DirtyComanche

There's a simple little ratio I use for off-road tires/wheels. The tire OD must be at least 2 times the rim size. So, for a 40" tire we could well run a 20" rim. But, for a 30" we ain't running a 20" rim. So, I have no actual issues with running a 16 or 17" rim with 34s or 35s, however this will boil down to usage and preference. If the truck sees more street use having a larger rim (and less tire sidewall) actually is a benefit as it will firm the handling up a bit. Also, running a 15" rim on a 54" tire looks goofy, and the sidewall will probably flex well beyond what is actually desired. But, go too large on the rim and it WILL be fodder off-road. Not to mention it'll start to look really goofy. And buying some super fancy rims isn't really a good idea for wheeling. Although, forged aluminum has a place. Just don't expect it (or any rim) to look good forever (or even 15 minutes). For pure street use, no wheeling, or intentions of it looking like 'it perhaps could be wheeled if it wasn't a retarded show truck' the above ratio doesn't apply at all. Not that I'm into the show truck thing.

Most autoshops don't bill the actual amount of time it takes to do the job, but rather the amount of time written down in some almighty 'book'. This way a fast mechanic makes more money, as he can work 'more hours' than there is in a shift... And a roller, as in, it just rolled in... Like, drivable vehicle.

Sure it's water?

I think book time is like 6 hours an axle... Starting from a roller. Dunno what shops charge out there...

Stop worrying about a 4.0 being hot... It is intentional. However, the factory e-fans can be whacky as far as coming on or not. I popped the hood on my old XJ in the middle of winter once, ambient temperature was about -20, the engine was nowhere near warm (not even reading on the gauge yet) and the fawking fan was on. The problem with a manual switch is you have to remember to turn it on...

Anything else screwy in it? Is the casing all beat up from the chain?

It's not hard to get them right, but it can be a huge pain. And you have to understand all aspects of what you're trying to achieve. Also, you're going to want to do it with the axles out of the vehicle. Unless maybe you have a post lift in your garage. The problem with a dana axle is that all the shims go under or behind the bearings. So to change the shimming, you have to press the bearings off, then back on again. Which can be a real pain. One trick is to make 'setup' bearings by taking a set of brand new bearings and hogging out the races a couple thou so they are no longer press fit. Then to change the shim setup you can just slip the bearings on and off by hand. Once you get the shimming right, you press on a set of good new bearings... And it should all be exactly the same as it was with the setup bearings. That said, I did a toyota third, and it refused to be the same with the setup bearings as without. It was a huge pain. I won't do anything on a toy now. Part of the problem may have been the setup bearings were not the same brand as the final assembly bearings. It should not matter, but I had SKF auto bearings for the setup and Timkens for final assembly, and I don't trust SKF auto bearings as they are made off-shore. Their aerospace bearings I don't mind, as they are still domestic... Another thing that can be a pain with a dana axle is you might not be able to remove the carrier without a housing spreader. I have a D44 lying in my garage that regardless of how much prybar+swearing I applied to it, it would not give up the carrier. So, yeah... I probably could have got it out, but I wasn't in the mood. Used gears, as Eagle said, aren't the best idea. You can make them quiet, but it can be hard. It depends on what shape they're in. Basically to be quiet you have to get the contact pattern under load the exact same as it was before. Yet, the BL still has to be in spec. If the origonal pattern sucks, you're hooped. And you might not be able to replicate the old pattern easily... If it's trail only, it doesn't matter. However, I think with gears, it's a 'if you have to ask, you probably shouldn't' sort of thing.

I'm pretty sure the rear of Pong is 1.75x.120 DOM tubing. Which is pretty standard for a tube chassis, or exo cage. The shackle mounts are fairly simple, IIRC. All that is done is a 3/4" hole is drilled through both sides of the peice of 1.75" tube, and a peice the inside width of the shackle of .75x.120 tube is inserted into the hole and welded in. This allows a 1/2" bolt to go through nicely with minimal play. But, I'm going by memory on this. I've never seen Pong in person.

I guess I'll share a bit about what I learned with my semi-flatdeck thing. If you decided to use wood decking (I did, because it was free) mount it recessed around the perimeter of the deck. I didn't. You can see how peices of my deck are missing in a couple of the photos. They get rubbed off. Again, if using wood decking, attach it better than by putting wood screws through some angle iron. It was fast and easy, but not as strong as I'd have liked. Since I used tounge and groove, it wasn't as big of a deal. To do it again, I'd use a bunch of 1/4" bolts with penny (fender) washers under the heads, and possibly take a forstner (sp?) bit to counterbore for the bolt head/washer. Don't build the thing out of 2x3x.188 HSS. It's not needed. And way heavy. To do it over, I'd probably do the main parts with 2x3x.125 and a couple X braces with 2x2x.095. If the rear was a bumper as well, I'd do that with .188 perhaps. Build a recessed tail-light mount. I never got around to it. What else? I'm sure there's lots of other stuff I did wrong. But it was a good beginner fab project. The dimesnions for the bed mounts are really easy to work with. So it isn't hard there.

