Astro van cat conversion

What a day.....

Spent a couple hours measuring and planning on how to make new tire guides.

Came up with what I think is gonna be a good plan.

Stopped off at the steel yard and dropped $50 on a bunch of materials.

Gotta build a fixture to hold the pieces in place while the guide is welded together.

A nice pipe the right size to scavenge the radius off of, and two pieces of flat bar to form the side plates.

Some 2 x 3 x 1/8" Rect tube for the actual guide portion.

$$$$ wise The materials will come to about $10 each.

Not bad.....
The fixture is gonna take a bit to build...but this entire rigging should allow these tire guides to be slapped together pretty quick....

If ya can't find it BUILD IT.....

Ahhhhh well.

Then the Red tractor refused to start.

2 OF THE 3 GLOW PLUGS had died.....Colder weather and no go....

Spent 3 hours on the phone trying to find some.

Even the dealer did not stock them....ARRRRRRRGH.

Had to drive 20 miles to another berg and a NAPA STORE.

$20 FOR 3 NGK GLOW PLUGS.

But Li'll Red lives again.

Tomorrow is another day.

Time to make tooling.

Been sitting here looking at the 3700 tire guides...

Grabbed some stiff card stock and made a template of the tire guide uprights.

Fiddled with a few ideas.....

Grabbed up a chunk of 6" channel and started making a cutting fixture for the actual upright part of the guide.

The upright has a 60 degree face that the tire sidewalls come in contact with.

There are 3 different saw cuts.

A basic length of 2" x 4" x 1/8 rect tube 4" long.

Then the piece has to have the cut made where the part welds to the main tube of the guide.
One more cut needs to be made on the face that aims away from the tires (Faces outward)

Decided to drill a 3/8" hole in the rect tube in an odd spot that allows the part to be bolted to the fixture in one of two places....this allows the different cuts to be done and the part to lined up with the saw blade.

I have a piece of aluminum to make a permanent pattern to transfer the shape to the part.

We are not making Swiss watches, so tiny little differences is of no importance....

The fixture needs to be drilled and a nut welded under the channel at both locations to secure the part for cutting.

This little tool will make life a breeze.

Looking at the top of the guide....decided to weld in a piece of round material and polish the area in hope of negating the all too common train wrecks between the tires and the guides.....wheels too.

The hole in the guide tower may well serve to mount the tower to a locating jig for welding to the main guide tube

The deal I had cooking on the (15) 3700 tire guides did come to pass....should be here mid week.

Still going to build the setup to make more.....no doubt they will be needed.

Weather is just raw out today....

Had a fella stop by and hauled off the last of what was left of the 77 Camaro that donated it's engine to the FrankenCat......

Cruising online today and stumbled onto some very lovely 15 gallon aluminum fuel tanks that have the 0-90 ohm sending units in them.

Tanks are a turn key set up..29-1/2" long....12" deep and 9" high

These will fit perfectly in the wheel house area on each side of the S10 pickup box...

Clean fresh and no worries....

The pickup box can now fasten to the 2100 chassis aft of the cab and look neat and tidy.....

A cute little canopy can fit on the box at a later date and give that area a nice finished look......

I had planned on using the factory 2100 fuel tank, but it is a tad rusty, and it was going to make fitting the box on a bit questionable.......

The cool little fuel tanks...Alloy...no rust..

Snowy Rivers said:

The cool little fuel tanks...Alloy...no rust..

Click to expand...

Better get 2 you're not going far on 15 gallons.

That's the plan
One tank on each side tucked into the wheel house of the pickup box.

Yeah...with the little mouse motor running around 2500/3000 to make any real speed it's gonna be a hungry devil.

30 gallons should make for a fairly good amount of run time.......

The old wheel house location is wasted space anyway.....so these tanks were an almost perfect choice.

What would be sweet would be a pair of round tanks about 12" thick and 30" in diameter.....That would yield a usable capacity (With some expansion room) of 25 gallons each....maybe a touch more.... Great design to keep the fuel at the lowest point.

I might look at that idea.
I wish I had a Tig welder....I would build a set.

Maybe there is a Tig machine on my Christmas list .....I used to have one....never used it so I sold it.

Snowy Rivers said:

That's the plan
One tank on each side tucked into the wheel house of the pickup box.

Yeah...with the little mouse motor running around 2500/3000 to make any real speed it's gonna be a hungry devil.

30 gallons should make for a fairly good amount of run time.......

The old wheel house location is wasted space anyway.....so these tanks were an almost perfect choice.

