The making of a diff jig - PROGRESS

["Z" UTE]

GOOD work, that is quite the business. You should have no trouble in correctly locating all the mounts with that jig. May I suggest you buy a length of steam pipe, or round bar, which can be used to keep the axle tubes straight. Eliminate the need to have the housing straightened after you attach the brackets.

cheers Chuck.

[TA-022]

dude! thats awesome... you gotta do mine!

you know i gots ya some man lovin!

[Pube]

keeping it straight will be the next issue. Ill look into some sort of bar to keep it straight or check for alignment. I still have a bit of a mission to get ready for the nats...

[brett_celicacoupe]

have you thought about using conic pieces to locate the axle in the side-to-side direction?

i say this because the T and F series differ in the distance from the axle centreline to the banjo mounting face. if that makes sense :S


also, those 2 "V" pieces where the axle tubes sit in may cause the diff to be higher or lower depending on the axle tube diameter..

my thoughts anyway


PS very well done!

[Pube]

I have tried to make the jig as adjustable as possible. When you cut the old mounts off you will always lose a couple of mm, say less the 5mm. Either using the plasma cutter or a grinding disk there will always be material lost when you actually cut the mount. You could spend a year and just grind away the weld but I think id get bored of that quickly.

By placing the diff on the "V" pieces I have a starting point. All arms of the jig can move vertically (as well as horizontally). So you can move the cut mount up to or down to meet the axle tube while keeping its correct attitude. Also having the diff mounted on the fixed "V" will accomodate different sized axle tubes and again you can lower or raise the new mounts to suit.

I know diffs such an those from the ra23/28 have the pinion offset to the drivers side by about an inch. Havent actually measured if the corona diff is the same also. With my jig I have marked the centre so you can move the diff to whatever side. I guess I will find out how the jig works when I put it to work next week. No doubt it will need some fine tuning.

["Z" UTE]

When my last 2 diffs were done, the donor tubes were totally destroyed, as the oxy /plasma cuts were made below the end of the brackets. The brackets were then cleaned up, with mimimal loss of bracket material.

cheers Chuck.

[EVOSTi]

good work mate, im pretty impressed.
also, not a bad welder if thats one you got just for home, we have the same but the 200amp model at work.

im told you dont live too far away so i may wanna speak to you about doing one for me in the near future, also a guy called shaun (AWESOME welder) lives not far away, if you wanted perfect welds you could speak to him, youve possibly heard of him/know him.

[Pube]

Shaun did my cooler piping and a few other bits and pieces for me. Hes a top bloke and and excellent welder. Thats my welder in the background, it seems to work well If my diff turns out ok ill happily look into doing some others!

[EVOSTi]

keep us informed

[Pube]

I have been busy over the past couple of days and transferred the mounts from the borg warner diff housing to the hilux housing. It seems to have been a success and the jig worked quite well. I have also trial fitted the diff housing in the car and and all the trailing ars just slid into place so im happy. Just gotta get the brakes sorted, axles re-studded and the truetrac installed and its ready to be put to the test!

This is a pic of all the mounts cut off and placed onto the jig. Having a plasma cutter really saves so much time and is so much neater than grinding!!


This is the diff on the jig and mounts in place ready to tak in place


Here it is, all done!

[EVOSTi]

good work son! let me know when you want me to bring mine round

also, did you end up putting anything in the housing to combat warpage?

[Pube]

Its difficult to put a dowl through the centre of the diff without making up some sort of caps to bolt onto the ends of the axle tubes to centre the dowl. I could have made something up but I just want it finished and the car on the road asap. I did however take my time welding, only welding the mounts about half a side then letting it cool completely then welding the mount a half on its other side. Hopefully by doing that it wond move much. I will get the diff place to check for alignment and see how I go.

[TA-022]

karn! hook a brudda up!

[Pube]

karn! hook a brudda up!

as soon as my car is on the road

[cri_ag]

i think if your carefull with your welding and actualy know how to weld, warpage shouldent be a problem. however if your mig is set to high and your just pouring the weld (and heat) then i can understand how problems could arise. ive welded a few mounts onto diffs before and never had problems. your work looks very professional, top stuff!