Project: more clearance

[Hyena]

I don't really have the supplies to finish my flatbed right now so we decided to begin another project.  We took a spare empty rear axle housing are are gonna screw it up.  We cut out the bottom drain plug and are gonna put it on the top.  this will make it easier to fill it with gear oil.  We are gonne weld in a peice of metal to cover the hole.  then we are gonna shave to bottom for more clearance.  We screwed up the threads on the drain plug when we cut it out but there are axles all over the plave around here.  What do you guys think?  Pictures won't come untill later, maybe after it is done since the axle will stay at school.

Edit: We will also make a custom dif guard to protect it.  Who knows if it will be ran or not, we might just end up selling it.

[Mike D]

why not just use the normal filler plug instead of putting the drain plug on top, you are also only supose to fill the diff to the bottom of the filler plug.

[Hyena]

We will pull the fill plug off when we fill it so it gets the right amount.  It will just be easier to fill it from the top then from the side.

[Mike D]

true 

[Jared]

just weld the inside and out also cause it will leak if one side is not welded.... 

[locktup]

Kinda like this, I moved my drain plug to the top. I was able to cut about a 11/2 out of the front and rear. The rear is all armored up but you can not tell unless you look close.

[Hyena]

Locktup, what did you use to shave the bottom?  did you grind it or cut it?  Torch?  cutting wheel?

[locktup]

Ive built five rear ends and five fronts ends and Ive use my plasma cutter or torch. I like using the plasma cutter because its alot cleaner, not so much cleanup. Then I cut out the shape I need from 3/8" plate, then weld it in and build the armor. Not one problem with any of the ten I have built "YET". If you looked at the 4Dice pics I posted you can see they get drug and banged into and over all kinds of junk. The first set I built was 3 years ago.

[Hyena]

Thank you.

[BigMike]

Yes thanks again for this tech, locktup, I know you've posted it before but its nice to see it again. I've now got a '90-'95 4Runner rear axle housing that I will use for my rear and I plan on shaving it and the front. I just need to figure out what to do about the e-brake cables since they are individual on the 2nd gen 4runners....

[locktup]

My rearend is out of a 95 4Runner, I used drive line e-brake.

[Hyena]

As of now he decided to not shave the bottom.  We did fill the hole were we cut the drain plug out.  Welded the inside and the outside. We are in the process of making the dif guard. 

[BigMike]

I've thought about that, but with tripple cases under a shortbed, I don't think the driveline brake will fit................and I really don't like them. Also the driveline is turning tire speed X pinion ratio, so does it have a harder time locking up the tires while moving? I know this is a stupid concern , but I've always thought about that diisadvantage with the driveline e-brake setup..

[locktup]

It works better than I could get the drum e-brake to work. I have had no problems with it. If I was to do it over and I might I would use a hydraulic caliper and master.

[BigMike]

Thanks for your experience on the e-brake, i've never really talked to anyone who has one...

[brainlessfool]

Any drive line E-brake is going to be better than a drum brake set-up. the drive line brake has the help of the rear end ratio to hold the rear wheels. If you have a open rear then it mite not be as good on soft serfaces. 

[WHITE_TRASH]

One thing that hasnt been said is that in all reality drum brakes have way more holding power from a dead stop than disc's could ever hope to have.  They have so much more holding power because of the major increase in surface area on the shoes vs. pads on disc's.  If they were to upgrade the pad size on the driveline brake it would make a major increase in its holding power but they all still use the same tiny atv style pads.

[brainlessfool]

YUP, WT is right. On the bigger truck here they all have drum drive line brakes on them! 

[Hyena]

Today we bent the dif guard and welded it on.  A little more to do.  And i tapped out the threads on the drain plug hole.  we just need another drain plug bolt and we can weld it in.Thats all we could do since our teacher made us work on trying to take out a heater core from a old mustang.  That was retarded.

[88runner]

I've thought about that, but with tripple cases under a shortbed, I don't think the driveline brake will fit................and I really don't like them. Also the driveline is turning tire speed X pinion ratio, so does it have a harder time locking up the tires while moving? I know this is a stupid concern , but I've always thought about that diisadvantage with the driveline e-brake setup..

BigMike  you should know better

lets make it simple, lets say it take 1 ft/lbs at the t-case output to lock the wheels, if you have 4.10 gear it will take +/- 4 ft/lbs at the wheel  to acheive the same result,
It's for the same reason that when you put a crawler box you'll have more torque at the wheel.

take a bike for exemple put it at the smallest gear at the pedal and the biggest gear at the wheel then put the rear brake and try pedaling you'll eventually surpass the braking power, now put it on the big gear in the front and the small gear at the rear wheel and do the same test.

now I've heard that all-poo driveline brake had some trouble braking, thats cause of a poor bracket design.

[Hyena]

Enough with you thread jackers, back to the topic.  we finished welding the guard and all we have to do on that is grind it smooth.  then tomarrow we will mount the fill plug up top. 

[Hyena]

dif guard is done and we drilled the hole for the top fill plug.

[88runner]

make sure to post some detailed pics 

[Hyena]

I can't take any pictures yet becasue the axle has stayed at school.  and my mom won't let me take the camera to school.  But i will take after pictures and tell you guys how we did what we did.  the dif guard looks so cool.

[Hyena]

pictures.  No evidence of the drain plug ever being there.  The diff. guard is molded to the curves of the housing.  We used a torche with a rose bud tip to heat it.  Then i beat it with a bfh.  Grinded diwn the welds and it looks like it is one peice with the housing.  Pretty cool you think?  You can see the drain plug now on the top of the housing.

[Hyena]

more

[Hyena]

more.  We are gonna do his front axle the same way this week.  We took it off today.  His plan is to also cut off the gusset on the bottom and make a bigger one to put on the top.  So even more clearance.

[Hyena]

last

[BigMike]

Hey Hyena - weren't you guys going to shave the diff?

BigMike you should know better

lets make it simple, lets say it take 1 ft/lbs at the t-case output to lock the wheels, if you have 4.10 gear it will take +/- 4 ft/lbs at the wheel to acheive the same result,
It's for the same reason that when you put a crawler box you'll have more torque at the wheel.

take a bike for exemple put it at the smallest gear at the pedal and the biggest gear at the wheel then put the rear brake and try pedaling you'll eventually surpass the braking power, now put it on the big gear in the front and the small gear at the rear wheel and do the same test.

now I've heard that all-poo driveline brake had some trouble braking, thats cause of a poor bracket design.

The problem is that the brake is now in front of the reduction of the diff. So, yes you are correct in that the torque is reduced, but the speed of the driveline is much faster than the speed of the tires (around 4 to 5 times more depending on diff gearing) so the inersia that the brake now has to slow down is multiplied by 4 to 5 times!!! Not to mention the "apparent weight" (known as the moment of inersia) is also multiplied...

So I have always thought about what would happen if you pulled a driveline e-brake at, say, 50 MPH. If it didnt lock up the tires, it would burn up for sure, whereas the stock e-brake may or may not lock 'em up, but at least it wouldnt burn up because its 4 to 5 times slower than the driveline..

[Jared]

you might as well truss that thing while your at it also.....  Make that puppy take up some abuse.....    lookin good brad....