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Work In Progress / Re: 7 Seater, Rock Crawler, Street Legal on a Budget?
« on: July 04, 2017, 11:09:45 am »
The 14 bolt is very robust. It boasts a 10.5" ring rear. Unfortunately the result is a housing that hangs very low. I elected to reduce the diameter of the ring gear and shave the bottom of the housing. I completely disassembled the rear and took the housing and ring gear to work.
I used a conventional lathe and carbide inserts to reduce the diameter of the ring gear from 10.5" to 10.0". I took my time and the result was awesome. There are those who say the gear is too hard to be cut with carbide but that's not true. I did need to sharpen the carbide frequently. The intermittent cut across the teeth does cause the carbide to chip once in a while.
I made a fixture to hold the housing on the bed mill. It supported the axle at the tubes so I could rotate the housing to the desired angle. I milled 1.5 inches off the bottom of the housing. I chose to mill parallel to the ground (I already knew my pinion angle). Others chose to mill parallel to the pinion but this results in more housing material removed without any increased ground clearance IMO.
After I shaved the housing, I machined a pocket into the base to receive a 1/2" thick flat steel plate. I then machined the plate to fit the pocket added a groove in the center to clear the gear. There's about 0.125" clearance between the plate and the gear.
I took everything home and welded the plate. Prior to welding I used a grinder and added a healthy bevel to the weld joint. There's a lot of differing opinions on how to weld the plate. I chose to preheat the housing and use nickel rod in my stick welder. I used a Mr. Heater on a 20# tank and some aluminum foil to heat the housing. It worked really well (and fast) and I was able to hold the housing at 400F with good consistency. I made multiple passes on the outside as well as the inside. It welded like butter. I recommend the nickel rods. They're expensive but it made the job seem easy.
After the plate was welded I allowed the housing to cool very slowly. I turned the heater down over the course of a couple hours and eventually turned it off. I ground the weld flat and took the housing back to the machine shop to face off the plate flush with the differential cover mounting surface.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5rIHifrzBStZFJ0Z3Y0SjdUN1U
I used a conventional lathe and carbide inserts to reduce the diameter of the ring gear from 10.5" to 10.0". I took my time and the result was awesome. There are those who say the gear is too hard to be cut with carbide but that's not true. I did need to sharpen the carbide frequently. The intermittent cut across the teeth does cause the carbide to chip once in a while.
I made a fixture to hold the housing on the bed mill. It supported the axle at the tubes so I could rotate the housing to the desired angle. I milled 1.5 inches off the bottom of the housing. I chose to mill parallel to the ground (I already knew my pinion angle). Others chose to mill parallel to the pinion but this results in more housing material removed without any increased ground clearance IMO.
After I shaved the housing, I machined a pocket into the base to receive a 1/2" thick flat steel plate. I then machined the plate to fit the pocket added a groove in the center to clear the gear. There's about 0.125" clearance between the plate and the gear.
I took everything home and welded the plate. Prior to welding I used a grinder and added a healthy bevel to the weld joint. There's a lot of differing opinions on how to weld the plate. I chose to preheat the housing and use nickel rod in my stick welder. I used a Mr. Heater on a 20# tank and some aluminum foil to heat the housing. It worked really well (and fast) and I was able to hold the housing at 400F with good consistency. I made multiple passes on the outside as well as the inside. It welded like butter. I recommend the nickel rods. They're expensive but it made the job seem easy.
After the plate was welded I allowed the housing to cool very slowly. I turned the heater down over the course of a couple hours and eventually turned it off. I ground the weld flat and took the housing back to the machine shop to face off the plate flush with the differential cover mounting surface.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5rIHifrzBStZFJ0Z3Y0SjdUN1U