Brian's '96

[BajaF250]

Ended up picking up misalignment bushings from Kartek. A ton more expensive, but much more consistent on quality. Also picked up four bungs that I plan to machine flats on. The threads are nice and tight with just a thou or two clearance. Exactly what I wanted. After measuring the Ruff Stuff misaligns I found that 3 were good with .626 ID's. The rest were .641-.642. Still haven't called them, but it certainly would have been nice to get a reply to my email.

The Kartek misaligns all measured approximately .628"...estimate since I'm just using calipers. Reasonable clearance, none the less. The shoulder widths had a bit more variation, which doesn't really matter, because I've got to turn 20 thou or so off to fit the pitman and swinger anyway. Getting excited to finally get this project going. Big thanks to Andy to helping me out! I'll try not to let you down. Haha!


Kartek bushings on the bottom. Much narrower with a wider flange and plenty of land to machine. Not so much with the Ruff Stuff...stuff.

Hey B,
Ok, looks good! When do you start the install!

[yikes]

Wellll...the rear end in the Burb let loose last weekend, so I've got to drive the Bronco until I get it fixed. BUT, the plan is to pull the knuckles, bore, bush and fab the shear plates. That appears to be the meat of the work. After that I should be able to knock it out over a weekend. Sound about right?

[Silverslk]

Dude, I love your attention to detail. I like the little stacks of "sized" parts and the paint pen specs!!!!!

Can't wait to see this going!!! Whats the deal with the burb? What you planning on doing? What year is it?

[SteveG]

Wellll...the rear end in the Burb let loose last weekend, so I've got to drive the Bronco until I get it fixed. BUT, the plan is to pull the knuckles, bore, bush and fab the shear plates. That appears to be the meat of the work. After that I should be able to knock it out over a weekend. Sound about right?

What about using the pins instead if machining the knuckles? That way a stock knuckle can get you by in case of a mishap.

[BajaF250]

Wellll...the rear end in the Burb let loose last weekend, so I've got to drive the Bronco until I get it fixed. BUT, the plan is to pull the knuckles, bore, bush and fab the shear plates. That appears to be the meat of the work. After that I should be able to knock it out over a weekend. Sound about right?

Doh! I hate doing rear ends (and no, that's not what it sounds like!). Are you going to take care of the diff yourself? It can be time consuming!

Yeah, you can certainly knock it out according to plan...

[yikes]

Dude, I love your attention to detail. I like the little stacks of "sized" parts and the paint pen specs!!!!!

Can't wait to see this going!!! Whats the deal with the burb? What you planning on doing? What year is it?

It's a 2000. Haven't opened it up yet, but I think it broke a spider...only clunks when turning. I hope that's it and nothing else is damaged. I'll just throw new spiders in it and call it a day.

[yikes]

Wellll...the rear end in the Burb let loose last weekend, so I've got to drive the Bronco until I get it fixed. BUT, the plan is to pull the knuckles, bore, bush and fab the shear plates. That appears to be the meat of the work. After that I should be able to knock it out over a weekend. Sound about right?

What about using the pins instead if machining the knuckles? That way a stock knuckle can get you by in case of a mishap.

Are you talking about using these Steve?




I picked them up from Swayaway at LeDuc's this year. Thought I could carry them with me and put one in a stock knuckle in a pinch. Make sense?

[philofab]

Dammit. I missed those? Brian, i recommend you dump those. They will never work.

[BajaF250]

Dammit. I missed those? Brian, i recommend you dump those. They will never work.

Yeah, Philo was hoping that you don't use them and throw them his way...

[AussieRod]

Wow! The misalignment bushings are roughly .640 on the ID. That's ridiculous! The OD's measure anywhere from .7465 to .7489. Shit tolerancing and/or shit quality control. The threads are sloppy in the weld bungs. Not sure if it's the bung or the heim though. They may tighten up after welding, but not across the entire section. The heims ID measure ok and they do have rolled threads, which is good to see. There are so many manufacturers out there that have no clue on fits and tolerances. This shit just pisses me off. In hind sight, I should have just bought one heim and checked it out before going all in.

Is that why its called "Ruff Stuff"?

[Nick]

Wow! The misalignment bushings are roughly .640 on the ID. That's ridiculous! The OD's measure anywhere from .7465 to .7489. Shit tolerancing and/or shit quality control. The threads are sloppy in the weld bungs. Not sure if it's the bung or the heim though. They may tighten up after welding, but not across the entire section. The heims ID measure ok and they do have rolled threads, which is good to see. There are so many manufacturers out there that have no clue on fits and tolerances. This shit just pisses me off. In hind sight, I should have just bought one heim and checked it out before going all in.

Is that why its called "Ruff Stuff"?

Ha! Busted!

[only1mikey]

The attention to detail is quite impressive. Not going to lie, I just threw my steering together in two nights. Works good enough for me, no more three wheeling though

Mike

[SteveG]

Wellll...the rear end in the Burb let loose last weekend, so I've got to drive the Bronco until I get it fixed. BUT, the plan is to pull the knuckles, bore, bush and fab the shear plates. That appears to be the meat of the work. After that I should be able to knock it out over a weekend. Sound about right?

What about using the pins instead if machining the knuckles? That way a stock knuckle can get you by in case of a mishap.

Are you talking about using these Steve?




I picked them up from Swayaway at LeDuc's this year. Thought I could carry them with me and put one in a stock knuckle in a pinch. Make sense?

Yup. You're all over it!

[yikes]

Was going to work on the Bronco today...but the Burb got jealous.

[BajaF250]

Hey Brian,
You know, I don't know much, but that just doesn't look right!

Was going to work on the Bronco today...but the Burb got jealous.

[300]

Boy that magnet is frantically working away! Did it kill the R&P, too?

[hobbyturnedobsession]

Hey Brian do you think you could weld all the shavings back into place and keep it within stock specs? Hah

[yikes]

Boy that magnet is frantically working away! Did it kill the R&P, too?

No. Surprisingly. The oil was clean too! Everything else looks good. There's not even a visible fracture in the spiders.

[yikes]

Hey Brian do you think you could weld all the shavings back into place and keep it within stock specs? Hah

Easy!

[hobbyturnedobsession]

Haha of anyone could do anything spec like that it'd be you