What would be sweet would be a pair of round tanks about 12" thick and 30" in diameter.....That would yield a usable capacity (With some expansion room) of 25 gallons each....maybe a touch more.... Great design to keep the fuel at the lowest point.

I might look at that idea.
I wish I had a Tig welder....I would build a set.

Maybe there is a Tig machine on my Christmas list .....I used to have one....never used it so I sold it.

Click to expand...

If you want round, what about a couple aluminum beer kegs in the wheel wells.

Gawd that would be sweet....

There is enough room to get them in under the wheel house and let whatever hang out over the track.

Sadly...all these trick ideas are overshadowed by $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The little tanks referenced in the pix are $125 each and have everything "Turn key" sending unit it correct for the S10 gauge too.

A very inexpensive set up that will nearly act as a bolt right in unit....

Snowy Rivers said:

Gawd that would be sweet....

There is enough room to get them in under the wheel house and let whatever hang out over the track.

Sadly...all these trick ideas are overshadowed by $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The little tanks referenced in the pix are $125 each and have everything "Turn key" sending unit it correct for the S10 gauge too.

A very inexpensive set up that will nearly act as a bolt right in unit....

Click to expand...

Craigslist here in my area has hundreds of them from $20.00-$50.00 each, listed in the general section.

Been there.....nothing for sale at present.....

I thought about taking a couple old heavy truck diesel tanks and cutting them down (Cut the centers way back and weld the halves together to get a couple nice 20 gallon or so tanks.

Found a couple tanks up in Seattle....not interested in a road trip though.

As the time gets closer I will make a decision as to what will happen.

Definitely going to use the box that came with the S10....I own it and it will be easy to mount behind the cab...

May even consider building a "Veranda" behind the box and possibly figure out a taller canopy setup....

Be simple to extend the Veranda out over the tracks and then access would be a simple walk down the tracks and step up on the veranda......

Gotta get the beast mobile first.....but ideas that simmer on the back burner tend to come out better....

4 hours.....yup....got in and finished getting the nasty rusted bolts on the tire guides all drilled out.

Popped the lid off the vinegar soak tub...Gawd that stuff stinks.

Sure does a sweet job getting the rust off.

A before and after piccy.

Had about 20 tire guide to get off the grousers.

Last one left from the pile of many.
Last one in the mill.....and last bolt to drill.

Several YEAH BUDDIES after the last guide was tossed onto the pile on the table.

I am very happy that mess is done......

ANYONE NEEDING ABOUT 50 PLUS J GROUSERS... THE PILE ALL NEED A HOME...PM ME


Now to finish soaking the one I got from up North in Washington......

Next ....each guide needs to be looked over and any that have any cracks or need other repairs need to get set aside and repaired.

All the good ones can be cleaned up a bit and painted....then tossed on the shelf.

I need to clear my little white table so I can work on other stuff.

The tooling for building tire guides is on my hit list as well.

I am sure we will need a few to get two complete sets that match.

I don't mind mixing the various styles at all....but would like to keep an even number of the oddities scattered in the sets to at least make it look like it was planned...:th_lmao:

Got the area spiffed up...the old grousers stacked up away from the cat and in general things a bit neater.

15 Tire guides showed up today in the mail...

Look great.

A saying that came to my mind from a time waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the sticks working in a mill trying to get stuff to work.

WE THE UNWILLING, LEAD BY THE UNKNOWING, ARE DOING FOR THE UNGRATEFUL..
WE HAVE DONE SO MUCH FOR SO MANY, FOR SO LONG, WITH SO LITTLE, THAT WE ARE NOW QUALIFIED TO DO ANYTHING WITH NOTHING.

This is the concept I keep in mind when trying to figure out how to make odd crap work on a Snow Cat in places it was never designed to be located.....

Some possible good news in the works.

A fella called me night before last an he was answering an posting I have on Craig's list looking for a 2100 track.

We had a running dialogue for over an hour about tracks, grousers and tire guides.
He sent me some pix of used tracks in various states of condition.
Same type track I just finished taking apart for the guides.

In one piccy was a pile of Axles sitting by a tree. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ?????

I asked him if he has a front axle for a 2100.....Mine is bent on the LH side....pretty nasty mess.

Fella says he is pretty sure he has one with a good LH side...

Not sure if a wheel bearing failed or the torsion rubber unit went away.....

A wheel bearing failure that resulted in the spindle getting wasted can be fixed easily.

