Haha! Actually, you just reminded me I wanted to take them down this weekend. No joke, I’m going right now while I’m thinking about it. When you see they’re not there, you can take credit.
Maaaaaaan, I love your content! I’ve watched your 4-link videos a dozen times to figure out how to build mine. I was watching this one thinking to myself, “okay, the guy who taught me suspension isn’t installing his pinion angle towards the ground, is he?”😂😂😂 I thought it must be the camera angle. Well done as always from a rainy shop in Oregon. 👍👍
@@GarageFabdon’t beat yourself up too bad, prone to have more minor brain farts while trying to work and simultaneously create entertaining content. Happy new year bro! Here’s to 2024 and making big progress on projects
That’s insanely flattering, Greg, thank you. If you’re interested in learning how those welds are made, you might find this video valuable. MIG Like Mankandy: Techniques for Stacking Dimes with a MIG Welder th-cam.com/video/V1-BD1Z0kOE/w-d-xo.html Cheers my friend!
When I saw your visitor, I thought it was Justin. When he started talking, I knew it was him. I loved his comment of that HOA. To bad about the cracking. Better luck next time.
I have to say that I don’t know if I subscribed for the information or the humor but it is a good time getting both. We all go through the mistakes, do you let them get you down or look at it with a smile and correct? That may be your best teaching point. Anyways, thanks for sharing your journey the way only you can.
That’s a deep question! I think anyone that claims to greet their failures with a smile is full of 💩. My reaction depends greatly on the specifics of each case. If I’m in a hurry I’m much more annoyed than if I’m not. If it’s the 5th time I’ve made the same mistake I’m furious. Sometimes the fault is so ridiculous I can’t help but laugh. I do however have a deep belief that failure is large part of learning, is natural, and is not an indication that I’m stupid. After the initial frustration wears off (usually very quickly) I can absolutely smile and move forward.
You could send me your address in a secured way (not publicly posted on a youtube comment), and I might show up. I've done it before.... might be a while, but I like hanging out and building stuff.
I dreaded welding a truss to my axle. After a lot of thought and looking around, I learned about nomacast (may be misspelled) stick welding rods. They are for welding cast iron and claim to require no preheating. They are a little pricey, but well worth the money. I can say they worked great for me. I still rapped the axle with a fiberglass blanket to help even cooling after the weld. As soon as I heard the pop in your video, I knew exactly what happened.
Interesting! My welder is even set up to do stick. Never used it though. I’d have to practice a little first. Haven’t stick welded in almost 20 years. 😳
I follow you both and think its cool you guys can hang and collab. I have yet to find someone in my area. Also although mistakes are never fun, its great that you showed it and that a fix wasnt the end of the world.... always a joy and informative guys.
You guys had me laughing the entire episode. When you stopped your preheat I was a little concerned and as soon as I heard that telltale ping noise I knew exactly what it was. Still good progress and you'll get it fixed up. Happy 2024!
when you are getting the tanks filled, Pick up a rose but tip for your torch. It'll give you a broader flame for pre AND post heating. also run to harbor freight and get some of those fiberglass welding blankets to bundle everything up when you are done to slow down the cooling. We had to do this when welding cast iron at a shop i used to work at but it 100 will help you out here.
@foxcrf450 a space heater would not come close to working. The cast iron needs to be almost red hot over 800° then after welding it needs to be brought back to ambient temperature over 8 or more hours.
@@chrisbooge2217 I have to disagree with you there. 4-500 degrees I feel is good. It doesn't need to glow, I'm not annealing it. Granted idk what temp a propane heater runs but it would heat the housing up slowly, you can even weld with it in place and then cool slowly. Thats what I'm gonna do when I shave my AAM 11.5 🤷♂
@FOXCRF450RIDER First, i said "almost" red hot. Second, it's not about how hot the flame is. It's about the ability to deliver and maintain the heat. For example, a cutting torch will deliver a lot of heat in a very small area, allowing you to cut a line through a piece of metal, but if you want to bend the same metal you have to switch to a rosebud that can deliver more heat over a lager area. A propane space heater transfers heat through inferred not through direct contact, which is much less efficient than a rosebud on a oxyacetylene torch. It would take hours in an oven propane or electric to build heat in a part, out in the open air you would never be able to introduce or retain enough heat to be able to weld on cast iron with out running into thermal shock cracking welds.
This was one of your best videos so far! Condolences on the cracking, I very much know the feeling of a sinking gut at the moment you heard the ping of the crack. The suggestion above about purchasing a rosebud tip for your torch is an excellent suggestion. I would add picking up a couple of heat sticks. These will allow you to monitor the temperature during the welding process, if you decide to re-weld it. However, I would not discount the suggestion of the epoxy welding putty. Unless you plan to use the truck in a tractor, pulling contest having the truss welded to the tubes should be more than sufficient. The JB weld can be made to cover the cracks and would add some vibration dampening as you wanted. I am very curious to see the follow up video on your solution to this issue. Hope the mighty Max is ready in time for you to bring it to the grand national car show this summer! I am targeting my truck build debut for that event as well, Ed, would love to meet you there! Your channel has been a huge inspiration for me. Keep up the great work.
Assuming you mean that the front of your differential is pointing upward 1.5 degrees, yes! This is the ideal setup for MOST vehicles. However, this setup is NOT OK if you have a Double Cardan joint. If you haven’t already, check out my video on driveshafts that explains the reasons why angles are so important. If that doesn’t answer your questions, lemme know and I’ll try to assist. Suspension Basics 06: A Better U Joint Driveshaft Video th-cam.com/video/YgNZfIR-8Ng/w-d-xo.html
Live and Learn. I used to work with a couple old bucks that used to weld cast a lot and what they would do if the piece was too large to be placed in an oven to decrease the temp slowly and evenly they used to do what they called peening. They would literally sit there with a small ball peen hammer and tap the cast until it cooled while periodically wiping a torch over it at increasing intervals. Something about relieving tension in the cast... He would count to 10 and run the torch over it. then count to 20 and run it buy again and so on till he would get to like a hundred. It was a long process but I never saw any of their stuff crack. good luck!
