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View Full Version : pics of my Shaved 14b.



Krash80
02-21-2005, 05:38 PM
I did this last summer and planned on doing a whole writeup on my axle swap once everything was done, but since my ZJ has been on jackstands for over a year cause i'm too lazy to work on it anymore and all 3 of the heaters in my shop are broken, i figured i'd post this now for the helluvit.

I started w/ a cab & chassis (C&C) 14b that i pulled from under a 1973 chevy dually towtruck. The stock measurement from the axle center to the bottom of the diff was 7.25". What i did was shave off around 2" from the bottom of the diff and welded in a 5/8" thick steel plate for a new bottom, and notched it a tad in the middle (as opposed to shaving the ring gear) and the new axle center to bottom of diff measurement is 5.625", or roughly 1/4" more than a stock D44. So i now have a 1 ton rearend with almost the same ground clearance as a stock D44.
here's the axle up on the mill being chopped :

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/14bonmill.jpg




Here's a few pics to give you an idea how much i shaved off:

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved1.jpg

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved2.jpg

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved3.jpg


and here's what it looks like after i welded in the 5/8" plate (sorry for the bad pic...it was taken with my cell phone):

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/plated1.jpg



I was thinking of shaving the ring gear w/ a grinder setup on the lathe, but it seemed like more work than it was worth and i wasn't too excited about getting grinding dust all over the ways.

And to answer some questions before they're asked...
-I welded in the plate with a high-nickel-content rod on an AC stick welder...both preheating and post-heating the entire housing with an O/A torch.
-The diff was actually shaved farther than the point where the ring gear would start to hit, so the plate is notched out in the middle to keep the ring gear from hitting. It's actually notched out further on the back of the plate (as viewed from the back of the diff like in the picture) than it is as it gets to the front of the diff, because the plate is not perfectly square with the axle housing. I did the shaving of the diff with the pinion angle on the jeep in mind, and shaved it accordingly...so that with the axle sitting under the jeep and the pinion set correctly, the bottom of the diff is almost perfectly flat.

I'll post more pics of the finished product when i finish this heep of crap and get it the hell out of my shop.

-Ron-

MassZJ
02-21-2005, 07:02 PM
Thats fawkin sweet. :smt023

ELLLLLIOTTTTT
02-21-2005, 07:50 PM
nice shave job ;)

:lol:

Kraqa
02-21-2005, 08:03 PM
MUCT BE NICE TO HAVE A MILL DRILL.

Krash80
02-24-2005, 03:41 AM
here's a few more pics...

Axle from the back -basically the only things hanging below the axle are the pumpkin and the very bottom of the LCA mounts...i tried to keep everything else up and out of the way.

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/axlefromrear.jpg





Here's what it looks like on the bottom:


http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/diffbottom.jpg

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/diffbottomangle.jpg

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/diffbottomfront.jpg





Here's what the inside weld looks like, and this also shows a bit of the "notching" on the plate:



http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/insideweld2.jpg




And the ruler doesn't lie:

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/55inchesagain.jpg

Krash80
02-24-2005, 03:47 AM
Chevy K20 calipers mounted on homemade brackets:

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/reardisccaliperbracket.JPG

Lower control arm mount pics:

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/rearlcamount.JPG

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/rearlcamount%202.JPG

My rear links consist of a single LCA on one side, and a "radius" style arm with a single upper on the other side, and a panhard bar. I used this setup extensively both on-road and off-road, and it works very well with the exception of a little torque steer on the street. I replaced the axle side UCA rubber bushing with a custom aluminum bushing, so we'll see if that helps to alleviate some torque steer with this setup. If not, i'm going to add another upper arm to the drivers side that will be like a "wristed" radius-arm for off-road use so that i can still have completely unbinding articulation, but the stability of 2 radius arms on the street. Most people argue with me and tell me "that setup won't work...etc," but it's worked great for me so far, so if ya'll don't like it...well... :flipoff2:

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/rearucamount.JPG

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/rearucasetup.JPG


And with the axle centered, here's how wide my "fullwidth" 1-ton ZJ on 35x12.5's is :D

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/fullwidthlol.JPG

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/fullwidth.JPG

Gotta love the narrowness of a C&C 14b. :)


-Ron-