Some of you guys who frequent our woods will know Louis, or will know him from the piccies and vids of his panel shedding rangerover and then the even more battered looking bobtail that he got off his brother...
Well, Louis has sold the bobtail back to his bro (so lloyd will be down at the weekend) and he has bought himself a 2.8 td daihatsu 4trak...
So thats were this story starts...Louis new 4trak...
Problem...4 wheel drive doesnt work, front prop was turning but no drive to the front wheels...
Louis removed the auto lockers to find them shredded...
Bought another pair of auto lockers from a local breakers and he welded them up at his mates farm where he stores his truck, but the weld broke straight away due to....
1. the welds were cr4p as they used and old genset arc welder that didnt work properly and neither of them can arc weld, and
2. the car was running 31x10.50.15's on the front and 245/60/15 vitara wideboy tyres on the back...a good 4" difference in diametre giving near instant bind up in 4wd...
Enter stage left, Louis' mate from the farm, who reckons he knows all about 4x4's....
Simples job he says,
we will weld the hubs up....
so he got stuck into the car with his genset and welded the front end up...
Pleased with his handy work, they commenced test drive....
No movement, very reluctant then a loud crack and the car moved forwards...
But still no 4wd...
This was where I got involved, cast a glance at the car the other day and the pidgeon poo welding....so I said to Louis I would sort his some correct size tyres for it and drag it down my workshop wednesday and sort it out for him...
Yesterday...
Dragged the car to the workshop from the farm, whipped off the back wheels and dropped louis back to work with the rear wheels and replacement tyres so at least the car would stand a fighting chance when done...
Then I examined the front hub assemblies....
and couldnt believe what I saw...
in fact I has a double check incase my eyes where deceiving me...
This is what I found....
The side where the weld broke...
the side that didnt break...
I couldnt believe it....
Louis' mate had only welded the CV joint ends to the hub itself...
in other word he had welded the bit that is supposed to turn to the bit of the hub that is stationary and retains the bearings and the stub axle tube!!!!
No wonder the car didnt move when in 4wd as the front was locked solid and stopped the rear moving, but not connected to the front wheels though!
Now I had a dilemma....
the car basically needs another front axle,
the cv joints are screwed as the splines are welded up, so not chance of fitted auto or manual hubs...
the bearings are probably knackered due to the heat of welding but cant be changed as the retainers and threaded tube are welded up...
and the shaft tubes are mullered to so would need new swivel housings complete...
basically a replacement axle is the best option,
but Louis needs it running to some degree for next weekend and no time to source an axle...
So out came the gas axe to remove the welds as best as possible as couldnt get in to grind them out...
After a bit of battling the cv joints turned again!!
Welded the cv joints up as best I could and hardened by oil quenching, as they needed cutting back to get them free..
Next made up some "adapters" out of steel tube and cut some 6mm plate end caps which I welded to the ends of the tubes with a hole in them that the end of the cv joints would pass through...
Welded the adapters to the disc assembly and the shafts...
now 4wd works,
how long for is anyones guess as the cv joints were pretty mullered,
and it might rip the end plates out of the adapters where the shafts are welded in,
I welded over it to spread the contact weld area but I am thinking the weak spot will be at the edge of weld...
but at least Louis stands a fighting chance of have some fun if he is nice to it...until it breaks...
While it was there I cut off the front antiroll bar, removed the front bumper and welded on an old 4trak bullbar I had lurking...
finally I picked up louis,
swore at him for letting a numpty work on his car,
fitted the proper size wheels on the back end and took it back to where he stores it!...
Well there you have it probably the dumbest repair ever on a 4x4...and my kinda bodge to get it going again...hopefully he will get a bit of use out of it before it busts, he knows a lash up was all that could be done far short of axle replacement...
Laters guys
Gregster
