General Tech What did you work on Today?

[zmotorsports]

So I mentioned that I have a 2018 Ford F150 in my shop that belongs to a fellow RME forum member that I am doing a re-gear on. As I walked to my toolbox to grab my pair of adapters that I made for my OTC case spreader about 25+ years ago at the beginning of my career I was disgusted with what I had been using. It was a very crude attempt at a shop made tool and I would have been embarrassed to show them let alone use them again. I was so disgusted I walked them right to the garbage can and tossed them in. Now it have the opportunity to start with a clean slate and fabricate another set with a much improved skillset.

The OTC case spreader uses a 1"-14 threaded stud with a smaller 7/8" machined thread on the end as the pin. Knowing I would be inserting this into 3/8" plate and exerting forces and that it would more than likely damage the threads I stopped by my local Bolt & Nut Supply and picked up two 1"-14 x 2.75" bolts. I cut the heads off and turned the shoulder down to .850" diameter approx. .750" long to be used as the new pins to engage with the 3/8" plate I would be using for the adapters.



Wanting to mimic the original OTC threaded pins I cut a screwdriver slot in the opposite end with a slitting saw blade in the mill.






That looks pretty close to original.



Moving on to the plate work, I measured what I thought would be adequate for the adapters and found some 3" wide P&O and cut two into 4.5" long pieces.



After deburring the edges I cut a piece of cardboard the exact size to act as a transfer pattern.



Holding the cardboard into position I tapped the edges with a ball peen hammer to transfer the bolt pattern and machined hole to the cardboard.



Next, using my gasket hole cutting set I cut the cardboard so I could transfer to the plate.



Measuring the bolt pattern to get as accurate as possible. Measure the outside of the bolts first.



Then measure one bolt diameter and subtract that amount from the previous outside dimension from the bolts.




Stay tuned. More to follow.......

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on with the case spreader adapters.

Now with the bolt center to center dimension determined I could transfer that to the plate.



Test fit to ensure the bolt holes lined up and to ensure the measurement for the pin location was correct.



Drilled and reamed the pin hole to .625".



I then moved to the lathe again to machine some .625" high carbon stock down to fit the recesses in the cast differential.



Pins machined, test fit and determining where to drill the 7/8" hole for the case spreader to mate with.



Drilling the 7/8" hole.



Adapter plates after TIG welding the pins into the plates.






Test fit on to the case spreader.



Before closing up the shop I thought I would take one final step to make these look as professional as possible and wiped with some acetone and applied a small amount of cold bluing to the adapter plates.




After a couple hours spent on making two adapter plates that I could have purchased for less than about $80 I can finally move on to actually pulling the carrier out of the axle tonight. Despite the fact that I could have purchased these and had this job half way done it was very gratifying to build these last night. Especially after seeing how far my skills have come from the previous set of adapters that I made 25+ years ago during the infancy of my career.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

I only had about an hour to work on the F150 last night but once I spread the case I got everything out and on the bench ready to clean and swap the gears over.



Using one of my Posi-Lock pullers to remove the pinion yoke from the splines.


Outer pinion race removed.


Inner pinion race removed and everything is ready for a good cleaning.








Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[glockman]

As much as I hate to post after Mike 😁.
I got tires of my seat seam spreading so I stitched it up. Not bad, but not great. Hope it holds out as long as the 6.0 which should only be a few more months right?

 

[zmotorsports]

As much as I hate to post after Mike 😁.
I got tires of my seat seam spreading so I stitched it up. Not bad, but not great. Hope it holds out as long as the 6.0 which should only be a few more months right?
View attachment 142502

View attachment 142503

That turned out good. I absolutely despise upholstery work. Probably because I suck at it but I still despise it. I have to leave it to the professionals or it looks like ass. You did a great job, can't even tell.

 

[zmotorsports]

Didn't get much done on the F150 on Saturday as it seemed like I had a rotating door of people coming in and out of the shop needing little things done or to BS. Makes it hard to get things accomplished and I don't like setting up gears when I can't stay focused on them.

I was able to get all of the little things done anyways such as pinion bearing races replaced, outer axle bearings and seals replaces and differential cover magnet welded in, beadblasted and painted. Now I just need to swap gears over and get them setup and slap everything back together.

Determining the best location for the bung and magnet to clear the ring gear.


Clamped to the fabrication table for drilling.


Using my 1.125" Rotacut annular cutter.


Nice clean and precise hole drilled and deburred.


Test fit.


Verifying argon flow at the torch head.




Bung welded.


Cover fresh out of the bead blasting cabinet.


Painted with satin finish Eastwood extreme chassis paint. This paint holds up quite well for an aerosol.


More to follow.....

 

[zmotorsports]

Cover after drying. Has a nice sheen to it.



Outer axle seals and bearings removed.


Ready to clean and install the new bearing and seal.


