i have been building my front 60 and i want to shave it but i like to bash down some fire roads now and then and can't think of a better way to weaken a center section than shavin it.
how strong do you think a shaved pig is? anywhere near as strong as a stock housing?

just can't take the saw to the housing just yet.

steelman

Be a Man... Cut it !

Originally posted by steelman
i have been building my front 60 and i want to shave it but i like to bash down some fire roads now and then and can't think of a better way to weaken a center section than shavin it.
how strong do you think a shaved pig is? anywhere near as strong as a stock housing?

just can't take the saw to the housing just yet.

steelman

unless its a fullsize, and heavy I can't see one breaking, and I have never heard of one breaking...

that said I wouldn't shave one anyways...all that work for what an inch?

Just think about all the work it is to go from 35s to 38s:rolleyes: Now you tell me if an inch is worth it:D


My girlfriends seems to think so:flipoff2:

I just shaved mine, also smoothed the ribs abit so rocks slide off em, instead of getting hung up.
Just takes a angle grinder and 5 minutes. You are not taking of enough materal to weaken the pumpkin. Honistly, i dont know why the d60 even has that huge lip under the diff cover. I gound the bottom of the pumpkin untill it was 1/3" from the bolts of the diff cover. Took off about 1.25" of steel. Again, in about 5 minutes.

Originally posted by SMC
Took off about 1.25" of steel. Again, in about 5 minutes.

You must have one hell of a grinder to do that much in 5 minutes

Originally posted by SMC
Took off about 1.25" of steel. Again, in about 5 minutes.

I'm not sure so I'll check after work (on my 60), but I didn't think you could shave 1.25" off the bottom of the pig w/o leaving it paper thin or having to plate the housing.

I shaved mine down to around 5/16" at the thinnest place. Mine was more like 5/8 - 3/4" of shaving. And yes it only took a few minutes (5-10) with a 4.5" grinder. I started with a cutoff blade to mark my "shave to" point. Then put on the grinding disk. I'm not really sure if it will hold up, but there's only one way to find out for sure!! Rock ON! :roxy:

http://home.insight.rr.com/rpark/P4050016.JPG

how about you guys that have REALLY shaved them like cutting the ring gear and welding a plate? im getting ready to do this front and rear. one guy said he got the same clearance as a d35! thats quite a bit more than an inch gain.

You can get 3/4" without a problem but much more will be some work. I use a 1/2" plate to cover the bottom so if you made that thinner you would gain some but I feel the real gain is just having the bottm smooth.
http://www.respite.org/images/cj66dean/shaved601.jpg http://www.respite.org/images/cj66dean/shaved605.jpg

TJ bob, you need some plate! That looks weak as hell.. You really could cut another 3/4" inch off, plate it, and IMHO get some strength back there!

I got about 1 3/8" clearance. Shave 1/4" off the gear, I'll go farther next time. Welded a 5/8" plate back on it to make sure nothing would get tweaked.

Easy

http://www.siscom.net/~kc8gab/sr/pig7.jpg
http://www.siscom.net/~kc8gab/sr/pig6.jpg

and the cover I made.

Easy
http://www.siscom.net/~kc8gab/sr/pig9.jpg

Originally posted by JEEPRZ


You must have one hell of a grinder to do that much in 5 minutes


Guess my eye measurments suck! Well, i shaved off the angled lip that extends past the diff cover. Untill it was flush with the cover. Then took it a little further and shaved off enough to where the bottom of the pig is about where the washers of the diff cover bolts sit.
I suppose it was more like 3/4 inch, perhaps a little more.

I used a diegrinder that a friend has. Its a powerful little thing, that requires highspeed wheels so they dont blow apart. When you pull the trigger, you have to be careful that it dosent twist itself free of your hands.

EasyXJ:

You put 5/8" plate on the bottom right? But it looks like you shaved by the portion covering the ring gear in half (looks like about half of the 5/8") right?

Isn't that 5/16" covering the ring gear just as weak as my 5/16"?

Just curious. I'm still trying to design sometype of plate for mine. I don't see gaining any clearance because the ring gear is only 1/4" from metal as is.

Bob

I was thinking of doing something like this to insert a plate. The cut portion would approximated by the red box. I don't see a whole lot of room to add much clearance because my ring gear is only 1/4" from the existing housing.

Any other suggestions (aside from shaving some off the ring gear). I don't want to weaken the ring. I would be inserting a 1/2" mild steel plate.

http://home.insight.rr.com/rpark/ShavedPlan.JPG

Actually it's just over 3/8" thick right there, the picture shows it funny. I radiused all the corners except for where the cover bolts up to reduce stress risers. I figured that since it's only that small section out of a large piece of stock there won't be any problems. As far as grinding down your ring gear, you can take 20% off of the tooth length before it starts to lose strength. And IMHO, it's not worth shaving your pig if you don't shave the gear and get everything possible. It's like someone's sig on here "You don't have time to do it right, but you have time to do it twice", but hey, that's just me.

Easy

Well it looks as if I will have time to shave my ring gear after all. EasyXJ, are you saying that you took 1/4" off the radius (hence 1/2" off the diameter) of the ring gear?

I know Randy's says 20% of the tooth before loosing strength, but is 1/4" off the outside diameter ok? Anybody else shave off that much? Does that mean I may have to adjust my shims if the pinion is hitting on the outside edge after it gets shaved?

I'm taking it to my buddy at the machine shop today, so any input would be great.

Well, if your pinion is hitting on the outside edge, you weren't anal enough about your setup when you did your gears:eek: :flipoff2: :eek:
I took 1/4" off the radius, and I have talked to people that have taken more. 20% of the tooth length on a 60 is .325. The only thing that I haven't even tried for clarification on is- Does that 20% mean, 10% off the outside and 10% off the inside? If this is the case, you should only take a little under 3/16" off the outside. I have talked to a couple of folks on here that have taken off more than I did with no problems on a DD rig.

Easy

Actually my pattern starts about 1/8" inside the outside edge, so yes I will have to adjust my pinion depth. Anal? By the time I got the damn thing within acceptable pattern, I must have eaten up a couple dozen shims, I slapped it in. I can't even begin to say how much I enjoyed using that slide hammer (I think my wife was getting jealous). :eek:

Anyway, I took it over to my machine shop and requested 1/4" off the radius...which looks to me like it would square up the edge to 90 degrees.

Bob

Yeah, there's that small chamfer on the back side of the gear. You'll pretty much go right to that and you'll have a flat outside edge now, good luck.

Easy