BBR's 83GT - 552 BBF version 3.0 (at least)

[BBR]

ARB showed up about an hour ago. Can't wait to work on this thing this weekend! My wife agrees!

[Beagle]

There are many places on a car to be cheap, that's not one of them.

(removed, researching)

okay, back from researching - at least it has c-clip eliminators?

"8.8 with c-clip eliminators, welded tubes, rebuilt Trac-lok, 5 lug Motive axles and 3.90 Motive gears"

might keep the wheel off the track if it snaps?

[Deaf Bob]

There are many places on a car to be cheap, that's not one of them.

That's for sure!

I've tried to LOCK limit slips on some of the cars we use.. When we get them, they are pretty worn.. Thus they will one leg it rather easily.. Our goal is motion on flat tires or one flat rear.. I have welded the gears to the carrier... Doesn't last to be worth the time... I have been shown a way using the principle of the gear shown in BEAGLE's avatar.. But with the harder hits and beefier builds, it will get hammered out.. I find the best way is a bolt between the spyders then welding them. Yes theu do break, but do not fall out.. Most of our rears have spools.. We do have welded rears.. We also run 28 splines because that is what we can get cheap..
Take it from me... Or not... Don't waste time trying to lock a limit slip shade tree style... Open diff ones are different.. But if you are gonna street drive it alot, then Beagle's way is the way to do it.. You NEED give on corners... Or you are going to snap axles..yes the 30+ spline axles can and do get broken.. We have broken others' that have ran them.. Of course, direct hits on spinning wheels are not the same as a launch from a big inch motor..
Another thing we do is swap housings for BIA's. C-clips will come apart and the axle will leave the car.. That will not bode well for you or the speeds you go...

[BBR]

(removed, researching)

okay, back from researching - at least it has c-clip eliminators?

"8.8 with c-clip eliminators, welded tubes, rebuilt Trac-lok, 5 lug Motive axles and 3.90 Motive gears"

might keep the wheel off the track if it snaps?

Yes it does. If it breaks an axle it will just stop most of it's forward acceleration. Depending upon how tight the diff clutches are of course.

After DW1012, Casey's (moparman63) brother drove the white Dodge pickup all the way from Tulsa to Dumas, Texas with a broken axle! And Casey did it again from Amarillo to Dumas this summer after it broke another one. haha

[Deaf Bob]

Do c-clip eliminators also bolt the axle in at the backing plate?

[BBR]

Yep. Stock axle bearings are removed from the housing and a new bearing is pressed on the axle. The bearing retainer is bolted to the housing flange.

[BBR]

The whole "puck" idea would not have worked anyway. The side gears have to turn in order to get the spider gears in.

Saturday, I finished up bolting the S-box in and got the ARB welded in.

Reinforcing strip in hatch area. Pic was taken when I still needed to drill 2 holes.There are a total of 19 bolts holding the S-box in place.


ARB clamped in place, ready to weld.



Welded in. Not too bad for lying on my back in the driveway. The ARB install was the part of this project I was REALLY dreading. I don't like welding under the car, but it went waaaaaaay better than expected. The bar rides on sealed roller bearings and swings back and forth very easily and nicely.


I decided to stick with the 3.55's for now. I will start collecting 31 spline parts to build up the other housing that has the 3.90's in it. So, I opened up the 3.55 diff to pull the diff clutches and re-shim them.



The spider gears came out real easy, which was an indication that the clutches have worn a bit. The existing shims were 0.03", so I found 2 in my stack that were at least twice as thick and after inspecting the clutches, I reassembled everything. It took FOR-FRIGGIN-EVER to get the spider gears back in this thing, just like when I did this back in January 2010. Those stupid cup washers that install between the spider gear and the case kept shooting out when I would turn the gears to move them into place. I ended up zip-tying the washer to the spider gear to hold it in place and to keep it from dropping into the gear oil. My persistence finally paid off and I finished it up, but by then it was too dark to do any work in the driveway. Besides, I pulled a muscle in my back getting that thing on the work table and did not feel like wrestling with it any more.

Overall, a very productive weekend and had I not had some honey-do's (replacing glass in garage door and storage shed windows) and a season end Father/Son baseball game, I probably could have had the car back on it's wheels.

[SuperBuickGuy]

you stick welded that in? color me impressed

[BBR]

Negative. Flux core wire in the old 110v welder. Flux core is about the only way to weld outside when the wind is blowing like crazy.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Negative. Flux core wire in the old 110v welder. Flux core is about the only way to weld outside when the wind is blowing like crazy.

ah, still, nice welds.

back in the days before portable MIGS, we would TIG weld exhaust ducts together outside (on the roofs of restaurants); there were times when I would wrap myself in plastic so that the argon wouldn't blow away. The other favorite choice (the plastic came around the fan that we were placing on the duct), was to use the box the fan came in to protect you from the wind.... good times.

[STINEY]

ARB! Sweet!

Better times are awaiting!

[BBR]

ah, still, nice welds.

Thanks. I have always said my best welds end up in places no one can see.

Stiney, better times should be ahead, unfortunately my local track is closed until March!

[STINEY]

March - boo!

We're supposed to get 2" of white crap by tonight. Guess the season is upon us?

[BBR]

Yeah, I'm trying to get it finished before our weather turns to total crap.

[Beagle]

looks great! Mrs. BBR needs to get her priorities straight. I mean, functional window replacement v. Car in the driveway off of jackstands. She's slipping. HA!