landy_andy

Did some more trial assembly on the front axle with the custom brake caliper brackets, worked out well & can now get the other side cut. Next to assemble the back axle and work on suspension brackets.

Thanks guys, will have a play with the old one. Am working to make them out of flat sheet and I can get waterjet cut, so was working off the original lower mounts about a inch off the outside of the chassis rails.

Hi, Can anyone confirm that the later lower steering column, part #QME500031 will replace the early type. Looking to make some space for custom inner wings on my D100 project with challenge style wings. Thanks !

Assembly jig being tested out, just need some 5” x 5” tube now to put the rear axle together.

Had one of the C’s pressed onto the short side axle tube, now to design the link & spring brackets.

Started to put the assembly jig together at the weekend....then found an oops... 🙄 Replacement should be here later this week.... and I corrected the drawing so when the bend lines are marked on the water jet, it folds up the correct way.

Got some time to grind off the welds on the inner C’s, slit the stub of axle tube and hammer them out. Quick clean up with the wire wheel and there ready to install onto the new pieces of axle tube. Also picked up the latest batch of water jet cut parts, assembly jig, spring seats, front & rear brake caliper brackets and the drilling jig for the front Ford spindles to the Dodge unit bearing pattern.

Of cause...we can always go play in the woods here 😃 Island wheel’in

Not used for a lot at the moment, can’t seem to get it finished.... 😕 I have 35’s on it at present but want to change those out to 36 or 37’s, all depends on if I change the wheels too as finding 15” tires that are not boggers is getting slim pickings now. Once done...be heading into the mountains, have 350,000km of dirt roads here to go explore then off to Moab 😃

Mike, are those Strange ‘S’ series 3rd member cases in those axles ?

Am using new BJ’s for now, realistically if they last 50,000km that’s prob 5yrs+ of use based on we only get 6 months of summer here if we’re lucky. Was going to stick with 3.50:1 but assembled these tonight..... and measuring the WMS to the top BJ nut flat casting edge is 10”. On the truck the spacer & washer combo are 1.75” thick to give me the 10” of clearance from the WMS to the spring to miss the BJ nut. So, that means I’ll need to build the axles out to a WMS/WMS of 64.5” to fit the front correctly. My plan was to build the rear axle, fit it and work on the front next winter.... but.... plans change and I’ll just build both now at the same time. Will save a few bucks on water jet cutting setup as I can combine parts for both in the same thickness of material. Probably won’t get them on for this summer as I need to spread the cost of the 3rd’s out unless I can find some S/H lockers but those are rare in 35 spline or the worn out.

First of the 99-04 SD inner C’s landed in the mail box today, now to remove the old axle tube stub and get it pressed onto a piece of 3.5” DOM. I can then start to work out where the spring perch will fall and begin designing the combined link mount/perch brackets. The assembly jig water jet cut parts are at the fab shop being bent up, need to pick up a length of 5” x 5” tube next to clamp them round.

Hi, have been following Nate’s channel for a while... problem with using tons is there a much wider WMS/WMS (74”) than the D100 (61”), are 8 lug unit bearings and have deeper 3rd so on 35’s it really limits under axle clearance.... and they weigh a ton too ! As I want to keep using my existing Stazworks double beadlock rims, I would have to redrill the unit bearings again if they need to be replaced and that’s a pain, could reduce width of front axle when doing the side to side swap but then you’d need new inner axle shafts. Rear axle would need reducing in width too, again new axle shafts required and they’d probably need a regear. I’d also have to do a brake conversion as well to fit inside my 15” rims. When you look at the costs involved in doing the width reduction, gears and brakes it makes the savings you can get on the axles significantly less, add into that the loss in ground clearance and the additional weight, the 609’s make more sense. Now, to pull the axle tubes from the housing is easily possible using a jig that’s been posted a few times on utube but again, that’s as much work if not more than just fabricating a new housing. For me, it works out a better option to go the 609 route... it also keeps the truck more streetable as we have to cover our tires here with fenders or you could possibly get a ticket & have to take it for a vehicle inspection. A bit of tire poke isn’t normally an issue but we can’t get away with running no or very minimal fenders here like they can in a lot of the US states. In some states you can even run full tube buggies on the roads as long as you have lights & insurance.

They can get quite involved.... my RHD to LHD conversation using just RHD dash parts... 😉

Did a bit of measuring up today, stacked some washers & a spare wheel spacer out 1.5”. With the wheel mounted up it doesn’t look too bad, would result in a WMS/WMS of 64”. Will see how the numbers stack up when I get the inner C’s this week, hopefully we can keep the additional axle tube length to an inch or less.

Complete make things easier....hopefully things improve soon for you guys in old blighty....

I made the new loom for my D100 using primary colour TXL & SXL wire with a heat shrink band to copy the LR scheme, fuse box was from VWP. Connectors are AMP type. Loom is split into sections for easy service & repairs.

Nice to see your making progress, I sorta slipped backwards as I’m now in the midst of piecing together some 609 axles. Decided before I finish it and go break all the 24 spline internals, I might as well upgrade to 35 spline... been off the road 10 years now, another isn’t going to hurt. Also, gives me the option to easily swap the hubs out to 8 on 6.5” using junk yard parts if I can’t purchase 15” tires anymore. i might need to increase axle width too due to the wider hub/knuckle/inner C over the rover one, will see exactly once I get my used C’s from the US. Link to axle build thread

I guess if you already have some built 3rd’s that’s a good way to go... this work ?

Or just go for tons... check out the D2 build on Dirtlifestyle

Scored some used 99-04 Super Duty C’s off a guy on Pirate, just waiting for them to get here. Did some quick measuring up and I may need to add an inch or so to each side of the axle tubes as the new hub/knuckle/C assembly is about 2” wider from wheel mounting face to end of axle tube. However, once I get the C’s it looks like I may be able to attach one side of the lower spring mount to the back of the C like the later Super Duty’s and gain an inch. So, work on the rear axle has been put on hold till I sort this out as I want the front & rear WMS/WMS to match.

Going on my 100”, there have been some Rover 609 builds on Pirate but they used kingpin D60 and Spidertrax parts... these are about as cheap as you can get whilst using parts that are readily available in the pick-a-part yards, thus cheap’ish build. The axle casings are looking like they’ll be about half the price of Trail Gear or Ruffstuff ones.... shipping really makes them expensive. Axle shafts will be 35 spline all round, with ARB’s front & rear, could just use stock 30/31 spline stuff but the 35 is not much more in CrMo so it’s really a no brainer to upgrade and get the benefit of 1.5” diameter shafts. Have a build thread on D’Source, been at it 10yrs+ in between building a house, work, boat build... finally getting it done ready for retirement 😉 D90 rebuild thread Will keep posting here if ya want...

Any progress... ?

If anyone is interested in building some cheap'ish 609 axles I'll post up some info.... there based on Ford, Dodge & Chevy parts, so, am not sure how available these are in the UK. The axle casings are digital design downloads so you could just use those & graft on some other manufacturers ends ? Linky to axle designs - Diyoffroad.com Anyway... here's a few pic's of the parts being assembled for the rear as that'll get finished first and the front knuckles that I'm still working the details out on. Cheers, Andy

I don't frequent here much these days as living in Canada now.. just happened to be browsing & thought you'd like to see these pics.... I made them way back in 2005. They use commonly available HD Firestone bags... if you want more info drop me a PM. Cheers, Andy