Hey Aaron, for $5 a piece I went to the junk yard and bought about 10 scissors jack and screw type bottle jacks and they worked great when I set the height on my Trike frame and set pinion angles
You had to look similar to a dog being whistled at when that cracked! lol We tend to raise the transmission angle(even though that usually means more sheet metal work) to prevent the pinion from pointing in the sky.
In hindsight I should’ve done exactly that, Jake. I already needed to modify the rear of the tunnel. Changing the trans angle rather than simply matching the diff as I did will also greatly reduce the U joint operating angle when cruising low. I think I’ll be ok in that regard but it doesn’t make it less of poor decision. 🤦🏻♂️
Braze it with Aluminum bronze TIG filler, goober. Love the show. Have learned a lot here. I’ve repaired a pretty badly cracked engine block with the braze method. Give it a shot!
In my experience at doing this here’s how I approach doing rear ends. Drag,low riders, street and even 3000 HP Puling truck rear ends. I use a solid steel precision ground shaft passed thru the housing with aluminum spacers/bushings that simulate OD of bearing races in 3rd member and axle flanges ID= precision ground shaft diameter. This keeps everything aligned. Then while welding it out you can rotate and sense/feel the drag on the solid round bar. This allows you to sequence welds to counter act the “pull” from each weld. Also cast steel or Iron needs to be stick welded with 55% nickel or 99% nickel. Stretching the welds by peening it to stress relieve and post cool slow as possible. Good luck in the future!!
As soon as I saw you setting the pinion angle (the first time :D) I had a yelling at the screen moment .. "Aaron .. that's pointing *down*" 🤣🤣 Oh well - no harm, no foul!
Yeah. That up or down tripped me and dad on his Hudson. Didn't weld anything before noticing thankfully. 1946 Hudson truck is officially on the road, 250 ford engine, c4 trans. And I don't remember what rear. No vibrations.
@@GarageFab Hot damn right from the man! I am actually looking back to find you building that massive axle truss. Just run another bead over it, it'll be fine, maybe.
Great progress! A shame that the welds cracked but pretty awesome they occurred while you were filming. If no one knew what that sounded like they do after this. Live and learn 🙂
There is a captured nut welded to the inside tab and an access hole on the outside. I will be enlarging the hole a little as well as adding some holes in the front and rear because trying to get the bolt in as a wee bit more challenging than expected. 😆
In addition to the comments about a rosebud tip, I have had good luck using an old school electric radiant heater for slow cool down, which takes much much longer than the initial heat up. The torch will do a good job getting the metals hot quickly to weld, but once the welding is done, put that heater up close and personal to the welded joints and let it go over night. If you weld a little each day, you can keep the heater focused on the fresh welds for hours after. Then just reduce the temp a little each hour for a few hours. And keep the garage door closed so that cold air isn't working against you.
I've had really good luck welding cast iron/steel, and I use pretty simple tools. On a big piece like that, the gas welder gives quick heat, so the weld starts well, but the cool down phase needs to be really slow. I use 2 of the electric heat guns during the cool off, and I try to point them at the areas that were welded the most. If you heat the top only, the whole piece will cool off too fast, so make sure that the whole cast section is WAY too hot to touch, before you start welding. Then keep the whole unit as hot as you can for as long as you can. If you had a hot plate or maybe one of those outdoor turkey fryer burners, that would probably help tremendously. Keep it as hot as you can, and lower the heat every half hour or so. If it takes three or four hours for it to get to ambient temp, that would be excellent. KMF
Pinion angles, radius arms, control arms what every ya wanna call them this week. I often thought about on a 4 link if you attached the upper links at the body to a short ram mercury tilt/trim ram. They don't ever fade they are very strong and very precise. If your good enough with electronics which i am not. you can program the pump to turn on/off to add/remove fluid to keep the pinion angle where ever you want it while the car is in motion or just going up and down. If they can do that with engine valves this should be a breeze to an electronics nerd. Like a gps leveler on earth moving equipment. It would have to have a tiny hydraulic reservoir of course not squishy air. You would be the first in the world to do such a simple yet complicated thing. Your Welcome.
That’s interesting! My first thought was that it wouldn’t be necessary with a parallel 4 link since the pinion remains constant. (when built accurately) BUT a parallel 4 link lacks some traction on acceleration. Better traction is attained by installing shorter upper bars and angling them downwards in the front. The problem with that is a drastic pinion angle change when changing height so it’s not ideal with adjustable suspension. That’s where you come in. You could have shorter angled upper bars for maximum grip that can change length to maintain pinion angle. 👊 Very clever indeed.
Is rear axle really need to be reinforced? I'm on my C10 project with 4 link and I'm going to use stack mounting and a little bit o reinforcing where uniball joints will be. Thank you for your work I'm and learning and enjoying at the same time.
It’s often not needed. I built a truss for 2 reasons; One, I shortened the axle which required cutting the axle tube and welding it back together. I wanted a little something to make sure my welds would last. My truss is way overkill for that. Two, I’m a TH-cam content creator and a truss gave me more content. Honestly, a lot of things I do aren’t “necessary”. But if it would make an interesting video, I’ll do it. For the C10, reinforcements aren’t usually needed because there’s so much space between the wheels and the frame so you can place your link bars on the outside. The closer your wheels the vehicle weight is applied, the better it is for the axle tube. The Mightymax on the other hand has a wider frame so the link bars and springs are usually placed on the inside of the frame rails. That leaves a lot more room between the wheels and the point that the vehicle weight sits so some sort of axle reinforcement is a pretty good idea.
Happy New Year... I am so glad you did this video now.. I just got the same angle finder and when I put it on my engine it reads 88.something.. so I was very concerned.. now I see yours is about the same im ok with it... my next step is to figure out what it better for my truck.. ( i know we spoke on fb about this).. since im NOT doing bags.. just a coilover.. is parallel 4 link still better or triangulated?