I can coax a bad spindle out of the arm quite readily with some work and then remove the one off mine and weld it into the new one.

If the issue is the torsion flex then the RH side of my axle can be cut off and welded onto the axle with the good LH side.

Either way it's a winning combination.

He is interested in my Tilt cab and the blade.....I am hoping that this works out good for us both.

I have only looked at the front axle enough to know that it was wounded terribly at some point....and the repair was on a par with a 5 alarm train wreck.

Getting some more tire guides and a fix for the front axle will be a real boost to the project.

I have toyed with trying to straighten the axle, but that is going to take either a big AZZ press or a heavy chunk of H beam, some rigging and my 20 ton hydraulic jack...

The axle has a bend in the center right by the large sump area....and then the mess on the LH end that appears to be a compound bend.....Top of the LF wheel is tipped in enough to see without any help.

There are two large chunks of steel welded onto the axle...one in front and one on the back of the tube......

Just cutting off the RH end of the axle just inboard of the gussets and far enough in to be past the torsion unit then adding a steel inner tube to stiffen the joint and welding the joint will work fine.

Keeping the thing cool so the torsion unit is not stressed is paramount.

Anyway....lets hope this revelation comes to pass.....be sweet to get that job finished.

While the axle is out I can pull out the track tension cylinders and check them out to be sure they are ready for prime time.

I am happy that this cat has the grease cylinders to adjust the tracks....

WE SHALL SEE WHAT SHAKES OUT...

Had an interesting conversation with my contact on the cat parts

He has plenty of guides.

The axle issue has taken a strange turn....possibly better....I don't know yet.

He said all his 2100 axles have the LH side messed up.....Sounds like conspiracy or ????

But he said he has a pair of "Swing axles" from a 3700

Here is a piccy of one.

The pics I have seen of the 3700's have the same axle as my 2100

Can anyone identify this thing ??????

Well now...
Just got a text from my contact up on the mountain...he is heading over and bringing a pair of the 3700 front axles and other goodies.

Be here about 12:30ish
I will get pics of things as we get after it.

He is taking the cab home and a few other items too.

Got rid of the cab off the 2100 and a few other trinkets...

Fella left happy and my back yard is closer to being able to be mowed next spring....

Gonna get some more tire guides out of the deal.

Sadly the 3700 front axles were not the real deal....somebodies home made copies and they are junk.

The LH side has had the spindle torsion housing broken off and welded back on.

On a weird azz angle no less.
The RH side has the spindle itself bent.

The fella brought along a spryte front axle.....LH side has the spindle bent to rat crap too....so bad it is quite obvious just looking at it.

So no joy in the deal other than tire guides.......

I have decided to start from scratch and build a pair of separate axles similar to the 3700 type and bolt on a pair of Flexiride or possibly another brand of flex half axle.

I at least want to start with my front axles being straight.....

Would seem that these beasts get crashed into big azz rocks and the rigging bent up a lot.

All my other axles are in good order. Just the front one is thrashed.

Ah well.....that's how it goes when you are trying to bring life back to old iron...

OK

The front axles is gonna get some personal attention ....AS IN BUILD MY OWN

KEEP the factory hydraulic/grease tension adjuster on the outside and add a second sliding tube up near the side of the tub.

Dual slide tubes and UHMW bushings in a pair 3-1/2" OD round steel tubes

The outer tube assembly will bolt up to the factory "Slide member" and the inboard one will bolt to the inner member.

A 2-1/2" shaft will fit between the the slide members and the spindle and its arm will be slip onto the keyed end of the shaft (At 2-1/4" dia) and be secured with a 3/4" grade 8 bolt

The spindles used in the 2100 are a standard Agricultural size with 1-3/8" inner bearings and 1-1/4" outer bearings.

Readily available off the shelf items CHEAP.....Weld in units...

Simple high school fabrication so far.......

The actual SUSPENSION will be a 3500 pound capacity 5-1/4" diameter air bag.

An arm welded to the shaft between the bushing units will arc back over the frame.

A steel mounting pad to hold the air bag and an arch assembly to serve as the top air bag mount will be welded to the frame inboard of the inner edge of the track.

Air up the bag so the the cat just starts to lift while setting level and good to go.

This may seem a tad complex....actually not....
Most components of consequence can be repaired/replaced easily.

This setup will be individual for each side.

Inner and outer tube assemblies will be interchangeable to make parts easy to replace.

Bushings can be replaced easily by slipping the assembly apart.....

End thrust will be accomplished by a thrust plate welded to the center portion of the shaft astride of the air bag ride arm......

