Got a little done this evening. Got the rust layer ground off the axle to prep it for welding and the perches fitted up. Hopefully in the next couple of days I can get it under the truck to set the pinion angle and burn the perches in.

Got the rear axle under the Bronco, the pinion angle set and the perches tacked on.

Did you move the rear axle back an inch? Looks centered, but nows the time to do it!

I'm drilling the spring perches for it, but I'm not sure I'll have the clearance with the gas tank. I'll also need to lengthen the rear driveshaft if I do, as its already a little short.

Working on a skid plate for the rear axle.

Just shave it! I gained almost 2" of clearance on mine

See post #3, smartypants:

http://coloradoclassicbroncos.com/viewt ... f=5&t=5519



I thought really seriously about it, but with my plan to go to 37s I'll pick up another inch anyway. After doing a bunch of asking and reading I decided to hold off for now. The best argument I found against it was the loss of fluid volume and associated cooling. If I had a tow rig I'd probably do it, but this thing will get driven to Moab one of these days.

That said....

I said I'd never do it again, doesn't mean I won't encourage others to do it! I drove my bronco over 500 miles in a weekend a couple years ago and had no ill effects from the shave. I even felt the rear end every time I stopped for gas and it was perfectly cool to the touch. Over fill it with good synthetic gear oil a little if you're worried and go for it! Now that the idea is planted you'll always regret not it doing now..... besides it's just Justin's Bronco

Lol! Good to know about your experience with it. The good news is that these housings are super cheap. I'm in the middle of burning the skid in now, but may shave another down the road if I find myself hanging up on stuff. I only lost about 3/8" of clearance to the skid, so it shouldn't hurt too much and I'll feel better digging trenches with it. A shave may wind up on the list of things to do if/when I go to a 4 link.

Got the welding on the rear axle finished up today. 3/16" steel armor came out nice, and the spring perches went on without too much fuss. I'm pretty happy with the welds. I've been stressing a little about beginning to do welds that have structural and safety implications, but I think these will do fine. Just need to seal up the center section and it's ready for final installation.

Welds "look" good

Go ahead and drill out that other hole in the perch in case you decide to push that axle back 1". My guess is that no other mods will need performed to do this. Even your driveshaft "should" be ok.

Did some weld testing with some 3/16 and my press, results seem good. Definitely raised my confidence in the welds. I think I probably need to get over my angst.

Slowly making progress. A couple of weeks ago Kirk came over and helped me tidily cut out the front suspension brackets since he plan that wouldn't be helped if I used the plasma on them. Also got the third member cleaned up and installed and the Crane Dana 44 cover on. Decided to give LubeLocker gaskets a try so that I could easily do gear lube changes without having to spend time cleaning off Right Stuff. I'll report back if anyone is interested. Finished pulling and cleaning the rear springs tonight and will hopefully get a coat of paint on them tomorrow night. Just need to cut off the old upper shock mounts, locate and weld the lower shock mounts and paint the axle and it'll be ready for final installation. Next step will be addressing some oil engine oil leaks while I've got easy access.

Always interested in things that work well. Please let us know how you like the gaskets.

Sounds like you might be ready to go for Moab after all!

We'll see. I'm taking a few days off work in a bit, so if I got lots done...

Rear housing is ready to go back under the truck. Had some runs in the paint, so that might get touched up first.

Are those Ruffstuff spring perches? When I ordered them, they didn't make the right width for our springs. I had to do a little adapting to make sure my springs didn't move between the U-bolts.

They're from Wild Horses. I called Ruffstuff and tried to talk them into making some in our width, but it wasn't happening. That reminds me, I need to finish drilling them to move the axle back.

Got a couple of hours in the garage this evening. Finished cutting off the rest of the front suspension mounting points and took off the factory rear shock mounts. It's a blank canvas! Also trimmed down some of the runs on the rear axle paint and touched it up. I'll let it dry for a day or two, drill out the spring perches, and it'll go under the truck. Does anyone out there have a 5/8" drill bit I can borrow for about 30 seconds?

I've got one, Harbor Freight sells a set of big bits for cheap, likely take less gas to get there as well.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have one or two myself. I should be home most of the weekend after tomorrow morning or I can bring it to work on Monday.

The axle brackets and tabs from Battlement finally arrived a few minutes ago. On with the fabrication!

Grrrr. Clint sent me the brackets for a 3.25" axle tube. Mine is 2.75". This is what caused me to send the ones I had back in the first place....

That is very frustrating! Use his as a template and make your own, pretty much like he did when he "designed" them "similar" to Ballistic fab's bracket . I'm sure it would be faster than waiting on him again. A little grinder work afterward and they will work just fine.

I did exactly that and made a passable one. I talked to Clint shortly after posting and I'll hopefully see some soon. I've got stuff I can do as long as it doesn't take forever.

Got the rear axle housing installed this evening! Feels good to have hit a bit of a milestone after stalling out some over the past couple of weeks. Just need to press on new wheel bearings and I can button up the rear end. Then on to fabricating some shock hoops.

Looks awesome! Congrats!



Now back to work