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'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
Overview Gallery Discussion
Greg72 said:
2010.02.08 - UPDATE! - 9TH ANNIVERSARY....

I'm a few days late. I bought this K5 on Feb 4th, 2001 but I figure it's close enough to still mark the occasion. Nine years and countless dollars later, and I've managed to transform a completely driveable $7000 truck into a motionless sculpture costing many multiples of that number! :yikes: With any luck, it will be driveable by the 10th anniversary.... :rolleyes:

Tonight, I managed to rework the hub puller. I wouldn't really call it "v3" since it was all minor adjustments....but I reground the base of the allthread and welded on a nut to give it a larger surface area to push against, and smoothed it out as carefully as I could. I polished up the hub insert (a simple cut-down socket) that rides in the hub area and applied a liberal coat of wheel bearing grease to the contact area as well as the threads of the puller to keep things as smooth as possible.



The results were much more satisfying. I still needed a breaker bar to keep things moving, but the process of moving at 1/4 turn at a time was much faster and smoother....



Total time to victory was probably about 20 minutes once I had the puller modified and attached. It was certainly better than the pipe wrench setup and it did somewhat make up for the frustrations over the weekend.

For those keeping track.....that's two down, and two still to go.


:usaflag:
Click to expand...
Looks like that torque multiplier is still no match for a breaker bar with a long cheater bar.
 
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The problem is that the hub isn't bolted to the axle so it squirms around a lot with that torque multiplier....it's sort of "climbs" around the ratchet head and makes it hard to get a decent pull.

If I was servicing the hubs on an axle installed on the truck where everything was solidly anchored, I suspect it would actually do the job.


:usaflag:
 
Gotcha, I can imagine how frustrating it can be with everything moving around.
 
Yeah, I'm subscribed to basically everything Unimog-related over on Pirate.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unit-bearings were kind of a joke. I know that the later model factory trucks use them but I thought one of their big weaknesses was that they are non-serviceable....so when they fail you have to replace the whole thing (and it's not cheap).

I think Spidertrax or some other vendor makes a desert racing version of the unit bearing which is uber-strong but with a price to match?? :dunno:

At this point, I'm already committed to a 1-piece CNC machined hub from a company called eXaXt in Canada. From what I've read, he's pretty much the balls when it comes to custom Mog parts. He's the one also making me my CTIS conversion parts.

Nice guy, but just like Clay over at Evolution Machine those Canadians talk "wicked" funny..... :D


:usaflag:
 
Greg72 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unit-bearings were kind of a joke. I know that the later model factory trucks use them but I thought one of their big weaknesses was that they are non-serviceable....so when they fail you have to replace the whole thing (and it's not cheap).
Click to expand...

The other issue with unit bearings is that you don't have the wide spacing between the inner and outer bearings, so they don't hold up as well with big tires. The big tires make a large moment arm that tries to change camber - if that makes sense - and the wide bearing spacing on the "traditional" hubs holds up much better.
 
Greg72 said:
Yeah, I'm subscribed to basically everything Unimog-related over on Pirate.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unit-bearings were kind of a joke. I know that the later model factory trucks use them but I thought one of their big weaknesses was that they are non-serviceable....so when they fail you have to replace the whole thing (and it's not cheap).

I think Spidertrax or some other vendor makes a desert racing version of the unit bearing which is uber-strong but with a price to match?? :dunno:

At this point, I'm already committed to a 1-piece CNC machined hub from a company called eXaXt in Canada. From what I've read, he's pretty much the balls when it comes to custom Mog parts. He's the one also making me my CTIS conversion parts.

Nice guy, but just like Clay over at Evolution Machine those Canadians talk "wicked" funny..... :D


:usaflag:
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me.. as for the cost side of it though, way too many pre 99's in junk yards for the spares to be spendy any more.

I am enjoying your build. Funny that I am non interested in working on a simple bump stop.. fabrication is/always was more of a work out on the old brain and seems to be more exciting.
 
