Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

You have some rubbing on that UCA. Hmmm

 

I'm not sure if it would ever cause a problem but when I removed my swaybar I put a bolt back in the hole.

 

Two hours start to parking lot test drive

 

So shiny and new.

Good thing you're packing that 35mm

 

And all the tools: impact torque wrench etc

 

Even had time for a shower before checkout!

 

Ohhhh. you can get by with ugga duggas in a pinch. lol

It's nice keeping the tools available. I was in the parking lot after work yesterday, tweaking my alignment. (because I do precision work and can't handle some things being "close enough").......and I can't keep my hands off of stuff.. but anyhow.....

A young man in his 20's rolls up on a mountain bike. "Can I ask you a weird question"?...."Can you tighten my bike seat?" Thing was flopping all over...

Ya sure. Grabbed a couple ratcheting 14mm. Cranked it tight and sent him on his way.

 

I’ve heard that welding on gussets to spindles just ends up weakening the steel on the spindle. All the concentrated heat from the welding changes the steels characteristics.

However, I’m just an internet expert. Maybe the gusset itself will make up for the fact that the spindle material gets weaker? Or maybe there are gusset designs that have figured out a way to reduce the amount of welding needed in order to preserve the spindle’s strength?[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]

Epic!!!!

Gosh, that factory fresh paint looks so purty lol.

 

Well there’s a good idea! I just sprayed the hole and seating surfaces with a bunch of woolwax. That might keep them from corroding, but it will take a half hour to clean them out if I ever decide to put the sway bars back in.

 

I bet there’s a ton of truth to it. Not only is patience necessary, but you would also need to carefully think about the sequences of those little stitch welds. If you do it wrong, I’d imagine it wouldn’t be that hard to pretzel it up.

 

I didn't like that big flipping hole left in the spindle. Like it just created a huge weak point, being left empty.....

No truth or research to it just my intuition. lol

 

But that would only matter if you torqued the bolt correctly lol

…wait a minute, maybe torquing it tightly would actually make that area stronger for real!

 

This is how I did mine. Just a few stitches at a time moving the heat around in different places.
Didn't have any issues and now those Spindles live on a someone's truck.

 

As I think about this more, even if the spindle’s steel is weakened a bit, it probably wouldn’t matter because the spindle just becomes one wall of a larger boxed spindle. The strength would come from the fact it’s a boxed design (assuming we’re talking about a boxed design).

So it’s not so much that you are attempting to strengthen the spindle, rather you are using it as a jig and as material to create a new part.

 

So after Pat welds on gussets, what breaks next? The mounting tabs for the steering rack?

Man this game gets expensive quick. My usual answer is portals, but Tims idea on the Unimog may be the most financially reasonable next step lol.

 

What are you running now?

 

This is Sharon’s current concern-how much I can spend just breaking things

 

Weld slow. Preheat. Weld slow. Kids won’t listen. I will do these…