OK...

I know the popular 14 bolt shaving thread says that dude uses a sawzall...

I've been advised that that is NOT a good thing...b/c you wanna maintain an even cut fer welding....

Thoughts on this?

I don't wanna have to pay someone to mill it, but I guess I will if I have to.....

Just cut the big lip off the bottom. Shaving it enogh where you need to fab a plate is a pain in the ass. Mark the spots where you want to cut w/ a grinder, then sawzall the major portion of it. Then use a grinder to smooth out everything else and blend everything in.

Originally posted by ZCotterJ
OK...

I know the popular 14 bolt shaving thread says that dude uses a sawzall...

I've been advised that that is NOT a good thing...b/c you wanna maintain an even cut fer welding....

Thoughts on this?

I don't wanna have to pay someone to mill it, but I guess I will if I have to.....

The "blending" is the tricky part tho...man.....OK...not a bad suggestion....better'n payin for it to get milled........

Anyone else?

Originally posted by ZCotterJ


The "blending" is the tricky part tho...man.....OK...not a bad suggestion....better'n payin for it to get milled........

Anyone else?


OK...spare the newb comments....figuring out which quote button to hit....

is the skil saw approach any good?

If you use a saw-zaw get the milwalkie "Tourch" blades in the finest tooth you can find. Those things are amazing! My shop mate choped the flange off of his 14bolt a couple of months ago and the things did great. One blade for the entire job, and it cut like butter! Well worth the extra money.

People on this websight worry to much about geting things to match up purfectly before they weld (tubing especialy). Man if you can step across it I can weld across it! It is nothing to bridge a 3/8" gap with the bead. I would worry more about warping the center section while welding than geting the area you cut purfectly flat to start with.

Dude it is not THAT hard! Just do what I said and be careful to not grind too much off the bottom bolt area. All you want to do is get rid of that huge lip that would catch rocks etc.

I did the same damn thing to mine. I just grinded off the bottom flare of the diff. cover and went to town on the big a$$ lip. Started the cut with my 4" angle grinder and finshed her off with the sawzall. Then did all the mop up wit the grinder again. It's cake to do and you don't have to take the axle out to do it.

my shaving saga pictures

Click Here (http://www.4x4help.com/axle/pics/shaved/14b/index.htm)

How much extra clearance do you get by shaving over cutting off the lip?

Cut the bottom clear off & plate it.

I used a circular saw w/metal blade for most of the cut, and finished with a sawzall. Clean it up with a grinder, weld a plate on, grind the ring gear down (at machine shop).

I did it on a 60, PM 1tontj for his 14 bolt. I'm pretty sure phil has as much clearance as a dana 44 now.

I'm telling ya just cut the lip off, much easier.

Originally posted by TJBob
Cut the bottom clear off & plate it.

I used a circular saw w/metal blade for most of the cut, and finished with a sawzall. Clean it up with a grinder, weld a plate on, grind the ring gear down (at machine shop).

I did it on a 60, PM 1tontj for his 14 bolt. I'm pretty sure phil has as much clearance as a dana 44 now.

I used a sawsall, grinder and circular saw. The circular saw was by far the best. Then I cleaned it all up with a sawsall. Never posted my pics of it so here you go:D

another

Originally posted by rcurrier44

People on this websight worry to much about geting things to match up purfectly before they weld (tubing especialy). Man if you can step across it I can weld across it! It is nothing to bridge a 3/8" gap with the bead. I would worry more about warping the center section while welding than geting the area you cut purfectly flat to start with.

If you ask me this is bad advice. You joint will be much stronger, the closer you get your notches. That is a perfect start to booty fab.

Originally posted by Erik D_lux
another

YOU CUT A BUTTLOAD. :eek:

Any leakage?

Originally posted by Jason R


YOU CUT A BUTTLOAD. :eek:

Any leakage?


