Didn't save enough by building the shop/house outta straw so I STILL have to make stuff myself. With all respect to the nice parts HotRod Works makes I thought I could do well on my own using stock parts. This open drive conversion uses the rear of your stock torque tube, the stock coupler, a Yoke that fits your driveshaft (in my case a GM) and a seal that matches that yoke. This yoke was bored out on the lathe so the coupler would press fit into it(1st pic on the left, you can see the splines are gone, this is a FRONT yoke). The two were then welded together and allowed to slowly cool. At first I thought I would have to machine a "cap" that would neck down the size of the TT to the OD of the seal but I realized they were darn close already. So a piece of 3" DOM 1/8" wall was used. The tube was press fit into the TT stub, welded then faced and bored to be a press fit for the seal. All work was done with hand tools, sawzall and cutoff until the welding/machining parts. The total working time was around two hours tops. A few beers were sacrificed while planning how long,where to cut.etc.
The last pic shows a chunk of the DOM inside a cutoff (the redoxide part) of the Tourque Tube. It actually presses in TIGHT leaving a small gap at the top that held a nice bead to machine back down. There will be a small hole with a plug that will let you access the hole in the coupler to pin it to the pinion shaft. I am using a threaded bung and plug for this. I still need to work up a vent for the rear end, that will come next. All these parts came to less than $50.
Pics show OK? I am just able to do some posting with a new browser. I have an assembled pic but am busy cleaning up junk on the camera first.
The seal was smaller in OD than the ID of the TT. So the DOM was pressed/welded in place and machined for a tight fit of said seal. OK Anymore aabreviations and I will get dizzy!
Thanks Jason. Smokey did one here YEARS ago. I found it in a search last summer. I forget if his was done like this? I just went for the easiest,most straightforward way I could come up with. Funny side note, I had been planning on running closed drive and converting a 4wd T5 to the torque tube when this tranny fell into my lap. About the same day I cut everything apart the pictures of the roadster using a TT and a 4wd tranny were posted! So there was no turning back and Nosurf calls me a modernist
I will get a banjo side pic later. looks like a TT with a tube pressed into it. You can read the seal PN. The yoke was internally splined (removed on the lathe) I believe it was a GM/Jeep yoke. Thought I had the PN but it is buried here. Just went to our driveline shop and told em what I was up to. Second yoke off the shelf was close enough to machine out for the coupler.
The seal is Spicer PN 43085. I wrote F4C on the seal box, that may have been the yoke, I will do some further checking.
Here are some inside pictures. The DOM was a TIGHT fit when I got it pressed in that far. There is some taper inside the tube which left a 1/16" gap on the other end. The gap allowed our weld to penetrate deep enough that much of it was left after facing it on the lathe.
Brent, if you need measurements I can take em. But, I figured that there will be a few common combos that guys will find. I cut everything as short as possible, TT, coupler,yoke so that the thing was as light as I could get it. My Driveshaft and tranny are GM, T4/5 stuff out of an AMC. To be safe I took my driveshaft and coupler to the driveline shop. Since AMC/Jeep used lots of GM goodies, Al the driveshaft guy looked at the common ones that had enough area for the seal to ride on and give me some fiddle room. It was really pretty trouble free! 10 minutes at the counter, tops.
And since I can FINALLY post pictures again afterr months of not being able too is a shot of LilT taking his first ride at 2 years old on his Strider Running Bike! He calls it his HOT RAWD! He hangs out in the shop while I work.
chaddilac, call it the frugal Norwegian in me. You know how much PBR or HAMMS I can buy for the $200+ saved!?
Enough to for me and gas to drive up and share with you!! I might have to do one of these for my other rearends!! Where did you get the yoke?
Gearshop. Inland truck parts. They do my driveshafts and they also do large truck parts. It is an off the shelf yoke, just looked til we found one with meat enough to hog out for the Ford coupler.
Cool, Tman! How about posting a picture of the assembled unit from this same perspective (that is, the ass end of the TT piece). When assembled, and the seal in its final resting position, will the rear end of the coupler be flush with the back of the TT? Did you happen to find the manufacturer/part number of the piece you welded the coupler to yet?
The Jalopy Journal
