Builds The Truck of Theseus (2 Viewers)

[littlevulture]

IDK what's best. I chose to weld any gouges and ground them flush. I also plated so it probably wasn't necessary but I felt better about it. I do remember bend tests in my welding program where those gouges would be the stress riser where it failed but that was when it was actually in the bend. Go with your gut.

After sleeping on it I decided this would be a stupid corner to cut so I’ll fix the frame where I nicked it.

Id plate the frame where the engine mounts are going to end up. Its simple and easy to do especially with the engine out (or coming back out).

I really like that idea. I was talking about plating the outside but the motor mounts have a pretty small weld area so a plate behind them would probably have a huge effect on strength.

 

[littlevulture]

Motor mounts are tacked up, they’ll need more reinforcement eventually but this is good enough for now.

Frame plates and frame side mount assemblies.

Passenger side.

Driver side.

I’m using brand new motor mounts and I didn’t account for the weight of the engine and settlement so the engine is about 1/2” lower than it was when it was supported by the hoist. I’m assuming it will probably settle another 1/4” after driving for awhile. I really think this is probably too low but I’ll go ahead with suspension and steering next and see how high I need to raise it.

 

[littlevulture]

To run the 5VZ AC compressor and power steering pump I need a crank pulley with a section to drive a 4 rib belt in addition to the 5 rib that drove the original accessories. VW has a part from a BHW engine code Passat that works off the shelf but they’re impossible to find right now so today I decided to make an adapter to reuse the 5VZ alternator idler pulley. It’s a near perfect fit when it’s flipped backwards compared to a 5VZ installation. I was designing the part as I went so it took a full 8 hours but I’m pretty pleased with the result.

Left - CJAA TDI Crank Pulley
Center - 5VZ Alternator Idler
Right - Chunk of aluminum

Finished front side of the adapter. It’s hard to see it but there’s little locating tabs that pickup the center circle on the 5CZ pulley.

Backside of the adapter.

Installed with the VW crank pulley.

With the 5VZ pulley, still need to get some hardware but I finished too late to run to the nice hardware store. Locating tabs are much more visible here.

AC should mount roughly here, lower passenger side.

Power steering pump should go about here on the upper driver side. I’ll need to make a remote reservoir if I put it here.

 

[aztoyman]

Nice adapter. I think it would be good to have the PS pump close to the steering box. Mine is passenger side. What pump are you using?

 

[littlevulture]

I also like that it’ll be on the same side as the steering box, I never did care for the PS lines that cross over at the front of the frame.

I’m hopefully going to reuse the one from the 5VZ, I pulled the reservoir off of it and I think it’ll fit pretty well if I can make a mounting plate for it. Then I think the reservoir can get modified and mounted to the fender somewhere.

 

[aztoyman]

My stock 5VZ pump couldn't handle my 35's but it might have been because I didn't have a good cooler. I did a trip to Sand Hollow, Moab and Imogene pass to Ouray and Black Bear Pass back to Telluride and back to Moab. Just driving to the trails it worked and I'd lose PS after a short time on the trail. Kind of scary not having PS on the Black Bear switch backs.

I ended up putting in the TG Power Flow pump, a big cooler and hydro assist. I tried a cheap PS reservoir at first but the pump would whine. I thought about adapting the stock reservoir but ended up getting the PSC reservoir and no more noise.

 

[littlevulture]

Hmm I’ll have to look into that. I’m not planning on going above 35’s, I don’t think I’d want to be in the San Juans without power steering either although I’ve only been out there on a dirt bike.

I’m not planning on going larger than 35’s and honestly hadn’t even thought about a power steering cooler. I know space up front is gonna get tight with an AC condenser, intercooler, and radiator. That’s one of the reasons I was so keen to keep the stock VW water to oil cooler…I’ll just add it to the list of things that keep me up at night.

 

[littlevulture]

Front axle is out and stripped down.

The driver drop conversion is gonna be a decent bit of work but I was surprised to learn that the bolt pattern on the diff is symmetric. I tossed a spare diff gasket on to see what I was working with and it just fit so no plug welding and redrilling holes for studs. Here’s the diff gasket installed “backwards”.

 

[littlevulture]

An initial look with the housing on jacks says the engine needs to come up some, although at this point honestly not as much as I was guessing. I’m sure it will change with the leaf packs and actual suspension cycling.

 

[aztoyman]

I never thought about flipping the housing. Do you have to cut and turn the knuckle balls?

 

[littlevulture]

Yep, my checklist so far for the flip is:

- cut and rotate knuckle balls
- cut and flip the front diff cover
- remake spring perches
- clearance the diff mounting surface for the ring gear

I’m probably still missing some steps but I’ve got a reference on Yotatech where a FJ60 front axle gets converted to driver drop.

 

[aztoyman]

I should have cut and rotated my knuckle balls but the drive shaft experts convinced me it wasn't worth it. I had to limit a few inches of droop because the front U-joint gets in a bind. I may take a look and see if I can clearance it a bit.

 

[littlevulture]

I should have cut and rotated my knuckle balls but the drive shaft experts convinced me it wasn't worth it. I had to limit a few inches of droop because the front U-joint gets in a bind.

Wouldn’t that be defined by pinion angle, or did you let original orientation of the knuckle balls define the rotation of the axle so that the caster is correct and now the pinion angle isn’t ideal?

