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YES, I want to use safety loops. The one question I have is what do the safety loops anchor too? The force of the halfshaft was already so strong it broke the batwing clean in half, like cut it in half and ripped the camber rod and a piece of the different out. What is strong enough back there to absorb that force if the safety loop in anchored to it?
The ones I seen anchor to the bat wing. Its been several years since I looked at them, but they made them as a set of 2 or 4. The 4 setup would hold the halfshaft regardless which end breaks
Hopefully this will make sense, but I believe how they work is, by holding the halfshaft in a smaller circle, it will not allow as much of a swing when one end breaks loose.
I do have one other suggestion. Do a search for rklessdriver. He posted several tips on how to keep the rearend together. One point I remember is limiting the squat.....
The ones I seen anchor to the bat wing. Its been several years since I looked at them, but they made them as a set of 2 or 4. The 4 setup would hold the halfshaft regardless which end breaks
Hopefully this will make sense, but I believe how they work is, by holding the halfshaft in a smaller circle, it will not allow as much of a swing when one end breaks loose.
I do have one other suggestion. Do a search for rklessdriver. He posted several tips on how to keep the rearend together. One point I remember is limiting the squat.....
just a waiting game until parts arrive now my friends.
just a waiting game until parts arrive now my friends.
i was under my car, fixing an outboard ujoint (!!) and i think if you anchor to the stationary batwing it would be a pretty big loop. if you ancored it to the suspension bolts on the knuckle it would move with the suspension and could be a much tighter loop.
i was under my car, fixing an outboard ujoint (!!) and i think if you anchor to the stationary batwing it would be a pretty big loop. if you ancored it to the suspension bolts on the knuckle it would move with the suspension and could be a much tighter loop.
Rough one for sure, but thank goodness it didn't get that beautiful body/paint!
Out of curiosity, did you use loctite on the strap bolts? If not, could be a good lesson learned for the community...
Now i wont sleep until I check my u-joint bolts
you know I put the rear end in the car, but I did not attach the halfshafts. Another fellow at the shop did that. He works on an NHRA race team so I'm sure he did it properly but who knows. It was fine for a year and a half until this...
I made this after breaking the left outer u-joint with minimal damage ...
Originally I was planning to use a Dana36 batwing to get all measuremets correct but ended up using the Dana44 batwing. I had to shave a bit from the rear of the batwing to frame bushings and that was enough,
On the C3, Chevrolet included actual caps instead of loops to secure the universal for the big-blocks like the link below. Don't know if they offer for C4 but when I rebuilt my C3 rear I upgraded to the big-block- caps.
On the C3, Chevrolet included actual caps instead of loops to secure the universal for the big-blocks like the link below. Don't know if they offer for C4 but when I rebuilt my C3 rear I upgraded to the big-block- caps.
I made this after breaking the left outer u-joint with minimal damage ...
Originally I was planning to use a Dana36 batwing to get all measuremets correct but ended up using the Dana44 batwing. I had to shave a bit from the rear of the batwing to frame bushings and that was enough,
I made this after breaking the left outer u-joint with minimal damage ...
Originally I was planning to use a Dana36 batwing to get all measuremets correct but ended up using the Dana44 batwing. I had to shave a bit from the rear of the batwing to frame bushings and that was enough,
JoBy please tell me that you either sell this or you would be willing to share your CAD file? I would love to cut this out on a wire EDM machine.
Two questions though. Does this still allow for preload on the bearing caps, and do you have to machine the cover thinner to accommodate for the thickness of the steel?
I really like this design and it looks great under your car.
JoBy please tell me that you either sell this or you would be willing to share your CAD file? I would love to cut this out on a wire EDM machine.
Two questions though. Does this still allow for preload on the bearing caps, and do you have to machine the cover thinner to accommodate for the thickness of the steel?
I really like this design and it looks great under your car.
Thanks!
I made this as for myself but I did not throw away the CAD-file.
What do you mean with "preload on the bearing caps" ?
You can modify a Dana 36 batwing to use it with a Dana 44 differential if you add a 10 mm spacer. Then everything lines up in stock locations, This was my first plan.
In the end I modified the Dana 44 batwing instead. I was able to mount it by shaving off a bit of the rubber bushing as you see.
I also had to mill down 10 mm from the batwing where the camber bracket mounts.
The only change to my rear suspension geometry is that the center mount for the toe links and spring are 10 mm further back.
I can't see that the toe links would make any differance. The spring to knuckle bolt got slight angle but I have not noticed any problems with this.
By using a Dana 36 batwing everything would be in stock locations.
Testing fitment:
I also added VanSteel caps to my new chrome moly half shafts.
An interesting 'fabrication' for sure! You never disappoint!!!
The VanSteel 'retention' system looks like it would/could be much more desirable if the 'tab' was included on the fabrication like the 'tab' on the short-axle. Does it matter? Likely NOT but ...... Using the socket head cap-screws also looks like it would make it very inconvenient to check regularly.
What do you mean with "preload on the bearing caps" ?
I'm probably wrong but I thought on the inside of the batwing covers there were aluminum stands that made contact with the bearing caps and gave them some pre-load. I very well could be mistaken. But I thought I read that somewhere.
I'm probably wrong but I thought on the inside of the batwing covers there were aluminum stands that made contact with the bearing caps and gave them some pre-load. I very well could be mistaken. But I thought I read that somewhere.
Ok, yes, those are on Dana 44 batwings only and they are machined flush with the flange. It is a bit strange because the gasket thickness should be critical in this case, but it is no problem to mount the batwing without gasket. In either case the adapter will do the same thing as it is also flush with the flange.
Sure, makes one wonder why they had so many different bolt pattern combinations? C3 Dana 44, C4 Dana 36, C4 Dana 44, Viper Dana 44, Supra Dana 44 and not one of them shares the same bolt pattern. Even more odd the C3 Batwing will bolt up to the 63-79 Iron Pumkin by leaving out 2 bolts and there not even the same manufacture!
For a while somebody was using Bolts threw the Batwing on the Dana 36 so you could apply pressure to the Caps after it was bolted on. As mentioned above the factory stiffeners are useless once a gasket is installed. I have a Steel Caps on my Dana 44 that was installed by Tracdogg quit a while ago.
I would love to cut this out on a wire EDM machine.
