S.A. Upgrade...How to make your own HP-passenger side D44...

[atvspeed4]

First time tig welding?

Hahahahaha

 

[06 H3]

I was being serious....If so thats really damn good.

 

[RamRod]

looking sexy!

I better find something to brush up on my MIG skills with...

 

[Happy Hummer]

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your guy's thoughts and this thread really gave me hope that there truly is allot of great content to be read here. I've really grown tired of the "will this such n such fit my H3 questions"...lol this thread is fantastic.

Chris

 

[Happy Hummer]

I would imagine you could pretty much do the similar setup that your doing in a IFS center section, such as bebe did to her rig? Of course I'd want to do the work so it fit the exact placement of the original. I also know there is a cast center available...but I'm guessing this would still be less expensive?
Chris

 

[4speedfunk]

Oh hell no...I didn't weld this! I got one of my many welding connections to do it for a six-pack. I could get close to this on the MIG but, since its a rather critical weld...I left it up to someone that does it for a living. He's got a better handle on weaving technique and knows how to make it both strong and pretty. Also my Hobart 210 is a little light on amperage for this job, so I took it to the pro and let him do it with pro equipment. He used a Miller 251 and did it all in one continuous pass while I rotated it. Not sure my Hobart has the duty-cycle to push that much current for the rather long burn-time that it took...prolly two-minutes or so.

As far as the TIG...forget it. I don't know much about it. I get stuff TIG welded all the time but, I've never tried it myself. Maybe someday. Like most accomplished welders...this guy is a TIG-snob, and considers MIG-welding the equivalent of doing brain surgery with a cleaver. -LOL

I agree with H.H. about the build thread. This is sort of normal boring stuff around Jeep guys and some Hummer guys might not even know what's going on here. All the same its great to share crazy projects like this with other Hummer fans. I love to see H3's getting cut-up and welded-on. There needs to be more of us!

 

[4speedfunk]

Today I installed inner axle tube seals, and shot some primer on the housing. Its been so moist lately, that it was starting to rust. I got some new hub bearings, and a master diff kit sitting here. Yukon axles & U-joints are in route. Just need to get a E-locker and gears. I also need to get bracketry and such...but that's pretty minor. Its starting to look like an axle again. MaxPF's knuckles are done and awaiting with new ball joints. And of course I got some ABS hubs & H3 caliper mounts standing by, courtesy of THORparts.

 

[autumn walker]

subscribed.

 

[4speedfunk]

Well...its been quite some time since I touched this project, and today I kicked-in Phase II. After leaving Schwarttzy's Saturday...I picked up my first batch of production Hummer H3 SAS brackets. Today I got a pair of them welded-up and installed on the High Pinion housing. The brackets are a "combination" style that locates all of suspension points on a single piece. The shock mount, coil spring pad, and lower-link mounts are all accounted for in a single bracket. However, unlike the Ballistic Fab brackets I used last time...these brackets locate the control arms further inboard, while leaving the coil springs and shocks out near the tires. This allows for more clearance between the tire and the lower link bars and thus...the truck turns much tighter.

As mentioned earlier, I'm going for a relatively low-angle build on this one. Because of the high pinion...my front drive shaft will be nearly flat. I'm only anticipating 4-6 degrees of pinion angle (very low by Jeep & full-size truck standards). I have already welded the inner-Cs to the tubes in anticipation of this, and I have built-in 6-degrees of castor to keep the steering accurate and to avoid the dreaded death wobble. This first shot shows the nose of the pumpkin pointed up 5 degrees and the inner-C's leaned back and welded at 6 degrees. Normally I would do all this with the axle in position underneath the truck...leaving the inner-Cs loose until I determined the final castor angle. But, since I currently have a similar low-pinion installed in the truck...I already have a good idea of what angles I'll need. So, that is allowing me to build this one on the bench...


Using the machined face of the diff-cover surface I first set the pumpkin to 5-degrees...


This put the inner-Cs at 6-degrees (they were welded in this position a couple months ago)....


Then it was time to weld the brackets to the housing, using the spring plate as a reference point and setting it to 0-degrees...


Because this is my second H3 SA...I already know the coil spring spacing and I can go ahead and weld this up to match the existing Dana 44 that I'm running. Right about the time I started to locate the upper link tower...I ran out of welding wire. So, I'll take a break until I can get some more but, here's what the brackets look like in their final positions...


Next I'll weld-on the upper link tower and the track-bar mount, and that should get it. The housing will be done at that point and I can then paint it and start doing the final assembly.

 

[gfbh3t]

Looks good more pics.

 

[4speedfunk]

I thought you might be watching this, G!