 

[aztoyman]

My 3 link instructions said to set 6 degrees of caster. The pinion angle actually isn't too bad. At max droop my U-joint at the diff starts to bind. I talked to a couple of high angle drive shaft shops and they both told me it wasn't worth the work. I regret not doing it though.

 

[Kuzmovka]

Get a TC pump from PSC for the PS system. Well worth it if you decide you want to run hydroboost brakes or ram assisted steering down the track. I wish I had finished that little project on my pickup before I sold it. Also pay attention to the angle of the engine through the length of the truck. most engines aren't in the bay level and are pitched back some.

 

[littlevulture]

Front axle is mostly disassembled, unfortunately I damaged the first knuckle ball removing it. They were both seized in place and I kept cutting deeper thinking I wasn't through the welds yet, turns out I just needed to add tons more heat and swing a much larger hammer much faster. I also stupidly picked the hottest day of the year so far to work on this. We're currently under an extreme heat warning...over 105ºF and 60% humidity measured in the backyard..

Used blue tape to get a straight line and cut right where the weld met the housing.

Here's the over-depth cut, most of it isn't too bad but there is at least one spot where I cut in about half the thickness of the insert portion of the knuckle ball. I've got a plan to fix this but it's probably gonna be at least 2 full days to sort out this one knuckle...assuming my plan works.

Where I called it quits for today. I'm glad I left the knuckles attached so I'd have something to hit with the hammer to drive the ball out of the housing. At least one of the factory knuckle caps got destroyed while getting the ball inserts out.

 

[littlevulture]

Finally repaired the knuckle ball I damaged yesterday...it didn't take as long as I expected but I'd been studying and thinking though the repair since I damaged it. 3 weeks ago This definitely pushed the limits of my YouTube trained machinist abilities.

Here's the worst of the damage from over-cutting, the groove is about 3.5mm deep.

Opened up the groove with a parting tool and put chamfered the backside, also turned the original weld off so I had a nice true surface to indicate with after welding.

Filled the groove with weld, I think I had the machine a little too hot but it worked out ok in the end.

Back on the lathe, I restored this 4 jaw chuck for this project and they definitely have a steep learning curve.

Completed repair on the right, also cleaned up the other ball while I was setup. If you look closely there's a couple spots with a little undercut on the turned surface from where the weld got too hot and dug in but I measured them to be less than 15 thousandths of an inch below the main diameter so I'm not worried about it. I'll go back and add a chamfer on the ball side later so there's somewhere to fill with weld before they go back onto the housing.

 

[littlevulture]

While I was procrastinating on the knuckle balls I worked on some other stuff. Somewhere in here I spent a whole day cleaning and organizing the shop again because it was getting out of hand.

Cut the diff cover off the axle.

Make some shackle hangars from solid round bar and some 2x4 rectangle tube for my shackle forward experiment. Also made some new spring perches for the axle tube (not pictured).

Finished most of the prep on the frame and frame plates. Engine also got shimmed up about an inch and I think it’s gonna stay there. Drivetrain is at about a 5° angle according to my cheap digital angle gauge.

Blasted my axle parts in an oversized and underpowered blast cabinet I found.

Fixed the subpar blast job with a wire wheel on the angle grinder and disassembled my 3rd gen pickup rear leafs in prep for mockup.

Turned a couple new center pins for the spring pack from some M10 cap screws.

Clearanced the housing for the ring gear to be on "the wrong side" for the driver drop conversion.

I also discovered that the two pairs of studs on the the top and bottom of the diff don't align so they need to be relocated. The 3 studs on each of the sides of the diff are in the correct spot. I started fixing this last night and destroyed my only correctly sized bit drilling through the hardened area where I welded up the original holes.

 

[aztoyman]

The hangers came out nice. You really made the tubes out of SOLID round? Playing with the lathe? It's all looking good. I'm surprised you didn't end up fabricating your axle housing after all the other parts you have made.

I found out you have to compromise somewhere it seems. I had a flat mounted engine for my drive shaft angles but had to raise it for up travel clearance. Could only raise the front or the rear case was stuffed into the floor and I ended up with 4 degrees I think. Which helped my rear drive shaft angle but hurt my front drive shaft angle.

 

[littlevulture]

The hangers came out nice. You really made the tubes out of SOLID round? Playing with the lathe? It's all looking good. I'm surprised you didn't end up fabricating your axle housing after all the other parts you have made.

Playing with the lathe is exactly it...I still don't really know what I'm doing and this seemed like a good chance to try out the steady rest and practice boring an internal diameter. Plus 1.75" solid round was only $10 for 2 feet of it at the recyclers and they didn't have tube in the right size so I figured I'd go for it.

I did actually think about making my own housing years ago when I was planning this all out in my head but Im glad I didn't. I vastly prefer the look of the OEM housing and I don't want to get into fixturing for a housing right now anyways. I still have to sort out relocating the breather and probably adding a new oil drain hole too.

I had a flat mounted engine for my drive shaft angles but had to raise it for up travel clearance. Could only raise the front or the rear case was stuffed into the floor and I ended up with 4 degrees I think. Which helped my rear drive shaft angle but hurt my front drive shaft angle.

I haven't even thought about driveshafts yet, hopefully it'll just work out since the drivetrain is pretty close to the 7.5º I measured when the 5VZ was in there with the original crossmember. I can't go any higher because there's a vacuum pump and some other little things hanging off the back of the block that will hit the firewall. Also can't go any lower for the same up-travel reasons you mentioned.