Well, I understand why you're doing it. All the transmissions/gearboxes, etc in the stuff I work on is either painted gloss light grey, gloss white, or bare stainless. If it leaks even a drop, you know. And you can wipe it up easily right then, then fix the leak whenever time allows.

Too bad I DD a dodge :rotf: Otherwise I'd rock it. But it might get stolen. It's a tough neighbourhood.

Lookin' damn sexy. Good call on painting the engine white, if you can see the leak before it gets bad everything stays cleaner! What type of paint have you been using? Just rattle can enamels?

There's lots of worse ways to die. Yet, I can't talk myself into thinking heights are okay, and that a couple seconds of free-fall followed by a *splat* is probably one of the more enjoyable ways to go, for some reason. Oddly enough, in a helicopter at 10000' AGL (above ground level), I feel fine. Even sitting in the front and looking out the longline window or through the glass floor. But, get me near the edge of a cliff, not even a high one, and I really can't handle it.

Yup

That is a good deal. How many were bought to get that pricing?

It takes time... I haven't even been 'here' for 3 weeks now. I just got back for monday. Kinda makes it hard to find something worth looking at, look at it, talk to the bank, etc...

So, guess what? I drive in today at 7:45ish. There's a mid-90s 1/2T chevy sitting in my spot. My spot with the BRIGHT @#$%ING YELLOW block heater cord. There isn't even any 'snow' to lose sight of it in. The 4 spots around him are empty, and none have cords. And even better, he managed to park only mostly in my spot, partly being in another spot. Which is the one I could easily steal (cord would reach). So, I snuggled the dodge up about 5" door to door on his driver's side. Then wrote down the plate just incase my truck gets any new dents tomorrow. F'ing idiot.

No pics, but.... I bought a couple more axles. A 93~ HP D60. It's a BJ axle, but not unitized hub. I'm looking into the knuckle strength right now - I think it's like a typical ford knuckle and is garbage. And I got a sterling 10.25 as part of the deal. I can use it for parts. So, we'll see where this goes.

I'd do NOTATOY for my MJ if I was into having an easily memorized plate. ('Not a toyota' for the slow guys)

:eek: :eek: :eek: :nuts: I think that's why he starts off by climbing onto the path. It seems like there was a 'way around' whatever they did to close it. So, umm, comancheclub memebers trip? Anybody?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminito_del_Rey

2 things: I like how the film maker doesn't bother to tie-off. Of course there is nothing to tie-off too at a few points. They need to put more rebar in the concrete next time. Ugh.

I've got to agree. The only thing I could see that would be an issue for pump life is if the fuel got too hot in general. Which could happen with either installation. Other than as stated, you should protect it from corrosion, mechanical damage, and shorting... You can get silicone covered connectors that will prevent any chance of shorting, and a little dielectic grease would keep the connectors from corroding. Not that I think your wiring on it is bad, as is. Paint the body if it isn't stainless or aluminum (I have no idea), and throw a simple guard over the entire thing (mae sure it covers the electrical connectors too) and I don't think you'd see any issues.

Hmm. I was explained that it was sealed... Although, if a guy looks at the design, it makes sense that it isn't. The inlet and outlet are on opposite sides. Well, my bad for believing a parts guy.

Actually, I'm pretty sure if the pump melts down in the tank it WON'T ignite the fuel, simply because there will not be enough oxygen. But I could be wrong... However, I doubt if it melted down externally it would really be any different. Why? It won't 'melt down'. It'll just stop. They're built in a manner that they basically have a fire shield between the pump motor and the vanes (where the fuel is). Maybe it'll get warmer being mounted externally, but by how much? If it is only 'warm to the touch' that tells us two possible things A) The pump isn't warm enough to be damaging itself - warm is fine since you're going to have trouble avoiding that regardless. Or B) The pump is insulated well enough that being submerged in fuel is unlikely to conduct enough heat away from it to be relevent. That said, I think if mounted externally one should take care to see that it is safe from all the usual suspects - mechanical damage, corrosion, shorting, etc. Or, a guy could buy this pump: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku Although, I'd have doubts about that pump. Since they don't mention anything about street/continous use. Ohwell.