Carwash Crawler - Build Thread... again.

[carwash]

No updates for a while... because progress has been super slow... but here are few pics...

first interior panel made, the plate to hold the shifter.









Got the lower firewall done. 1/4" aluminum, threaded tabs, etc. Was very happy to get the lower done in one piece. Makes me feel secure. The upper firewall will be located on the outside of the firewall.

[carwash]

Got my centers and rockrings from copperhead fab to recenter my hummer wheels. Not as pleased as i has hoped with them. The price is right but the cutting seems to be not the best. I guess it's what i should expect from plasma cut rings. I need to have the holes machined.





And i have a small concern about the gap between the hub and the edge of the center. It is about 3/8". While this will make it easier throw the wheel on the hub, it definitely will make the amount of meat on the inside of the lug holes less. I will have to see how it looks after i have them drilled and chamfered.







Probably won't do much more work on it until I move the rig and all parts to the new shop... stay tuned.

[carwash]

I have contacted Kyle at Copperhead and requested he remake my centers with some tighter specs and no lug holes cut so that i can have my machinist get those perfectly centered and chamfered.

Like i said, they were very inexpensive.

[carwash]

Originally Posted by JeffHPK5
I talked to Carwash on the phone earlier and we discussed how we can "sharpen-up" the fit of his replacement centers. We're going to machine the I.D's and lug pattern and combine Copperheads work and ours and hopefully make a nice set of centers.

I'm not a plasma expert but it looks as though these centers max out the machine Copperhead has or there running stacked stock to speed up production.

"your machinist"...

I'm more appreciative than you can even imagine Jeff... honestly.

Kyle says my new centers will ship this week. I'm having him cut the centers at 6.4", which is exactly what i measured my hubs at. We can then clearance them to whatever you think fits nice when you have the hub and centers.

There will be no lug holes in them at all.

Thanks again Kyle from Copperhead for GREAT customer service.

[carwash]

Well, new centers came from Copperhead a couple weeks ago. Dropped them off to Jeff for the finish work. He is machining the center hole, the lug holes, and the outer edge... should be able to drop into the wheel and weld in... I owe him big. Pics of those soon... maybe he will chime in here and give me an update...

Spent the last couple evenings finishing up the chunks for the rockwells. Had to pull the one apart that Kargomaster and I knocked out a couple weekends ago... recall the thrust washer questions... Anyway, those are all buttoned down and ready to go.

the second chunk i got into had some serious pinion slop, maybe as much as 3/32". since i am running pinion brakes, no pinion slop is tolerable. I was dreading tearing into this, as i hadn't even looked in my manual yet, and assumed it was going to be a serious pain in the ass. Turns out it was very simple. The shims for preload are behind the retainer, and there was no need to remove the bearings or anything... so about an hour of off/on/off/on/off/on until i was happy with the preload and i was done.

Put on the rear high clearance skid on the housing tonight. I purchased the DIY kits from Blue Torch. Note to self, don't be a tight ass next time, and buy the welded ones. Here are a few pics of the process...

Starts of course with the bare housing, stock bowl cut off and the area grinded flat to accept the new cover...





I then tacked all the pieces together on the housing.

[carwash]

Then i put the chunk on to test fit it, make sure that the gear clears it...



Then turn the welder up and burn the hell out of it...

[carwash]

Then, grind it down and smoothe it out, make it all pretty.









Hope to have the axles back together by the end of this weekend... Will be moving the rig to the new shop as soon as possible...