Front Axle Wrap - Pinion Limiting Strap Fab

J.C.

J.C.

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Front Axle Wrap - Pinion Limiting Strap Fab - Pics

The torque generated by my low gears and soft springs has caused my front pininon to wrap down, causing me to go through 2 pinion yokes since the first of the year. It wraps so bad it has worn the ujoint u-bolts half way through. After popping the tabs on my third one at Harlan last month I decided some type of anti wrap device was in order. As there is not much room in the front end with exhaust, oil pan, steering components, etc to put a traditional traction bar I decided to try a limiting strap type of setup. I flexed the suspension and made some measurments then I welded tabs on the pinion nose of the housing, burned holes with a hot bolt into some 2" strap I had laying around and and attached to a cross member. I had painted the yoke, ujoint and u-bolts so that I could tell if it had been rubbing. Seemed to do the job this weekend at Callalantee during 4 days of banging. You can see in the pic how badly the u-bolts were worn. May give it another test or two before I take out the broken yoke with welded ujoint caps and put in a new yoke and u-bolts.
 

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Thats a good idea I have the same issue. Do you think that the weld on the pinion housing did any warpage to the outer pinion bearing housing?
 
cool idea.. my question is where does the other end attach to?

im assuming that the strap is long enough to allow full articulation, so therefore does it also allow some amount of axle wrap when in compression or at ride height?
 
Jeff B said:
Do you think that the weld on the pinion housing did any warpage to the outer pinion bearing housing?
Click to expand...

No, I didn't get it that hot I don't think.

paradisePWoffrd said:
cool idea.. my question is where does the other end attach to?
im assuming that the strap is long enough to allow full articulation, so therefore does it also allow some amount of axle wrap when in compression or at ride height?
Click to expand...

I made a cross member that attaches to the frame and to the motor at one of the alt studs. Correct it will still wrap, just will not get into the ubolts. However I think that limiting any wrap will transfer more power to the tires thus improving traction.
 
John and I talked about this before he tried it, and it does seem to have solved that issue on his front end.

I hadn't thought about it before, but I think some improvement could be made to his creation. If you took some metal. say 3/8" thick, heated it to wrap around the pinion and also serve as a guard for the u-joint, and the pinion. Keeping it in place with a bolt like he has now that attaches the strap, and also have a couple of pieces run out to the webbing of the diff housing.
It would take some work with a torch, a saw and a good press, but I think it's possible as well as a double duty mechanism that would only give up a small amount of clearance.

Or, maybe it's the pain meds talking! LOL
 
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