LD 3link Pics Dana 60 (Ok ready to veiw)

[Madspeed]

Well fellas give me the opinions here .
Ive been fabin for 2 days.

ya think this is gonna work?

I still have the driver side to finish

I was also thinkin of bolting a plate from the truss to the rear cover bolt holes.
This has to take my 1500 planned RWHP of the 427 TT LSX

[Boulder69]

Nice looking welds there. How well does it penetrate the casting? I always thought welding to a cast part like that is something to be avoided? But then again what do I know since I can't really weld. Yet.

Did you fab up all of the brackets and gussets?

[Madspeed]

No you are not supposed to expect mig to stick to Cast.
I have seen it work in a Very Big Hp HUGE 3 link system in a truck.
He tied to the tubes (I stole the idea)

You will notice I made a plate to bolt to the snuber mount and welded to that.
Goto WWW.fulcrumfabrication.com (http://www.fulcrumfabrication.com) and look at the big yellow monster dually crewcab chev.
Its now sporting a 600 inch big chief headed detuned prostock engine.
Mike Flys that truck across the desert in excsess of 100 MPH
Darren from fulcrum thought that up and fabbed Every part and tube on it. I later did the engine cage and tied the inner cab cage to the front, Working part time over at fulcrum.

Yes I fabbed all the bracketts you see with a plasma cutter, angle grinder, hole saws, drill press, bench grinder.

I winged it all outta my head.
Thank you for the weld compliment (funny story)
On this job I found that after 2 years of owning my miller welder,
The volt and wire speed pot's were reversed,
I allways wondered why I couldnt weld for crap, or figure out why I couldnt get enough wire speed if I wanted to get more.

:screwy:

[Steve1968LS2]

Nice!

Hmmm.. the Dana 60 looks REALLY familiar.. lol

[Madspeed]

C'mon fellas help me out here ..
give me some input, Im no rocket scientist.

Goo bad whatever I can take it ....

[RobM]

Did you have to straighten it? i know ford 9 incher’s tend to warp when you weld a big back brace on them. You need to use a torch to straighten them out. Did you use any kind of bracing to hold it straight? I’d make sure its all square before you run it. Just because it spins free doesn’t mean it’s all copasetic. warpage could put every thing out of alignment

the way i always do it is with a piece of machined rod and some ring type adapters turned to fit inside the axle ends and carrier bearing races. You insert the snug fitting adapters into the housing, and then thread the machined rod through them to hold it all straight while welding. If the rod spins free then your axle is straight

[chicane67]

C'mon fellas help me out here ..
give me some input, Im no rocket scientist.

Goo bad whatever I can take it ....

Just make sure its straight... and run it !!

[zbugger]

The only way to find out if it will work is........ TRY IT!! I say run it and tell us what happens. I wanna see if that lives.

[TnBlkC230WZ]

Two questions.
1. Curious as to why you didn't put the second parallel brace and box the left side?
2. Have you considered a smaller boxed brace on the bottom? You could run two peices of 1/8 inch down the tubs to the diff and a 1/4 piece on the top (or is that the bottom) of the upright pieces and across the diff. This could span backing plate to backing plate. Couldn't be too tall thought for ground clearance. Or maybe use your plasma cutter on a length of 2X3 cutting off the top end and contouring it to the diff, backing plate to backing plate.

[Madspeed]

Two questions.
1. Curious as to why you didn't put the second parallel brace and box the left side?
2. Have you considered a smaller boxed brace on the bottom? You could run two peices of 1/8 inch down the tubs to the diff and a 1/4 piece on the top (or is that the bottom) of the upright pieces and across the diff. This could span backing plate to backing plate. Couldn't be too tall thought for ground clearance. Or maybe use your plasma cutter on a length of 2X3 cutting off the top end and contouring it to the diff, backing plate to backing plate.

Now thats what im looking for something to think about =)
1. I snapped pics before I finished the left, It is now boxed.

2. I didnt want to add 100 lbs =)

3. I know the parts I made are strong enough. Im worried about how they are tied to the center cast iron.
When the rear end trys to pull that upper link and lift the front end of the ground I fear it will rip off the housing.
I am thinking of tying the upper truss to the rear end cover with a bolt on piece, This way when the rear housing trys to pull off the upper link it will be tied to the back as well as the front.

I have a tool to build and narrow axle housings.
the bar goes through the entire rear end with bearing retainers inner and outter both sides.

Heh I dont wanna just run it with 1500 hp and find out under full throttle pass it didnt work.

here is a shot of the back.

Thanks guys I need the input

[TnBlkC230WZ]

I think you already added the 100 lbs. Can you make a 1/4 inch bolt on bracket that follows the upper part of the rear cover. You could attach the cover ring to the upper strut support. You will would still have to contend with gasket flex and possibly rupture the gasket as it pulls on the bolt on cover brace.

[David Pozzi]

Nice welding but it looks very heavy, too thick, and the lateral plates won't see any loading so why have them?

I'd use nickel rod to weld to the housing.
I like your forward reaching bracket to the pinion nose.
I'd build a reinforced cover with two ribs that also bolts to the center three link mount.

If you want to strengthen the housing side to side, you can keep the bracket lower and made of lighter material to save weight.
David

[Madspeed]

Thanks again ..
I figured the truss was to get something attatched to the tubes and not rely on the center part. I was gonna use Nickle rod but i had to get it done and My 275 tig is far from home atm..
I wanted the truss to allso have something to tie the upper link to the back cover bolts.

That trick is allso used in the 4X4 arena on the Jeeps with the stock 4 link rears.

Hmm Dave your sayin you think I just needed to tie to the rear cover with a ring and strp bolted to the upper link?
and not bothered with the truss?

And ya it looks heavy but I didnt really add much weight because I drilled all the holes. i would be willing to bet it doesnt weigh that much more than a complete 9" with all the mods for the 3 link

keep um commin the car wont be ready to run for a while anywho. I just had to make it role and thats what I came up with on a whim
I can bust out the plasma and grinder and get to work

[Poopy]

I've done some welding to dana 60's, and found that preheating and post heating is very important so the metals cool at a similar rate, otherwise the weld basically just falls off. Did you hear a lot of 'tinging' when it was cooling?

If you go to www.Bluetorchfab.com (http://www.Bluetorchfab.com) they sell diff rings for D60's that have an attachment for link trusses, you might wanna add one of those and bolt through what you've done, just to be sure.

Looks killer....I might copy it for my rock buggy.

[Madspeed]

I've done some welding to dana 60's, and found that preheating and post heating is very important so the metals cool at a similar rate, otherwise the weld basically just falls off. Did you hear a lot of 'tinging' when it was cooling?

If you go to www.Bluetorchfab.com (http://www.Bluetorchfab.com) they sell diff rings for D60's that have an attachment for link trusses, you might wanna add one of those and bolt through what you've done, just to be sure.

Looks killer....I might copy it for my rock buggy.

Nope no noises when cooling.

Thanks for the link Im going to buy the truss ring.

Im also going to remove most of the truss after talking with some 3 link specialists and actually thinking about what i was doing after I did it =)

Or at least trim it way way down in height

Thanks again for all you folks input. :woot: