DANA 80 front axle build
- Thread starter SWALLDOG
- Start date
- Location
- West Jordan
Holy shiz son! How thick is that flange?
I'm assuming you welded the flange on both sides? It looks like a very cool project so far!
I'm assuming you welded the flange on both sides? It looks like a very cool project so far!
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Grrr. Want. I have a 2009 Dodge Cummins and I already want to rip off the C's and return to real hubs.
Is there an ABS sensor/tone ring on your original axle? Im not sure how to overcome that issue yet.
Is there an ABS sensor/tone ring on your original axle? Im not sure how to overcome that issue yet.
Tacoma
Et incurventur ante non
- Location
- far enough away
UPDATES!!!
I see you watching!!
I see you watching!!
Holy shiz son! How thick is that flange?
I'm assuming you welded the flange on both sides? It looks like a very cool project so far!
1.5" if i remember right. there is a shoulder that is was pressed up to on the front side. i did three passes on the back side and then one little pass on the front side with the tig. ones the flange is all machined it wont be that thick. i machined down a little step on the front that the rotor sits on. i did want it as thick as i could so there was more surface area to hold the flange on.
thanks man :greg:
yes there is. i have a plan for that but have not taken action yet.
i machined a step on the back side of the hub so i can press a tone ring on. i just need to take apart the unit bearing i have and count the teeth so i can machine one the right size with the right amount of teeth. i have heard of people buying the tone rings from the dynatrac freespin kits and using them on there hub conversions.UPDATES!!!
I see you watching!!
haha, i'm working on it. stop yelling at me. i just uploaded 38 more pics to my photo bucket so i can post them. what i really need to do is man up and pay so i can just upload them from RME.
ok so here are the hubs after i got them all machined. the one other thing i did machine after i took this pic is machined a little shoulder on the back, right on the outside where the seal goes, so i could press a tone ring on there for my abs. i just need to machine the tone ring and make a mount for the sensor.
so here are what the inner C's look like. the first pic is the first one that i made with a Dedenbear dana 60 inner C sitting on top of it. the first C that i made i welded it all to a piece of tube and then i was going to press that on to the axle. well i never really liked that idea, so when i came down to it i changed my jig so i could bolt the jig to the axle and weld the C's together right on the axle tube. it worked out a lot better that way. the last pic is with both C's welded together on the axle.
these are pics of the knuckles. the main mounting flange is 1/2". most of the brackets are 1/4" with weld washers, and some 3/8" brackets. the mounting brackets for the brake caliper brackets are 5/8" with a 1/4" weld washer. that way when they were all welded up and machined down the thickness was the same as the stock brackets 3/4".
this is the knuckle with some of the braces welded in and with the start of the arms for the tie rod. i just had them tacked on at first so i could check clearances. i was also checking to make sure that the caliper mounting bracket would fit before i made the mounts for that. i wanted to make sure it cleared the knuckles and the inner C's at full turn. i also wanted to check the tie rod clearance at full turn.
i bolted the wheels up to make sure that everything clears. i had loads of room. i am planing on changing the back spacing of my wheels so they dont stick out so far. i want to take them back about 2.5" - 3" so i turned the wheels around just to see how they would clear if they had about twice as much back spacing was i wanted to move them. the knuckles stuff pretty well in those 22.5" wheels :greg:
this is the track bar bracket on the passenger side. its not done yet, i still need to make a bracket for the outside so it is a double shear. on the inside edge of the bracket a machined a slot so you can get a wrench in there and hold the nut or bolt head, depending on which way the bolt is. its hard to get a socket on it from the back side when all the control arms are bolted on and stuff. the last pic is just a pic from the back will almost all the brackets welded on. getting close to install time.
why i was building a new front end, putting air springs on it i also wanted to build longer control arms. so i build fab lower control arms that were about twice as long as the after market control arms that i have. i made these lower control arm mounts that i could just weld on the frame.
these are the lower control arms that i built. i use a weld on joint on the one end and a 1 1/2" threaded shank joint on the other end. i made my own pinch bolt joints for the threaded end instead of using a jam nut. i have never had really good luck with jam nuts, it seems like on my buggy i am always tightening them before a trip. i like the idea of a pinch bolt so i thought i would try it out, plus you have that many more threads in the link, not taken up by the jam nut.
so the air springs i am running are a firestone spring. they are just about the same diameter as my stock coils. i mounted them in the stock coil buckets which seamed to work out pretty well. i just had to make an adapter to bolt them in. kelderman does this same thing on some of there kits but i have never liked there adapters. they use pieces of strap and it kinda looks weak. i made mine out of a full piece of tube. i wanted to make them as short as possible but still have enough room for the air lines and stuff. they ended up working out pretty slick.
