Start of my Doubler

[Twisted4x4]

So begins the next phase of fabrication to my 89 Ranger 4x4, a doubler t-case!!! Heres a quick bit of history of my beloved "Twisted" Ranger: Bought the truck back in spring of 98. Bone stock at the time, standard cab short bed, 2.3L, 5spd manual, 235/75-15's on ugly steels, D28 & 7.5 open with 4.10's. Had a bad accident in July 03 that landed me on my passenger side at 55mph on pavement. New motor mount and exhaust and I was back on the road. So this begun its new life as a "lets see what its made of" wheeler. Later that year blew the 5spd and swapped in a 4spd I had layin around out of a 84 Ranger 4x4. Sometime in 06 after 220K the stock 2.3 finally let go. Dropped in another 2.3 out of a 96. Also in 07 I raised the body 3" and trimmed the fenders to clear 35s. Also at some point I added a custom winch front bumper I built. To date my lil Ranger has impressed many folks out on the trail, and pissed off a few Jeepers along the way too

So after some reasearch on here Ive decided to make a doubler t-case setup. Tonight I pulled my old 5spd (dont ask why ive held onto it for 7 years ) and spare t-case out of the shed. I pulled the OD extension housing off the tranny and cut the end of the shaft off then tossed the rest on the scrap pile. Then I split the case and kept the pieces needed. So tomarrow at work im gonna cut the housing and make the side plate as well as get a piece of .500 from our welding dept to make the main plate. Hopefully I can find time also to get the 5" hole cut and the other holes drilled and tapped. I should also be able to bore, press, weld, and harded the sector shaft. Only thing thats buggin me is how to cut out the 5" hole I know others on here have used a hole saw bit, but I might try cutting it out on my CNC with an end mill.

One thing im not sure on though, what should the final lenght be on the sector shaft?? I seen in the pictures of what it should look like, but im just wanna make sure I dont make it too long.

Ill keep yall posted as progress moves forward.

 

[trail B2]

Thats about as far as i've gotten but I have trust issues as far as breaking.The one thing I was going to do was make two shafts so if one breaks and i'm stuck I can at least get my rig home.

 

[Twisted4x4]

Well I didnt get as much done today as I had hoped. I did however manage to cut off the extra piece of housing, get the holes drilled and tapped to mount the housing and new back plate, and I pulled my gear set out of my front plate. But I figured that to be a pretty good start for just working on it for just under an hours worth of breaks. Tomarrows plans (if I can get up an hour earlier) is to get the 5" hole cut and other holes for the rear case to mount to. I did come up with an idea that "should" work. Make a fixture to which the front plate will bolt to so that the input shaft hole is centered, then stick that in a lathe and bolt up the rest of the housing and back plate, then drill and bore out the back plate to needed size. I figure this to be the easier way for me to ensure the hole in the back plate is perfectly centered to the front input shaft hole. However Im not sure this will work in a regular horizontal lathe due to the weight, Im pretty sure it would come out of the chuck jaws, so Im gonna put it on one of our vertical lathes or stick it in my cnc and mill the hole.

Ya Im kinda wondering about breakage issuse also. Luckily Ive got extra driveshafts to use. I figure this way if Im out on the trail and blow the thing apart I can just remove the doubler and bolt back up the tcase and use my old driveshafts.

 

[Twisted4x4]

Finally got to bring my doubler box home today Been realy busy at work and aint had much time to work on it. Ended up bolting it all together a little different than shown on here. I used flat head bolts that are counter sunk into the plate to attach the plate to the new case, then drilled out the 5 mounting bolts on my front plate of my rear case and counter sunk them also using the same bolts. Beats the heck outa grinding that plate. One problem I ran into with my sector shaft is the weld holding it together was causing it to sit up too high, so I had to use a grinder and grind off some weld till it sat right. Plus one detail im a lil worried about is my sector shaft. When we welded it together it came out with just a hair of runout, maybe .075" or so. Everything feels ok though when I turn it. Just a lil worried that could cause shaft failur or bearing problems. Has anyone else who has built these had that problem???

 

[r1hatman]

 

[Twisted4x4]

ya im working on that still. plus im not completly sure how to post pics. still gotta take it apart again anyway to finish a few things, so ill be taking more pics on how i assembled and made my components. gonna take my sector shaft to work monday and try to straighten it out, if that dont work ill have to make anotherone.

 

[Ranger44]

Biggest part of making the sector shaft is getting it straight and pre-heating it to 500* before welding the pressed pieces, then cooling it slowly after welding.

This will make for a strong 2 piece shaft. PM Todd or Evan for more info.

 

[4x4junkie]

.075" is a lot of runout.. That ain't gonna fly for sure.

I'm thinking it would need to be less than .01" to not have problems with spline engagement or it jumping out of gear (probably much less). I'd start over with a new shaft and preheat it so the weld cooling doesn't cause it to distort again.

 

[Twisted4x4]

Thanks Ill keep that in mind if I have to make another one. Gonna take it back into work monday and see if we cant put it on the press and straighten it, probably wont work thought. But hey its worth a shot.

 

[r1hatman]

photo shop is easiest!