Yesterday I welded on the upper link tower, and did some final welding on all the brackets. Its been sort of rainy so I went ahead and sprayed the housing to keep it from rusting. I still need to fab & weld my track-bar mount to the passenger side tube but, that will be the last item to address before assembly. Here's some more pics from this morning...mocked-up on the bench. This shows its approximate position of everything when mounted under the truck, including links and knuckles. On the table separately are the frame mounts for all three links...(2) bottom types for the lowers, and (1) side-mount type for the upper. The tower comes from Ruff-Stuff and it has a 10-degree twist to angle the link over to the drivers-side. Notice how the lower link mounts don't hang down?...this makes for great ground clearance. The trade-off is that you must run a taller upper link tower to maintain separation...but there just happens to be a nice clear hole in the engine bay for the tower to reside in. So even though it appears too tall...it's not.



Not shown are the coil springs & buckets, steering system, diff-guts, and outers. As I get further into this build...I'll take some pics of the ENTIRE solid axle rig so you all can see whats involved. I'm at the point where I need to throw some more money at this thing...most notably $800 for an Eaton locker, and $100 for a rock cover. I already have the gearset and bearings. I also already have Yukon axles & joints, and complete ABS hubs/brakes. So...I'm getting close.

 

[RamRod]

Lookin good!

....one day! Until then I'll just dream!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[07Custom]

Hey CJ, quit showing off! haha You're making us look bad, geez :shame:

 

[4speedfunk]

Showin off? Me? No way...

[video=youtube;293TiPvptM0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=293TiPvptM0[/video]

 

[06 H3]

Looks awesome!!!

Could you go up the ramp more?

 

[4speedfunk]

I could have gone further but, I think the rear tire would start up the ramp and that might put me over the "butt-pucker limit". I was a being a sissy for a two reasons:

One...I was alone (camera on a tri-pod) and didn't have anyone to spot me and make sure I didn't drive off the side of the ramp (not good). If you notice there is a "fade splice" in the film at 0:14 seconds. I actually got out of the truck, walked around the front to check for myself, and climbed back in and continued for another 18" or so. I edited that out. Two...This was in broad daylight...on a busy road...on somebody else's property. I was a tad concerned that the po-po might see me and light me up...so I kept it short.

I just bought a GoPro3 two days ago, and this was my first real test at doing anything with it. Its more of a camera test than a suspension test -LOL.

 

[gfbh3t]

So do you like the up any more than the regular 44?

 

[4speedfunk]

???

 

[gfbh3t]

High pinion better than low

 

[4speedfunk]

That's the same small-tube GM low-pin I've had since doing the SAS...(the same one you drove, G). The high-pin is still on the bench...waiting on some funds for the locker. Its a one-off for me, and I don't have any interest in building another one. I'm so happy with stock GM housing, that I really don't see the point of building a custom HP Dana...even though I'm almost done with mine. Moving the Ford HP pumpkin to the passenger-side and re-tubing it was a total be-yotch, and I question if its really worth it to gain the alleged 15% increase in strength. Also the front driveshaft angle is really not anything extreme, even with the low-pin...so there again, the high-pin is sort of like extra gravy on some already fantastic mashed potatoes.

Building the high-pin was something I always wanted to try. I did it. It is possible. I will get it installed. But, its not a requirement. I don't see any problem using a low-pin housing and this one has performed great for the past year (7000 miles). The only reason I would screw with cutting ANY AXLE (high or low pinion) again would be due to caster. If you plan to jack it up so high that you need to cut and rotate the inner-C's for proper caster...then you might as well be doing that to a custom high-pinion. However, it would be much easier to call up any aftermarket housing company and simply order a bare housing welded up to meet your specs. Just tell em you want a HP Rock Jock 44 for your 78 Chevy truck, and correct the caster for a 6" lift. Done.

I already have plans to build my next SA-H3 project, and I will use a typical junkyard/craigslist $100 GM Dana 44. Its quicker, easier, cheaper, and there are millions of them laying around.

 

[gfbh3t]

Lockouts or no lockouts?

 

[4speedfunk]

I run lock-outs. Even though they don't do much without a 2WD mode on the transfer case...its still nice to have the ability to shut them off. I keep telling myself I'll pull the front driveshaft for one of my longer treks but, I have yet to do it (just lazy). Maybe the next trip to Rausch, I'll go 2WD and see if it makes any difference in the mileage.

 

[RamRod]

I love the go-pro's and with the new software you can get for the Smartphone to control it just only got better from there!

There are a few spot in my home town that I have wanted to "Ubran Wheel" however all but one are in busy areas that I'll for sure get busted in!