Something w/ rabbits. 72.5 pages of BS

So seeing as spring is just around the corner, I thought I'd start a thread on the future undertaking of swapping in the Dana 60.

The axle is from a 1986 "Fawwd" F-threee "fitty", sporting some kingpins and a whole lot of rust. I took this axle apart a few months ago (except stupid me didnt remove the pinion nut before breakdown ) and had it hot tanked. I wanted it sandblasted, but the machine shop owner smirked and said "naaah yo, that junx is too big for my blasting cabinet" .. okay except he didn't really say that cauz he's old and a really cool guy. ANyways *twirls blonde hair*, this is my plaannn:

- WMS-WMS this axle is just a bit over 69" wide so I'm going to cut the passenger's side down a few inches to match 'ye ol General Motors 14-bolt axle. So this is going to require custom axle shafts and I think I'm going to go Chromos and 35-spline outers off the bat from the most awesome guys at Complete Off Road.

- Drive flange or lockouts? They are about the same in price and its a dedicated trail rig so I'm leaning towards the drive flanges. Right now, the cheapest flanges I found are the Teraflexes at $180 for a pair. If anyone knows of a better deal, please let me know !!

- High-steer arms and a double-ended hydroponics goodness ("cylinder").

- Opposite-ended panhard bar! The idea is to mount the chassis end of the panhard on the passenger's side frame rail and the axle end on the driver's side. Doing so should allow a more simple and cleaner design since the axle-mount can be mounted on top of or near the differential housing, instead of a tower on the passenger's side (like in my current D44 setup). I also plan to boost the panhard as far up as possible to increase the roll center of the front suspension. Yeah the concept is a little strange but I'm hoping it'll work and won't have any issues (no drag-link to factor into the design). But if anyone knows of any problem running this config, please chime in!

*EDIT*
- Detoit Locker for the carrier. I'm please with how the Detroit in the 14-bolt has performed so I figured I'd run the same in the front. Of course 5.13s to match the 14-bolt.


So here's the little guy, he's been in this position for the past few months just collecting dust:

 

[IZwack]

Where, oh where did you learn all this about fiberglass?? Tell me, Pleeeeaasseeeeeee!!!!.

At the Rochester Institute of Technology for three years . I was part of a team that used to build competition RC heavy-lift planes for the SAE Aero Design series (with competitions across the nation). We had all sorts of fancy schmancy materials like expanded aluminum cores and nomex honeycomb cores.

But hey if you have a fiberglass project, start up a thread and we'll have a discussion over a cup of tea. Working with composites is more like an arts and crafts project and less like most vehicle fabrication projects. So there are usually a ton of different ways of accomplishing the same goal depending on what resources you have access to.

 

[Spas]

Saw this and thought of you, IZ

 

[IZwack]

Hehe thanks!

Well I was trying to hide this thread from surfacing to the top since I didnt get anything done over the weekend - but looks like Spas bumped it (how rude). Anywho, the weekend was spent massaging the van - replaced all of its ball joints, sway bar bushings (two of which go through the freaking TTB axle), and the brake master cylinder.

 

[IZwack]

Didnt get much done this weekend (too much rock climbing and biking). But I did get the hydraulic pump mounted:

(tab at the top is for an anit-torque link that will go to the chassis)

For my future reference, serpentine belt is 72.5 inches long - Dayco Poly-Rib 5060725.
Belt routing with the two heavy guys (alt and hydraulic pump) mounted as low as possible :

Also made the mold for the intake plenum's velocity stacks from a 2-part liquid latex compound:

 

[lifeguard379]

i love this build

 

[JTX]

Iz your my inspiration. I think im gonna start working on my Explorer again. I miss this place.

BTW 120 pages of BS

 

[IZwack]

This build loves you too lifeguard379.

JTX youre my sense of desperation, so lonely at night that i wake up in perspiration. Girl, if you were here right now, we'd be learning about sex education - wrapped so tightly around you like a device for flotation.

 

[Stic-o]

See watching this just make me want to start over and create again Now if I just had space and money...

 

[Turdle]

Also made the mold for the intake plenum's velocity stacks from a 2-part liquid latex compound:

OH My

what?

 

[SuRrEaLNJ]

i was gonna say all it needed was a .... so you could ... it

yea... um im stopping that thought there....

hey, do you think if i let munk hang out at your place some of the awesome would be contagious?

 

[Turdle]

Sheri uses that stuff to make molds of a mouth for when she cnc's a new tooth

 

[IZwack]

Cauz Sheri PWNS!

Okay so I redid the center plug - I realized that I didnt put a hole to pour the material through:

(the larger cavity in the center was a water bottle cap - just to take up some volume and reduce the amount of rubber casting compound used.

Here is my pouring setup - made from a TIG welding rod, some metal to weight the apparatus down, and the bottom of a Pepsi can. For anyone following, the mold is tilted slightly to minimize trapped bubbles during pouring.

Result of the first pour (the one on the right - the one on the left is the original one my brother turned on his lathe). You can kind of see that there was a small bubble but no biggie (on the edge closest to the center of the pic). All that needs to be done to this end product is to cut off the trace of the pouring hole and smooth out the edges with some sand paper. Five more to go!

Molding is really fast - pretty much 25-30 minutes each velocity stack. The 2-part liquid urethane plastic takes about 7 hrs to fully cure but after 30 minutes, the part is ready for demold.

 

[IZwack]

So I've been inactive in this whole thing - been sick as a dog (flu?) - but almost all better.

Velocity stacks:

Made a tank for the hydraulic fluid. Front:

Rear:

As mounted:

Rear mounting:

Feed hose to pump (3/4" ID):

(dont worry about that bolt binding against the pulley, that will be welded as a stud to the bracket and grinded down).

I have yet to mount a threaded fitting for the return line and also a vent/breather.

Also been working on connecting the body to the cage:

 

[jwrezz]

Kevin Rose (diggnation, digg.com, Revision3 fame) had pneumonia. Maybe it's being spread via the internet! Like a virus virus. Sorry, I've had a few drinks today. I know this is gonna sound way dumber tomorrow than it does right now! Great new pics, and accomplishments, Iz!

 

[Burns]

:

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

:

Pfffft. I am shooting for a 2013 victory date.

 

[IZwack]

LOL you hackers - bumping this thread like there's no tomorrow.

I got slapped with a "rush" job at work (take care of some Chechnyan rebels) so no update for now - that and too much rock climbing. I have been working on little things when I can find the time so I'll update this weekend.

 

[kert0307]

Iz, you might want to make sure the bearings in that gear pump can handle the side load from the belt tension. That looks like an SAE "A" pad pump mount that is normally mounted with no side load on the shaft.

 

[IZwack]

Yep - you're absolutely correct, its an A-mounted pump. The side load issue was discussed on PBB and OFN - the verdict is that it's fine as people have ran the pump on a serpentine belt config w/o any bearing issues.

PBB thread: http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=724253

 

[IZwack]

Kevin Rose (diggnation, digg.com, Revision3 fame) had pneumonia. Maybe it's being spread via the internet! Like a virus virus.

BTW, sadly, Digg is dead - version 4 keeeled it. Whoever put together that interface was blind and forgot to do the QA phase.