Simple and effective way to fix this issue with pretty much off the shelf parts.

After going over the pile of scrap yesterday afternoon and then talking to another fella that had some axles he would sell......all of it turned out to be junk.

One end or another on these front axles seems to always be trashed.


Just an after thought.

I may be able salvage a pair of the end castings and spindles off of what I got yesterday and then add a weld in keyed bushing to them to allow their use in this new design.

This idea MAY save some $$$$ and keep the parts looking similar.

The fairly small spindle diameter does not take much to tweak it....especially when there is 8000 plus pounds behind a crash into a huge azz rock....or whatever non movable object gets hit.

Stay tuned as this saga unfolds......

I am not going to go on any more damned fool crusades just to find more scrap iron.

Simple, off the shelf parts to get it done.....

Decided to cut one of the 3700 front axles apart and see if I can salvage the spindle and the torsion hub to use on the custom set up.

Getting that heavy beast in the saw was a job......Then things got ugly.

The pictures show a lot of what deteriorates in these torsion axles.

It is obvious that the rubber cords had failed in two areas.
The torsion bar had shifted a lot and the plastic half bushings on the back of the torsion casting were totally trash.

Further snooping revealed that the outer tube had failed just inside the torsion housing.

The square tube is broken in two in a couple places.

Another shot looking at the cut end from the cutoff end.

Pretty much used up....

I machined off the weld and a crack appeared all the way around the end of the torsion bar.....my 20 ton press will not even budge this bad boy.

Gonna trot it out to a big truck shop I have used back in the day and see if their 50 ton press will push the beast out...
If this will not work then I will toss the beast back in the mill and drill some relief holes all around the inside of the bar.


Saving the two housings and spindles would be sweet.

Called up the Truck shop and asked about their hydraulic press...40 ton job.

We tooled on over and the shop foreman dropped the Torsion casting in the press and leaned on it.

Creep'd up to 40 tons and then BANG

That sucker let loose....
After we got it out it was obvious that the odd shape of the torsion bar had allowed a bit of weld to sneak down along side of the curves in the bar.

4 small little welds had remained in the casting....had to break them off.

The next one I will be sure and use an end mill and cut down into the area of the weld to totally expose the bar

I may be able to push it out here at home.....

20 tons just would not gitterdone......but 40 did.

Cleaned up the threads and got the nut to screw on easily.

Need to polish up the spindle real good as it is a tad rusty.....But no apparent nasty wear showing......

Still working out the details on the new front suspension......but the idea is coming into focus fairly well.....

I want to get some critical measurements off the RH SIDE of the original axle and its location in the frame so the location of the new parts will be as close as we can get on the new set up...


A couple pix

Went down a bit ago and cut up a Spryte axle that was part of the trade deal this weekend....

One of the axle spindles and torsion arms was in great shape.

Got the axle chopped in half and the good end in the saw.

End cut off now ...

The torsion arm was crooked with the axle tube.....YUP...After looking it over it was obvious it had been re-welded and NOT STRAIGHT EITHER.

But the weld will get cut off now and the stub shoved out.

The original torsion bar in the rubber is about 1-3/4" square....SORT OF

I think I will bore out the torsion arms to accept a 2" round shaft.

I think I will use cold roll steel shaft because it welds good and the welds are not prone to cracking as much as heat treated steel (Like the factory torsion bars that DO break off..

The torsion arms are likely a forging rather than a casting.....

They machine well....


I am going to put a used wheel hub on the spindles and set them up on the mill and take a fine skim cut off the inner edge of each of them to true things up before I bore the centers out for the new axles.

I want to sit the torsion arms on the rear face to bore them....but it is not machined and I want the spindles to be square with the world both X & Y

Going to take a bit of fooling around to get these suckers built.....but should be pretty decent.....

Went after the axle project this morning...

Picked up some round 1" plate burnouts and got one in the lathe and machined it to fit in the back side of the torsion arm where the plastic split bushing had been.

This when welded in will give the axle shaft better support.

At present the plan is to mill the 2" shaft to fit the square hole in the torsion arm and machine the new 1" plate to be a light press fit onto the axle.

Shove it together and weld the axle on the outside as was the factory axle...

The spindle cleaned up pretty well and the bearings fit fine.....

SO ....WE ARE GAINING SOME GROUND ON THIS PROJECT....

Been doing a bit of stewing on this front axle idea.

The front axle is the most vulnerable axle on the cat.....

