45acp’s DIVORCED build!

Leaning back is positive caster. Only way that pinion is going to point at the case is if you rotate the C's.

Think about it this way, when that axle was in the stock truck, imagine the suspension. With minimal travel, the pinion was basically designed to lay horizontal so the front driveshaft ran at a neutral angle, travelling both up and down, but at ride height was optimal (neutral).

With the pinion horizontal, the knuckles are just about at 7°

 

You can run the pinion horizontal if you use a two ujoint shaft rather than a double cardon joint.

 

^^^Ignore this. No he can't. The u-joints in the driveshaft don't have enough articulation.

You can run the axle the way it is with the proper caster (pinion will be close to horizontal), but you need a double-cardan for the travel you are shooting for.

Remember the front driveshaft isn't spinning unless you are in 4wd and the front hubs are locked in. The pinion does not have to point directly at the output flange in all circumstances. To have the best vibe free conditions it should, but you need the alignment numbers to be correct, since you will be driving in 2wd (at any speeds) ALOT more than 4wd at 70 mph with the front shaft spinning.

In an ideal world, the C's would be rotated to the correct caster when the pinion is directly pointed at the tcase flange. But that's a TON of work that's not necessary, at all.

 

X2 ^ that way that axle is setting you would be all over the road

Double ended double cardon joint

 

This guy knows whats up. If your outputs are parallel to each other, you run 2 u joints. If your pinion is pointing at the transfer case, you run a CV at the transfer case and a single u joint at the axle.

 

Yeah I guess I had the positive/negative caster thing backward in my head.

From what I can tell, the Cs are rotated 10 degrees from the pinion angle so that leaves about 2-3 up on the pinion with the caster ~7. At ride height it doesn't seems too bad though. I'm hoping to have the drive train mount completed today so I can get a better idea of what's going on in regards to the drive shaft angles.

I got the basic gist of the rules for single vs. double cardan. Would it just make life easier if I did a double cardan for both ends of the front drive shaft? Only thing I don't like about it is I'm sure it would be pretty pricey and reduce the flexibility/availability of spare parts.

 

I would throw a driveshaft in with a single u joint on either end and call it good. You're over complicating things and like someone else said, you won't ever be driving fast in 4wd.

 

Ha...you...you don't know Jon well...haha

he likes doing that..haha see how there is no floor haha

 

Finished the tranny crossmember. Kinda different... I hope it f*^%ing works.

 

I bet your truck ends up weighing more than Frank.

 

Ha, I don't carry as much crap as Monte does.

 

Your build is bad ass. What is the brand of the tubing you have your hi lift mounted to? I didn't see it in your build. I'm interested in that style.

 

Interesting. Look forward to seeing how well that works. Hopefully you don't get a rattle or vibe since the rear of the mount rests on your link crossmember...

 

When I save your ass again with tools you will respect the fatness


Also...weird design..

 

Thanks man, it's a CBI over-the-rail tire carrier. Trail-Gear hi lift mount welded to it.

It's hard to see from that angle, but there's actually at least a 1/4" gap. Only place anything contacts is the bushing.

I corrected the angle of the inner Cs and started tacking on the link tabs. I'm gonna have to wait and see if I need to rotate the tabs down or clearance the frame if I don't have enough room, as there's only about 2.5" space between the frame and PVC.

As it sits, the links are just about perfectly flat but I want to raise the tabs at the frame end.

 

Pffff... I gots tools. Won't give you shit about the lights however.

Yeah, but it makes mounting a lot easier. One bushing instead of like 4 or 6.

 

Just stumbled across your build man. Strong work! After My divorce I wanted to trade in My 2007 Chevy Avalanche "Southern Comfort Edition" For a taco, but couldn't find one and bought a buddies Infiniti G37S (Complete other side of the spectrum), but after about six months I couldnt take it and got my 2010. I love it and hope to get around to doing a build thread. Thanks for posting.

 

Ha! Damn right you won't haha

And yea aren't you worried about it pivoting?

Finally! LINKS!!


Also..please put a rage in the exhaust ports and intake of the motor..probably already a shit load of metal shaving in there

 

How much vertical separation are you going to have set up like that? I'm not so sure about those lower link mounts sitting so high. I would put them flush with the axle tubes don't worry so much about flat links with good vertical separation and a good amount of triangulation on the lowers and the truck should be stable. I also see that with the lowers that high on the axle your drive shaft is the low point. Think of links as another set of sliders you want them to be the low point if at all possible.

 

I just pulled the rag out of the intake like two days ago. In all honesty, I'll probably do a partial tear-down of the engine too while I'm at it. Needs some new seals, spark plugs, etc. anyway.

I'll take all of that into account and come up with something this week. The more I stare at the damn crossmember I just made, the more I want to change it. The whole crossmember setup, including the one for links just seems so unnecessarily low it's retarded.

Thanks!