TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:42 am

Ok, Since I have started tearing apart I can officially start a build thread now. Not too much done yet, still in the process of tearing down. There are lots of neat pictures though.

Pictures prior to last week, while it was functioning.

Allways wear a helmet if you are taller.

The Rolls on a rainy day.

And in the process of teardown:

This is why I run tubes.

High speeds on very rocky terrain will do that

The general teardown

You can kindof see the crack if you know where to look

Heres where to look

PO obviously couldn't fix it well enough. Time for gussets!

The engine dropped about 1.5 inches and yanked the tranny nose mount bolts clean out. The starter got sent into the frame like such about 2.5 miles out on a very rocky road. It drove back with the motor hanging off after getting a pushstart.

The donor tranny. After the rail is converted to IRS i will swap to 3x3 arms, 930CVs, fab up some coilovers, and take a look at a bus transaxle... This one is just so I can slowly upgrade the IRS over time.

Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:37 pm

looks like you have a pretty cool project on your hands. you going to brace your frame anymore?

Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:34 pm

Nice. You're about to go down the road I started on this season. I had a really crappy (I mean really crappy) swingaxle rear end. Cracked, gusseted and fatigued straight. So I decided to rip it all off and start fresh. While I was at it, figured I'd go 3x3 and 930s.

I would recommend supporting the frame horns as far back as possible. Noticed yours cracked right after the support. The rest of it is still cantilevered out there. I would also recommend running a weld bead down the seams of the frame horns. They are only spot welded from the factory.

Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:45 am

if you really want to beaf up the frame horns. Grind off that lip that sticks out on the sides weld the seam and then weld a peice of 1/8" plate over the top of that Plus brace them as shown above.

Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:54 am

Couldnt you get some round stock and cut it in half and weld that on the bottom on the horns?

Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:32 pm

a gusseted frame horn. This is a temp fix until I replace the horns all together.

Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:29 am

Just to give a little better shot. The horn was without any meat to it at all, welded like tin-foil :) . I'll roll with this for a little while but working on those fabed replacement horns.