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SF Bay Area expert axle shop needed. PLEASE!

Desert Rat

Desert Rat

Fetch the comfy chair
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Oct 19, 2002
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Well, I'm totally bummed out. I thought I was a heartbeat from being out on the trail. Looks like I have a ways to go. As I posted in the other threads called "How big can you go on shims?" and "A whole boatload of doubler question", I found that my front and rear driveline angles are causing me major headaches. My setup is a D60 up front on 6 inch TC springs. Out back is Corp14ff on an ORD shackle reversal, 4 inch TC springs, and an ORD one inch zero rate (9 inches total lift). I have a HAD rear driveline with 1350 CV at the TC and 1410 yoke at the pinion. All of this is on a 76 Blazer. To summarize my solutions, I'm going to have to cut off the rear Corp14 perches and re-weld them back on after rotating the axle to accomodate the 11 degree difference that exists now (Better than too large of shims). Prior to doing that, I need to deal with the fact that the front is also way off.

After speaking to Jesse at HAD, I plan on doing a doubler setup. This will move the front TC output about 6-7 inches back. This will help my steep front driveline angle, (which at this point is 28 degrees with the 4 degree up from the TC, and the 24 degrees down on the shaft), and also give me the benefit of having a doubler. It also gives me more clearance since I swapped in a 700r4 and now the 1310 CV is about an inch from the tranny pan. It will move my rear TC output back but I should still be ok. However, looking at my front, in order to get my front pinion in line with my driveshaft, I need to correct a current 19 degree difference. There is no way I'm going to safely accomplish this with shims. According to a few folks I've talked to, the proper way to do it is to remove the inner C's, clock them, and then re-weld them back on. This is because even if I were able to change the perches 19 degrees, the outer kingpin setup would be rotated so far that the geometry would be a major problem and put undue stress on the uppers(?).

So, the solution is to rotate the axle, re-weld the C's back on, cut off the driver side perch and clock it, then machine a matching angle onto the passenger side perch. The big question of the day then, where in the SF Bay Area is a shop that can do the cutting and re-welding of the C's and then machine the perch?
 
I dont know of a shop areind here. I would reccomend Lincoln Welding (916-442-4787, ask for Cliff), in Sacramento. We have them repair alot of busted 14b spindles. Also, they are the ones who put my 14b front together. They deal with all big rig stuff, my axle was the smallest they had there.
 
I think somebody else recommended them too. I want to say Kenny from Bayshore Truck. Just got off the phone with Jesse at HAD. That guy has the patience of Job. The good news is that he thinks the if I do the doubler first, I may not have to do the inner C's. Although, to have it absolutely perfect, that would be the way to go. But, I may be able to live with a 10-14 degree difference on the front pinion/shaft since I don't run high speeds in 4WD. In fact, about the only time it is in 4WD is when I am crawling along at a snails pace. So, it doesn't necessarily have to be at 0 degrees. But, I am still looking for a good place should the doubler not solve the front problem. Somebody from Dedenbear also suggested a place in Seaside called Lavender Brothers.
 
There's a place in north Hayward that does custom axle buildups, but I forget their name and I don't have a east bay phone book. I think they specialize in axles for racing. I'm sure Bayshore truck could do it for you, but I'm probably biased since they're 3 blocks from me.:blush:
 
Just out of curiosity, how did your driveline angles get so far off? I've never heard of such extreme work needing to be done for just a 6" lift in front.

Something else to add to all this. With the pinion pointed up so high on the front D60, the pinion bering won't get a drop of lube. You might post up asking what others have done, I've heard of sump systems being installed, I think I read somewhere about machining that could be done that would allow gear oil to flow to the pinion bering when it is pointed up so high.

If you are truely only using 4wd to crawl, you'll never feel any vibrations from misaligned drivelines .... you will fry a pinion bering if it's too high.

You've probably already checked everything, but I'll say it anyways :p: You might want to try and figure out what got everything so screwed up in the first place before you do all that machine work on your D60.

I wish I could find the number to a guy I saw about a D60 a year ago. It came off a truck with an enormous lift and all that work had been done to the D60 (not sure how many degrees it was pointed up, but it was a lot!). He was having a hard time selling it because everyone who looked at it just wanted a stock D60 ... including me.

I can't think of any shops in the immediate S.F. area that would do that kind of work, and I've looked. Trevor at WFO in Auburn is about the only place I'd trust to do that sorta work on a D60.

http://www.wfoconcepts.com/index.html

It would be well worth the 2 hour drive from the city if you're going to do all that work. Have him take a look at it, he might have another solution.

Good Luck,

Eric M.
 
Well, taking Jesse's advice, I'm going to leave the D60 alone until the doubler is in and I can take measurements again. I was also under the mistaken impression that I absolutely had to have the pinion in line with the driveshaft since it is a CV on top. Jesse says you can fudge it a bit for a front driveshaft that isn't going to see 60 mph drives. Most folks only engage the front when they are crawling along so the degrees don't have to be as stringent as the rear.

I didn't do anythng unusual in the buildup. It is a regular Chevy D60 on 6 inch TC springs in the front. The other concern I had about clocking the D60 too far is that the tie rod would then hit my diff cover which sticks out a bit more (Crane High Clearance). So, I'll do the doubler which gives me about 6-7 more inches which will drop the angle a bit. Jesse says you can get away with 10-15 degrees on the front, especially if I do a 1410 yoke. Ideally you should be at 0 but like you said, it puts the front diff at an extreme angle. If I need to clock it though, I'll have to find that place in Hayward. That is pretty close to where I live. I already hit up Bayshore Truck, they don't do cutting and welding on axles.
 
There a performance shop in Burlingame Ca that tehe mechanic in back may be able to 650 347 9388 Redline Motorsports.I had them cut and weld on my rear end very clean work
 
wicked fab

i've been to that shop(wicked fab) theyre next to santa clara university. the guys cool and all but i havent seen any of his recent work. but that orange jimmy on his site and the cruiser are so awsome! i'm not even sure if theyre still open the site has been the same for ages.
 
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