Just thought I would shear my weekend Project. This HD AMC 20 is going under my YJ. Before I setup the gears I decided to shave it. Here is the housing uncut.
I decided to Remove about an 1 ½" of material from the housing this works out to cutting ½" below the bottom of the second bolt up on each side. This should net about 1 ¼" more clearance once the new bottom is added. The Plate seen bolted on below is to try to hold the housing from moving during cutting and welding. I measured between the bolt in the plate to find the change if any in size. I used every trick I could to prevent movement (the plate shown, Short welds, penning the welds as they cooled, lots of cool down time between welds) and still the bolts moved together by 0.013". I hope this will not cause problems. I have yet to set up gears so as long as the Carrier bearings are still parallel it should be okay.
Next I had to smooth the cut surface. Here is a trick that helps in finding High spots. Grind such that all lines are in the same directions in this case side to side. Then take a flat piece of steel that is oily and still has mill scale. Rub it on the surface perpendicular to the lines formed by grinding. This will leave oil on the high spots also the mill scale will slightly polish the high spots. The dark areas in the picture show are the high spots which can be easily seen and ground down.
Here is the bottom after welding an grinding.
Here you can see the inside. Even though I gained a 1 ÂĽ" of clearance I did not take much from the actual room in the housing. Note I have yet to weld a bead around the inside or V-notch and weld the cover area.
Here you can see the old cover on the shaved housing.
Here it is done except for the cover. Note, the ring gear has about ÂĽ" of clearance. The Tab attached to the bottom is for a bolt in the new cover. I am not sure what I want to do for a cover. I may just modify the old with a piece of flat plate, or I may make a new one out of 1/8" plate. I have even thought about Modify a Dana 60 cover as it is nearly the right size and would be easier then making a heavy duty cover from scratch.
Finally this was used in creating the new housing bottom. It is a 2 axis CNC Plasma cutter. All I had to do was cut card board to the shape and scan it into auto CAD. Then trace the Picture and send to the CNC. It then cuts out the part in about 40 seconds. The hole near the tip of the torch is the outline of the new bottom after the cut.
Sure I could have done it free hand but when you have access to toys you have to use them.
I decided to Remove about an 1 ½" of material from the housing this works out to cutting ½" below the bottom of the second bolt up on each side. This should net about 1 ¼" more clearance once the new bottom is added. The Plate seen bolted on below is to try to hold the housing from moving during cutting and welding. I measured between the bolt in the plate to find the change if any in size. I used every trick I could to prevent movement (the plate shown, Short welds, penning the welds as they cooled, lots of cool down time between welds) and still the bolts moved together by 0.013". I hope this will not cause problems. I have yet to set up gears so as long as the Carrier bearings are still parallel it should be okay.
Next I had to smooth the cut surface. Here is a trick that helps in finding High spots. Grind such that all lines are in the same directions in this case side to side. Then take a flat piece of steel that is oily and still has mill scale. Rub it on the surface perpendicular to the lines formed by grinding. This will leave oil on the high spots also the mill scale will slightly polish the high spots. The dark areas in the picture show are the high spots which can be easily seen and ground down.
Here is the bottom after welding an grinding.
Here you can see the inside. Even though I gained a 1 ÂĽ" of clearance I did not take much from the actual room in the housing. Note I have yet to weld a bead around the inside or V-notch and weld the cover area.
Here you can see the old cover on the shaved housing.
Here it is done except for the cover. Note, the ring gear has about ÂĽ" of clearance. The Tab attached to the bottom is for a bolt in the new cover. I am not sure what I want to do for a cover. I may just modify the old with a piece of flat plate, or I may make a new one out of 1/8" plate. I have even thought about Modify a Dana 60 cover as it is nearly the right size and would be easier then making a heavy duty cover from scratch.
Finally this was used in creating the new housing bottom. It is a 2 axis CNC Plasma cutter. All I had to do was cut card board to the shape and scan it into auto CAD. Then trace the Picture and send to the CNC. It then cuts out the part in about 40 seconds. The hole near the tip of the torch is the outline of the new bottom after the cut.
Sure I could have done it free hand but when you have access to toys you have to use them.