Well gentlemen, I started construction this weekend on a 40 series/ Toyota mini truck hybrid centered rear axle, and ran into a bit of a problem. The OD of the mini tube and the ID of the LC tube have a variance of about .100" between them 
. This just isn't going to fly. The Cruiser center section is from a 79, and the mini axle was from an 84. LC ID = 2.7, Mini OD = 2.595. Now that I think about it, the 79 housing that I currently have might have looked different than my old 67 housing, I think the design of the tubes and welds might have changed somewhere along the line. So I have to wonder if the ID/ OD mismatch is because of manufacturing variances, or if it's necessary to have a certain year or older Cruiser housing to build the hybrid. If anybody here has calipers and a early to mid 70's 40/55 series could you please post what the OD of the of the housing tube section is (my 79 tube OD is 3.215"), this might clue me in to what went wrong. I'm assuming the wall thickness is the same throughout the years.
As far as fixing this pig goes, I'm up for any ideas. The only thing I've came up with is to make some .050 sleeves that I could weld on to the mini tubes...... or use some .050" steel sheet metal, if that guage is available, form it around the tubes and weld it in place. We'll see. If anybody has any suggestions please chime in.
BTW, Woody, was the fitment of your tubes tight when you built your hybrid? It sounds like it from what I saw in your hybrid build up link on an older post. Thanks for doing the write up as well.
note: subitute Bushmills for beer!
. This just isn't going to fly. The Cruiser center section is from a 79, and the mini axle was from an 84. LC ID = 2.7, Mini OD = 2.595. Now that I think about it, the 79 housing that I currently have might have looked different than my old 67 housing, I think the design of the tubes and welds might have changed somewhere along the line. So I have to wonder if the ID/ OD mismatch is because of manufacturing variances, or if it's necessary to have a certain year or older Cruiser housing to build the hybrid. If anybody here has calipers and a early to mid 70's 40/55 series could you please post what the OD of the of the housing tube section is (my 79 tube OD is 3.215"), this might clue me in to what went wrong. I'm assuming the wall thickness is the same throughout the years. As far as fixing this pig goes, I'm up for any ideas. The only thing I've came up with is to make some .050 sleeves that I could weld on to the mini tubes...... or use some .050" steel sheet metal, if that guage is available, form it around the tubes and weld it in place.
We'll see. If anybody has any suggestions please chime in.BTW, Woody, was the fitment of your tubes tight when you built your hybrid? It sounds like it from what I saw in your hybrid build up link on an older post. Thanks for doing the write up as well.
note: subitute Bushmills for beer!