With static height suspension, you’ve got all the choices. Parallel is far easier to understand and set up. The triangulated is great but might be a little more complicated h than necessary. Also the triangulated bars take up a lot of room. It forces you to relocate your fuel tank. Either set the angle finder against the component to be measured sideways or if using the magnet side, just subtract your reading from 90 to get your actual angle. 90-88= 2°
Preheat it to around 800-1000 degrees Fahrenheit. Weld it then wrap it with welding blankets or bury it in sand. Want it to cool down slow as possible. I've heard of people successfully welding cast cold but never seen it done.
Before I knew what I was doing. I stick welded a cracked machinist vice at work. 6 years later and it still works perfectly. Now I know how to weld, and I will never hit a perfect 90 angle again!
Thanks for another fine video and while the cracking is unfortunate, great effort to capture the sound of it on the video! How long after you welded it did it crack? I'm paranoid about how the axle tubes on my Ford 8.8 will bend when welding on the parallel 4 link brackets. Had you given any thought to making a jig with something like 12" thick angle bolted to each housing end, and the angle secured to a table? At a guess would you say that locking the housing ends into place like that would prevent the tubes bending under the heat, or would they just spring out to their new shape as soon as you unbolted them from the jig?
Hi Aaron! Happy 2024 brother.when you said weld cast.i was like "wait for it" "wait for it" then crackkkkķkk.ye man on cast.get you some Fahrenheit strips.you cant just hope its hot enough.stay scientific.all these different metals mixed with different elements to make them have different characteristics.
Hi, love your videos, been a subscriber for a while now. I don't know if i missed anything, but with you fully welding that brace, how are you going to tighten the bolts that hold the bushes. Also, to my knowledge it is not really a good idea using oxy aceltylene to pre heat cast, as one introduce foreign gases into the steel that way, normal LPG is always more advisable. Top man. 👌👍
Whoops. Forgot the first half of the question… There is an access hole in truss to remove, insert, and tighten the bolt. The nut is an all metal crimped captured nut. If it breaks off I’m screwed. I’ll have to cut more holes in the truss which I’m considering doing anyway. 🤔
I have a question about an older video, building the armored diff cover for the watts link. You ended up drilling a hole in the stock cover to clear the bolt. I would not like to have to do this if I build one of these, as I know this can mess up how the fluid flows while driving and cause problems. (You even mentioned this in the video, as why you wanted to use the new cover over the stock one). So, my question is this, would there be any negative's/problems you would see in changing the angels and length of the plates to move the watts bushing mount bolt further away from the stock cover, so you don't have to drill a clearance hole in the stock cover?
Hey Sabashtion! I don’t see a problem in doing that at all. Another option is the bridge style Watts link that doesn’t attach to the diff cover at all. If you haven’t already, check out this video from my buddy Justin who makes that style. th-cam.com/video/YyFMnZARqEI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=S8NR9seuWBuvdHO_
Great video's, thanks. I'm not a welder - just a glober. BUT IC Weld just did a cast job with some diff type of mig wire and FABRATS sure welds a lot of diffs too. Of course the guy who is showing up to help has forgotten more that what most welders know about sticking metal together so you"ll be ok.
First off - Happy New Year Aaron. Bugger about the cracks. Just wondering if a steel hoop around the housing bolts welded to the truss might be a better option? I know you will get it sorted. Anyhow - great video M8. Keep it coming.
Tell Justin his viper is dirty...shoulda left the cover on. I was in suspense over the 83.3.... i thought you were gonna do it, i yelled NO! at the scream even
I choose to spend my Viper budget on fuel, rear tires, and bi-monthly professional detailing. I'm not interested in a car cover. I bought the car to drive it 😉
I can only answer the first question because it’s still pretty new. I haven’t received my first bill yet! It’s freaking incredible! My wife came out a couple nights ago and said it was warmer in the garage than it was in the house. Most winters I find myself not wanting to go out. It has upped my productivity a whole bunch. And it has a thermostat which is fantastic.
Hello, thanks for your great work and explanations. May I ask a question. Or two...1. We're driving a few Land Rover Defender with permanent 4x4. Looking under them I see a slightly angled transfer case. The rear points downward, the front upward. That brings the long rear drive shaft nearly in a straight line to the rear differential input shaft, so the U-Joints are not really bend at drive height. The front output shaft points up therefore. And the front differential input shaft also points up. So both are never parallel and the U-Joints are never bend at the same angle. In addition, Land Rover hasn't used a 90 degree rotated U-Joint in this generation of the 110 Defender, but 45 degree. Isn't that strange? So they are not in phase. Do you have an explanation for this? Cheers AWo
I was gonna say, the center housing of a Ford 8.8 is cast iron. Your best bet is to braze it, your local welding supply shop should stock Silicone Bronze filler wire for your MIG. Believe it or not, that's all you need.
I have had the same. Forget what i was welding. But i gave up. Wrong filler metal and not able to control heat. Had a good spare anyways. You could probably just weld the two tubes to the brace and be done.
It depends on the suspension design. A parallel 4 link, no. Most factory suspensions, absolutely. If you’re not sure, be safe and set it at ride height for vehicles with static suspension. (Metal springs) or set it with the vehicle at half-travel on adjustable suspensions.
Absolutely! As long as it’s close. Heims don’t have a lot of usable adjustment, but having them on the top and bottom will help. If you need the nose of the differential to point up more, extend the upper bars using the heims and shorten the lowers. 👍
Oh man. It’s been so long since I worked on this part of the project I forgot I had to deal with that still. My buddy Justin came by to try and TIG it with stainless rod I believe. It worked until I ran out of gas for the oxygen acetylene torch for preheat.
It would have been easier to mount the rear axle 6.2° up since the engine is 6.2° down at the flywheel. That way your U-joint angles will cancel themselves out.
My apologies, Larry, but I strongly disagree. This would be correct if the front joint was a double cardan but it is not. I’ve got another video that may greatly benefit you. th-cam.com/video/YgNZfIR-8Ng/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Bne1lhjL5lEGnh0q
Zero the cube on the engine so its readable from the right side. Set pinion from 1-3 degrees nose down. Make sure it doesn't go above 0 degrees into a nose up situation as it moves through the suspension range, particularly under acceleration. Easy. Done.
