Dusty's 40 is a real good rig to get measurements off of. His just flat out works. Nice and pretty low. Run top coilovers mounts into the rear tub and engine bay area to get the center of gravity low . Just my 2 cents for what it's worth.
J-Robs truck saga
- Thread starter Bodean
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Damn...page 2 already???
Despite binding the housing down with a ton of force and following a painstaking 'weld a little cool a lot' process, the housing warped...significantly. We were finishing up the truss the other night - filling in some, grinding some, mostly just cleaning it up and making it look presentable. A little after 12, Jrob stepped back a few feet, stared at it for a minute, and then said, "does that axle looked warped to you?" Damn if it didn't.
We took Tuesday night off, read up how to repair the housing, and came up with a plan of attack. All of last night was spent heating and cooling the housing while it was bound in different positions in an attempt to apply leverage in the correct direction. Finally we got it pretty damn close. Looking down the inside of the housing you could see a very slight misalignment, but we were able to feed a rod all the way through without binding. Then we put the diff back in and made sure we could reinstall the axle shafts with no issue. It all looked good.
We moved the housing off the bench and back to the shop floor. Jrob's FF 40 housing was stripped down and sitting just outside. With the bench clear, we decided to bring it in and inspect it just for the sake of comparison. I was certain the imperfections we would see in this 'wheeled hard put up wet' housing would give us the reassurance we needed. That MF couldn't have been any straighter...it was f'ing perfect.
<BIG SIGH>
Back outside it went and the 80 housing was loaded back onto the bench; Jrob said he wanted to keep at it. We decided that we needed to make sure the wheel mating surfaces were square and not worry about what it looked like staring down the inside of the housing. So, with the housing level in the upright position, we put the hubs (with bearings) onto the spindles to see if the faces were 90 degrees offset from the top of the housing. They were practically spot on. Then the housing was rotated 90 degrees, and the faces of the hubs were rechecked. Again, they were practically spot on. Imperfections, if any, were within a couple of tenths of a degree.
Victory was declared, and the housing was moved back to the shop floor...for good this time.
Despite binding the housing down with a ton of force and following a painstaking 'weld a little cool a lot' process, the housing warped...significantly. We were finishing up the truss the other night - filling in some, grinding some, mostly just cleaning it up and making it look presentable. A little after 12, Jrob stepped back a few feet, stared at it for a minute, and then said, "does that axle looked warped to you?" Damn if it didn't.
We took Tuesday night off, read up how to repair the housing, and came up with a plan of attack. All of last night was spent heating and cooling the housing while it was bound in different positions in an attempt to apply leverage in the correct direction. Finally we got it pretty damn close. Looking down the inside of the housing you could see a very slight misalignment, but we were able to feed a rod all the way through without binding. Then we put the diff back in and made sure we could reinstall the axle shafts with no issue. It all looked good.
We moved the housing off the bench and back to the shop floor. Jrob's FF 40 housing was stripped down and sitting just outside. With the bench clear, we decided to bring it in and inspect it just for the sake of comparison. I was certain the imperfections we would see in this 'wheeled hard put up wet' housing would give us the reassurance we needed. That MF couldn't have been any straighter...it was f'ing perfect.
<BIG SIGH>
Back outside it went and the 80 housing was loaded back onto the bench; Jrob said he wanted to keep at it. We decided that we needed to make sure the wheel mating surfaces were square and not worry about what it looked like staring down the inside of the housing. So, with the housing level in the upright position, we put the hubs (with bearings) onto the spindles to see if the faces were 90 degrees offset from the top of the housing. They were practically spot on. Then the housing was rotated 90 degrees, and the faces of the hubs were rechecked. Again, they were practically spot on. Imperfections, if any, were within a couple of tenths of a degree.
Victory was declared, and the housing was moved back to the shop floor...for good this time.
Awesome! I had another rear ready for you but should have known better than to accept defeat from you guys. Way to go!
fj40charles
SILVER Star
I don't think they're interested in your rear. hahaha
Why would you say something like that? At my age it's the best part I have left!
JT in 3, 2, 1
JT in 3, 2, 1
jrob
Florence, MS
@ Bossman - it was a joyous time around midnight!
@charles - his rear - no!...his rear axle - yes!!
We had tried heating the housing a few times, it would move a little but never got straight...(insert big laughs here)....
Finally after I had set my mind to buying/finding another housing, we gave it another shot.... This time we applied MAJOR heat combined with major force combined with water cooling it off on one side or the other.
It was an interesting process to say the least, I think we learned alot. This has got to be a fairly common thing. I truly believe we did about all we could to keep it from warping.
...now to carry on with the build process...
Jrob
@charles - his rear - no!...his rear axle - yes!!
We had tried heating the housing a few times, it would move a little but never got straight...(insert big laughs here)....
Finally after I had set my mind to buying/finding another housing, we gave it another shot.... This time we applied MAJOR heat combined with major force combined with water cooling it off on one side or the other.
It was an interesting process to say the least, I think we learned alot. This has got to be a fairly common thing. I truly believe we did about all we could to keep it from warping.
...now to carry on with the build process...
Jrob
glad you guys got it worked out. Here is a pic from earlier in the evening when doubt was creeping in.
I like your old rear ends...
Yep. That's so common. Look at most redneck builds. The axles leak like hell. Also why you see so many broken axles. They don't line up right.
Land Speeder
InstaH8R
It's not gay unless you liked it.
You told me it's only gay if your balls touch.
And why isn't that beer in a koozie?
fj40charles
SILVER Star
Anyone notice Jrob's hair? It doesn't look like he was doing much work since it is well groomed. Figured he would have pulled most of out trying to fix the axle. Good thing he has lots of hair to spare unlike some folks.
fj40charles
SILVER Star
I can spare a lice bowl to use as a template.
....Ehh Flied Lice
fj40charles
SILVER Star
that is exactly what I said.. lice bowl. That is the collect pronunciation. Can you not lead what I'm expraining in basic engrish?
