Bought an old BTF U4 buggy

Things that make you go 🤔

WTF At max droop there is 1/4" clearance. Why remove so much material when not necessary 🤔

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Supposed professional driveshaft shop built the shafts. I'm no great welder but damn, just damn.....

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More dumdfuckery to unfuck...... maybe I'm just too OCD 🤔
 
Joe_U4 said:
Things that make you go 🤔

WTF At max droop there is 1/4" clearance. Why remove so much material when not necessary 🤔

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Supposed professional driveshaft shop built the shafts. I'm no great welder but damn, just damn.....

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More dumdfuckery to unfuck...... maybe I'm just too OCD 🤔
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Looks like the paint department failed to cover up that weld porosity, should’ve used truck bed liner🤦‍♂️
 
NCJeeplover said:
I think the AR500 slides better than UHMW. It tends to dig and gouge where the AR500 just glides and slides.
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it definitely does, I wouldnt add UHMW underneath that AR500, let it ride.

How thick is the material? If its at least 3/16 I would just run your tube supports in the belly up against the back of the AR and let it be. If you really want a thicker belly pan, you can back the AR with some mild steel, but its not really necessary, that AR plate is incredibly strong
 
partiallycommittedracing said:
it definitely does, I wouldnt add UHMW underneath that AR500, let it ride.

How thick is the material? If its at least 3/16 I would just run your tube supports in the belly up against the back of the AR and let it be. If you really want a thicker belly pan, you can back the AR with some mild steel, but its not really necessary, that AR plate is incredibly strong
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It's 1/4" and the plan was to run two support tubes
 
The carrier bearing has been relocated at some point about ~2" upward. This gives a ~13° angle between the two shafts at full droop. You can see the original lower mounting holes. I would need to cut a slot in the secondary plate that was added to lower it so I can't easily check the angle. However from my calibrated eyeball, it would position the the shafts close to zero at full droop. In the current position at ride height the shafts would have minimal angle which is more ideal. Judging from the quality of the welds this was done by BTF during the original build. Unless I'm missing something I'm going to leave the bearing in the upper location for now.

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@partiallycommittedracing thoughts?
 
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Joe_U4 said:
It's 1/4" and the plan was to run two support tubes
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oh yea I wouldnt bother at all with any UHMW. You wont tear that AR plate up.

I would run more than just the 2 horizontal bars. We put essentially an H in the belly of our chassis.

Youd have the cross bars side to side at the front and back of the belly, then you would have two bars running front to back maybe 3-4" inside of the frame rails, and then a cross bar between those two bars. Make that H removable. That way you have a super rigid and stout belly pan that you can never worry about. I like to also brace the rear cross member vertically with an upside down V in the center (split the rear yoke with tubes) if you can. That will keep that bar from ever bending.
 
Joe_U4 said:
The carrier bearing has been relocated at some point about ~2" upward. This gives a ~13° angle between the two shafts at full droop. You can see the original lower mounting holes. I would need to cut a slot in the secondary plate that was added to lower it so I can't easily check the angle. However from my calibrated eyeball, it would position the the shafts close to zero at full droop. In the current position at ride height the shafts would have minimal angle which is more ideal. Judging from the quality of the welds this was done by BTF during the original build. Unless I'm missing something I'm going to leave the bearing in the upper location for now.

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@partiallycommittedracing thoughts?
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I dont see any issue with any of that (other than the driveshaft welds LOL) - those angles are crazy. As long as the pivot of the carrier bearing is as close to the lower link bolt location (front to back) you shouldnt fight any angles or anything.

Run it!

Looks solid for sure.
 
I've been beveling material with a pneumatic beveler for years. A few months ago I bought a DeWalt cordless router and have been using it with carbide wood bit to bevel aluminum and it works well. I have been seeing ads for Dirt Church Industries carbide beveler that uses replaceable carbide bits and thought it looked cool. They recently released a small table that fits DeWalt and Milwaukee cordless routers. Combo table and bit was like $160 I think. We'll see how it works

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Joe_U4 said:
I've been beveling material with a pneumatic beveler for years. A few months ago I bought a DeWalt cordless router and have been using it with carbide wood bit to bevel aluminum and it works well. I have been seeing ads for Dirt Church Industries carbide beveler that uses replaceable carbide bits and thought it looked cool. They recently released a small table that fits DeWalt and Milwaukee cordless routers. Combo table and bit was like $160 I think. We'll see how it works

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@Andy J. sell him some good cutting tools!
 
Skid plate and subframe completed. Added some reinforcements to the front that connects to the subframe. With the suggestion of @partiallycommittedracing I added a couple of rear support bars. The subframe bolts in place so it's easily removed for service. I had 1.5' tube clamps but they were the interlocking style which can be a PITA and they also only use 5/16" bolts. Spent way too much time making some the way I wanted them 😂 Welded, cleaned up, and ready for paint.

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Joe_U4 said:
Skid plate and subframe completed. Added some reinforcements to the front that connects to the subframe. With the suggestion of @partiallycommittedracing I added a couple of rear support bars. The subframe bolts in place so it's easily removed for service. I had 1.5' tube clamps but they were the interlocking style which can be a PITA and they also only use 5/16" bolts. Spent way too much time making some the way I wanted them 😂 Welded, cleaned up, and ready for paint.

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Holy beef Batman!
 
Joe_U4 said:
Skid plate and subframe completed. Added some reinforcements to the front that connects to the subframe. With the suggestion of @partiallycommittedracing I added a couple of rear support bars. The subframe bolts in place so it's easily removed for service. I had 1.5' tube clamps but they were the interlocking style which can be a PITA and they also only use 5/16" bolts. Spent way too much time making some the way I wanted them 😂 Welded, cleaned up, and ready for paint.

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looks badass! gonna be great to see this thing back on the trails!
 
For expediency and $$ I decided to back up and punt on the Spider 9s for the present time. Went with the ECGS 40 spline setup which will do what I need for now. Spindles are pure beef 💪

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Ordered an alignment bar and I'll make the spacers myself. Bar should be here tomorrow and plan to start on the housing this weekend. Disassembled everything in preparation and noticed some discoloration on the main bearing surfaces. Looks like heat spots but it wiped off the races and the bearings show no signs of excessive heat.

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It's only at the top and bottom of where the caps meet the housing. Looks more like a stain than heat? Thoughts?


Going back with a spool and 5.13s. Anyone want some 4.88s and and a 14B welded diff? Will have a set of D60 4.88s also.
 
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