Pretty risky commitment welding in the 4-link without knowing your driveshaft angle. You will need to be between a 9-11 degree driveshaft angle to maintain a
Hmmm..I kind of thought that the pinion angle should NOT be identical to the crankshaft angle - as it allows float/slop to universal joints as it is 'neutral'. THAT of course assumes a steady state to exist between the rear axle universal and the crankshaft universal - but is a dynamic drive-chain assembly, is not likely. That accepted, I was under the impression that a degree or two difference is desirable or give the universal bearings some beneficial pre-load/or tension - allowing them to run more smoothly and therefore have a longer life. Hmmm...or was that idea coming from the half shafts? Oh well, what do I know???
@@GarageFab I have only done it to weld to cast steel center sections. Cast iron may be different. It might just be that after a couple of welds the cast finally has enough heat in it. 😂 I only have a map gas torch so who knows.
Unless you plan on hanging the truck by the rear axle from a crane and swinging it like a wrecking ball, the truss is so overkill it is not even funny (in fact just the tabs by themselves would have never failed in this application). The welds holding the truss to the axle tubes will strengthen the axle way beyond your needs. There is absolutely no need to add additional welds to the cast iron center section. If you're not putting 5000 lbs of torque through the rear axle, trying to run 6 second 1/4 miles or jumping 40 feet in the air like a monster truck just grind your cracked welds off make it look pretty and leave it alone.
Weld cast with high nickel content rods, or even stainless. Weld short welds, like 1cm at a time and use a compressed air hammer to even out the tensions after every weld. I prefer MMA to weld cast stuff.
the pinion angle should be 2 to 4 degrees less than engine angle so when you mash the gas it line up the same as engine. your always going to have twist in the axle why not adjust for it under load where it needed most.
Bro, Cutting Edge Engineering Australia made a good video trying to weld cast with a bunch of preheating, he destroyed a $25K tractor housing, same pinging cracks you got. ICWELD also recently did a good video welding a cast tractor housing, no preheating. Just a ton of tack welds done over a period of time To keep the part cool and it lasted with no problem. Do a little more research before you destroy your housing.
Made my day hearing it crack, that's great you caught that on record.
I’d didn’t make my day!
Thanks for proving that cast should be pre-heated or it’ll probably crack. Thanks for taking one for the team!
2024 the Year of the Mighty Max. Looking forward to the journey this year. Love the ups and downs because its honest. Keep up the good work.
I love the ups! Not the biggest fan of the downs. 👎
He definitely keeps it real. I Love his videos.
Great show even with the cracks! Betting you’ll be the first on the block with Christmas Lights up next year as well 🥳
Haha! Actually, you just reminded me I wanted to take them down this weekend. No joke, I’m going right now while I’m thinking about it. When you see they’re not there, you can take credit.
Two of my best explainers of tech on same video, Hi Justin
Hello.
You’re not so bad yourself, Kurt!
Maaaaaaan, I love your content! I’ve watched your 4-link videos a dozen times to figure out how to build mine. I was watching this one thinking to myself, “okay, the guy who taught me suspension isn’t installing his pinion angle towards the ground, is he?”😂😂😂 I thought it must be the camera angle. Well done as always from a rainy shop in Oregon. 👍👍
Haha! I’m getting that a lot. Folks are screaming at their screens. “What are you doing?!”
Thank you my friend. Happy to be of service.
@@GarageFabdon’t beat yourself up too bad, prone to have more minor brain farts while trying to work and simultaneously create entertaining content. Happy new year bro! Here’s to 2024 and making big progress on projects
Those are the best looking mig welds that I ever saw!
That’s insanely flattering, Greg, thank you.
If you’re interested in learning how those welds are made, you might find this video valuable.
MIG Like Mankandy: Techniques for Stacking Dimes with a MIG Welder
th-cam.com/video/V1-BD1Z0kOE/w-d-xo.html
Cheers my friend!
83.8 Deg pointing down , takes a big man to acknowledge that error and no less film it. You sir an are excellent teacher.
When I saw your visitor, I thought it was Justin. When he started talking, I knew it was him. I loved his comment of that HOA.
To bad about the cracking. Better luck next time.
Haha! That happens often to me as well. “Is that Justin looking in my windows again?” Then I hear creepy heavy breathing.
“Yup!”
I have to say that I don’t know if I subscribed for the information or the humor but it is a good time getting both. We all go through the mistakes, do you let them get you down or look at it with a smile and correct? That may be your best teaching point. Anyways, thanks for sharing your journey the way only you can.
That’s a deep question! I think anyone that claims to greet their failures with a smile is full of 💩.
My reaction depends greatly on the specifics of each case. If I’m in a hurry I’m much more annoyed than if I’m not. If it’s the 5th time I’ve made the same mistake I’m furious. Sometimes the fault is so ridiculous I can’t help but laugh.
I do however have a deep belief that failure is large part of learning, is natural, and is not an indication that I’m stupid. After the initial frustration wears off (usually very quickly) I can absolutely smile and move forward.
Man I wish I had Justin just drop by my garage!, You the man Aaron, keep up the great work!
Share your address! I’ll make sure he swings by!
I’m kidding or course. Absolutely do NOT share your address. Unless you like weirdos.
You could send me your address in a secured way (not publicly posted on a youtube comment), and I might show up. I've done it before.... might be a while, but I like hanging out and building stuff.
@@TheFabricatorSeries You guys are awesome !!
I dreaded welding a truss to my axle. After a lot of thought and looking around, I learned about nomacast (may be misspelled) stick welding rods. They are for welding cast iron and claim to require no preheating. They are a little pricey, but well worth the money. I can say they worked great for me. I still rapped the axle with a fiberglass blanket to help even cooling after the weld. As soon as I heard the pop in your video, I knew exactly what happened.