Greg72 said:
Yeah, I'm subscribed to basically everything Unimog-related over on Pirate.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unit-bearings were kind of a joke. I know that the later model factory trucks use them but I thought one of their big weaknesses was that they are non-serviceable....so when they fail you have to replace the whole thing (and it's not cheap).

I think Spidertrax or some other vendor makes a desert racing version of the unit bearing which is uber-strong but with a price to match?? :dunno:

At this point, I'm already committed to a 1-piece CNC machined hub from a company called eXaXt in Canada. From what I've read, he's pretty much the balls when it comes to custom Mog parts. He's the one also making me my CTIS conversion parts.

Nice guy, but just like Clay over at Evolution Machine those Canadians talk "wicked" funny..... :D


:usaflag:
Click to expand...
I just read though that Pirate thread and the only thing he used from the uni-bearing was the flange. He cut the bearing off and welded the flange on what is left of his unimog flange. So, he is relying on his welds and the caliper to hold his monster tire on. If I had Mogs, I get the custom flanges for the piece of mind
 
That's kind of where my own discomfort is as well....

I don't like the idea of such a critcal part being welded together no matter who's doing the welding....for my money (and life) I decided to go with a one-piece wheel hub. I'll save money somewhere else on the build... :haha:



:usaflag:
 
I'll save money somewhere else on the build...
Click to expand...

Cool build, and great comedy too? :p:

"but dear, if I spend $10K on that, I'll be able to save at least $100 later! It's simple economics, what don't you understand?" :D

Rene
 
Greg72 said:
That's kind of where my own discomfort is as well....

I don't like the idea of such a critcal part being welded together no matter who's doing the welding....for my money (and life) I decided to go with a one-piece wheel hub. I'll save money somewhere else on the build... :haha:



:usaflag:
Click to expand...

Well if you look at it closely, the hub is pressed in from the outside and then welded, so if it breaks the weld, it still will not come off.
By the way I don't like unit bearings, but they even use them with big rigs, mine has the regular oil bath hubs but my brother in laws truck has the unit bearing, intrestingly enough it's a 98 :)
 
Greg72 said:
Nice guy, but just like Clay over at Evolution Machine those Canadians talk "wicked" funny..... :D


:usaflag:
Click to expand...


Yeah but them New Englanders talk "wicked" funny too. My favorite has to be "s**t the bed". As in, "That thing is worthless, it just s**t the bed.:haha:
 
2010.02.15 - UPDATE! - REAR SUSPENSION MOCK UP BEGINS...

I spent some time on Saturday pulling off the remaining Unimog hubs. All 4 are now complete and I'm glad it's over. Actually the front axle was substantially easier than the rear was, and I was able to pull the hubs using an impact wrench connected to my homemade puller. Total time to pull each hub was about 15 seconds, and no sweating! :D

With that victory behind me I decided to tackle some of the bracketry that will be needed to assemble the rear 4-link. Since I'm still waiting for the upper heims from Evolution I decided to get started on the lowers.

Step 1 was to take a close look at my 4-link summary data and start designing a bracket that would hold the lower links at the perfect angle. I didn't want to waste angularity of the heims by building a bracket that would eat up a few degrees at ride height. The solution was to build the bracket with 26 degrees of angle where it attaches to the axletube. After a bunch of measuring and cutting, I had a template:

DSC02496.jpg


I started off with a 3.5" x 3.5" x 250" square tube and traced my patterns around it. Some plasma cutting and a lot of grinding and shaping later I had the first one looking good.

DSC02498.jpg



By flipping the template inside out (using the green side instead of the red side) I also had a good pattern for the opposite side. What took 6 hours on the first try, took about 1 hour to duplicate for the other side...

Then I set up a couple of PVC links and heims to simulate my actual lower links...

DSC02491.jpg


And with a few tack welds, I was able to get the brackets into position and test fit the links before the day ended....

DSC02501.jpg


So far, so good. Next up will be the frame crossmember so that I can hang the other end of these links permanently.


:usaflag:
 
I'm assuming you have the axle housing positioned properly for pinion angle at ride height?
 
As close as possible for now.... nothing gets finish welded until all of it is 100% dialed-in.


:usaflag:
 
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