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Cheap'ish 609 axle builds


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  • 2 weeks later...

New reamer arrived & I modified the knuckles for the Chevy TRE’s. Will use some rubber sheet to make the dust seals.

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The ‘Freddilink’ arrived and wouldn’t fit the stock Chevy drag link, even though it’s advertised as being for it... so, reamed it out deeper too and am getting the back machined for clearance.

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5 hours ago, landroversforever said:

Is that how the chevvy TREs normally fit? They don't look like they will cope with much misalignment? 

The Dodge knuckles are a bit thicker where they mount, if it binds I’ll get the back faces machined down a bit.

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Some bling arrived today 🤩

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Can now see how the front inner axles will sit with the new stub shaft bushings. Axle seals are a nice piece and quite reasonable too.

Also picked up the Freddilink after getting it machined. Plenty of clearance now for the drag link TRE with & without the dust boot.

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Next to make up the steering link and buy some more parts.... $$$

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

The cheap chinese 7/8”-18 taps arrived today so I could chase the TRE threaded bungs as they tightened up a bit after flowing the welds with the TIG. Clearance looks great at full lock & we should have a bit better steering angle too.

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15 hours ago, landroversforever said:

Nice!

Are you concerned about adjustability of the tracking with the steering cranked at each end? 

Not really, just need to pop the ends out to adjust it. At the end of the day once it’s done, shouldn’t need doing again.

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on heavy good's vehicle's with cranked steering rod's they use a sleeve on one side with a left hand thread on the outside and right hand thread on the inside , so you can adjust the tracking without taking the steering knuckel's apart.

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9 hours ago, hurbie said:

on heavy good's vehicle's with cranked steering rod's they use a sleeve on one side with a left hand thread on the outside and right hand thread on the inside , so you can adjust the tracking without taking the steering knuckel's apart.

Yes, we have that on our Western Star plow trucks at work. Problem is finding one after market that fit the Chevy threads and your then introducing another area of weakness. For the few times it needs adjustment it’s an acceptable compromise.

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10 hours ago, Bowie69 said:

Forgive me if already stated, is this a road-going vehicle? 

Around town & forest roads... we have about 450,000km of them in BC. Attached is a snip from a backroads map book, all the lines are Forest Service Roads used for logging & fire management access as well as recreation.

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Edited by landy_andy
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  • 11 months later...

Bit of an update, have killed the Photobucket account so not sure how long the pictures will handing around. If there is interest I can edit all the posts & add them back in.

Have now got the rear axle under the truck, working on making some new links as their length is slightly different and I wanted to swap to bungs with hex’s on them, something that wasn’t available when I originally made them.

Picked up a new D1 pitman arm and have reamed that out to suit the Chevy TRE’s I’m using, it’ll need some beefing up around the end & tabs adding for the Gwyn Lewis hydro assist ram to attach to.

On the front the old axle is all out & am starting to install the new one. Have a new frame side track bar bracket drawn up & out for cutting. Once I have the new frame x-member & link brackets installed I’ll be able to make up the links.

Rest of the 3rd member parts are on order, am using Yukon housings with a spool in the rear & a Zip locker in the front. Am hoping on getting it all back on the road by end of June, time and $ allowing…..

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Temporarily installed one of the new outer front link mounts, the x-member and got the new axle squared under the truck at ride height. Tube lengths are measured and we’ll get some 2” OD x 1/4” wall DOM tomorrow. Looks like  the track bar axle mount will fall just to the left of the fill plug. Need to get the new pitman arm modified & installed to make the drag link up, then we can finalize the track bar.

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Got the new radius link mounts bolted on, had to add an access hole behind the x-member to get the nut plate in for the 1/2” anti-rotation bolts. Hopefully have all the new links back from the fab shop later this week, decided to get the cap passes done by a real welder 😉

 

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Having the correct tool to support the 3rd’s makes setting them up much safer. I wouldn’t want one falling on my foot ☹️

Making a pin wrench from some old tube & a couple of M8 bolts was quick and saves a lot of messing around 👍
 

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