Build Just Another Buggy Build

chaplinfj60 said:

wow amazing

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Thanks!

When I built my axles I just used a true bare, an old 3rd and some turned pucks to line it all up on the work bench. Tacked & bounced around, let it all cool down whilst welding it out & kept spinning the bar to check for it binding. With your jig you should be fine but I'd personally add an old 3rd with pucks instead of bearings to give the true bar something to align through.

Landy_Andy said:

When I built my axles I just used a true bare, an old 3rd and some turned pucks to line it all up on the work bench. Tacked & bounced around, let it all cool down whilst welding it out & kept spinning the bar to check for it binding. With your jig you should be fine but I'd personally add an old 3rd with pucks instead of bearings to give the true bar something to align through.

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Looks like it came out awesome. I will definitely be using a true bar to get everything aligned and straight when setting up in my jig. Just wasnt sure if I wanted to offset the face plate 20 thousandths or so further away from the tube center line to account for any warpage, then I could face it down to height and make a good flat sealing surface at the end. But I think I've decided to do like you said. Just get it all setup exactly where it needs to be and take my time welding. In theory, my fixtures should take the place of what a mock up 3rd would do but it wont hurt to drop one in to verify its all good before it gets fully welded.

You must have really taken your time welding if you were able to keep the true bar in and free the whole time. Everything I have seen says not to leave it in because you cant tell which way it is moving during welding, then you are in trouble if you cant get it out. Also, did you fully weld out the shell and face plate before welding to the tubes or did you do it all at the same time?

I'm sure I'm over thinking it, especially with it being a front housing. But I would rather spend the extra time and effort making sure I don't come out with a 90lb paper weight lol.

93blackxj said:

You must have really taken your time welding if you were able to keep the true bar in and free the whole time. Everything I have seen says not to leave it in because you cant tell which way it is moving during welding, then you are in trouble if you cant get it out. Also, did you fully weld out the shell and face plate before welding to the tubes or did you do it all at the same time?

I'm sure I'm over thinking it, especially with it being a front housing. But I would rather spend the extra time and effort making sure I don't come out with a 90lb paper weight lol.

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I'd already welded out the center sections with my scrap 3rd bolted into it to keep the face true. It does have a very small amount of warpage but the face is 3/8" and it pulls flat with the 3rd bolted in. My axle shafts slide straight in, so I doubt that's a real problem. This is the second set I've made, the first are in my Landy & with a bit of instant gasket haven't leaked.

After the motor was tacked in its place it was time for the crossmember and trans/tcase mount. After some debating back and forth, I decided to go with a double removable crossmember setup with a bottom mount tcase adapter. The new thing now is the top mount, hanging tcase/trans adapter. I like the idea, but Im still not really convinced it is best solution, at least in my case I didn't think so. Also, most of the hanging style adapters being made are for the short th400 output shaft and I have the longer output shaft. Yeah I could add a spacer or change the output when I re-build it, but that's more money I would have to spend. And my rear drive shaft is really close to being the same length as my front, and the longer output helps that.

I want to be able to remove the trans and tcase out of the bottom, so I made 2 cross members, both removable. One being my skid plate mount/support across the middle, mounted with solid tube couplings. And the other being my trans/tcase cross member mounted on bushings at each end. Both cross members are 2" x .188 wall filled with aluminum. I went with this setup because I figured with the cross members being fairly close together, it will have to be a hard enough hit to bend both of them to move the tcase mount. Anything is going to bend eventually, but its not a big deal to make new ones when they do. The billet adapter I used was from northwest fab and its super nice.

Couldn't find couplings for this size tubing, but nothing that some lathe work cant fix.

This pretty much catches up to where I am at with the project. I am currently in the process of figuring out my seat position and getting those mounted, as well as finishing up the last couple things to start getting my front axle housing together. So hopefully Ill be able to get some pictures of that process posted up in the next couple of weeks. In the mean time, here are some parts Ive collected over the last year or 2. Got some good deals this past black Friday.

22 gallon Jaz aluminum bladder cell. I highly debated building my own, but I started to realize if I was going to build everything myself, this project would never get finished. I even spoke to a couple of places about the cost of getting a custom bladder made and that was out of the question. Funny story with this though, I bought the cell through Jegs but it shipped direct from Jaz and when it arrived it had some dents in it. It was just cosmetic damage, but for how much it cost I expected it to be in good shape. I filed for a replacement then after a week or so, I get an email saying the cell had been discontinued and they were issuing me a full return but I could keep the cell. So I got it for free .



33" x 19" Griffin radiator and 16" fan setup.



Parts haul from this past black Friday deals. I have an 05+ 60 I can rob the C's and knuckles from, but instead I chose to just order some C's from Busted Knuckle. They also bored them for my 4" housing for like $75 so that was a no brainer. Also got their king joint set up to eliminate the ball joints.




Branik light weight brake hat and rotor setup for front and rear. Also got some of their 1550 ujoints for the front.

Barnes4x4 had a really good deal on their version of a 3 piece chromo heim joint. I am sure they wont be as good of quality as an FK but for less than half the price, I decided I would give them a shot. All my links will be 1-1/4 with 3/4 bolt.





And my most recent purchase. Gotta love some BBWs . Thanks to Phil at Liberty Mountain Fab on the hook up.

93blackxj said:

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Why is there a milled notch in the lower part of the C?

'84 Bronco II said:

Why is there a milled notch in the lower part of the C?

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I am guessing that is how they held it in the mill when they were bored for 4" tubes.

93blackxj said:

I am guessing that is how they held it in the mill when they were bored for 4" tubes.

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That's kind of what I was thinking, but it is a pretty ****ty spot to remove material just for work holding. The '05+ Cs are beefy enough that it probably won't matter, but it would bother me.

'84 Bronco II said:

That's kind of what I was thinking, but it is a pretty ****ty spot to remove material just for work holding. The '05+ Cs are beefy enough that it probably won't matter, but it would bother me.

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Yeah I kinda thought the same thing. But for only $75 charge to bore them, I wasnt gonna question it. Would have taken me half a day fumbling around on the mill to do it myself lol. I will just weld it up and blend before I install them.