4WD Conversion Proposal

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Placed an order for the subframe laser steel. $550, should be done next week.

Got my order of wire. Should last me a little while.



Not a whole lot left on my list. Besides putting it all together, and getting a front driveshaft.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Got the switch panel today. Looks good. I forgot to adjust for the powdercoating thickness, so I needed to do a little filing.





The steel is ready, I am going to pick it up tomorrow. Should get a good start on the welding this weekend.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I only have 1 MB style center console switch. I have a similar (but smaller) switch panel with a few switches for my alarm, and the Aux fuel tank control. That will be replaced by this panel. Hopefully I measured properly!
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Mmmmm, parts. Forked the pallet right onto the bed.



I need to do a part count, but I think they are all there.



Now I need to start putting the puzzle together. Lots of spot checking fitment along the way though, so its going to take a bit.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I need to do a little cleanup at the lead-in cuts, but everything appears to fit right. I think I may have made a small error. I ordered two rack arm braces, but I think I changed one, so they aren't symmetrical. Not a big deal to fab one out of scrap thankfully.


 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Getting down to business. I need to get some cement board on the table before I start burning in earnest. A little fiddling to get everything to fit. But it looks good so far.



















 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
The first issue I ran into. Not enough clearance for the rear LCA bushing. Pretty easily remedied with a bit of cutting though. The front LCA bushing looks good. Its going to need a 3/16" spacer at the front, but I knew that going in.











I got a little practice and dialed in the welder settings on the shock brackets and diff carrier. Not pretty, but it will do. Its a little slow going, as I need to clamp blocks or bushings into the parts, to keep them from moving as the welds cool.



 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Diff is looking pretty good. I don't think I will need to do any cutting. There was enough adjustment in the pre-weld assembly.

I decided to leave the inside of the boxed tubes bare. I am planning on using a body cavity coating, or maybe just the urethane paint with a long sprayer wand. I should be able to get everything painted that way.

I need to pick up some 1/2" bolts for the PS diff carrier bar, should be able to get all that welded up tomorrow.

 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Of all the components, the diff was the hardest to measure. Its heavy, there isn't a straight or square edge on it, etc. If I had to guess the parts which would need adjustment, the diff mounts were it.



It took a lot of fiddling, but I got the diff placed where I want it. I need to shim the PS diff mount about 3/16". I didn't include enough adjustment in the mount itself. Not a big deal though.

IMG_20191124_152832019 by J Luth, on Flickr

The rear mount is pretty good as far as placement. I needed to clearance one of the support webs on the diff casting. I also didn't make the bolt entry wide enough. A few other minor trims here and there as well.







The front DS mount is going to need some adjustment. Its bracket is .4" to far forward, and needs to come down about 0.3". Not sure if I will just order a fresh bracket, or spend some quality time with my saw and grinder.



The good news is the pinion angle is correct. Adjustment is from +7 to 0 deg, which should be enough to get shaft aligned. Clearance at the CV flanges is good as well. And! The rack fits! Not as far back as I like, but close enough!
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Getting down to business on the top half. Most everything is lining up okay, plus minus a 1/32" or so.








I discovered I must have changed the slot-tab default radius at some point. A bunch of them are 1/32 instead of 1/64. Which means I need to file them to get a good fit. Prototypes!
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Still chugging along whenever I have a free hour. I noticed another minor issue. One of the alignment slots was missing, so I tacked in one of the uprights in the wrong place! Ooops.. Easy enough to fix. I had to break out the tape measure though.







For some reason this tab didn't line up right. Its fine in the model, so not sure what happened.







Getting close to completing the welds and closing the PS up.







 

Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
I welded some brackets on a differential recently. Some of the bits were pretty square but not all. I used a laser level to work out the brackets position on the donor axle then used the laser again to transfer the position if the brackets on the new dif. It worked well, but in my case the panhard rod mount was such a compound angle i made a position jig, indexed of the differential face/cover removed. I'll load some pics that explain later, my phone is weird on this site.
 

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