No shit, check out the pic I attached.
If that's where the bolt goes in to hold the diff cover on you can kiss that good by in 1-2 runs, atleast if you are going to be actually taking that in rox :D

Originally posted by 94YJGuy



No shit, check out the pic I attached.
If that's where the bolt goes in to hold the diff cover on you can kiss that good by in 1-2 runs, atleast if you are going to be actually taking that in rox :D

scarrryy

Hey what springs are you running on your YJ? I'm trying to run 42s and I dunno what springs to run. :beer:

Hey Jason,

I`m running RE 1.5" SOA springs.
I also have a 1" BL.

If you move the rear back 1" or more they work fine, but you can't trim the tub enough (goes into body.. so you can technically but it puts a hole to inside the cab) to run 42"s.

The front works fine with trimming. You will have to move your windshield wiper fluid bottle up some and trim the inside fender as I tore it up some.

I`m running the RE1445 1.5" Extreme Duty Spring Over 6 Leaf.
If I had to do it again I`d probably go with the 5 leaf pack, these springs don't go into any neg. arch but then again I`ve only had them on for about 6 months.

The springs have semi-stiff ride but offer GREAT control on the road if you still drive on the road.

With my 38.5"s I have no issues in the back (have not moved axle), but the front is still trimmed alot because when you are turned lock and then flex it eats the fenders more than just flexing and testing.

The front really is easy cuz you can trim as much as you need :D

Originally posted by Erik D_lux


If you ask me this is bad advice. You joint will be much stronger, the closer you get your notches. That is a perfect start to booty fab.


I usualy don't argue about things on PBB because it is usualy not worth it but when you are welding thick steel you acualy do want a gap.

I work for a company called pro ag designs (on the web) and we design and manufacture square bale stackers (the 1/2-1 ton bales). All of our stackers are hand welded 1/4-1/2 wall structural steel using a "short line" production system. We use real welders, the 8000$+ kind that most of us truck enthusiests have wet dreams about.

If you have heavy wall steel (1/4 for ex) you are beter off leaving a gap in between the pieces you are welding because you can not get proper penitration on a part without applying so much heat that the metal starts deforming (not that your home shop welder has that much umph anyway). By leaving a gap it allows the bead to fall inbetween the pieces of metal and bonds them all the way thru, instead of simply laying it ontop of the joint. This inturn gives us a strong weld using less heat and therefor less problems with heat afected areas. You get the same effect when you bevel an area before welding /l .

Many people fear this because they think that weld is weak when acualy in a properly welded joint the steel around the weld will fail before the weld itself cracks.

So even though 2 pieces of perfectly matched steel look real perty it ain't going to be stronger than with a gap.

I just did my 14 bolt and used the skill saw with the metal blade it works great... I pulled the carrier assm out to make it easier..

Has anybody had trouble with the carrier going back in? Steve Gerstner said a Dana 60 they did wouldn't go back together. Shrank after welding. I'm thinking about bolting a 3/8" plate in place of the cover. Need someway to prevent shrinkage.

Originally posted by 94YJGuy



No shit, check out the pic I attached.
If that's where the bolt goes in to hold the diff cover on you can kiss that good by in 1-2 runs, atleast if you are going to be actually taking that in rox :D

I have about 25 runs, in/on rocks on mine with no leakage or breakage. I dont care about my 14 bolt because I will just get a new one if anything goes wrong. With that said I beat the every living crap out of it. If I drag the 14 bolt on a rock or get hung up all I do is give it as much gas as it needs. Its holding up just fine :flipoff2:

Originally posted by rcurrier44



I usualy don't argue about things on PBB because it is usualy not worth it but when you are welding thick steel you acualy do want a gap.

If you have heavy wall steel (1/4 for ex) you are beter off leaving a gap in between the pieces you are welding because you can not get proper penitration on a part without applying so much heat that the metal starts deforming (not that your home shop welder has that much umph anyway).



I am not one to argue on the net either but...:D

There is not much metal on my rig that is .250 or more wall, and I would guess that not many others on this board as well.

Sticking to my theory. On our rigs with most metal less then .250 wall you want less gap and good notches.