Differential drop info

[tom4bren]

Zeus was able to find a piece of stock with matching curvature (from a jeep bumper). He cut the diff bracket such that he retained the large hole for the axle and the 2 lower mounting bolt holes. This cut piece was positioned 2" lower and the donor piece from the bumper was welded in place to fill the 2" gap. Basically he traded one vertical weld for a horizontal weld (1 vertical & 2 horizontal). That's why he didn't have the interference issue with one of the bolt heads on the pumpkin that I mentioned earlier). His are welded all the way around even though it doesn't look like it in his picture since he ground down the lowest section of the vertical weld.

The way that BigMeat did it (& I copied) was to cut out only the flat center section and replace with new material (retaining the curved areas in place). We ended up with 2 vertical welds and 1 horizontal. IIRC this is the same method that Joe Darlington uses.

Did I get it right Zeus???

[Ascinder]

Ok, how I did mine was just to cut out the area around all four bolt holes and of course the CV hole and slide the piece down vertically, then weld in a 2" spacer. I retained the curvature and meat on both sides of the piece, so I guess mine was a little different than both. The advantage mine had was having all the holes line up flawlessly since they are the factory originals. This saved time laying out and drilling new holes, and I don't end up with extras that go unused. I didn't have to clearance anything either. I'll talk to Clint tonight to see if he'll throw up some pics.

[tom4bren]

I'll mention your method to 'Welder Guy' next time I see him to see if that's a better approach but I think he's already fabricated several sets of blanks for insertion & fabricated jigs for welding. He'll probably just stick with the process he's already used.

[ZEUS]

Zeus was able to find a piece of stock with matching curvature (from a jeep bumper). He cut the diff bracket such that he retained the large hole for the axle and the 2 lower mounting bolt holes. This cut piece was positioned 2" lower and the donor piece from the bumper was welded in place to fill the 2" gap. Basically he traded one vertical weld for a horizontal weld (1 vertical & 2 horizontal). That's why he didn't have the interference issue with one of the bolt heads on the pumpkin that I mentioned earlier). His are welded all the way around even though it doesn't look like it in his picture since he ground down the lowest section of the vertical weld.

The way that BigMeat did it (& I copied) was to cut out only the flat center section and replace with new material (retaining the curved areas in place). We ended up with 2 vertical welds and 1 horizontal. IIRC this is the same method that Joe Darlington uses.

Did I get it right Zeus???

Yessir, you got it. It was easier for me to make those 2 cuts on the original brackets... like butta. Three cuts seemed like too much of a PITA for my lazy PITA.

[Ascinder]

Three cuts seemed like too much of a PITA for my lazy PITA.

Well let me tell you what I did for mine. A whole day cutting the pieces out with a Dremel. I wanted the cuts to be as small as possible to minimize the area the weld had to bridge to keep the strength high. It worked, but took forever. I blew up several packs of Dremel discs doing that. Then there's the annealing after the welding and the shot peening and the magnaflux, then the sandblasting and finally off to powdercoat. I think I made up my time doing my crossmember which is just four plates with two big holes on top which fit around the existing "gussets" the original bolts passed through and two smaller holes on bottom for each, and four lengths of heavy pipe to act as stiffening spacers between the plates on the lower holes where the bolts pass through. I got some grade 8 coated bolts, some of which had to be installed in reverse for clearance reasons. All in all the crossmember project only took me about an hour total.

[pbkid]

sorry, i havent exactly been following this thread because you guys got over my head....
were you guys successful in getting the diff brackets complete??
and whats the purpose? to lower the CV axle angle right?
does that allow you to also lift your VX higher??

with longer shocks, longer springs, and diff drop brackets can the VX be lifted higher than 3"????

i've kinda been searching for a way to get my VX taller than it is...been looking at doing the body lift, calmini lift...just trying to find something...

[Ascinder]

were you guys successful in getting the diff brackets complete??

Yes, mine was sitting at 4 1/2" at Moab last year, but I was tearing boots. Mine have been done for quite some time now. The diff drop lets you lessen the angle of the CVs by lowering the axle center section where the inner CV cups mount up. By dropping it down, you have less stress on your CVs. Most people use this to bring their ~3" lifted CV angles down closer to paralell with the ground. When you lift 3", the outer CV drops down 3", while the inner stays the same. What the drop does is move the inner CV down 1.5" to 2" depending on how far down you made your brackets go. This makes a 3" lift look like a 1.5" or 1" lift to your CVs. What I did on mine was use the 2" the drop gave me to move my outers down even more. You should also be using low profile or ultra low profile bumpstops on your upper A arms or you won't be able to crank the torsion bars enough before they hit the factory bump stops. Another thing I had to do was re-index my torsion bars which means unloading them, pulling the mounting brackets off, letting the A arms fall to approximately lifted angles, then reattaching the torsion bar brackets and reinserting the rods, and then cranking them to normal specs. If you don't do this step, you are placing excessive stress on the torsion bars which makes them either fatigue really fast and lose springiness, or simply snap. That's why no one likes lifting above 3". Above that, you have to do a lot more work. I had to replace my rear factory bumpstops in the back with larger aftermarket versions and 2.5" square steel spacers to make the rear axle articulate properly, plus use coil spring compressers to even get my spacers in place. I could probably also use longer shocks in the rear, but I haven't had any issues with that yet, so I'll wait till I do. I also ran longer brake lines all around so I didn't run the danger of snapping them off when stuff begins to move.

[pbkid]

alright, i get it now...

i have mine cranked, probably 2.5-3" of lift right now and i havent had any problems yet, but of course i didnt do it the very best way...

i also havent had any CV issues, YET..... however, i lowered my integra 2.5 in the front and 2" in the back and i have gone through 4 or 5 CV's on that car in 2 years...luckily they are only $80 and i can do it myself...

[Ascinder]

i have mine cranked, probably 2.5-3" of lift right now and i havent had any problems yet, but of course i didnt do it the very best way...

You only need to index them if you lift beyond 3" I think, then the bars are seeing quite a bit of stress. At 2.5-3" you should be fine. People have been running it that way for years with little to no trouble. As for your car, the amount of stress on the CVs has a lot to do with shaft length. The shorter the center shaft is, the more the angle when you lift. Same thing with the cups. If you have short cups, the balls and cage can get pulled out to the edges and cause wear that way as well.
What we need for the VX is a longer set of A arms and longer CVs and a better way to do drop brackets. Unfortunately, the amount of aggravation it takes to come up with all that is almost as much as just doing a SAS, so that's why we see very little progress in the drivetrain department.