Bearing and seal installed.



Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Gawynz]

Now that summer is over I figured it was time to finish the boat...

Throughout the weekend I managed to finish the front casting deck and run all my wiring, definitely all down hill from here. I used a couple coats of epoxy and oiled based paint to seal out all of the wood to prevent moisture rot, I'm so tired of this process, it's boring as hell.

Fish finder will go in the blank spot on the top deck next to the trolling motor and drive lights.


Master battery switch is tucked up in the front of the boat on the floor.


One battery serves the outboard starter and the 12V accessories (live well pump, nav/safety lights, drive lights, and bilge pump). The other two batteries feed the 24V trolling motor (breaker for fuse).


Still need to wire in the on-board charger.




Just need to finish (epoxy, paint, carpet) the floor, back casting deck, fuel tank deck and a the two little storage areas. My biggest concern is weight... It's definitely only a two person boat now, but that's all that's really comfortable to fish with on a small boat anyway. I only took the boat out once after buying it, and the back end really set low in the water and it had a hard time plaining out without people sitting in the front, hence all the batteries up front, hope it works out.

 

[YROC FAB.]

My old sa 200 ran good and we got this thing framed out in a day. 30'x60'

 

[Hickey]

My old sa 200 ran good and we got this thing framed out in a day. 30'x60'

View attachment 142541View attachment 142542

Buggy Boom is awesome!

 

[ivantalk]

Cool

My old sa 200 ran good and we got this thing framed out in a day. 30'x60'



View attachment 142535View attachment 142536View attachment 142537View attachment 142538View attachment 142539View attachment 142540View attachment 142541View attachment 142542

Cool, looks like you have been productive.

 

[YROC FAB.]

Buggy Boom is awesome!

Thats my yard tractor.

 

[The_Lobbster]

Been trying to finish up my Samurai hauler. Finally started to build a ramp today. Current weight is right around 1,000 lbs, probably around 1400 once I add a few more braces to the top rails, and some aluminum decking. Coworker of mine has some old aluminum bleachers I’m getting, and will be repurposing the seat and feet aluminum extrusions as my deck material.

I should add, 6k axle and springs, 14 ply 14.5” tires, so I should in theory be good run up to 4,000 lbs of load, and I don’t think my Sami will even break 3,000, will probably be closer to 2600

 

[zmotorsports]

I only had about an hour and a half last night but got quite a bit accomplished on the F-150 in that short time.


OEM ring gear removed from the carrier as well as the carrier bearings removed in preparation for cleaning.


Side and spider gears removed to prevent them from falling out and dropping them during the disassembly.


New cryogenically treated 4.11 Yukon gear set. I have already run a stone around the mounting surface and cleaned the parts in preparation for assembly.


OEM ring & pinion with inner pinion bearing removed and cleaned ready to package up. Also needed the original shim from under the inner pinion bearing.


New master assembly set at the ready.


There was a bearing change that I noted during the installation of the outer pinion bearing race. Notice the thickness difference? Old (OEM) outer's inner race was thicker but the rollers were shorter than the replacement bearing. They both measure the same overall thickness but definitely noticeable is the longer bearing rollers on the replacement bearing.


Carrier assembled with new carrier bearings, new ring gear pressed on, all ring gear bolts torqued to spec and the side and spider gears reassembled. Carrier assembly is ready for test fitting after getting pinion temporarily installed.


Shot of work area before closing up for the evening.



Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Pile of parts]

Stainless gauge panel finish fab.

How much did those washers cost??? 🤣

 

[Vonski]

How much did those washers cost??? 🤣

A trip to the Gulag if done to Soviet rubles.

 

[OCNORB]

Our’48 Willys has always been a slow evolution as each year we try to make a few improvements. It’s a 4.3L/TH350/AA adapter/Dana 18 setup. The TH350 has been a consistent leak issue, but got much worse this summer. The cooling system has also proven to be borderline and we occasionally had to stop and let it cool on Forrest Lake climb and Miller Hill. The move up to 37” tires has not helped.

So it began with going after the transmission leak. The AA adapter to trans was the biggest place, so I took out the t-case to go after it. The adapter has worked its way loose and it needed a new GM o-ring and fresh loctite on the bolts.

I’ve always wanted to do the TeraLow gears so I started researching them and found that the CJ2A page guys were rolling their own super low gears. Specifically Jeff (jpet) so I contacted him and purchased a set. This combo will yield is 5.07:1 as we used a different intermediate gear than his usual , which is lower.



Case has to be opened up and clearance ground:






Gear alignment requires a touch off the bearing cap housing.


I did this one twice, as I found the bearing land broken out after I pulled the seal.
As long as I was in it this far I grabbed a Novak billet pan. The larger gear requires some massaging to fit. Luckily the piece is quite thick.





