Muzikp's Sometimes Driveable Build

I lost a wheel bearing on my honeymoon. Immediately went ff

 

Working on my flanged axle swap. See this thread for the plan
Rear Dana 44 Swap To 54.5" Wms To Wms

Since this axle won't have the backing plates I needed to make a spacer the same thickness as the backing plate that came off.

Goes in between these parts


Started by making a template








Probably didn't need the template but

Then cut these aluminum spacer plates




With the axles bolted in using the correct spacers I could accurately measure my WMS to WMS which was exactly 61" on this axle. I need to cut 7" out of the passenger side tube.

So I lined up my first cut. I need room for the weld on caliper brackets and I need room inside the axle for a sleeve and a seal so this is where I chose to cut the end that would get welded back on. I didn't want to weld on the caliper brackets over the tube weld.




And finished the cut


I was really happy with the straight cut on that one.

Then I marked the 7" section to remove and cut that out.


Everything was really square so far, just a tiny bit of cleanup. Beveled the edges.




Got my inner sleeve cut to length.


This is a really really tight press fit. Like really tight.


I got it half way into the end piece then started pressing it in the axle tube.




I must have been happy with the result since I took so many pictures










Then @NeedsRusteze74 came over and slowly welded it a little bit at a time while he worked on his YJ spring swap

 

Hoping there is a place in town that can do this part for me.

 

In other news, I was really excited to get my front disc brakes from my extra D30 installed on this rear axle.
Got them all torn apart, pressed the studs out and removed the spindles.



Cleaned up the calipers and brackets and discs then found out the discs don't fit over the flange on my axle . So I guess I'm back to piecing the brakes together from random vehicles.

 

Moser is the place you should send them to. They were the cheapest when i had my axles re splined.

 

Let's see what kind of shipping container you come up with.


Well done.

My only concern would be the depth of your bevel. That bevel should be nearly a full "V" to allow 100% penetration of the split. Especially with an intermittent weld that won't achieve as high temps as a constant weld. You should be fine with the added support of the sleeve, but just for future reference....

 

Needsrusteze said the same thing and he made me grind more bevel before he welded it, I used the edge of a flappy paddle wheel at an angle and made it deeper.

 

I'm thinking it should look kinda like a mandolin

 

Lol, Now I really want to find a local shop so I don’t have to keep up with Jones’ around here. Luthiers are largely incapable of making square things.

 

Nobody said it had to be square.

 

You might check with WFO in Auburn or West Coast Differential in Rancho Cordova. I have never used either one, but are the local places I plan to check when I get around to my full float conversion.

 

Sounds good. Looks like Moser charges $75 for a single axle. I'll see what these guys charge after the holiday.

 

Only one place in town (sorta) that does it. Both West Coast and WFO referred me to this guy and said he does good work.

Performance Cryogenics
5060 commercial place
Lincoln, Ca
916-434 6978

$85 to shorten and re-spline a single axle. Think I'll go with that, by the time I ship it to Moser and back it will be more than that.

 

It's so short and cute now



The guy at Performance Cryogenics is super cool. When I picked up my axle he talked to me for probably 45 minutes about all things machining. A lot of it was over my head but it was super educational. I never really thought about how hard it is to spline the inside of something, he showed me these cool shafts that have splined steps that increase in size like a step drill bit. You just shove the tool through the part and it gradually makes the splines as you shove it through.

He has a 66 CJ5 on 35's that has done the Rubicon and Fordyce and all the other hard trails around here.

He also has this stuff sitting around the shop yard. Lot's of C10's, Scottsdale's and other model square body Chevy trucks and full size Blazer's.

 

Minor setback. Need ideas here 15" Wheel, Flanged Rear Axle, Disc Brakes. How?

 

I will tap into your knowledge once I get to mine, I mean, if you are ok with it.

 

It's been a while so I'll try and get back on track here.

Haven't done much with the Jeep at all. My youngest is addicted to motocross so I spend a TON of time at the track. The spot the Jeep used to live look like this now.





And I bought a bike to ride so I didn't have to stand around telling my youngest to go faster all the time (I don't actually do that but I do help him a lot with technique).



Plus having my own bike gives me some street cred with my youngest since I can still go faster than him for another week or two, he's willing to listen to me.

Anyway I did push the Jeep out for the summer so I can start focusing on it again.





I feel like it's really good except I still haven't fixed that wheel bearing issue I had during a wheeling trip last summer. If you recall I decided to just build a new axle and ditched the tapered drum brake setup.

I used the idea ITLKSEZ gave me to mount my rotors behind the flange so my calipers fit in my wheel. I've done that and have all the studs pressed in and ready to go.







The only trick to this mounting was adding an access hole to the rotor to get to the flange bolts, but I don't think I even need it.



You can see in those pics I started making weld on disc brake bracket templates. And boy did I make a few... dozen, templates.







I eventually settled on a shape and now I'm cutting out the actual bracket.







I think we are caught up. Hopefully finish up the brackets in the next few days and start transferring my locker and gears out of the old axle into new.

 

Nice to see you finally figured out your priorities...... Rubicon trip with us?

 

seems there's still robotics challenges about?

like what you're doing there.