Shaved 14 bolt, 1/4 inch thick enough???

[koondawg]

Do you guys

do your own R&P installs??? I have never done one. And am going to give it a shot.

 

[Bud]

Guidance would be MUCH appreciated.
I have not ever welded on Cast material before.

A COMPLETELY clean surface is key one. Sometimes using a torch to heat up the material will help rid the pores of oils built up inside the cast which will give you perosity (air-holes) in your welds (weak). I would leave the carrier in the housing to keep it from shrinking and keep the integrity of the design. I usually end up having to completely grind out my first three welds just to burn out the rest of the oils and to get a good root weld. Your welds should be no wider than 3/8" max even with a good machine. When you lay your welds to fill the gap of the bevel do so by over lapping the last weld halfway over with the new weld. Remeber that too much heat will weaken the material, so if it's glowing good then take a break and let it air cool, do NOT dowse with water immediately, this will make your material very brittle. After each successful pass grind in with a die-grinder (or something similar) to clean off the weld and to dig in a little to look for air pockets. If you find one then you'll have to grind it out until the hole is gone. Just repeat this process untill done.....make sure your piece your adding in will not hit the new ring gear or old one and definately go thicker than 1/4". You'd want at least 3/8", try to see if 1/2" would fit, that is what I would use IMO....I'm not saying this is the only way to do it, but in my experience in the past many years and torn off mounts in the early stages of learning to weld on it, this method has proven to work on many Comp rigs and Jeeps that I've built or helped build.....

 

[Bud]

do your own R&P installs??? I have never done one. And am going to give it a shot.

yes, always, and yeah a 14-B is an easier one to do.....just the carrier is heavy as he11, so don't smash your fingers putting it in. Do you have the tooling to do the job, ie, race tools, press, etc.?

 

[koondawg]

Thanks

I See what you are saying about welding it on.
No I do not have all the tools for the job. Just your usual garage stuff.

 

[Bud]

I See what you are saying about welding it on.
No I do not have all the tools for the job. Just your usual garage stuff.

you can get a cheap but okay set of race punchs at Harbor Freight, and a big dead-blow plastic hammer, brass punch, torgue wrench, and get the right torque amounts for the pinion, ring gear bolts, and carrier strap bolts (very important)....

 

[rockdog]

Bud, did you weld with a stick or mig? I've heard nickle rod in stick is the way to go, but I'm not a welder so I don't know if thats the way to go. If not what wire and heat setting (hot?)

 

[Bud]

Bud, did you weld with a stick or mig? I've heard nickle rod in stick is the way to go, but I'm not a welder so I don't know if thats the way to go. If not what wire and heat setting (hot?)

I don't mess with stick anymore, no I'm not saying it's not good, I just prefer MIG. Yes, I run it pretty hot with a good wire speed going. Just enough to keep my puddle from running away from me and just enough wire to keep it from poping on me. Every machine is different and its pretty much a feel for just the right settings. That's what the first three welds I do is for also(the ones I grind all the way out), so I get just the right setting as I lay my root weld and then start on my passes. Keep a wire brush around to run over and clean the weld after each pass to get off the slag and whatnot.........IMO

 

[Bud]

here's some pics of my 14-b shaved

 

[mbryson]

here's some pics of my 14-b shaved

WOW.....that's almost the EXACT same as mine.....

 

[Bud]

I had a 14-B in one of my first comp rigs and would get hung up time to time, so I said I would shave my next one if I went with another one again