Builds Moonshine - A Build Thread (27 Viewers)
- Thread starter GLTHFJ60
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TLC Norway
woodwelder
really looking stiff with that bumper! What about another horizontal cross-bar, and adding vertical "ladder" material between the one you bent and the upper one? Like you drew in the picture of the bumper months back? Shoud stiff it up alot, and look good.
i love the end of the day pic, my favorite is beer and snus. Dont know what you call it, but here its snus.
i love the end of the day pic, my favorite is beer and snus. Dont know what you call it, but here its snus.
- Thread starter
- #483
I was thinking about that but after installing the bumper, I cannot put a brace in above the tube unless I put on a body lift, or else it would not allow my tailgate to drop down all the way.
Snus, chew, lippers, all mean the same thing to me, brotha
DustyFJ
SILVER Star
cool looking bumper. I need to get out and get some mud on my truck.
- Thread starter
- #485
Lots of action with Moonshine over the past two weeks. Went offroading with GCLC for our annual Memorial Day outing and had a BLAST, but broke a lot in in doing so. Got there on Friday and went out for a short run Friday evening while waiting for people to show up. Saturday morning, went out on a run and while going up the first difficult obstacle, Rock On, I blew my first birfield *tear* on the passenger side after being heavy on the skinny pedal. As I was coming down the hill, the passenger wheel locked up and I lost the ability to turn left. Ripped into the axle on the side of the trail and started replacing what was broken.
I like this photo.
Turns out that the birf detonated and mushed the splines on the end of the inner axle shaft, preventing the star from coming off easily. Took a 3lb sledge and a lot of hits to get the star off the inner axle. The splines were still so messed up after taking the star off that a solid hour with a file was needed to make the threads able to accept a new inner clip and birf.
Long story short, got everything back together and snapped the brake hard line that goes from the caliper to the union on the backing plate. Ended up fabricating a new one using some harvested parts from an old 40 sitting in Dave's yard ( thanks again Dave! ).
I like this photo.
Turns out that the birf detonated and mushed the splines on the end of the inner axle shaft, preventing the star from coming off easily. Took a 3lb sledge and a lot of hits to get the star off the inner axle. The splines were still so messed up after taking the star off that a solid hour with a file was needed to make the threads able to accept a new inner clip and birf.
Long story short, got everything back together and snapped the brake hard line that goes from the caliper to the union on the backing plate. Ended up fabricating a new one using some harvested parts from an old 40 sitting in Dave's yard ( thanks again Dave! ).
- Thread starter
- #486
Relaxed for the rest of Saturday night and hit the trails Sunday morning. Ran just about every trail that day, ranging from class 6 road to wicked hard and did so without anything more than a blown upper radiator hose. That was an easy fix compared to the birf so I wasn't phased by that at all.
Terry's truck driving itself
Last trail of the day was Rock On, once again. I wanted to run it and conqueror the trail that ate my first birf. It didn't turn out so well Went about 15 feet farther up the first obstacle than I did the first time and was a bit liberal with the throttle, again. This time, we heard 2 distinct bangs and stopped to analyze the situation. Nothing was falling off, so we assumed it was another birf and disengaged the front axle to recover the truck. Turns out the rear driveshaft was spinning with no other movement. Since I've got an open rear, it could have either been the pinion or one of the axleshafts. The hub studs were not sheared so it could have been any of those three and we would not be able to determine until the truck was off the trail and on flat ground so I could take it apart.
Since I was up on this obstacle without forward or rearward movement, we needed two winches to recover me, one truck snatched to my front bumper to ease me down the hill and one on my rear bumper to pull me up over boulders. What a sight. I don't have any pictures of the recovery ( because I was being recovered ) but Nick Pearl and Jon Held were gracious enough to help out with their trucks and get me down the hill safely. Once off the obstacle, Nick helped get me turned around and I coasted down the hill to camp.
We immediately took the shafts out of the rear axle and found that the short side had sheared about two inches in from the flange. Pulled the truck up on a side hill and the rest of the shaft fell right out. Nick gave me a tow home without accepting any gas money. What a lifesaver! Thanks again Nick!
Broken shaft.
