D60 Hybrid Axle Build------>

[Mad4wd]

Guy,
We wanted to make a clean D60 hybrid axle and basically we are thinking of offering this as a kit. I have seen other hybrid conversions and frankly I was not that impressed by the level of the work. This is a Isuzu axle but I will be doing some for Yota and possibly Nissan.
We are splining the D60 inner shafts so the will slide into the third member. We are also looking at broaching the side gears as an option. What are your thoughts?

thanks,
Larry

 

[Mad4wd]

Dual lip seals which will be where they need to be.... near the bearings on the third member.

 

[Mad4wd]

More--->

 

[Mad4wd]

The tube is turned to match the inner 'c' bore and the OD of the original housing so it looks clean, and then turned down more to slip the full length inside the orinal housing tube. This provides a wall thickness of .475" if i remember correctly. It was machined with .001" clearance, the housing tubes were heated to 400deg and it dropped in. It locked up tight when it cooled. We will be also drilling a few rosette weld holes and buffing them down just to be sure it stays put.

 

[Mad4wd]

That is a 2" tg&p line up bar...

 

[Mad4wd]

We also have some inner 1/4" plates the tubes will be going thru where the seals are located. Basically this boxes in the whole housing. Thoughts and feedback encouraged .

thanks,
Lar

 

[wngrog]

That is awesome, but not many folks woudl do it right with the line-up bar and without it, the axle would be a warped POS as you know.

I can't see that working as a do-it-yourself kit. 3rd member axle housings are so prone to warping.

 

[Mad4wd]

I was thinking that to. Its really only on the short side you have to watch. I can have a customer cut the ends off their rear axle and ship it via UPS to us and have us weld it for a few bucks. We could turn it in a day and ship it back.

Lar

 

[Mace]

don't mill the splines.. Broach the cruiser third..

 

[gunmetalcruz]

I would offer a pretty signifigant truss option as well, since these housing bend pretty issue form moderate use.

 

[orangefj45]

i'd definetly have the customers ship you the donor housings. it'll keep problems to a minimum. tom's right, better offer/include a truss with the "kit".

i think it's a cool idea and the work is outstanding as usual, but how much of a market is there for a housing like that? 5-10 a year, maybe? is that worth the time and effort you're putting into this? not like you're sitting around the shop doing nothing.......


just my $.02 worth.

 

[CaliCruiser]

That is pretty cool!

Dylan

 

[LC_Hamma]

Little different than my hybrid LC/ D60, but that seems to be the way *most axle builders are doing that - Wild West Fab & Marko @ Flat Nasty. Are you assuming your customers are going to run an LC ARB or Detroit cuz the stock carrier's windows are kinda large, thin cast metal case, only 2 side gears & I don't think they're large enough to be broached for 35 spline? I used a stock rear housing for my front mainly cuz of the extra width & the cover is'nt welded on like the front's. Top notch welding & machinework as ALWAYS

 

[wngrog]

Yeah, I cant imagine much of a market here seeing that Diamond will make you a custom housing to fit a Toyota 3rd member

 

[peesalot]

great minds think alike.
How much for a housing at 60 " WMS ? LC chunk,

 

[independent4x]

This is actually my housing for a company project truck i am working on. I came up with the idea af doing a hybrid Isuzu rear/D60 a couple years ago....based on all the 9" hybrids guys were doing.

I approached Larry on this and he & i had been kicking around ideas and talking about building this housing for ....hell ...well over a year now. I am damn psyched w/ the result so far. I knew i could count on him to make it a reality.

i will be using an Isuzu rear 12 bolt 3rd member with my house brand of isuzu 5.38 gears and an ARB. i am going to run 6 on 5.5 D60 outters on it w/ 35 spline stubs.


For shafts, the current plan is to cut and spline a set of 4340 chromo D60 inners to fit the Isuzu side gears in the ARB.

i think in this case, having an "off the wall" axle application...........Larry has put together a cool solution. I do however see the counter you guys are making......the Toy market has no shortage of alternatives for custom housings.

in this case, i am going to have a kick ass 1 off axle

 

[Mad4wd]

I know they make them for the yota (and so do I) , but i was figuring we could do this cheaper than a complete housing. I am also trying to give a some of the non main stream axles a chance at being a front... like the Isuzu and Nissan. Just wanted to throw it out there and let you guys take a look and thanks as always for the compliments on the work.

Larry

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Does welding with a fixture keep the axle strait?


When I worked in a ship drive manufacturing facility, everthing was welded prior to machining even if fit in a fixture before welding.

 

[peesalot]

FWIW I did a similar axle with a LC rear housing and was able to not have to retube it. I just cut it and put the inner C's on. Axle tube thickness is a little thin but I gusseted it and so far so good. IMO I would not run links unless a nice truss was used and built very well taking tube thickness into account. Turn the new tubes to take that new seal at the outboard axle end so they are just inside the C and when the custom inners are made have em put a 1.5" seal surface just behind the yoke.

 

[wngrog]

I know they make them for the yota (and so do I) Larry

Duh, sorry Larry, I should have known that