Family Truckster LJ build

I finished up a major upgrade this morning before work. I swapped out the factory stereo for a Sony XAV-AX1000 double din unit with Apple CarPlay. Lol.

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I finally drug the tons out of the barn and into the shop a few weeks ago. Got the 60 disassembled a little at a time over the last couple weeks. Today I had a solid few hours to work so I got out my favorite tools of destruction and went to work cutting all the brackets/casting off. Wasn’t the funnest thing I’ve ever done. Had everything off in 2-3 hours, but it probably needs another hour with a grinder/flap wheel. Then I’ll start getting the truss fitted up.
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Welp… Got all the grinding finished up today.

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Then I went at the whole thing with a wire wheel. The very last part I had to clean was the passenger side inner C. Something’s not right here…

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I bought the axle out of ‘06 F-250 at a local junkyard. I saw the truck before they pulled the axles. It wasn’t a front end collision. I don’t “think” the housing is bent, haven’t had time to confirm yet. I believe it was caused by a bad/loose balljoint at some point.

Not sure what the next step will be now. I have a set of the American Iron balljoint deletes for the build. They use a bearing, tapered steel bushing and a through bolt in place of the balljoint. I’ve talked a bit to the owner of the company, he said to test fit the bushing in the C and see how sloppy it is. If it’s not too bad he said the bushing could be welded in to the C.

A local buddy has a bad housing with good Cs if I do have to go down the path of replacing the whole C. I really don’t want to have to do that, but I really can’t afford another $500 plus for a new axle right now either.
 
Well upon further inspection this morning the C is totally screwed. The bottom pad of the C is twisted up 1/8” on the back side. The tubes are straight as can be though so I don’t know what in the world happened.

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Hokie_YJ said:
That’s most likely the plan. A buddy has a bent housing with good Cs. I “think” I have enough tools and ability to do it.
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I'd love to see it all posted up in or on here. I know it can be done but have no clue where to start. Well except cut off the bad one. LOL!
 
ghost said:
I'd love to see it all posted up in or on here. I know it can be done but have no clue where to start. Well except cut off the bad one. LOL!
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I’ll definitely post it if I do.
 
Finally got a little time to work on the axle today. A couple months ago I picked up a bent housing that had good Cs from a friend that was building it for a JK until he discovered it was badly bent.

Today I cut the Cs off of it. I used a portaband and grinder to cut them as close as possible. I was shocked at the quality of the factory weld. It definitely made me feel better about welding it back on myself.

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I ground it down until I could see the crack between the C and the tube. Then I cut the tube inside the C with a sawzall. It took some time but I was able to press the tube out with my HF press.
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To get the bad C off my axle I ground the weld out and then cut the C on each side of the tube and split it with a chisel. A couple licks with a BFH and it popped right off.

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Next up will be trying to get the new C back on my axle. I measured beforehand to see how far on the tube it needs to go. I’ve got a couple stops hose clamped on the tube at the right depth. I plan to use my weed burner to heat it to 450* or so and hopefully it will slide on and then I can set the angle before it shrinks back.

I’ve got to come up with a way to rig the housing up on my welding table so I can lock it in place. The jack stands are way too wobbly to use when I’ll be trying to set the caster angle right.

It actually turned out to be an easier job than I expected. Hopefully the install will go well too.
 
Use some 2" square tube that you tack weld on the table, then notch the top in a cradle shape, drop the housing on it, angle the pinion at 0 and tack weld it to the tubing.
Then build reinforcements under the pinion.
 
Bebop said:
Use some 2" square tube that you tack weld on the table, then notch the top in a cradle shape, drop the housing on it, angle the pinion at 0 and tack weld it to the tubing.
Then build reinforcements under the pinion.
Click to expand...

Three jack stands and some shims combined with a digital angle finder can get you there, too:

 
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shawn said:
Three jack stands and some shims combined with a digital angle finder can get you there, too:

Code: 
https://www.amazon.com/Trend-DLB-Digital-Level-Box/dp/B01HF9FJJU/
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How are you going to hold the 0 when you have to beat and bang the C in order to set the caster ?
 
Bebop said:
How are you going to hold the 0 when you have to beat and bang the C in order to set the caster ?
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Bang bang bang, check. Bang bang bang, check.

Not rocket surgery.
 
Bebop said:
Use some 2" square tube that you tack weld on the table, then notch the top in a cradle shape, drop the housing on it, angle the pinion at 0 and tack weld it to the tubing.
Then build reinforcements under the pinion.
Click to expand...

I have a good size chain vice on my welding table. I’ll probably use that on the side I’m working on (long side) and then weld up some kind of support on the other end and under the pinion.

shawn said:
Three jack stands and some shims combined with a digital angle finder can get you there, too:

Click to expand...

I already have the digital angle finder. I figured I’d use a 1-2-3 block under it to keep it from melting when the C is 450*
 
Bebop said:
more like bang
check
realized it moved
reset 0
measure caster
bang
check again
realized it moved again
reset 0 again
measure new caster
bang
realized it moved again
get pissed off
weld the jackstand to the table.


Save your jackstands
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Do you have a camera in my shop? That’s 100% how I do things around here. :laughing:
 
Kickdeez said:
How much for the single seater?? JK (kinda) :laughing: I've always like the SXOR buggies...hate seeing it sit.
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Not as much as I do. :( I actually welded some on the new rear housing yesterday. Finished up welding the truss minus one small piece, and welded on the UB cups. Hopefully won’t be too long and I can make a trip over the mountain to meet @Jody Treadway and get a 3rd built.
 
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