Terry's truck driving itself
Last trail of the day was Rock On, once again. I wanted to run it and conqueror the trail that ate my first birf. It didn't turn out so well
Went about 15 feet farther up the first obstacle than I did the first time and was a bit liberal with the throttle, again. This time, we heard 2 distinct bangs and stopped to analyze the situation. Nothing was falling off, so we assumed it was another birf and disengaged the front axle to recover the truck. Turns out the rear driveshaft was spinning with no other movement. Since I've got an open rear, it could have either been the pinion or one of the axleshafts. The hub studs were not sheared so it could have been any of those three and we would not be able to determine until the truck was off the trail and on flat ground so I could take it apart.Since I was up on this obstacle without forward or rearward movement, we needed two winches to recover me, one truck snatched to my front bumper to ease me down the hill and one on my rear bumper to pull me up over boulders. What a sight. I don't have any pictures of the recovery ( because I was being recovered ) but Nick Pearl and Jon Held were gracious enough to help out with their trucks and get me down the hill safely. Once off the obstacle, Nick helped get me turned around and I coasted down the hill to camp.
We immediately took the shafts out of the rear axle and found that the short side had sheared about two inches in from the flange. Pulled the truck up on a side hill and the rest of the shaft fell right out. Nick gave me a tow home without accepting any gas money. What a lifesaver! Thanks again Nick!
Broken shaft.
- Thread starter
- #487
Now that I've got her home, I still have a spare birf. The consensus was that the biggest bang came from the driver's side so I pulled it apart and found that the cage had split and restricted most of the joint's flex. Went to move it using the front axle and it was clear that the passenger side was broken as well
My "shop"
Crack:
Todd loving his new birf
Ordered a new set of birfs from a fellow GCLC member and they look like they're heat treated, but I'm not entirely sure because I've never seen a set of heat treated birfs before. Any insight? The one I think is treated is the one with blue marks on the outer bell.
Next to a stock birf
At the same time I decided that I was done with the backing plates and associated brake lines, so I searched around and found the part number for the NAPA brake line that can run straight from the axle to caliper. The part number is 38881 and costs about $18 per line. My NAPA had them in stock and I got them in a couple of hours.
Cut the backing plates and got everything installed on both sides. The passenger side birf detonated but this time the star gear was in 3 or 4 chunks, the cage was not discernable from the grease I pulled out and the inner knuckle was munched.
Munched housing:
Ordered a set of PP rear axle shafts last week to replace the stock shafts for my FF rear and they showed up today. Cost $530 shipped but they should never break. One thing to note: the short side has extended splines to facilitate a factory cable locker if I had one. Pretty cool.
Wicked pretty, aren't they?
Going to go put them in as soon as the rain lets up. Then I'll be able to drive again!!
My "shop"
Crack:
Todd loving his new birf
Ordered a new set of birfs from a fellow GCLC member and they look like they're heat treated, but I'm not entirely sure because I've never seen a set of heat treated birfs before. Any insight? The one I think is treated is the one with blue marks on the outer bell.
Next to a stock birf
At the same time I decided that I was done with the backing plates and associated brake lines, so I searched around and found the part number for the NAPA brake line that can run straight from the axle to caliper. The part number is 38881 and costs about $18 per line. My NAPA had them in stock and I got them in a couple of hours.
Cut the backing plates and got everything installed on both sides. The passenger side birf detonated but this time the star gear was in 3 or 4 chunks, the cage was not discernable from the grease I pulled out and the inner knuckle was munched.
Munched housing:
Ordered a set of PP rear axle shafts last week to replace the stock shafts for my FF rear and they showed up today. Cost $530 shipped but they should never break. One thing to note: the short side has extended splines to facilitate a factory cable locker if I had one. Pretty cool.
Wicked pretty, aren't they?
Going to go put them in as soon as the rain lets up. Then I'll be able to drive again!!
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- Apr 4, 2006
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- Hillsboro, OR
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Got pay to play I suppose. Good to see that you are taking all in good nature. Thanks for the carnage pics!
- Thread starter
- #489
I drank a good bit on Sunday to take my mind off it, but like you said, gotta pay to play. This is my first time breaking anything offroad with Moonshine and I think I outdid myself
I love carnage pics, glad you do too;p
Cruiserdrew
On the way there
I drank a good bit on Sunday to take my mind off it, but like you said, gotta pay to play. This is my first time breaking anything offroad with Moonshine and I think I outdid myself
I love carnage pics, glad you do too;p
Well done!
Maybe time for some 30 spline Longs if you're breaking 3 birfs in 1 weekend with an open diff!
My Poly rears have held up well, but this year with the more serious gear reduction will be the real test.
- Thread starter
- #491
Front has an autolocker, rear is open. Longs are definitely in the cards, but I'm pretty broke now.
You have PP rears for a SF axle, right? I've only read a few accounts of people breaking SF rear shafts and those are with monster meats and V8's in most cases. I haven't seen anyone with PP shafts in a FF before so I'm hoping these work well!!!