Besides carrying the weight of the front of the machine, it carries the stress the track puts on it and then if the operator slams the track into a stump/rock or other non movable object all bets are off.

Axles are not a complex item.....but they are expensive....and you can't just stop off at Autozone and grab a fresh one for your Cat.....

After spending a couple hours yesterday fooling around making shavings at the lathe I really thought this thing was on the right track.

But the more I think about it....the more I think this thing needs to take a bit of a bit different angle on things....

I like the heavy steel torsion unit with the spindle welded in.....It is simple and sturdy.

Once things get into the torsion axle it gets costly no matter what you do....

My original idea of welding in a 2" shaft and and machining up a pair of UHMW bushings carriers seemed good.

The shaft is going to wear....dirt, water, and all matter of crap will eventually work its way into the area between the shaft and UHMW bushing....and the shaft is going to suffer.

The shaft needs to be about 28" long and once it is welded into the torsion arm it's not an easy thing to replace.

Heading inward the air bag arm must be connected to the shaft....either welded on or machined and keyed to the shaft.

The shaft is too long to handle in my lathe.....so doing anything on either end is impossible (Drilling the end or ???)

It was here that I fell back to an old ide in designing DONT REINVENT THE WHEEL

How can this job be done using off the shelf parts that are dirt cheap, plentiful and available easily ??????

Also replaceable quickly if need be.

Replaceable bushings.
Easy to work on.
Simple design
Very inexpensive $$$$$$ both originally and to fix if ya break it...
Design uses OFF THE SHELF PARTS....SOME OF WHICH CAN BE SOURCED FROM THE U-PULLIT wrecking yard.....

CHANGE ORDER......

Keep the torsion arm and spindle (We own it and it's in good shape)

Now here is where things get interesting.

Use the RH rear axle shafts from an Astro van (Dirt cheap $30 each) and readily available.

Machine up an adapter to bolt into the original 2100 axle mounting flange/adjuster tube.

Fabricate an adjuster frame for the inner end of the axle
The air bag idea is nearly unchanged.
The bag frame will have a tube that slides over the axle shaft and fits in close proximity to the shaft.

On the inner end of the bag mounting will be a a 28 spline flange (Cannibalized from a Ford rear axle pinion) Weld the flange to the bag arm assembly .

Arm assembly slips over the axle and engages the splines.....the original C clip groove in the axle will secure the entire assembly on location.

There will be various spacer tubes and thrust plates (Washers) that will go into the stack to keep the parts where they need to be AND the parts that ride in the UHMW bushings will all be separate items with minimal machining on them so they can be replaced easily when wear renders them JUNK.

I am looking at very low cost for the original build and again...low cost for maintenance items (Consumables)

The torsion arm is going to get a bit more machining to give me some room to add a bolt on flange to secure the arm to the Astro axle shaft.

Still need to take a few measurements on the cat before I remove the original axle so the wheel position will end up proper.

But we have a lot of room as far as what can be whacked off the torsion arm and not compromise it's strength.....

Sound complicated ????? Actually it is not.

Astro RH axle shaft
Some steel tube cut to various lengths
A few pieces of steel plate
Some UHMW tube

Ahhhh yess
McGyver again......:th_lmao:

I think I know where I can scare up another pair of the track adjuster slides

That will save me time and effort......

A wet afternoon here....down right nasty.

This morning I was able to get my handy tape measure on things.

The plan looks very good ....One fly in the ointment though.

Not going to be able to use the old torsion arm and spindle.

With the axle bolt flange in the mix right outside of the track adjuster axle mounting there is not quite enough room to use the old parts. (Would set the front tire too far out)

Ah well...that's how it goes when you're engineering on the fly.

Drew up a sketch of whats needed to mount the spindle....
Will need a fresh spindle.....

Thought crossed my mind to try and coax the old one out of the arm.....just might take more work than it's worth to chop the spindle out.

When the weather clears up I may try removing the spindle.....

If it gets ugly....Pfffffft.

A fresh spindle is not much $$$$

Well now....

The old saying about the best laid plans of mice and men.....often go astray....

It sure did.
I spent a fair bit of time measuring things up to be able to use a GM axle shaft on each side of the cat front end.

All looked so good.....until it became real clear that getting anything weldable with a spline in it that would fit the GM 28 spline axle.

Nope......Getting a sleeve that can be welded and that has the 1.205" 28 spine is not gonna happen.

One outfit said they could custom spline a piece of steel tube made to my dimensions .......Minimum order and a loan from the world bank.....


