The Frankenstein Build! LT/Expo/Trail rig..and BS

Really? Swapping your drums on would be easy and axle shafts into your drums.

Never saw the need for rear disks either so much.

 

well id need a press since th eaxles wouldnt be the same length and the shop wanted 500 to do the swap so i could buy a complete axle for less than that

 

Oh sheesh. 500? That's ridiculous.

 

yep thats why i didnt keep it

 

Good call haha

 

ya but im glad i did my SUA on my own mostly. gave me a lot of knowledge and know how to help others.

 

For sure man. DIY FTW!

 

Garage fab FTW haha.

 

That too

 

Parts store didn't have the pinion nut...

FML

 

Was gonna wait and do one big post but screw it.

Continuing the build of the front diff..

So this is where i left the solid collar spacer..

Front diff assembly-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

the bench to grind!

Front diff.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


after first pass..
Front diff-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Front diff-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

so more grinding..

Front diff-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Done!

Front diff-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now to finish getting the inner race in. Thanks to the god of diffs, Zuk, he told me to do this. Took a lot of messing with but i got it to work after many attempts.

first i set it up like so

Front diff-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Front diff-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Front diff-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

of course that was stupid for three reasons. One, on the outer pinion side is where i needed to wrench on. Two, having the two nuts on the inside isn't nessicary. Three, the washer hit the housing so i couldn't get it down even if i wanted to.

So, after more messing about the final setup looked like so.

I used the old bearing race to help press in the new one.

Front diff-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

and had most the all thread in the inside.

Front diff-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Of couse i also used super fine grit sand paper, 2000 grit, on the outside of the race and then used a big ass wrench and the screw drive to counter turn. Slide right in with some man handling.

Front diff-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

hell..yes..

Front diff-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

that was a mile stone in itself let me tell you. I hope that trick alone helps someone out there out cause i beat my head against the way for literally HOURS trying to get that fucker in.

but its done now

So with that all done, i put the pinion in and and ratched down the outer bearing, slapped the ring housing on and did a pattern check. My god was it off...

Front diff-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Front diff-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Front diff-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

needless to say...that..is..horrible..haha I wasn't sure if my ring was way off or the pinion(which it was off, i shall show you in a second) so i emailed the god Zuk again and he told me to add more to the pinion..Which made sense to me especially since i didn't have a single spacer on there because i THOUGHT the OEM one didn't have one..but i was wrong.

But now i had another problem, how the hell do i get the bearing off it without it getting destroyed.

Time to build a bearing splitter!

Went through the scrap plate we had lying around and found a perfect piece, quiet literally perfect. Mike you'll reconige this as the chunk i cut out your bumper reinforcement plate out of

1/4'' boiler plate, it'll work nicely

Front diff-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Fired up the good ole torch and cut off the long piece and was left with a 6x6 about piece.

Front diff-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

took a square, a washer, and file to mark it and drew this out.

Front diff-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

and went on cutting. First cut

Front diff-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

and second

Front diff-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

fired up the bench grinder and spend a long time grinding. Damn 1/4'' boiler plate is hard shit. Basically i ground only on one side to create a wedge, or knife edge to go inbetween the bearing and pinion.

turned out alright.

Front diff-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


From there i put in on the pinion, used two clamps to hold it in place, and put it on the press and let it rip.

Front diff-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Front diff-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Front diff-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


worked great! bit of an explosion after it pops out but still works well.

Front diff-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

From there i added a small .020 shim. Wear pattern barely changed at which point i decided to look at the OEM pinion one last time and sure as shit...had a big ass shim on it

SOOOO..pulled it apart and there it was.

Front diff-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


And now im am without a pinion nut and can't finish my diff i am almost certain i would be driving it by tonight if i would be able to get a nut.

Oh well..

 

nice bearing splitter

 

It works haha

now We(Dad, Tim and i) have one haha im sure Tim might buy one..but..maybe not haha

 

So since i was dead in the water today, did some chores..cleaned up some stuff..

then went to my stomping ground with the dogs to stretch out the legs a bit of Igor the double cab. Pushed the stock suspension a bit but had fun and was gorgeous. I needed it bad, so did the dogs was fun.

Picture whoring:

Igor by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Igor 2 by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Igor 3 by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Burning grass by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Bad lands by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Bad lands by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Wyoming.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

What happened to the pinion nut?

 

lol

 

just got chewed up. Won't go on now without starting to cross thread.

 

cross thread or torqued to spec, tight it tight!


also your first pattern was pretty awesome

not that I would do any better. front clam is teh ghey

 

It was my own fault. I had no shims under the inner bearing haha i needed to start with the OEM 0.086..thats a lot haha

and id be okay with the saying fuck it and cross thread it but i have two things holding be back..

1) i still have to tear it apart to check final pattern

2) id like to add a locker to it someday haha

 

Ooooo me likely