94 b4000 axle swap/offroad build

[rockwerks]

would drilling it out seem feesiable to you ?

Yep Ive done 2 drilled out and 3 no drilled. even the no drill I did ream out the first 1/4" to get a good straight start on the tap, then cut off 3/16" of over drillt.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

Yep Ive done 2 drilled out and 3 no drilled. even the no drill I did ream out the first 1/4" to get a good straight start on the tap, then cut off 3/16" of over drillt.

i meant drillin out 1 1/4 OD with th ID of .65
would only be trimmin off .038

 

[rockwerks]

i meant drillin out 1 1/4 OD with th ID of .65
would only be trimmin off .038

Yep that is what I used. it was not too tough

 

[NMB2]

i would personally use 1.5 .250

 

[rockwerks]

i would personally use 1.5 .250

the larger the outside diameter VS the inside dia the easier it bends. the 1 1/4" x .281 ID is actually much stronger and less to catch up on besides the .1.00 ID of that size is too large to tap for a 3/4" bolt of course. also the weld in bungs just mean more money and chance of failure. I have seen it before, bungs pulling out on the trail not pretty

 

[kroussinoffroad]

as far as strength i think both are stronger than the factory jeep stuff

 

[rockwerks]

as far as strength i think both are stronger than the factory jeep stuff

X100! The stock jeep stuff is the pits LOL

 

[NMB2]

the larger the outside diameter VS the inside dia the easier it bends. the 1 1/4" x .281 ID is actually much stronger and less to catch up on besides the .1.00 ID of that size is too large to tap for a 3/4" bolt of course. also the weld in bungs just mean more money and chance of failure. I have seen it before, bungs pulling out on the trail not pretty

I was misunderstanding the wall thickness you were telling him to use, that sounds much better.

As for inserts pulling out, Not if its done right, it will never happen.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

if this were to only steering set up i were to do i would get the inserts.
If i ever were to do another then the taps would pay themselves off

 

[rockwerks]

I was misunderstanding the wall thickness you were telling him to use, that sounds much better.

As for inserts pulling out, Not if its done right, it will never happen.

True but from my experience most welders are more worried about pretty than functional welds and poor penetration can be an issue. Rusty's off road products are a great example of pretty welds that fail on a daily occurance

 

[pickuptrucker]

if you make an ugly weld then it is more than likely flawed... but anyway cool build i'm going do be doing a dana 30 swap pretty soon here too. I was thinkin i would use like 5/8's flat bar for my cross member but NMB2 you think flat bar would be a bad idea? I was going to because it would be easy to weld brackets too. and easy to shape.

 

[NMB2]

True but from my experience most welders are more worried about pretty than functional welds and poor penetration can be an issue. Rusty's off road products are a great example of pretty welds that fail on a daily occurance

not to question your experience but I agree that if its an ugly weld its more likely to fail. There is more to building stuff than the welds. Id be interested to see some of these failures you're talking about just to critique them, I would bet there were other things wrong as well.

Its pretty hard to get poor penetration with a decent welder on doing threated tube inserts, you would almost have to try to **** them up.

 

[NMB2]

if you make an ugly weld then it is more than likely flawed... but anyway cool build i'm going do be doing a dana 30 swap pretty soon here too. I was thinkin i would use like 5/8's flat bar for my cross member but NMB2 you think flat bar would be a bad idea? I was going to because it would be easy to weld brackets too. and easy to shape.

5/8's is huge, I dont think it would be that easy to shape, it definitly would be hard to bend....Would possible work though if you're not worried about what it looks like. If you have access to a tube bender you can do better though, or even with just some square tube and plate.

 

[pickuptrucker]

I'm in welding school right now its great, we have everything to work with, including smart old guys. i'll probably cut the plate, bevel it and weld it back at the angle i need. I'm certifed 7018 for plate, so i know the weld won't be the week point. I gues the only thing i'm worried about is the verticle pressure, which there won't be much.

 

[rockwerks]

When you think of stock think of surface area as adding strength. a 3/16" wall 2 x 4 tube will have more structural strength than flat stock unless you gusset the flat stock.
On a comanche crawler build I used 1/2" stock with my custom arm mounts and it lasted about 2 trails before it was pretzelled, the 3/16" wall 2x4 tube has held up for 5 years now without issue