Differential drop info

[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.

[pbkid]

i see i see....

so once again it comes back to SAS....

[Ascinder]

so once again it comes back to SAS....

Funny how that works huh? For what most of us seem to do with the VX, leaning more towards a SAS direction makes sense. Even though a solid axle doesn't have the greatest rep for high speed desert rally type racing, many have held their own there. With new innovations like full hydraulic steering and lightweight(9" aluminum) center sections to eliminate a lot of the previous problems associated with solid axles, they are being seen more in higher speed builds. Recent Baja events and the newer King of Hammers competition(rock crawling mixed with desert racing) are good examples. I think these new SAS candidates are finally starting to fall into a niche that will be perfectly exploited by the VX. The only problem we have is our oldest one. Everyone talks a big SAS game(myself included) but no one has yet taken the plunge.

[pbkid]

look below, screwed up the first time

[pbkid]

Funny how that works huh? For what most of us seem to do with the VX, leaning more towards a SAS direction makes sense. Even though a solid axle doesn't have the greatest rep for high speed desert rally type racing, many have held their own there. With new innovations like full hydraulic steering and lightweight(9" aluminum) center sections to eliminate a lot of the previous problems associated with solid axles, they are being seen more in higher speed builds. Recent Baja events and the newer King of Hammers competition(rock crawling mixed with desert racing) are good examples. I think these new SAS candidates are finally starting to fall into a niche that will be perfectly exploited by the VX. The only problem we have is our oldest one. Everyone talks a big SAS game(myself included) but no one has yet taken the plunge.

few have tried, none have succeeded...

screw it, build a beefy skid plate, beefy sliders, beefy front and rear bumpers....lock it....hit the skinny pedal when dealing with clearance issues(i know that your not supposed to gas it with lockers, im just saying)

[CrnCnn]

*not for sale*




These are the ones that Beau(Ascinder) built. He asked me to post 'em up to show how he did the welds.

Beau and I were at the junkyard yesterday and I was checking out the brackets on a trooper. They look identical. Also, it had the skid plates I believe many are after. I am gonna confirm the year trooper that the skid plates come from and maybe get them.

[tomdietrying]

p.m. sent.
Peace.
Tom

[tom4bren]

Clint,

Your modified brackets look really nice - good job. I think there's still a pic in my gallery of mine if you want to compare.

For the crossmember drops, 'Welder Guy' took a piece of 3" channel & welded on tabs to replicate the mounting features on the other side. It worked out very well. I still have one set for the calmini crossmember that could be modified for the stock crossmember if anyone is interested.

After all this discussion, I may have to re-think the spacer idea rather than the modified brackets. It may be a better option just for ease of installation.

Tom

[CrnCnn]

Clint,

Your modified brackets look really nice - good job. I think there's still a pic in my gallery of mine if you want to compare.

Tom

Thanks, but those were modded by Beau(Ascinder). I am just the owner of them now.

[tom4bren]

In post #29 of this thread, I said I'd post a pic of the notch I had to make in mine. I did try to post the pic but it never showed up. I'll try again.

[tom4bren]

Pic finally posted. Look in my gallery.