Anyone Ever Bend/Break TTB Axle Housings?

So I've done a cut/turn at the lower bj on my axle housings and have seen that most most people who cut/turn are prerunning and jumping their rig like an mx bike so they (and AutoFab and Camburg) gusset the shit outa everything.

I'm wondering how neccessary this is for a trail rig? I do plan on running 37's so i know i'm gonna be beyond what's already reccomended for the d35 axle shafts, and my wheeling style is already "slow n steady" cause i hate spilling beer and breaking stuff. And i'm planning on a SAS within the next couple years (or sooner when i grenade the d35) anyway.

Anyone reccommend "light" gusseting? or should i just copy camburg and burn another 50lbs of steel onto each housing? Anyone got pics of bent beams?

I'll try to get some pics up of my idea of "light" gusseting soon.

Yes, gusset it it.

I bent my drivers side housing on a rock this summer wheeling. I'm running 36" tires.

I gusseted the front of the housing to keep it from bending in the middle of the beam again. Once I disassembled the front end, I found a good crack under the radius arm ears on the beam as well.

good info from the post above. yes gusset the beams. especially where you hacked your lower bj off (it looked sketchy). just an idea, tack weld first and test fit everything. youll also want to finish plating in the back of the passenger side beam where the factory left off; its prone to bending in that area. i don't see a jig being mentioned anywhere in your post, so take your time when welding..

The most common area of failure I've always seen is around the lower radius arm bolt area on the driverside beam. This occurs if the pinch bolt that's behind there is missing or loose.

Another spot I've seen crack is on the open backside of the passengerside beam right where the welds stop. Boxing in the backside will eliminate any issues there.

Keep that bolt tight, box the pass beam up, add the gusset on the front of the d-side and I think you'll have all the bases covered for a trail rig (from there I'd look at reinforcing your pivot brackets maybe).
Just curious... How come you C&T'ed them if all it is is a trail rig (no jumping or flying through the sky)?

why wouldnt you want to have proper alignment?

4x4junkie said:

The most common area of failure I've always seen is around the lower radius arm bolt area on the driverside beam. This occurs if the pinch bolt that's behind there is missing or loose.

Another spot I've seen crack is on the open backside of the passengerside beam right where the welds stop. Boxing in the backside will eliminate any issues there.

Keep that bolt tight, box the pass beam up, add the gusset on the front of the d-side and I think you'll have all the bases covered for a trail rig (from there I'd look at reinforcing your pivot brackets maybe).
Just curious... How come you C&T'ed them if all it is is a trail rig (no jumping or flying through the sky)?

Click to expand...

Hmmm... I have pics of all 3 of those.
*PS beam crack is hidden by tierod in 3rd pic

thanks for those pics! looks like I'll be adding some beef there for sure....

4x4junkie: I did the c/t since i never liked drop brackets. i def don't want to piss anyone off, but to me they're as lame as bodylifts... And i was originally thinking about building a poormans KOH-style rig (that can go fast and rockcrawl w/ big tires), but came to my senses and realized that "poorman" and "KOH" don't go together! so i'm gonna keep it slow

Also, once i go with front/rear d60's i'll swap the c/t'ed d35 and my built 8.8 into the dd and hit some jumps on my way to work everyday!

GMillion$ said:

thanks for those pics! looks like I'll be adding some beef there for sure....

4x4junkie: I did the c/t since i never liked drop brackets. i def don't want to piss anyone off, but to me they're as lame as bodylifts... And i was originally thinking about building a poormans KOH-style rig (that can go fast and rockcrawl w/ big tires), but came to my senses and realized that "poorman" and "KOH" don't go together! so i'm gonna keep it slow

Also, once i go with front/rear d60's i'll swap the c/t'ed d35 and my built 8.8 into the dd and hit some jumps on my way to work everyday!

Click to expand...

Ok, that's cool... To each his own (I find a bodylift saves a million headaches when it comes to engine & t-case swaps (such as with my doubled 1350/1354 cases), among other things).

I do a lot of trail riding (not as much speed running) and prefer the better handling with stock beam geometry when things get off-camber sideways (less jacking from having the pivot so high up in the chassis).
If you're planning on hittin' some jumps though, then the C&T setup will definitely show it's advantage by having better clearance.

Yeah get some pics up, be cool to see what you're working on.

Here are some of the cracks we found our our front beams when I was putting on the extended radius arms. IIRC there were 7 cracks through the beams. Those beams were on there for around 350k miles.


Cracked axle beam by maniak_az, on Flickr


Cracked axle beam 2 by maniak_az, on Flickr

One of my spare sets of beams has a crack in the same spot as above.

~Mark

Edit: I almost forgot, the first crack I remember seeing was on the driver side beam, about 2"-3" in from the axle pivot. It was a $20 fix to weld it back up. It was a booger weld for well over 100k miles. When I fixed the other cracks I cleaned up the booger weld.

That's where plating the back side of the passenger beam helps.

VillanMotorSports said:

That's where plating the back side of the passenger beam helps.

Click to expand...

Now if I could just see the back side so I could copy that as well
Those beams look good. Did you consider stud mounting the shocks? I know double sheer is better but I'm wondering about your thought process in your design.
Seeing all the pics of cracks people have posted makes it easier for me to figure where to plate.
Rep to those that shared pics, and thanks to everyone for the ideas,

Richard

maniak said:

Here are some of the cracks we found our our front beams when I was putting on the extended radius arms. IIRC there were 7 cracks through the beams. Those beams were on there for around 350k miles.


Cracked axle beam by maniak_az, on Flickr


Cracked axle beam 2 by maniak_az, on Flickr

One of my spare sets of beams has a crack in the same spot as above.

~Mark

Edit: I almost forgot, the first crack I remember seeing was on the driver side beam, about 2"-3" in from the axle pivot. It was a $20 fix to weld it back up. It was a booger weld for well over 100k miles. When I fixed the other cracks I cleaned up the booger weld.

Click to expand...

i just welded that same exact crack on my passenger beam friday...

I'll be posting some pics soon of my finished beams. I ended up adding the "camburg style" box section along the front of the drivers side, like sasquatch and villan. I also boxed the rear of the pass side, semi-boxed the rear of the drivers side, and added some steel near the pinch bolt on the drivers side.

Just need to burn on a skid plate and I'm set.

Should I start a thread aboot broken mounting brackets? I'll be using the original stock length brackets, are those the next weak point?

The cast piece for the passengerside beam seems like it would be fairly sturdy, but I'd suggest something to reinforce the stamped bracket supporting the driverside beam. It's pretty thin and unsupported compared to the better aftermarket brackets out there.

Is there any down side to doing this on the truck? It's too much to strip it all off to weld on simple plates. I've got a lot of scrap plate and I'm willing to try this out.