need to torch the welds on the Cs off and beat them off the tubes then press back on. If I'd have realized that I could have just cut the tubes and spun, even with the hassle of the alignment jig, I'd have done that in a heartbeat for the extra caster. :doh: Too late now!

The 41.5s are just tempting. :cool:

Seriously though, thats some nice work and cool build. Clean and impressive.

Would love to run into you at the con or something
I'd like to run the 42" trepadors but they're apparently not pleasant on the road and only avail in a competition compound :( I have not run a bias ply on the street, either.

Yeah would be cool to run into each other. I'm sure we'll recognize one another if so. You ever run the trails around Reno? I ran one called Tonka that was ok, but then another one near some indian reservation that was great fun.

Edit; it was called Billy Bob
4x4TrailMaps - Billy Bob
 
Yeah Billy Bob is pretty decent, short but fun. Contrary to my profile I'm actually very close to there. Theres a few around here I've run but a lot I haven't.
 

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