You have PP rears for a SF axle, right? I've only read a few accounts of people breaking SF rear shafts and those are with monster meats and V8's in most cases. I haven't seen anyone with PP shafts in a FF before so I'm hoping these work well!!!
TLC Norway
woodwelder
good s***, and those birfs look heat treated, yes. I got the "better than stock" from TG, seem to hold up to normal abuse.
Without rear FF you probably would have lost a tire on that inner axle snap!
Nice wheeling pix. Probably gonna brake some stuff this weekend as the truck will be locked F&R most of the time. Maybe i'll end up with the same inners from PP since they got the long splines.
Without rear FF you probably would have lost a tire on that inner axle snap!
Nice wheeling pix. Probably gonna brake some stuff this weekend as the truck will be locked F&R most of the time. Maybe i'll end up with the same inners from PP since they got the long splines.
- Thread starter
- #493
Cool, maybe these won't break as fast then!!
I was surprised to see the long splines but it makes sense as most FF axles have cable lockers. They look great but now I'm worried about my hub studs shearing!
Cruiserdrew
On the way there
Did you just type this wrong or is that your set up?
If it's the case, the 30 spline longs are a requirement, broke or not.
I know two guys running PP rear full float shafts-no issues per se, but I think the cone washer taper may be off slightly as they constantly need to tighten the nuts that connect the axle to the hub. Just beware.
If you know Beno he had a funny incident in Utah last year where his PP rear axle came flying out the side and rolling down the road. It had loosened up, then sheared the studs and came out. The axle was unharmed but the hub was a total loss.
- Thread starter
- #495
Did you just type this wrong or is that your set up?
If it's the case, the 30 spline longs are a requirement, broke or not.
I know two guys running PP rear full float shafts-no issues per se, but I think the cone washer taper may be off slightly as they constantly need to tighten the nuts that connect the axle to the hub. Just beware.
If you know Beno he had a funny incident in Utah last year where his PP rear axle came flying out the side and rolling down the road. It had loosened up, then sheared the studs and came out. The axle was unharmed but the hub was a total loss.
Wow, completely forgot the first part of your post
Yup, that's my setup. Gives me excellent traction whenever I go into 4wd
Has been great for over a year until this weekend. I do need Longs, just not the dough for them yet.Interesting... I have read about FF axles loosening up and shooting out but not specifically with the PP axles. I am going to pull the short side out again in a couple of days to make sure everything is A-OK so I'll check the taper with one of the cone washers from the inside of the flange.
I added checking the torque on the hub studs, front and rear, to the pre-wheeling check list along with the knuckle studs, u-bolts, shackles, spring hangers, lug studs and airing down when I put the FF axle in.
Installed the shafts tonight. Old and busted:
New hotness
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I drank a good bit on Sunday to take my mind off it, but like you said, gotta pay to play. This is my first time breaking anything offroad with Moonshine and I think I outdid myself
I love carnage pics, glad you do too;p
thats your first trail carnage? nice. you go tme beat on birfs but i still have you out done on axle shafts only mine were both long side shafts.
but in all fairness... i would prefer to NEVER break on the trail. its a bit PITA
Installed the shafts tonight. Old and busted:
New hotness
love that movie set.
I added checking the torque on the hub studs, front and rear, to the pre-wheeling check list along with the knuckle studs, u-bolts, shackles, spring hangers, lug studs and airing down when I put the FF axle in.
HA! airing down, you said it took too long!
HA! airing down, you said it took too long!
- Thread starter
- #498
Great pics, love the carnage ones as well . Only wish I had the dough to get stronger gear for Tojo. 
Moonshine's looking great, fix that rust!
-Carl
. Only wish I had the dough to get stronger gear for Tojo. Moonshine's looking great, fix that rust!
-Carl
Cruiserdrew
On the way there
Jonny-Why not put that locker in the rear and leave the front open? That will be way easier on your birfs, and you have the stronger axles in the rear to hopefully deal with the shock loading of that type of locker.
3 Birfs in a weekend is a message you shouldn't ignore unless you just like changing birfields on trail runs.
And unlike Tojo, I think the rust is fine. There is too much to fix now. One day, you'll get a new truck and can just swap over the good parts.
3 Birfs in a weekend is a message you shouldn't ignore unless you just like changing birfields on trail runs.
And unlike Tojo, I think the rust is fine. There is too much to fix now. One day, you'll get a new truck and can just swap over the good parts.
