CAD options

[gogmorgo]

The only time I’ve seen the fork break during a cad delete was after someone used a bolt to replace the CAD actuator shaft. It didn’t look like they had it lined up straight in the housing, so there was awkward bending/twisting pressure on the fork. If you leave the actuator shaft in place everything stays seated where it’s supposed to and that shouldn’t happen. 

[cruiser54]

There's always the person that can bend a digging bar in a sand pile. 

[brucecooner]

On 3/20/2024 at 3:18 AM, cruiser54 said:

You're overcomplicating something very simple. 

 

That's me in a nutshell. 

Except my nutshell is covered with foamcore that is covered by an outer, larger nutshell (to account for the size increase due to the insulation). 

And then I had to add cooling vents in the nutshell that I can open and close.

And I added a port to the nutshell with coax AND ethernet, since I can't get a wifi signal in my nutshell anymore.

But the coat of paint on the outside is a bit uneven in places. I'm not a perfectionist after all.

 

 

On 3/24/2024 at 11:12 AM, Pete M said:

you don't even need to use 2 hose clamps.  the weight of the clamp is insignificant and won't cause balance issues to the shaft.   

 

My plan is to use one clamp, and do a test drive.  If she don't get the wobbles I'll call it done, and for half the expected material cost at that.

 

 

On 3/24/2024 at 4:19 PM, gogmorgo said:

The only time I’ve seen the fork break during a cad delete was after someone used a bolt to replace the CAD actuator shaft. It didn’t look like they had it lined up straight in the housing, so there was awkward bending/twisting pressure on the fork. If you leave the actuator shaft in place everything stays seated where it’s supposed to and that shouldn’t happen. 

 

I wonder if ever so slight misalignment of the fork might lead to the slightest twisting stress that adds up over many miles till one day it's done.

And I wouldn't trust myself to replace anything.  I want to just put a plate on the hole and remove as much of the vacuum stuff as I can. 

[acfortier]

IMO, if you want to delete the fork, you should probably go all the way with one piece axle shaft. I'm sure a hose clamp is fine, but something tells me not to trust it more than the fork that was designed to hold the collar in place...

[cruiser54]

Aw, geez. 

[gogmorgo]

11 hours ago, brucecooner said:

And I wouldn't trust myself to replace anything.

So why are you replacing more than you need to?

The main purpose of permanently locking in the cad is to gain the reliability of a non-cad axle without needing to go to the trouble and expensive of changing the whole axle, or pulling the diff apart to change the shaft and seals. 
There’s a tried and true way to do that quickly and easily that involves a very small amount of work and no new parts or much screwing around. The people who have issues locking in the cad are the people deviating from the tried and true. 
If you’ve got reasons for deviating from the tried and true that’s understandable enough, I guess. To each their own. There’s all kinds of ways to do things, and people even get away with doing things completely incorrectly. In all honesty I know a guy who shoved a non-cad shaft into a CAD housing in his daily driver in a pinch about ten years ago without the proper seals and never got around to correcting it, and it still hasn’t exploded. Obviously I can’t recommend doing that but it shows what kind of stuff people are out there doing and being successful at despite all the odds.

You never know what the thing a guy is recommending is actually going to do. The other issue with the internet is people will tell you what they did that afternoon and never come back and admit that it exploded a week later. But when you’ve got a bunch of people who have done the exact same thing that doesn’t have huge concerns like puking seals or imbalanced shafts or misaligned components and it’s held up for 20+ years and are suggesting you probably shouldn’t deviate from that… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[cruiser54]

AMEN!!!!!

[brucecooner]

Ultimately I went with ALL of the solutions.

 

I took the cover off and was glad to see the oil that came out was fresh and clean, like I'd expect given the diff was oiled just last year.

 

So I looked good and hard at the c-clips in the cover and decided, "I'll never get those things right."

 

Nothing is easy to do inside the housing, with diff oil all over everything, but with a small metal hook tool and some finger ballet, I got the hose clamp wrapped and snugged.

 

CRUISER PLEASE LOOK AWAY NOW!

 

 

I tried to get it so the collar was half-on each spline.

But then, I noticed as I rocked the wheel back and forth, that the collar would just slowly walk its way to the inboard side.

I figured over time, with enough reversing, it would walk over there and proceed to rub on the axle housing.

I thought, "Dang it,  if only I had a way to sort of lock it in place there."

THEN, I thought, "Oh, I do have a way to do that."

So I slid the fork over to the engaged setting and put the cover back on and snugged everything up.

Hopefully the fork will keep it about where I set it, but it can't make its way back to the outboard side and disengage when I least expect it.

 

I took the opportunity to clean up the housing and fork while it was off.

This thing had about an inch of grime on every outside surface, but it cleaned up nice.

 

 

The actuator still makes suction, believe it or not.

Might even work with some vacuum, but I want less parts that have to move around.

 

Just to increase the blood pressure of all the forum regulars, since the gasket had remained in one piece in place on the axle the whole time, I just slapped the cover right back on the old gasket.

 

I got all the nubbins back on, and eh, it looks okay.

It is an old truck after all.

 

 

Finally I topped off the diff oil and took it for a drive and found out that it drives...

 

...completely the same.  No change whatsoever. At least not yet.

 

To celebrate I took out the vacuum brittle old vacuum lines at the actuator, but there's more to trace and remove back to the transfer case.

 

So its' done, with my usual maximum amount of overthinking.

 

Supposedly my fresh AX-15 will be in the mail next week too, so this was a good time to finish this up.

With any luck I'll be using all four wheels to pull this thing forward in the next couple of months.

 

 

 

[pizzaman09]

Very nice!  My actuator cleaned up like yours and like you have the original seal in it which somehow doesn't leak.  My only difference is I have retained the CAD system and it works great, I think because I use it almost every time I drive the truck.

[brucecooner]

11 hours ago, pizzaman09 said:

Very nice!  My actuator cleaned up like yours and like you have the original seal in it which somehow doesn't leak.  My only difference is I have retained the CAD system and it works great, I think because I use it almost every time I drive the truck.

 

 

I'm sure they're fine, I haven't heard enough people badmouth them to convince me it's a bad idea to keep one in working condition.

It's just a me thing, I like having less stuff to have to think about thinking about.

Part of the reason I bought an older offroader was because I wanted less electromechanical doohickeys between me and the rocks.

Then like an ignoramus I went and bought a Jeep with an extra axle, that's vacuum actuated.

 

This truck doesn't look like it was ever taken offroad, I think it was just a tow rig. 

So I doubt this CAD has been engaged in a long long time, if ever.

The front diff pinion seal looks fresh, I think it was replaced at some point, but I'm keeping an eye on everything up front now that it's getting worked.

 

[cruiser54]

CAD works great, until it doesn't. Just when you're needing it. 

 

I've seen more failures of that system than all of you put together working at the dealership in the mountains of Arizona.