Interesting! My welder is even set up to do stick. Never used it though. I’d have to practice a little first. Haven’t stick welded in almost 20 years. 😳
I follow you both and think its cool you guys can hang and collab. I have yet to find someone in my area. Also although mistakes are never fun, its great that you showed it and that a fix wasnt the end of the world.... always a joy and informative guys.
I was screaming its angled UP NOT DOWN . Good thing you caught it
As was I omg!
You guys had me laughing the entire episode. When you stopped your preheat I was a little concerned and as soon as I heard that telltale ping noise I knew exactly what it was.
Still good progress and you'll get it fixed up. Happy 2024!
I’m at a loss but I’m confident Justin will be able to steer me in the right direction. Thank you! See you soon.
I knew and laughed myself. Tink! 😂
when you are getting the tanks filled, Pick up a rose but tip for your torch. It'll give you a broader flame for pre AND post heating. also run to harbor freight and get some of those fiberglass welding blankets to bundle everything up when you are done to slow down the cooling. We had to do this when welding cast iron at a shop i used to work at but it 100 will help you out here.
propane weed torch.
Thank you my friend. I’ll be giving this a try! 🙏
Loved everything about this video! I always thought a propane space heater would work well for pre and post heat but havent tried it 🤷♂
@foxcrf450 a space heater would not come close to working. The cast iron needs to be almost red hot over 800° then after welding it needs to be brought back to ambient temperature over 8 or more hours.
@@chrisbooge2217 I have to disagree with you there. 4-500 degrees I feel is good. It doesn't need to glow, I'm not annealing it. Granted idk what temp a propane heater runs but it would heat the housing up slowly, you can even weld with it in place and then cool slowly. Thats what I'm gonna do when I shave my AAM 11.5 🤷♂
@FOXCRF450RIDER First, i said "almost" red hot. Second, it's not about how hot the flame is. It's about the ability to deliver and maintain the heat. For example, a cutting torch will deliver a lot of heat in a very small area, allowing you to cut a line through a piece of metal, but if you want to bend the same metal you have to switch to a rosebud that can deliver more heat over a lager area. A propane space heater transfers heat through inferred not through direct contact, which is much less efficient than a rosebud on a oxyacetylene torch. It would take hours in an oven propane or electric to build heat in a part, out in the open air you would never be able to introduce or retain enough heat to be able to weld on cast iron with out running into thermal shock cracking welds.
This was one of your best videos so far! Condolences on the cracking, I very much know the feeling of a sinking gut at the moment you heard the ping of the crack. The suggestion above about purchasing a rosebud tip for your torch is an excellent suggestion. I would add picking up a couple of heat sticks. These will allow you to monitor the temperature during the welding process, if you decide to re-weld it. However, I would not discount the suggestion of the epoxy welding putty. Unless you plan to use the truck in a tractor, pulling contest having the truss welded to the tubes should be more than sufficient. The JB weld can be made to cover the cracks and would add some vibration dampening as you wanted. I am very curious to see the follow up video on your solution to this issue. Hope the mighty Max is ready in time for you to bring it to the grand national car show this summer! I am targeting my truck build debut for that event as well, Ed, would love to meet you there! Your channel has been a huge inspiration for me. Keep up the great work.
Бро, каждый раз удивляюсь твоему терпению, ты - скала! Как же меня раздражает что-то переделывать! Смотрю, как ты работаешь и учусь.
Hi ? Can I do 1.5 pinion up and 1.5 transmission down. Have you ever done one like that please lmk thanks awesome videos
Assuming you mean that the front of your differential is pointing upward 1.5 degrees, yes! This is the ideal setup for MOST vehicles. However, this setup is NOT OK if you have a Double Cardan joint.
If you haven’t already, check out my video on driveshafts that explains the reasons why angles are so important.
If that doesn’t answer your questions, lemme know and I’ll try to assist.
Suspension Basics 06: A Better U Joint Driveshaft Video
th-cam.com/video/YgNZfIR-8Ng/w-d-xo.html
Welcome back sorry I'm a day late but new year is very busy glad to see some new content and progress on the mighty max
Busy is good!! Usually. 😆 Hope all is well.
@@GarageFab yeah all is well. Just wish I was busy on a project in the shop instead of busy. Just trying to survive this economy 😢
@itzamedave6242 Ah! Understood! Keep fighting!
Live and Learn. I used to work with a couple old bucks that used to weld cast a lot and what they would do if the piece was too large to be placed in an oven to decrease the temp slowly and evenly they used to do what they called peening. They would literally sit there with a small ball peen hammer and tap the cast until it cooled while periodically wiping a torch over it at increasing intervals. Something about relieving tension in the cast... He would count to 10 and run the torch over it. then count to 20 and run it buy again and so on till he would get to like a hundred. It was a long process but I never saw any of their stuff crack. good luck!
That’s fascinating! I just might be trying that. Thank you my friend.
Hey Aaron, for $5 a piece I went to the junk yard and bought about 10 scissors jack and screw type bottle jacks and they worked great when I set the height on my Trike frame and set pinion angles
You had to look similar to a dog being whistled at when that cracked! lol
We tend to raise the transmission angle(even though that usually means more sheet metal work) to prevent the pinion from pointing in the sky.
In hindsight I should’ve done exactly that, Jake. I already needed to modify the rear of the tunnel. Changing the trans angle rather than simply matching the diff as I did will also greatly reduce the U joint operating angle when cruising low.
I think I’ll be ok in that regard but it doesn’t make it less of poor decision. 🤦🏻♂️
Still gets the job done!
Love the videos! Keep em coming!@@GarageFab
👍😊 it does look good !!! I use a rose bud tip to heat just a thought
Braze it with Aluminum bronze TIG filler, goober.
Love the show. Have learned a lot here. I’ve repaired a pretty badly cracked engine block with the braze method. Give it a shot!
In my experience at doing this here’s how I approach doing rear ends. Drag,low riders, street and even 3000 HP Puling truck rear ends.
I use a solid steel precision ground shaft passed thru the housing with aluminum spacers/bushings that simulate OD of bearing races in 3rd member and axle flanges ID= precision ground shaft diameter. This keeps everything aligned. Then while welding it out you can rotate and sense/feel the drag on the solid round bar. This allows you to sequence welds to counter act the “pull” from each weld.
