Hey All,

So the question is this... The fact that welding on the upper truss improperly can bend your housing has been beaten to death, but there is little info on welding the other pieces of the gusset fun. From someone who has welded on the marlin HD knuckle gusset kit (or any I suppose) should they be tacked and then slowly stitch welded completely or can they be welded in a more normal fashion. Same question about the diff cover. The axle is an '85 with diff on and everything else removed in prep for the rebuild post welding.

Thanks in advance

 

On my buddies rig which is armored to the max, we tacked everything in and made sure it all sat right then fully welded the armor on. 0 issues.

Obviously drain all the gear oil out first and leave the drain plug out or remove the 3rd member to prevent all that pressure build up from the heat of the weld.

 

I stitched the upper brace then worked the opposite sides on the front diff armor. As far as the knuckles go, again, tacked and worked opposide sides.

***NOTE*** Be sure to grind those gussets back for knucle clearances

 

I've done quite a lot of welding and the best way I've found to keep things from bending is weld equal amounts on both sides of things and weld in short opposing stitches. That and tack everything a lot. The more tacks you have the better, I find that if you are getting warpage than the tacks will let you know because they will start popping if you do small ones. If you just go to town on one side, stuff tends to get rather warped.

 

You could always run a pipe down the length of the axle housing as well

 

So looking at the knuckles make sure to grind back the part that actually touches the knuckle ball... What are the usual clearance issues and Is there any way to test for clearance other than bolting everything back together...
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And thanks for the welding on the housing tips... Will help tremendously

 

looks like you got some more cleaning to do on the steering stops, and take a wire wheel to that bracket and clean the slag from plasma cutting off. better yet, use a grinding wheel.

 

Make sure you tighten the bolt against the spacer. Like was said clean the area up with a grinder and then you'll just have to grind the brace until it fits well. Have you read MC's instructions? Just don't get too crazy welding a bunch on the bell, just as much as you'll need. I

I had to grind more off on one side than the other. If you want to slave the knuckle on to check for clearance you can or just wait until assembly. Easy peezy.

 

Oh yeah, not done yet by far, but working on it... As far as clearancing issues w/ the knuckle I'm not sure what to look for

 

Youll know it when you see it. Once the knuckle is installed, you'll rotate it around looking to make sure the retaining rings for the wipers don't hit at the bottom and check the top for clearance as well. I also adjusted the mechanical steering stops out a leeetle as well

 

And last question, is it safe to weld on the axle with the knuckle assembled? Leave out the axle seal but completely assemble the rest of the knuckle (wiper, rings, felts, etc) to accurately check for clearance of the gusset

 

Will ruin bearings. Assemble, full steer,mark clearances with sharpee. Pull iy apart and weld.

 

Could tack it too

 

Indeed.

 

Don't sweat it too bad with the knuckle clearance. You can see where the seal wiped across the ball. See the color difference in the pic posted above. The seal isn't going any farther than that.

The ring may or may not touch. Don't worry about it now. If it does touch it is easy to do a little grinding after assembly.

 

Indeed.