Project Unicorn - a light duty trail rig

[sidewaysstarion]

Every man knows you can't win without Currie.

I can't win WITH Currie... They sold my a nice shiney very expensive paperweight and have been ducking my emails about the issue, but that's neither here nor there.

 

[cracker]

I can't win WITH Currie... They sold my a nice shiney very expensive paperweight and have been ducking my emails about the issue, but that's neither here nor there.

oh man, that sounds terrible. I thought Currie was the best company ever....When I get a JL and do a crappy build like Cal's, I was going to bolt on Currie axles.

 

[rockclimber]

I can't win WITH Currie... They sold my a nice shiney very expensive paperweight and have been ducking my emails about the issue, but that's neither here nor there.

They probably know you're friends with the crackerbater and have blacklisted you by association .!..!.

 

[cherokeecrawler]

It's been a little bit, how's the build coming along?:repair:

 

[cal]

gathering parts for the front end now. trying not to go broke buying everything at once.

 

[cherokeecrawler]

Ahh, I understand the struggle. When do you think you'd work on it? I love the build. Lots of things i want for my XJ now...:banghead:

 

[cal]

Little bits all the time. I'll be working on the housing this weekend, but I don't know that I'll be posting up pictures until I get to a good checkpoint, so to say.

 

[Ronbo]

Production parts for aFe intake are in stock now. First ones off the line are already installed in my car.

Didn't even need to take a photo. Just hotlinking to their webpage. Probably should have washed under hood of my car before I let them take it.

https://afepower.com/afe-power-54-46209-momentum-st-pro-5r-cold-air-intake-system

Bummer, although it's probably only a matter of time before it's certified;
"This intake system is not CARB exempt at this time and is not legal for sale in California or use on vehicles registered with the California Department of Motor Vehicles."

 

[cal]

Bummer, although it's probably only a matter of time before it's certified;
"This intake system is not CARB exempt at this time and is not legal for sale in California or use on vehicles registered with the California Department of Motor Vehicles."

The EO is currently sitting on an engineers desk at CARB waiting to be stamped.

Any day now.

 

[cal]

Spent a little time polishing the turd over the weekend. Plan is to center the coils over the tube, run the trackbar to the axle side inner C like 4643's axle, and run some more robust bracketry. Since I'm going that far, I may as well rotate the knuckles for proper caster and pinion angle.

If you look at a dana 30, the coils are forward of the inner C and slightly outboarded, causing them to rub the C's. So I'm going to outboard the C a quarter inch on each side to help with that, while I'm at it.

Cut all the brackets except UCA off and ground the housing clean. UCA bracket will get replaced but left it there until I have a replacement to help me locate the new one.

Ground the welds off of the inner C's.

If you haven't done this before, you grind until you can just see the line where the C ends and the tube begins. Its a lot more material off than you'd expect.

Once I have that all the way around, a couple hits with the hammer and the C is moving.

After measuring Dallas's MJ (which has the same lift height as my XJ) I need ~8.5* pinion angle, and am shooting for 6* caster at ride height.

I ordered up Tera's inside sleeve kit for the XJ/TJ 30. 2" .250 tube that they cut .030" off on the lathe to make it easier to install.

I didn't take pictures of it, but I welded a 1.5" washer to the end of a chunk of 3/4" tube and spent a half hour scraping all the crap out of the inside of the axle tube. A shocking amount of dirt came out..

Drilled about 8 3/8" holes in the housing for plug welds.

Tube went in this far by hand.

Tube went in this far swinging one handed with a rubber mallet.

Another couple hits two handed got it to here.

From there it only moved 1/2" or so at a time but kept moving and went in without an issue.

Now to fill the plug welds, weld the knuckle, and drink a beer.

Dallas decided we need the .035 wire for this job (knuckles). Not often he upsizes.

I didn't manage to get the other side done, I only had a few hours to spend in the shop, so I'll get the other end done next week and drop it off to be geared and wait for the condescending comments from Avery about how I should't waste my time when its not a 14 bolt.

 

[cracker]

So all the weight of a dana 60 with the strength of a dana 30?

 

[cal]

I'm not sure that adding 9.5 pounds counts as the weight of a dana 60.

 

[freerider15]

Out boarding the C's a 1/4"?

How are you controlling axle shaft rotation axis in relation to the ball joints?

 

[cal]

That's not changing?

 

[sidewaysstarion]

Are you planning to run 1/4" less spline engagement in the carrier or are you getting custom length shafts?

 

[cal]

If I were doing custom shafts, I'd go a lot more than 1/4".

I talked about it with Ten Factory, and at 27 spline with 300 horsepower they don't feel you need more than 1/4" to 3/8" spline engagement. The bigger limiting factory is how far you can move before you're missing the oil seal, which you get about 1/2" safe space to work with - so I went 1/4" and left some wiggle room.

 

[freerider15]

If I were doing custom shafts, I'd go a lot more than 1/4".

I talked about it with Ten Factory, and at 27 spline with 300 horsepower they don't feel you need more than 1/4" to 3/8" spline engagement. The bigger limiting factory is how far you can move before you're missing the oil seal, which you get about 1/2" safe space to work with - so I went 1/4" and left some wiggle room.

Hmmm, the engineer in me says 1/4 to 3/8" engagement is far less than one *should* run (partially also coming from the two grad level engineering materials courses I'm taking currently), since that would greatly increase the stress per unit area on the shaft.

I suppose with the D30 the unit bearing hold the stub, which in turn locates the axis of the shaft, so yeah no worry there now that I think about it. Was thinking back to full float style and what would be needed to retain the shaft in a given area.

 

[cal]

Either way, I'm sure that reducing the spline engagement by .250" isn't going to matter one little bit.

 

[freerider15]

In this case, agreed, it isn't likely to be an issue.

However, if I had a vendor tell me that only 1/4" to 3/8" of engagement is needed, I'd be either:

1.) Thinking I'm talking to a sales person who really doesn't know what they're talking about
2.) Very seriously question their engineering team (if they have one) :laugh:

 

[cal]

I feel like Eric Filar probably knows what he's talking about.

Granted, he's not an engineer, but he does have steel toed flip flops and a margarita machine, so I tend to trust him.