BIG buggy build - 4 seat - build with pics

[Greg]

I hear ya.
I guess I was just expecting them to be "cleaner" when coming from a supplier that specializes in this sort of thing.

That's too bad, I thought Ballistic Fab had a really good chance of doing well. If that's the quality of product they're putting out, then I doubt they'll last long. :-\

On the other-hand, my Blue Torch Fab brackets & coil buckets were amazingly clean. Perfect, IMO.

 

[Tacoma]

Ballistic ripped off Mike's supersweet joints, let's not forget that.

That's sad to see that. Maybe I won't get any of my Rockwell link stuff from them.

 

[I Lean]

Ballistic ripped off Mike's supersweet joints, let's not forget that.

They ripped 'em off? I just assumed they were buying 'em from Mike, since they look identical.

 

[Greg]

Ballistic ripped off Mike's supersweet joints, let's not forget that.

That's sad to see that. Maybe I won't get any of my Rockwell link stuff from them.

Really?! I had no idea.

 

[notajeep]

While we are all off topic.... I got some 60 knuckle gussets from them and they are not even close to fitting and the quality was poor. 20 minutes with a grinder I could have acomplished the same thing and they would have fit.
They do have some nice looking stuff.... but what I bought from them was disapointing.



Now back on topic!!! :greg:

 

[waynehartwig]

Ballistic ripped off Mike's supersweet joints, let's not forget that.

That's sad to see that. Maybe I won't get any of my Rockwell link stuff from them.

The Johnny Joint was the first flex joint. Everyone else ripped them off from them. Welcome to the world of forgery and etc.

 

[I Lean]

The Johnny Joint was the first flex joint. Everyone else ripped them off from them. Welcome to the world of forgery and etc.

They may have been the first (and I think they were), but Mike's have the spanner nut for preload adjustment instead of fixed preload, and a harder plastic (Nylatron?) race rather than polyurethane.

Significant differences, is all I'm sayin'.

 

[Herzog]

They may have been the first (and I think they were), but Mike's have the spanner nut for preload adjustment instead of fixed preload, and a harder plastic (Nylatron?) race rather than polyurethane.

Significant differences, is all I'm sayin'.

And the casings are comparatively beefier.

 

[spaggyroe]

On the other-hand, my Blue Torch Fab brackets & coil buckets were amazingly clean. Perfect, IMO.

I've never had a complaint from anything I've ordered from Blue Torch. IMO, their quality is amazing. All of my transactions have been quick and easy too.

 

[spaggyroe]

They ripped 'em off? I just assumed they were buying 'em from Mike, since they look identical.

I'd like to know for sure too.
The descriptions are almost identical on the web sites too...

Mikes description:
Flex Joint Information:
A rebuildable spherical joint for the builder on a budget. Housing is unplated steel for easy welding. Races are molded from Nylatron GS, which is a grade of nylon created specifically for bearing applications. Ball and all retaining hardware are plated for superior corrosion resistance.

Ballistic description:
Description

A rebuildable spherical joint for the builder on a budget. Housing is available in nickel plated for corrosion resistance and ease of installation or unplated steel for easy welding. Races are molded from Nylatron GS, which is a grade of nylon specifically for bearing applications. Ball and all retaining hardware are plated for superior corrosion resistance.

 

[Herzog]

Gee, I wonder where Ballistic stole that description from... I did Summit Machine's new website and that description came straight from the description that they had on their old website (summit) from a long time ago.

Edit: Hit the internet wayback machine and see for yourselves. They either copied the joint and took the photo and the description straight off the Summit Machine website, or Summit Machine was supplying the joint to Ballistic. I'll wait for Mike to chime in, if he even cares.

 

[Meat_]

Are we sure they aren't getting them from Summit?

 

[Kiel]

I think Mike used to be the supplier, then they stopped after they had enough time to steal the design. I also bought some stuff from ballistic fab. My stuff was pretty good, could have been a little cleaner though. I know they leave a little bigger hole on their brackets for fine tuning and tolerances

 

[Herzog]

Are we sure they aren't getting them from Summit?

Could be and I'm tired of hi-jacking this thread. But last bit I heard was that Ballistic was in competition with Summit. I'd wait until Mike chimes in.

 

[Tacoma]

I'll be an ass and answer for him: they are not getting them from him.

Granted, I'm up on Mike's bozack, cuz he spreads the mad love around UT, and I can't have some punkass biznotches jackin' my boyz' materiiiiiaaaaaalllls yo, you feel me?


/ebonics

 

[spaggyroe]

Back on track.

Here's a few photos from the center chunk rotation for the rear steering axle.

When rotating the rockwell chunk, only 4 of the original stud locations are reused. The rest of the bolt circle needs to be re-drilled.

Step 1, yank that heavy pig out. Use some sort of hoist to do this, your nads will thank you later.

Note the 2 studs that are near the axle tube. The other two remaining studs are on the opposite side.

 

[spaggyroe]

Order a set of these beauties from Enco (or come and borrow mine).

Transfer screws.



Screw them into the housing, rotate the chunk 180 degrees and reinstall back into the axle housing using the 4 remaining studs as guides. Smack it with a rubber mallet and remove the chunk again. You'll end up with sweet little indentations which show you exactly where to drill. Get to work drilling all of those stinkin' holes. You'll have PLENTY of chips when you're done, so make sure a bunch of them end up embedded in your flesh like I did.

 

[spaggyroe]

I didn't want the old holes to be a nescience, so I tapped all of the old (now unused) bolt circle holes with a 1/4" NPT tap.

 

[spaggyroe]

You have to use 1/4" NPT pipe plugs that have the recessed hex head. The hardware store plugs with the male square drive heads are WAY to long to work.

I used some teflon sealant, installed the plugs, reinstalled the studs in the axle housing, and dropped the 3rd member back in (new gasket used of course).

With a coat of primer and rattle can black, the old bolt circle isn't too noticable.

 

[Kiel]

Now you gotta do that because your using a front axle for rear steer right?