Also cast steel or Iron needs to be stick welded with 55% nickel or 99% nickel. Stretching the welds by peening it to stress relieve and post cool slow as possible.
Good luck in the future!!
As soon as I saw you setting the pinion angle (the first time :D) I had a yelling at the screen moment .. "Aaron .. that's pointing *down*" 🤣🤣 Oh well - no harm, no foul!
Thx for this video mate! Exactly what I needed to make the final decisions for my torque arm build on my project car.
Love welding cast just takes time and patience.
Yeah. That up or down tripped me and dad on his Hudson. Didn't weld anything before noticing thankfully.
1946 Hudson truck is officially on the road, 250 ford engine, c4 trans. And I don't remember what rear.
No vibrations.
Yes! Congrats my friend. 👏
@@GarageFab Hot damn right from the man!
I am actually looking back to find you building that massive axle truss.
Just run another bead over it, it'll be fine, maybe.
You needed to preheat it and wrap it in a blanket to cool it slowly. It evens out the cooling between metals
You might be seeing me attempting that soon.
Great progress! A shame that the welds cracked but pretty awesome they occurred while you were filming. If no one knew what that sounded like they do after this. Live and learn 🙂
Thank you, Ron! We’ll get it figured out.
Haha in joyed that vid good stuff dude. And I am super guilt of the rush thing at the end of projects also. 😮
How are you going the bolt the bushings, you enclosed the mounting area in?
There is a captured nut welded to the inside tab and an access hole on the outside. I will be enlarging the hole a little as well as adding some holes in the front and rear because trying to get the bolt in as a wee bit more challenging than expected. 😆
Only way for him to do that would be to weld the nuts on the inner tab and remove and tighten the bolts from the pocket holes on the thrust.
In addition to the comments about a rosebud tip, I have had good luck using an old school electric radiant heater for slow cool down, which takes much much longer than the initial heat up. The torch will do a good job getting the metals hot quickly to weld, but once the welding is done, put that heater up close and personal to the welded joints and let it go over night. If you weld a little each day, you can keep the heater focused on the fresh welds for hours after. Then just reduce the temp a little each hour for a few hours. And keep the garage door closed so that cold air isn't working against you.
I've had really good luck welding cast iron/steel, and I use pretty simple tools. On a big piece like that, the gas welder gives quick heat, so the weld starts well, but the cool down phase needs to be really slow. I use 2 of the electric heat guns during the cool off, and I try to point them at the areas that were welded the most. If you heat the top only, the whole piece will cool off too fast, so make sure that the whole cast section is WAY too hot to touch, before you start welding. Then keep the whole unit as hot as you can for as long as you can. If you had a hot plate or maybe one of those outdoor turkey fryer burners, that would probably help tremendously. Keep it as hot as you can, and lower the heat every half hour or so. If it takes three or four hours for it to get to ambient temp, that would be excellent. KMF
Sorry mate but that cracking was hilarious! 😂
Laughing with you, not at you!
Keep making the videos. Big fan.
Cheers pal
Pinion angles, radius arms, control arms what every ya wanna call them this week. I often thought about on a 4 link if you attached the upper links at the body to a short ram mercury tilt/trim ram. They don't ever fade they are very strong and very precise. If your good enough with electronics which i am not. you can program the pump to turn on/off to add/remove fluid to keep the pinion angle where ever you want it while the car is in motion or just going up and down. If they can do that with engine valves this should be a breeze to an electronics nerd. Like a gps leveler on earth moving equipment. It would have to have a tiny hydraulic reservoir of course not squishy air. You would be the first in the world to do such a simple yet complicated thing. Your Welcome.
That’s interesting! My first thought was that it wouldn’t be necessary with a parallel 4 link since the pinion remains constant. (when built accurately) BUT a parallel 4 link lacks some traction on acceleration. Better traction is attained by installing shorter upper bars and angling them downwards in the front. The problem with that is a drastic pinion angle change when changing height so it’s not ideal with adjustable suspension.
That’s where you come in. You could have shorter angled upper bars for maximum grip that can change length to maintain pinion angle. 👊 Very clever indeed.
Is rear axle really need to be reinforced? I'm on my C10 project with 4 link and I'm going to use stack mounting and a little bit o reinforcing where uniball joints will be. Thank you for your work I'm and learning and enjoying at the same time.
It’s often not needed. I built a truss for 2 reasons; One, I shortened the axle which required cutting the axle tube and welding it back together. I wanted a little something to make sure my welds would last. My truss is way overkill for that.
Two, I’m a TH-cam content creator and a truss gave me more content. Honestly, a lot of things I do aren’t “necessary”. But if it would make an interesting video, I’ll do it.
For the C10, reinforcements aren’t usually needed because there’s so much space between the wheels and the frame so you can place your link bars on the outside. The closer your wheels the vehicle weight is applied, the better it is for the axle tube.
The Mightymax on the other hand has a wider frame so the link bars and springs are usually placed on the inside of the frame rails. That leaves a lot more room between the wheels and the point that the vehicle weight sits so some sort of axle reinforcement is a pretty good idea.
Happy New Year... I am so glad you did this video now.. I just got the same angle finder and when I put it on my engine it reads 88.something.. so I was very concerned.. now I see yours is about the same im ok with it... my next step is to figure out what it better for my truck.. ( i know we spoke on fb about this).. since im NOT doing bags.. just a coilover.. is parallel 4 link still better or triangulated?
With static height suspension, you’ve got all the choices. Parallel is far easier to understand and set up. The triangulated is great but might be a little more complicated h than necessary. Also the triangulated bars take up a lot of room. It forces you to relocate your fuel tank.
Either set the angle finder against the component to be measured sideways or if using the magnet side, just subtract your reading from 90 to get your actual angle.
90-88= 2°
Proper video for the new year, just prior to the new swap meet season! YEA 😊
Preheat it to around 800-1000 degrees Fahrenheit. Weld it then wrap it with welding blankets or bury it in sand. Want it to cool down slow as possible. I've heard of people successfully welding cast cold but never seen it done.
