That is not the way they teach you to make that type of weld in welding school. The weld is like an AWS 5G position pipe weld with a backing ring and for a MIG weld the proper joint design would be a 75 degree V with a knife edge land with at least an 1/8 inch root gap. When you have both the proper joint design and the properly executed weld, then you can be certifiably confident.
In a perfect world I would have pulled the whole housing and chucked it in a lathe and made a 75* V with an edge and the TIG welded it in a hermetically sealed box! We don't live in that world, but I did use to weld in that world. When I said much more "critical" welds I meant it, I used to weld out here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_National_Laboratory. You can question and pull out your welding manuals all you want, I'm confident in what I do and how I do it.
So on a 4" lift the pinion is now pointing up by about 7* more than stock.
So the question for me is how does this impact lubrication to the outer pinion bearing?
Kudos to you as I haven't been able to talk myself into trying that.
Tank, Your measurements on the pinion seem about right. The lift I have on the Cruiser was on it when I bought it about a year ago and have put over 10K miles on it in the last year. The Yellow bushing I have were never installed. In my professional opinion you are overly concerned on the oiling of the pinion. When I tore the diffs apart the pinion bearings were in better shape than the carrier bearings. In my experiences if a bearing is going to fail it is going to do it within the first few 1000 miles at the most. Granted I did over fill mine with oil by probably a 1/2 quart...
Thats it. By lifting the truck the pinion is already altered.
The lubricating thing was a concern originally. "Is oil reaching the oil slinger?" but you have to remember the op has probably been driving around for a long time the way it already is with no problems.
Yep, Like I said over 10k miles that I have driven it.
My understanding was he had yellow caster bushes, but as he was rebuilding his front anyway. He did the cut and turn instead. Either way Ive seen alot of people drive with uncorrected caster for a long amount of time with no ill effects in regards to oil.
Correct I never installed the yellow bushings.
It turned out so unbelievably sweet! The best handling leaf sprung truck I have ever driven. I could do 70mph on the HWY in 4wd on dry pavement and had zero vibes, wobble or any of that not to mention I was running Maxxis Creepies with some wheels nearly a pound of weights on them! It tracked straight and true and didn't wonder a bit. Zero bump steer. I am also the only dude I know of who has ran 35's on a 60 SUA and had zero rub.
Cheers
Thanks Bro, I do miss that Cruiser...
I like the bit about screwing with Mr. T's design parameters!!
Anyway, kudus to OP for trying out different angles to the same problem (all pun intended).
Funny, I was actually thinking about your past comments when I wrote that.
how many miles are in a in "a long amount of time"? And these trucks are full time vehicles?
Tank, this is what really needs to be determined before a logical conversation can begin. I would say the service life of a properly maintained and not abused differential would be somewhere in the 200K-250K mile range. Mine has right at 175K on it now and would have had no problem re-using the bearings in the diffs. Full time or not does not make a bit of difference to the gears, OEM manufactures are not going to design a diff that fails at 100K miles and I guarantee you a hi-pinion diff oils as good if not better than a standard rotation diff. Rear ends go for 100's of thousands of miles with no issues with bare minimum maintenance. I don't think my pinion bearings are going to fail because of 7* more on my pinion. If I get 50K less miles out of my differential because I lifted the Cruiser to take me all the places I enjoy going with my family then to me that is a small price to pay...
Nope, since we used a fabricated housing and could put the knuckles / pinion angle where we wanted, that is what we did. On both the SAS 100's we did. Again doing the same on the one that is in the shop right now.
You guys took the easy way out! Both beautiful rigs by the way.
Well executed in a timely manner. Clean straight forward approach.
Nice solution to a common problem. I predict we will start to see this more.
Assuming you are a wheeler keep an eye on your tie rod to arm clearance. My guess you will need to address it just like the plates guys that wheel there 80's.
Plates are for guys that dont have your skills and tools. Plates are also for guys that have your skills and tools but didnt think of it or have the balls to do it first.
Phil I will keep an eye on the tie-rod and let everyone know if I have issues. I use it just as hard as anyone else and I'm not afraid to admit if I screw something up. We are heading to Silverton CO end of next week for probably a 1500 mile road trip and wheelin' in the mountains so I will report back. Thanks for the kind words.
Cutting I can do. Turning I can do. Welding critical components to the front axle I cannot do.
Please, if you don't feel comfortable welding this DON'T! Serious death or injury may occur! ← That is my disclaimer...