As these things tend to cascade, the addition of the deeper pan requires that drop the skidplate/trans mount to clear it. Good excuse to make some fun chips.

 

[Hickey]

View attachment 142638Our’48 Willys has always been a slow evolution as each year we try to make a few improvements. It’s a 4.3L/TH350/AA adapter/Dana 18 setup. The TH350 has been a consistent leak issue, but got much worse this summer. The cooling system has also proven to be borderline and we occasionally had to stop and let it cool on Forrest Lake climb and Miller Hill. The move up to 37” tires has not helped.

So it began with going after the transmission leak. The AA adapter to trans was the biggest place, so I took out the t-case to go after it. The adapter has worked its way loose and it needed a new GM o-ring and fresh loctite on the bolts.

I’ve always wanted to do the TeraLow gears so I started researching them and found that the CJ2A page guys were rolling their own super low gears. Specifically Jeff (jpet) so I contacted him and purchased a set. This combo will yield is 5.07:1 as we used a different intermediate gear than his usual , which is lower.

View attachment 142639

Case has to be opened up and clearance ground:
View attachment 142640


View attachment 142642

View attachment 142643
Gear alignment requires a touch of the bearing cap housing.

View attachment 142644
I did this one twice, as I found the bearing land broken out after I pulled the seal.
As long as I was in it this far I grabbed a Novak billet pan. The larger gear requires some massaging to fit. Luckily the piece is quite thick.
View attachment 142646


View attachment 142648

As these things tend to cascade, the addition of the deeper pan requires that drop the skidplate/trans mount to clear it. Good excuse to make some fun chips.
View attachment 142649

View attachment 142650

5:1 hell yes!

 

[OCNORB]

Decided to ditch the electric fan and old radiator, mounts and start fresh. Wanted a radiator that would bolt to the grill and be narrow enough not to require modification to the headlight housings. 1964 Ranchero/Comet/Mustang rad was ordered. Found that the Ford Explorer fan clutch was shorter than the GM stuff and used the same mounting/threads. Explorer Fan is 16” and I had to trim it down by 1”.







Homebrewed and learned some thin aluminum welding skills. Not great, but I’m not a welder. New trans cooler will be sandwiched between radiator and fan:



Fits and plenty of room.



Also installed a new aluminum water pump, a transmission thermostat, and a compressor to make into an air supply eventually.

After getting it all together I was able to fit it up and test the cooling system and I ran the transfer case gears in with no rear driveline… one leak to fix, but easy enough as it was the rear cover. I had put a magnetic full plug in to make adding fluid easier:





So far so good. The fan will pull a towel into the radiator and hold it at idle. Lots more airflow than the electric fan could muster on high! I measured 180 out of the stat and 157 on the return after it was warmed up.

The amount of material on the full plug magnet has me slightly concerned.

I’ve also purchased an 0411 PCM to replace the ‘97 blackbox. I’m hesitating on doing the upgrade as it runs so well as is.

Should be able to install the rear driveline and test drive the 100 mile break in for the new gears this week.

 

[zmotorsports]

Gears in the F-150 set-up after only a couple of iterations to the shim selections.

Grabbed the box of set-up bearings out of the cupboard to use on the pinion. It's been a while since I've done a Ford 8.8 rear end but found my 8.8. setup bearings easily and quickly.



Case spreader installed and case spread about .015" to allow proper installation of the carrier assembly. As it was going in I paid particular attention to ensure it didn't pull in tight to the pinion and there was at least some backlash. Carrier bolts torqued to spec. @ 80 ft/lbs.



I started out with the original .035" shim under the inner pinion bearing as a starting point. The carrier assembly went in without contact but backlash felt a bit tight. I opted to paint the teeth to run a pattern and determine if I was close on the pinion depth. Pinion depth is what you want to start with and then address backlash after pinion depth is determined. The pinion depth was pretty close using the original .035" shim. I could have left it but if you look at the definitive line (red arrow pointing to in picture) on the drive side of the tooth near the root, this is a bit to defined for me and I thought I could do better. Backlash measure just over .002" so way too tight.


I removed the carrier and the pinion and replaced the .035" shim with a stack equaling .030". This seem to be the perfect depth of the pinion but still backlash was too tight @ .005". I then decided to swap sides of the original carrier shims. Originally the left side measured .273" and the right side measured .270". I swapped them side for side so the thicker was on the right and slightly offset the carrier to the left. This was perfect as you can see in the contact pattern below. It has a nice soft edged pattern between root and face and barely offset toe to heel with .007" backlash. Here is the coast side of the ring gear teeth with a nicely balanced contact pattern.



Very nicely balanced drive side of the ring gear teeth. Painted and checked in two different locations around the ring gear and both resulted in the same .007" backlash after case spreader pressure removed.



I can live with those contact patterns and now to set the pinon preload and put everything back together.

Thanks for looking.

Mike