Before I knew what I was doing. I stick welded a cracked machinist vice at work. 6 years later and it still works perfectly.
Now I know how to weld, and I will never hit a perfect 90 angle again!
Thank for explaining this into more detail,
So on the front side from the engine is the reading negative and the back of axle positive?
Thanks for the pinion angle video and this one, now i can address a problem before i even experience it on the road.
The pleasure is mine, Ritchard!
Thanks for another fine video and while the cracking is unfortunate, great effort to capture the sound of it on the video! How long after you welded it did it crack?
I'm paranoid about how the axle tubes on my Ford 8.8 will bend when welding on the parallel 4 link brackets. Had you given any thought to making a jig with something like 12" thick angle bolted to each housing end, and the angle secured to a table? At a guess would you say that locking the housing ends into place like that would prevent the tubes bending under the heat, or would they just spring out to their new shape as soon as you unbolted them from the jig?
try 309 rod and stick weld it still have to preheat it
I’d have relearn stick but I just might! Stay tuned.
Moving forward in ‘24 👍😎👍
Hi Aaron! Happy 2024 brother.when you said weld cast.i was like "wait for it" "wait for it" then crackkkkķkk.ye man on cast.get you some Fahrenheit strips.you cant just hope its hot enough.stay scientific.all these different metals mixed with different elements to make them have different characteristics.
Maybe you can tack weld some temporary trusses on the opposite side first to help counteract the shrinkage
Hi, love your videos, been a subscriber for a while now. I don't know if i missed anything, but with you fully welding that brace, how are you going to tighten the bolts that hold the bushes. Also, to my knowledge it is not really a good idea using oxy aceltylene to pre heat cast, as one introduce foreign gases into the steel that way, normal LPG is always more advisable. Top man. 👌👍
Thank you my friend! I hadn’t heard that before. I’ll be looking into it.
Pardon my lack of knowledge, but what is LPG?
Whoops. Forgot the first half of the question… There is an access hole in truss to remove, insert, and tighten the bolt. The nut is an all metal crimped captured nut. If it breaks off I’m screwed. I’ll have to cut more holes in the truss which I’m considering doing anyway. 🤔
Hi, thanks for replying, liquid petroleum gas, i guess one could say household/domestic gas, It has purer properties and won't inpregnate the steel.
I saw that hole, but figured at that angle it could not be, but anyways, after watching your videos i know that you have this covered. Great stuff.
Thank you my friend! 🙏
I have a question about an older video, building the armored diff cover for the watts link. You ended up drilling a hole in the stock cover to clear the bolt. I would not like to have to do this if I build one of these, as I know this can mess up how the fluid flows while driving and cause problems. (You even mentioned this in the video, as why you wanted to use the new cover over the stock one). So, my question is this, would there be any negative's/problems you would see in changing the angels and length of the plates to move the watts bushing mount bolt further away from the stock cover, so you don't have to drill a clearance hole in the stock cover?
Hey Sabashtion! I don’t see a problem in doing that at all. Another option is the bridge style Watts link that doesn’t attach to the diff cover at all. If you haven’t already, check out this video from my buddy Justin who makes that style.
th-cam.com/video/YyFMnZARqEI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=S8NR9seuWBuvdHO_
@@GarageFab Cool, will do.
Great video's, thanks. I'm not a welder - just a glober. BUT IC Weld just did a cast job with some diff type of mig wire and FABRATS sure welds a lot of diffs too. Of course the guy who is showing up to help has forgotten more that what most welders know about sticking metal together so you"ll be ok.
First off - Happy New Year Aaron.
Bugger about the cracks.
Just wondering if a steel hoop around the housing bolts welded to the truss might be a better option?
I know you will get it sorted.
Anyhow - great video M8.
Keep it coming.
Tell Justin his viper is dirty...shoulda left the cover on.
I was in suspense over the 83.3.... i thought you were gonna do it, i yelled NO! at the scream even
I choose to spend my Viper budget on fuel, rear tires, and bi-monthly professional detailing. I'm not interested in a car cover. I bought the car to drive it 😉
Haha! I probably would’ve sent the truck to the junkyard if I welded it before noticing. Needless to say I’m grateful.
Great Video ! Like your Stuff ! If you dont mind would like to know who sings that song in your vid that says beg and borrow in it ?
How well does thay ceiling heater work? You notice a big hit on your electric bill when constantly using it?
I can only answer the first question because it’s still pretty new. I haven’t received my first bill yet!
It’s freaking incredible! My wife came out a couple nights ago and said it was warmer in the garage than it was in the house. Most winters I find myself not wanting to go out. It has upped my productivity a whole bunch. And it has a thermostat which is fantastic.
I was informed, it's okay to talk to yourself... it's okay to argue with yourself.
.. just don't lose the argument! Lol😂
Hello, thanks for your great work and explanations. May I ask a question. Or two...1. We're driving a few Land Rover Defender with permanent 4x4. Looking under them I see a slightly angled transfer case. The rear points downward, the front upward. That brings the long rear drive shaft nearly in a straight line to the rear differential input shaft, so the U-Joints are not really bend at drive height. The front output shaft points up therefore. And the front differential input shaft also points up. So both are never parallel and the U-Joints are never bend at the same angle. In addition, Land Rover hasn't used a 90 degree rotated U-Joint in this generation of the 110 Defender, but 45 degree. Isn't that strange? So they are not in phase. Do you have an explanation for this? Cheers AWo
I was gonna say, the center housing of a Ford 8.8 is cast iron. Your best bet is to braze it, your local welding supply shop should stock Silicone Bronze filler wire for your MIG. Believe it or not, that's all you need.
Justin with the homeowner’s association 😂
Hahahaha I was rolling and laughing when the welds cracked mid sentence because I knew exactly what that sound was.
I can laugh at it now. My butt-hurt has subsided a little. Still not to the point of rolling though.
😂 I was like....... wait his engine is sloping forward....... then you corrected yourself. Thank goodness.
