AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
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- #161
A guy’s got needs. Not good ones, but needs…Still not sure why you want them pink but who am i to ask
Builds Orange's Neverending Scrap 80 Build (the s is silent) (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter AgentOrange
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AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #162
These didn’t, no. I know the RuffStuff knuckle balls do. I’ll show a bit later the measurements I’ve got and how I set depth. Pretty straightforward once you have everything in front of you
Any plan for a housing alignment bar to check for warpage while you weld it out?
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #164
Yes, so I stopped where I’m at. This weekend I’ve got to source something for that otherwise it’d be a shame to undo all this work
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #165
So now for some measurements of the axle tube and some things I found along the way. I got the tool to measure the axle shaft length for the 8” that came out so I can reuse my shafts.
Long side tube I cut at 30 3/16” and the short side I cut at 13 13/16”. This leaves a difference of 16 3/8” with is that same as the differences measured on my RCV axles at the inner portion, splined end to the point where it necks up.
This cut length allowed me to set the knuckle balls with the machined portion on these particular ones all the way in as they only added about an inch of actual tube length. That part was pretty straightforward to figure out.
I set the knuckle balls on the table and measured on the inside the height to the lip where the seal sits as that’s the point I measured from on the factory housing. Then I measured the outer height of the machined portion of the ball that would go into the tubes and found the difference.
To get the knuckles into the tubes I cleaned them well and froze them in a chest freezer overnight and honed the tubes just a touch. They took some real effort to press in even still, but the interference fit I measured before freezing was 5 thousandths between the tube and the knuckle balls. Helicopter mechanic buddy of mine confirmed that’s the goal they shoot for with interference fits as well.
Even more difficult was setting caster angle after setting up for the pinion angle I want. I actually aim to have 10 degrees of pinion angle, which puts the bottom plate on the RuffStuff housing almost perfectly flat. Once the knuckles were in about 3/8 of an inch, I leveled the housing side to side with the pinion angle set and checked for caster angle on that knuckle ball. It took a 60” length of dom tubing and a hammer to slowly work the balls into the correct angle. Then pressed the balls the rest of the way and did final adjustments for caster.
Really quite doable if you have the tools and time and space to do it. I think next time I’ll just buy a done housing and add my brackets on, but this was good to learn how it all works and goes together. It just takes patience. The urge to rush things can be strong, but slowing down makes for a nice end result.
Long side tube I cut at 30 3/16” and the short side I cut at 13 13/16”. This leaves a difference of 16 3/8” with is that same as the differences measured on my RCV axles at the inner portion, splined end to the point where it necks up.
This cut length allowed me to set the knuckle balls with the machined portion on these particular ones all the way in as they only added about an inch of actual tube length. That part was pretty straightforward to figure out.
I set the knuckle balls on the table and measured on the inside the height to the lip where the seal sits as that’s the point I measured from on the factory housing. Then I measured the outer height of the machined portion of the ball that would go into the tubes and found the difference.
To get the knuckles into the tubes I cleaned them well and froze them in a chest freezer overnight and honed the tubes just a touch. They took some real effort to press in even still, but the interference fit I measured before freezing was 5 thousandths between the tube and the knuckle balls. Helicopter mechanic buddy of mine confirmed that’s the goal they shoot for with interference fits as well.
Even more difficult was setting caster angle after setting up for the pinion angle I want. I actually aim to have 10 degrees of pinion angle, which puts the bottom plate on the RuffStuff housing almost perfectly flat. Once the knuckles were in about 3/8 of an inch, I leveled the housing side to side with the pinion angle set and checked for caster angle on that knuckle ball. It took a 60” length of dom tubing and a hammer to slowly work the balls into the correct angle. Then pressed the balls the rest of the way and did final adjustments for caster.
Really quite doable if you have the tools and time and space to do it. I think next time I’ll just buy a done housing and add my brackets on, but this was good to learn how it all works and goes together. It just takes patience. The urge to rush things can be strong, but slowing down makes for a nice end result.
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #166
Some pictures of the measurements of the tube and of my angles as I went…
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #167
I got that pinion angle down to 7 flat and with my pinion angle actually rotating to 10 in the Cruiser, I think that’ll be a nice starting point for caster, around 6.5. It may be a bit aggressive, but I’ll know once I drive it. With 40s going on it’ll be nice to have that room to play with things either way
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #169
Waiting for heims. I was going to keep regular tie rods for steering, but the space that my pandhard will need to occupy is gone if I do that. It's all together sitting waiting for me to do that and weld in my new pandhard brackets. This will make it easier to place my hydro ram as well. I'm really loving how beefy everything is now. It's going to do well this year, or grenade spectacularly
never underestimate how terrible usps is.
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #172
Got them in and steering all set. I need to set the toe and adjust panhard and draglink a little bit more but it drives really nice. The angle on the panhard doesn’t look like it should work as it was a little bit of a compromise but it works somehow
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #173
Started in on the next project last night. I’ll have some more trimming to do, but these will be fun
EWheeler
GOLD Star
I saw these tires in action in Sand Hollow a few weeks ago, they were 42's on 20's, but i was SUPER impressed with how they flexed and hooked up.
How do you like those wheels? I’ve seen a couple sets
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #176
They're the cousin of the STT Pros that I love so much so these should feel really good. I'm excited to try them out
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #177
I like them a lot. I was never looking at them but my wife got a set of Dirty Life wheels on her Sequoia and I like them enough. She showed me they make beadlocks and snagged these on sale right around Christmas
I have wholesale dealer for them and I’ve considered them if I ever go to beadlock, so I’m watching
AgentOrange
TLCA #28372
- Thread starter
- #180
I definitely would. The only others on my list were the Racelines and the KMCs, but these are a bit different
