Gt-12

[gwaii]

the side pipe attatches to the outside face of the side tube-that is essentially the rocker panel.the brace that extends from the frame out to the 'rocker' will be removed and moved back far enough to give clearance for the exhaust to go between the tire and the firewall.

more work for the sawzall.

 

[gwaii]

today was all about the upper rear suspension arms,a.k.a. the axle.like the lower arms,these needed to be shortened significantly-but had other challenges,as they needed to be strong and absolutely accurate and true.
the best way that i could think of was to use a piece of dom tube as the axle shaft,and to turn down the axle end to be a tight fit inside.so,the first step was to get them on the lathe.

 

[gwaii]

the old lathe is slow,but does the job.i only needed to turn down about 2" on each end of the shaft,as the finished shaft will be short enough that that's all that will be used.

 

[gwaii]

and now to cut them off.

this pic i wanted to include mostly to show the bandsaw.anyone who does any fab work on their rigs should get one of these.it's a basic 4x6" cutoff saw,and they are cheap.i got this one at princess auto(like a canadian harbour freight)for around $200.it's now about 8 years old and has cut god knows how much metal.
you set your piece on it,start it,and go off to do other things.when the cut is done,it shuts itself off.

if you don't have one,get one....you will wonder how you ever lived without it.

 

[gwaii]

putting the parts together.the tube i used is 1 1/2" .250 wall dom-thick enough to do the job.the i.d. measured out to 1.012",so i turned the shafts to 1.018"-this gives a 6 thou interference fit.dom is fairly soft,so it will stretch this much easilly.on hard materials i use about 2-3 thou for interference fits.
i used about 10 tons to press the parts together-they are tight enough to keep everything in place before the welding takes place,and would probably drive the vehicle without welding.length is critical,as this determines camber angle on the rear.final adjustment is done by shimming,but there is only about 50 thou to play with.

 

[gwaii]

the axle in place.welding will be done after the whole rear end is complete and set up.on the floor are the shims that are used for adjusting the camber.these go between the inner u-joint flange and the disc.i have .023 in to get zero camber at ride height.
now i have to get springs set up(and the whole left side).

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

I have looked for those bandsaws as princess auto and can never find them?!

Build is looking great Tom!

 

[gwaii]

I have looked for those bandsaws as princess auto and can never find them?!

Build is looking great Tom!

keep looking,and try other places too.i can't believe how handy they are,and how cheap.
damn near got killed tonight pressing the second axle together.it got a bit tight towards the end,had about 1/8" to go and the pressure got up to 20 tons when the axle shot out of the press like a cannonball.i was holding the tape measure up to it while putting the pressure on,and it grazed the side of my face,chest and arm on it's way by.if i was a couple inches over to the left i would be in the hospital right now.as it is,just some minor bruising.
the wife came running down stairs to see if i was alive,the bang was so loud.

 

[superds]

Glad to hear you didn't get killed! Deaths always come in threes and I already know (indirectly) two people that died this week.

 

[superds]

the side pipe attatches to the outside face of the side tube-that is essentially the rocker panel.the brace that extends from the frame out to the 'rocker' will be removed and moved back far enough to give clearance for the exhaust to go between the tire and the firewall.

more work for the sawzall.

Gotcha.

 

[gwaii]

Gotcha.

ya,did some head scratching over that one.had all kinds of crazy ideas of how to run it before settling on that.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

keep looking,and try other places too.i can't believe how handy they are,and how cheap.
damn near got killed tonight pressing the second axle together.it got a bit tight towards the end,had about 1/8" to go and the pressure got up to 20 tons when the axle shot out of the press like a cannonball.i was holding the tape measure up to it while putting the pressure on,and it grazed the side of my face,chest and arm on it's way by.if i was a couple inches over to the left i would be in the hospital right now.as it is,just some minor bruising.
the wife came running down stairs to see if i was alive,the bang was so loud.

Presses can be a scary beast, glad you're ok bud!

 

[gwaii]

ya,usually i'm more careful.it's the one you're not thinking of that gets ya.

 

[gwaii]

today was just about finishing the rear end.
i have the rear frame pretty much designed,just have to start cutting metal.the only nagging problem is the upper spring mounts.i don't really know how high they need to be to acheive the ride height i need.i figure i'm going to make an educated guess about it,and hope it's close enough to ballast for fine tuning.
if at the end it's too far out i will cut it apart and use the height it ended up at to calculate the proper position.
oh,the joys of custom building.

 

[WoodyB2]

sweet i love the nightly updates! looking good man! glad that you are ok with the press incident.

keep up the good work!