I have had the same. Forget what i was welding. But i gave up. Wrong filler metal and not able to control heat. Had a good spare anyways.
You could probably just weld the two tubes to the brace and be done.
I've never had good luck with Cast Iron. It's difficult to weld.
I’m learning that as we speak!
When you set the pinion angle does the truck need to be at rider height?
It depends on the suspension design. A parallel 4 link, no. Most factory suspensions, absolutely. If you’re not sure, be safe and set it at ride height for vehicles with static suspension. (Metal springs) or set it with the vehicle at half-travel on adjustable suspensions.
if your a little off on the pinion angle and you have heim joints top and bottom - can it be fine tuned and adjusted with the heims ?
Absolutely! As long as it’s close. Heims don’t have a lot of usable adjustment, but having them on the top and bottom will help.
If you need the nose of the differential to point up more, extend the upper bars using the heims and shorten the lowers. 👍
do you have a video on brackets or mounts for body side "floor pan" 4 link , especially out of stock location - fat tire ?
Someday I will be good enough to make my welds crack on demand. Versus while in use…😂
I didn’t realize cast iron was that fussy.
Good enough!!? I don’t think it works that way. 😆
You're gonna need some dissimilar rod to weld up the cast to steel
Oh man. It’s been so long since I worked on this part of the project I forgot I had to deal with that still.
My buddy Justin came by to try and TIG it with stainless rod I believe. It worked until I ran out of gas for the oxygen acetylene torch for preheat.
I was looking to see if you had lights up still. 😂
JB WELD. 😊 for the cast. It WILL serve the purpose without failure. Great videos, bro.
Where did you get the degree finder
So that is measured at ride height or full drop or full lift? Sorry for the newbie question, I just want to make sure.
It would have been easier to mount the rear axle 6.2° up since the engine is 6.2° down at the flywheel. That way your U-joint angles will cancel themselves out.
Pardon my confusion… That’s exactly what we did. 🤔
I feel so guilty for laughing to the cracks 😂😂😂
The pinion is supposed to be aimed at the transmission shaft. Straight shot.
My apologies, Larry, but I strongly disagree.
This would be correct if the front joint was a double cardan but it is not. I’ve got another video that may greatly benefit you.
th-cam.com/video/YgNZfIR-8Ng/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Bne1lhjL5lEGnh0q
Cast steel and cast iron are completely different animals. One welds pretty good the other requires special attention.
Come back man!
Instead of preheating you can also weld slow. Let everything cool between every bead.
Zero the cube on the engine so its readable from the right side. Set pinion from 1-3 degrees nose down. Make sure it doesn't go above 0 degrees into a nose up situation as it moves through the suspension range, particularly under acceleration. Easy. Done.
Gotta close that gap on axle tube
im sorry for how hard i laughed when the weld cracked on camera🤣😂🤣😂😪
👍
Pretty risky commitment welding in the 4-link without knowing your driveshaft angle. You will need to be between a 9-11 degree driveshaft angle to maintain a
Hmmm..I kind of thought that the pinion angle should NOT be identical to the crankshaft angle - as it allows float/slop to universal joints as it is 'neutral'.
THAT of course assumes a steady state to exist between the rear axle universal and the crankshaft universal - but is a dynamic drive-chain assembly, is not likely.
That accepted, I was under the impression that a degree or two difference is desirable or give the universal bearings some beneficial pre-load/or tension - allowing them to run more smoothly and therefore have a longer life.
Hmmm...or was that idea coming from the half shafts?
Oh well, what do I know???
I was pulling my hair out watching the pinion being pointed down and shouting NO NO NOOOOOOOO!
I always peen cast to steel welds after. If it cracks I blast another weld on and repeat. 😂
Does that work?!
@@GarageFab I have only done it to weld to cast steel center sections. Cast iron may be different. It might just be that after a couple of welds the cast finally has enough heat in it. 😂 I only have a map gas torch so who knows.
Unless you plan on hanging the truck by the rear axle from a crane and swinging it like a wrecking ball, the truss is so overkill it is not even funny (in fact just the tabs by themselves would have never failed in this application). The welds holding the truss to the axle tubes will strengthen the axle way beyond your needs. There is absolutely no need to add additional welds to the cast iron center section. If you're not putting 5000 lbs of torque through the rear axle, trying to run 6 second 1/4 miles or jumping 40 feet in the air like a monster truck just grind your cracked welds off make it look pretty and leave it alone.
Nope. Grind it out AND WELD IT BACK IN. Clearly its for cool factor AND mega strength. Let the man weld his heart out.
Weld cast with high nickel content rods, or even stainless. Weld short welds, like 1cm at a time and use a compressed air hammer to even out the tensions after every weld.
I prefer MMA to weld cast stuff.
aww man, the famous wrong way round haha
its a control link
A coat of steel-it on everything internally of the truss would have been a good rust prevention step before welding it up
With friends like that..
😂🎉
the pinion angle should be 2 to 4 degrees less than engine angle so when you mash the gas it line up the same as engine. your always going to have twist in the axle why not adjust for it under load where it needed most.
Why the music?
Why not? Music has always been a part of my life. It motivates me. It elevates my mood.
@@GarageFab yes but when people don't like your style of music it gets annoying.
So when I'm annoyed I press dislike and move on.
But I don’t create for you.
Yes steel to cast you need 55 nickel rod to prevent cracking its word well foe me and cast to cast good luck
Bro, Cutting Edge Engineering Australia made a good video trying to weld cast with a bunch of preheating, he destroyed a $25K tractor housing, same pinging cracks you got. ICWELD also recently did a good video welding a cast tractor housing, no preheating. Just a ton of tack welds done over a period of time To keep the part cool and it lasted with no problem. Do a little more research before you destroy your housing.
Well i see you didnt bother to ask me. Itll never be right now!
Never?! 😩
@@GarageFab yes. I knew from the thumbnail that it just aint right. Juat gonna have to throw it in the trash, and ill come by on collection day.
I was the first person to watch this video when it dropped but the comments were turned off! God dammit…
Bronze tig to the cast