Well, along with the x-over, waggys, and drop hangers I decided to fix a few things on the axle housing while I had it out from under the truck.

In this pic you can see the 8" pipe cap cut in half with notches in the bottom for drainage and a small notch for my diff fill plug so I can get a wrench in there. You can also see the plates that I welded between the spring and u-bolt perchs to keep them from bending under repetitivie flex. (The pipe cap is 3/8" thick.)

http://www.cascadecrawlers.com/uploads/Pete/x-over/Axle/DifCap02.jpg

3/8" plate welded to top of driver's side perch to bring it up to same level as passenger's perch. I also added a small plate from the front edge of the perch to the axle housing (the back of the perch has a factory gusset in it already.) I left the gaps in bottom of the plate area on purpose so it can drain. Punched a hole through the top of the plate to line up with factory hole in perch. I can re-drill as necessary to move axle forward if needed. (I also shaved off the torque rod bracket to clear the x-over rods)

http://www.cascadecrawlers.com/uploads/Pete/x-over/Axle/PerchPlate01.jpg

I put a LR in my front diff (4cyl housing, but machined out to accept a V6 Carrier and bearings) so I cleaned and painted the diff. I also put a small tack weld on the pinion nut just to make double damn sure it doesn't go anywhere until I say so.

http://www.cascadecrawlers.com/uploads/Pete/x-over/Axle/Third01.jpg

Simple improvements that are easy to do which help beef the axle housing up!

Fill in the steering stops with some solid rod while you're at it. Stick it in and weld the top and bottom shut. If you wheel it hard, you'll bend them in and make them pretty much useless.

I also shaved off the torque rod bracket to clear the x-over rods

I (Rick) actually did the shaving of the torque rod bracket. Your welcome, Pete

Fill in the steering stops

Thats a good idea but i think using asmall plate or a large nut would work better filling it with rod.

Thanks Pmurf, I'd forgotten about them! Yeah, they bend pretty easy. Are you saying to totally fill the void with weld, or to put a small plate top and bottom of the stop and weld it shut? I do have a bunch of fat corn-dog 6011 rod laying around that probably work for filling quick if you were talking about just filling it up to the rim with weld. :D

And yes, credit where credit is due, Rick shaved and ground clean the spot where the torque rod bracket used to be :D Thank you Rick! it seems like so much more actually gets done when there are two people working on the rig at once. Just have to make sure the welder, grinder and air compressor aren't all working on the same electric circuit at the same time! Which reminds me, I need to get a bigger fire extinguisher for the garage. :smokin: