Trussed Rearend

2894 Views 23 Replies 8 Participants Last post by El Mamito USMC, Jun 15, 2016

CVTitan05

Discussion Starter · May 9, 2016

10

Hey guys, I just built this rearend for El Mamito USMC, and i thought it came out pretty damn good. So i wanted to show it to you guys.

The rearend originally came out of my truck, i replaced it with one from Roodogg, that was geared and had a trutrac in it. El Mamito had a problem with his rearend and hit me up for the one i had to replace his. And well we did some other mods to it...

First i ordered all new axle shafts, bearings, seals, etc, as those all went into my new rearend. Those were all assembled, along with the ABS tone rings and retainer plates from axles i had in my garage.

Then i started building a truss for it. I used 2" .095" wall DOM tubing, and MIG welded it onto the housing. It included bracing from both axle tubes to the center housing. This keeps the axle tubes from flexing under hard load, or harsh impact, thus in theory, should make the internals, bearings, and seals last longer.

Heres the pics of how it turned out:

Fit and finish must be perfect!

All welded up:

Continued...

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1 - 20 of 24 Posts

CVTitan05

Discussion Starter · #2 · May 9, 2016

4

Installed the axle shafts, and its ready for El Mamito to install!

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Walrus

· #3 · May 9, 2016

Schweet.

Reactions: 1

El Mamito USMC

· #4 · May 9, 2016

Sick man. Cant wait to put the LSD Yukon and rip it in Baja

Reactions: 1

honda250xtitan

· #5 · May 9, 2016

Nicely done man. Those welds look goooooood especially on the center brace.

Reactions: 1

CVTitan05

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 10, 2016

Thanks guys!

Reactions: 1

Pale Rider

· #7 · May 10, 2016

wow! excellent work! Glad to see talented people show their work!.:cheers:

Reactions: 1

Hazmat1

· #8 · May 10, 2016

Looks amazing. With the cast center housing, did you have to preheat it to take a good weld?

Reactions: 1

CVTitan05

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 11, 2016

Thanks guys, and no i didnt preheat it, with the correct settings and machine, you shouldn't have to. If the MIG your using cant get hot enough, then preheating would be mandatory. Theres a lot more science to welding cast/forged/etc than just that too...

honda250xtitan

· #10 · May 11, 2016

CVTitan05 said:
Thanks guys, and no i didnt preheat it, with the correct settings and machine, you shouldn't have to. If the MIG your using cant get hot enough, then preheating would be mandatory. Theres a lot more science to welding cast/forged/etc than just that too...

Science the sh1t outta me. I'm curious.

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CVTitan05

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 12, 2016 (Edited)

I guess "science" wasn't the best word to use, as i've heard its all theory. One of them being to "peen" the material as it cools. "peening" being to take a ball peen hammer, and turn it to the round side, and slightly tap on the part you just welded. You do this because when you weld it, thermodynamics kicks in and the material expands greatly, as it cools, it tries to shrink down to its original size, and puts a great deal of stress on the material, which is why it cracks. But by peening the weld, you "push" on the material and relieve the internal stress.

As far as preheating, I was taught you want the part to be atleast 400*, but with the housing being so thick, i was able to turn the welder up high enough to the point i was almost blowing holes in the tube.

Another is you want it to cool as slowly as possible, for small parts its no big deal, you can put it in a box or something, my preferred method is to bury it in sand, as it takes hours to cool completely. But the box of sand i have here at the shop wasnt big enough for a rearend...

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James2007

· #12 · May 13, 2016

those are nice welds, and yes I am a professional journeyman welder, who is qualified for welding on many different types of steel.
most center housings on axles are cast steel, which is fairly easy to weld on. the only time you need to "peen" things is cast iron, which is completely different beast all together and is a MAJOR PITA to work with.
the only time you NEED to preheat any type of material is if your welder cant handle it (aka POS welder) or if the material your welding is over 1" thick or the weld procedure calls for it (but that will just be to please the engineers) so welding on vehicles you will never have to pre heat anything

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CVTitan05

Discussion Starter · #13 · May 13, 2016

James2007 said:
those are nice welds, and yes I am a professional journeyman welder, who is qualified for welding on many different types of steel.
most center housings on axles are cast steel, which is fairly easy to weld on. the only time you need to "peen" things is cast iron, which is completely different beast all together and is a MAJOR PITA to work with.
the only time you NEED to preheat any type of material is if your welder cant handle it (aka POS welder) or if the material your welding is over 1" thick or the weld procedure calls for it (but that will just be to please the engineers) so welding on vehicles you will never have to pre heat anything

Learn something new everyday, i thought you peened both types of cast. Thanks for the info!

El Mamito USMC

· #14 · May 27, 2016

pick it up this wendsday and drop it off to the mec on Thursday. guys and I can honestly say its a superb job.

once its on, ill take the truck later to get the Yukon LSD installed...

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CVTitan05

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 27, 2016

Should look badass once its under the truck! Makes me want to redo mine... lol

Reactions: 1

El Mamito USMC

· #16 · Jun 1, 2016

It came out extremely sick and fits and clears perfect as the pics can show.

The chase truck is ready to roll.. Thanks to Korzan oils for the labor and @lt.dan1 and @madiganmotorsports for making this sick rearend for my Baja truck..

#trussrearend #nissantitan #nissan #rearend

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honda250xtitan

· #17 · Jun 1, 2016

trussed axle, radflos, traction bars, thats a bulletproof rear end. nice work man.

Reactions: 2

GalaxyPro4X11

· #18 · Jun 1, 2016

Wish someone sold just the truss section.
Sweet

CVTitan05

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jun 2, 2016

GalaxyPro4X11 said:
Wish someone sold just the truss section.
Sweet

I would sell the truss section by itself, i have just had problems with the "weld it yourself" stuff coming back with people having problems because their welds failed (or something else related to it), and trying to blame the guy who made it. So now i strictly do it myself, then if there is a problem, i take care of it myself as obviously it was my fault.

GalaxyPro4X11

· #20 · Jun 2, 2016

CVTitan05 said:
I would sell the truss section by itself, i have just had problems with the "weld it yourself" stuff coming back with people having problems because their welds failed (or something else related to it), and trying to blame the guy who made it. So now i strictly do it myself, then if there is a problem, i take care of it myself as obviously it was my fault.

I hear ya man and thanks for the offer in the PM but as you know it would cost an arm an a leg for me to ship down there.
I'll have to find a fab shop somewhere up here for something similar.
Nice work!

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