Soooooooooooooooo....back to plan A

Grabbed up the Torsion arm/spindle and fitted the hub to it and got it on the mill table.

Clamped it down and took a light clean up cut on the back side to give me a way to make sure the spindle will end up square with the world on both axis.

Then got the arm in the table vise and set up the boring head.

Machined out the original square hole where the torque rod was welded in to 2.00"

Machined the center of the 1" thick steel plate (Backing plate for extra width of purchase on the shaft)

Headed out to the steel yard and picked up a chunk of 2" Cold rolled shaft 2" x 28" long....


Then for the real test.. Took all my 20 ton press would do to shove the shaft into the spindle arm.

It can be seen in the pix how the opening in the rear of the arm is goofy and appears offset...

The plastic bushing had worn out and the square tube of the original axle had chewed things up a lot.

Going to weld the shaft to the arm on the front side as it was originally.

The plate on the back gets welded on the OD to the arm......I may or may not weld the plate to the shaft on the back.

So as of now.....the plan moves like this.

The original track adjuster/axle mounting will get a machined part made to bolt in that has a steel tube and a UHMW bushing.

I may add a replaceable sleeve over the 2" shaft where things go through the bushing.

The the tub end I have another set of factory adjuster brackets.

A similar set up on the inside....to also work to keep the axle parallel and adjust it too.

The air bag bracket with it's tube will slip over the s" shaft and be secured in position with two 5/8" grade 8 bolts through the shaft.

Similar to how hubs are retained on some tractors......

TWO Grade 8 5/8" bolts are more than plenty in shear to secure the air bag arm....

A piccy of the seal surface on the spindle.

I do believe a speedy sleeve is a good idea for this bad boy.

The journals cleaned up real well and the bearings fit sweeeeeeeeet.....but the seal ride area sucks.

I know I don't know nearly enough to even add my 2 cents worth here, wouldn't a torsion axle from a car trailer might work, probably a stupid idea

I was wondering that too.

Another idea would be to use torsion bars from 70's Chrysler products. You can find them easily along with the hex holders for the ends at pick and pull for a song. They could be inside a hollow tube, they still make different bars for road racing that are extra strong also you can set how much much tension you want on them with the adjuster. I just sold a 69 dart hot rod. I set ride hight with the tension adjuster. Its very simple and strong.

The trailer torsion axle idea has been explored.....

The shape of the units is odd enough that getting them to fit is a big question....?????????????

If I could get my hands on one that might be different.

This coupled with the price of a pair/kit makes it a sketchy proposition.

The torsion bar idea did come to mind.....sadly the length rears it's ugly head.
The Chevy/GMC ...GMT400 K series 4x4 used the torsion bars as well.

Once you start needing to cut things up....all bets are off.

Welding on these is a no no....

BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT......Today was nice and I got a lot of good measurements off the cat that were accurate.....

I crunched up a lot of numbers and things look good.

Decided to draw this thing up ACTUAL SIZE on a poster sized sheet.

Real actual dimensions + - 1/16"

The numbers did not lie, and the design will work sweet.

Here is a picture of the actual drawing.

After I finished I decided to add a wear sleeve between the 2" axle and the UHMW bushing so there will be nearly zero wear on the axle....and a simple bushing and wear sleeve change will rebuild the unit......


I have looked at the TIMBREN rubber springs and these look promising as does the small 5" air bags

More snooping needed.....but the main design can move ahead.

The torque arm will either wind up with the air bag or a rubber spring...

Suspension will have a stop that will limit travel down as well as up....

I really like the idea of the rubber spring that works under compression....

The end result will be very similar to how the factory parts worked.

Best part is the separate axles will be serviceable, and repairable....

I looked at a few more used ones this weekend JUNK...ALL OF THEM....
And the sellers wanted $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The view in the drawing is basically a cutaway...sort of.

The drawing being to actual size made checking feasibility easy.

Getting the torque arm finished will depend on whether we go with the air bag
or the rubber spring (Timbren)

The small air bags are dirt cheap...and easy to replace.

I have not been able to get $$$$$ figures on the Timbrens as yet....

My head is still spinning after yesterdays imagineering and drawing session.

Going over availability of materials to see if what I want is available.

Schedule 80 steel pipe for the adjuster bracket bushing tubes, and some 3" DOM tube (3" OD X 2" ID) For the airbag/rubber spring mounting arm.

So far the availability looks good....will know in a while.

Most of the other materials are standard stuff and just a matter of grabbing it and cutting to length and getting the tools on it.