Root Moose
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- ON, Canada
This is turd polishing of the first order since I'm doing this to a HP Dana 30 but this could be applied to any axle you'd want to truss.
The truss is to be welded across the top of the axle between the UCAs. I started cutting out some cardboard templates and got to thinking...
Instead of using an I beam type shape maybe it should be an inverted U shape out of a section of 2x4 box tube.
Once upon a time I knew about second area moments and such. I could go look that stuff up I suppose...
If the I beam in A is composed of 3/8" peices welded together while the beam in B is 1/4" u channel I think the larger moment area is on A because of the thicker top flange. But it isn't a large difference.
Is this correct?
B would be better in resisting bending in the fore<->aft orientation for certain, right?
I think B would be a PITA to cut/fit but not terrible. I'd have to make sure the part that is welded to the axle tube has lots of a gaps in it to keep it from filling with water/mud/slush and rusting the tube from the inside of the truss. If I offset the gaps from the front side to back side then I could weld both sides of where the beam attaches to the tube.
The I beam style has nothing like this to be worried about.
Which would you do?
Also, the D30 diff housing itself is supposedly quite flexible and this is one of the big causes of gear failures (or so I've read/heard).
I was thinking that since the top of the housing is trussed this would minimize the flex in the cast section a fair amount. Especially if the U shape in option B above was used.
For the bottom it might be possible to sort of replicate this U shape profile by cutting a tube such that it is ~45 degrees relative to the ground but cut/shaped to match the diff housing. Let's see what rudimentary Photoshop skills will display:
Is this worth the effort? Will it stiffen the housing appreciably? Will it be too much of a rock catcher? I'm not in the south west but we do have the occasional rock in the bottom of the boulder holes up here.
The truss is to be welded across the top of the axle between the UCAs. I started cutting out some cardboard templates and got to thinking...
Instead of using an I beam type shape maybe it should be an inverted U shape out of a section of 2x4 box tube.
Once upon a time I knew about second area moments and such. I could go look that stuff up I suppose...
If the I beam in A is composed of 3/8" peices welded together while the beam in B is 1/4" u channel I think the larger moment area is on A because of the thicker top flange. But it isn't a large difference.
Is this correct?
B would be better in resisting bending in the fore<->aft orientation for certain, right?
I think B would be a PITA to cut/fit but not terrible. I'd have to make sure the part that is welded to the axle tube has lots of a gaps in it to keep it from filling with water/mud/slush and rusting the tube from the inside of the truss. If I offset the gaps from the front side to back side then I could weld both sides of where the beam attaches to the tube.
The I beam style has nothing like this to be worried about.
Which would you do?
Also, the D30 diff housing itself is supposedly quite flexible and this is one of the big causes of gear failures (or so I've read/heard).
I was thinking that since the top of the housing is trussed this would minimize the flex in the cast section a fair amount. Especially if the U shape in option B above was used.
For the bottom it might be possible to sort of replicate this U shape profile by cutting a tube such that it is ~45 degrees relative to the ground but cut/shaped to match the diff housing. Let's see what rudimentary Photoshop skills will display:
Is this worth the effort? Will it stiffen the housing appreciably? Will it be too much of a rock catcher? I'm not in the south west but we do have the occasional rock in the bottom of the boulder holes up here.
