DIY Rear End Jig

[Warforged]

Thought I would post this up.
I hate building rear ends with the parts just sitting on my welding table. This will make things much nicer.

Here's the basic design. There will be a couple of changes for adjustability but, you get the idea.

I cut all the plates. 3/8" and 1/2" material. I want it to be stout.

Welded up the center section.

Another view

End Plate.

 

[Warforged]

This is 1-1/2" thick aluminum stock.

Doing some layout.

More layout.

Cutting off the excess first.

This took forever!!

 

[Warforged]

First cut done.

Second cut...

Lots of WD40

Even though I tried to cut as accurately as possible, it was still off.
Fly cutting will get everything perfect.

First pass.

 

[Warforged]

Second pass.

Cleaned up nice.

Once I cut both long sides time to cut the short sides.
The work was sitting a little too high with no support so I clamped it.

First pass on the short side.

More...

 

[Warforged]

Done.

A little layout.

Drilling for 3/8"-16 threads.

Many more to go.

I used a 2-5/8" holesaw to get me close. Just roughed it in.

 

[Warforged]

I should have known the shank was not going to take it...

I grabbed an arbor with a larger shank to finish the job.

Time to break out the boring head.

This is a 3" head. I only had to offset about 1/4" to hit 3.065.

Like I said, I roughed in the first hole. The next operation will clean everything up.

 

[Warforged]

Setting up.

It came out nice.

One down 3 more to go.

I checked them with a piece of 3" stock. Its perfect!

All 4 done. That mark on the bottom last one is WD40 from my thumb. All holes are clean.

 

[Warforged]

This was the hardest part of the project and it came out nice.

I just need to cut these in half and then do some threading.

Round 2!
Started fitting everything up.

Pieces to make brackets.

Fitting them up.

This will do.

 

[Warforged]

Nothing fancy.. welding them up.

Placed them on the jig frame.

Tacked the top uprights.

Nice and square.

Again.. nothing fancy just some beefy welds.

 

[CarterKraft]

The wood miter saw makes quick work of aluminum blocks if you have one.

 

[Warforged]

All welded.

Installed.

Bottom uprights.. damn close to perfect.

By the way.. This is the 1/4"x2". The thinnest material on the build.

Installed.

 

[Warforged]

Checking everything out.

More views..

Checked alignment.. Its all good.

Ready for paint.

 

[Warforged]

Painted up.

Time to put it together.

Top bar installed.

Top uprights installed.

A view of the locking screws. I installed these for fine adjustments.
I left about an 1/8th of an inch clearance all around so I can slide the uprights around.
The screws will allow me to square everything up and then lock it in place.

 

[Warforged]

Starting to come together.

Working on the caps now.

A little tapping.

Tapped to 3/8-16 thread.

Getting them installed. They're secured on the bottom with 3/8"x1-1/2" bolts.

 

[Warforged]

Need to mill for the countersink.

Close enough.

I got them all milled. The center bolt is used to lock the tube in place. I put one in every cap.

Another view..

I think it looks great!

 

[Warforged]

And another..

Next I'll start some lathe work for the new pucks.
My back is killing me.. I bet this thing weighs over 300 pounds!
Made sure it was true.

Faced it.

 

[Warforged]

Drilling out the starter hole. I could have done this on the lathe but didn't want to change out my operation with the rest of the material already dialed in.

Back in the lathe.

 

[Warforged]

Put some style in it.. lol

Put a quick polish on it.. No sanding, just a couple of passes on the buffing wheel.

For the prototype it looks fine.
It fits the rear center section perfect and it fits the 1-1/2" solid bar perfect.

This should give anyone who wants to build a rear end jig a good start. I'll post some pics later of the jig being used.
Enjoy!

 

[Bebop]

This is the most overbuilt axle jig I've seen. Pretty badass !

Do you have a way to preload the housing ? Definitely helps during truss welding.

 

[Warforged]

Thanks and yes. I have a bar with clamps and a screw that I use for preloading. I also add some heat when I do a truss or back brace.
I really wasn't going to show it but, Here's a hybrid rear I'm doing for my 65 Chevelle. It takes a 9" hog with a removable cover like a 12 bolt.
It's strong for sure.

 

[Warforged]

More

I'll do another thread later if anyone is interested.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Seems crazy overkill, but if you're doing it every day, I guess it makes sense.

You're still using an internal alignment bar also right?

 

[Warforged]

Yes. I use a 1.5" alignment bar with 4 pucks. I build about 2 rears a month. If you weld, you know how easy these can get out of alignment.
Especially when you start adding bars and brackets. Even if your fitment is perfect, you still get shrink. Having a sturdy jig helps eliminate a lot of issues.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Nice.

Guess you're only planning on 1 tube size?

I do like that you build from scratch. The removeable cover is nice. But a large inspection plug seems to work fine for most.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That's insane. How many hours do you think you have in this?

 

[Warforged]

Nice.

Guess you're only planning on 1 tube size?

I do like that you build from scratch. The removeable cover is nice. But a large inspection plug seems to work fine for most.

They unbolt. I have this set up for 3", 3.25 and 3.5.
When building rears for drag racing having a removable cover makes it so you can inspect the gears quickly.
I used to build them with a portal so you could just look.

 

[Warforged]

That's insane. How many hours do you think you have in this?

I built this in 4 days after work. About 4 to 5 hours each day. Its more than paid for itself :)

 

[Firstram]

Doesn't get much better than that

 

[arse_sidewards]

Nice.

Guess you're only planning on 1 tube size?

I do like that you build from scratch. The removeable cover is nice. But a large inspection plug seems to work fine for most.

I've been thinking about doing a "bunch of adjustable stands that bolt to an I-beam" model. It would definitely take more fiddling and measurement to use but I'd hate to have a specialty axle jig that can't accommodate a very wide array of axles.

 

[Warforged]

I've been thinking about doing a "bunch of adjustable stands that bolt to an I-beam" model. It would definitely take more fiddling and measurement to use but I'd hate to have a specialty axle jig that can't accommodate a very wide array of axles.

That's why everything on this unbolts and the critical pieces are replaceable.