Ill check up on the mount kit tomorrow let u know. Who are u going to get to build ur axles for u and how muchbare they

Ok thanks.exactly what rotors will I need? And I need them slotted.i was thinking craft differentials not sure how much but I'm open to suggestions.who do you work for? Ill need axles and hubs ford 5 stud pattern

THe hilux diff is the go here for sure, not just ratios.

MY advice isn't 'new' or revolutionary - do it slowly, small section at a time and leave to cool, then weld the 'opposite' side for about the same amount. Getting the 'dowel' pieces machined on a lathe to ensure it is all 'straight' is the hard part (and it's not 'that' hard either).

Once you've done yours, serious suggestion - consider weighing up what you'd want to be paid to do one for someone else. And if you come to that $$ figure, advertise the option. You never know, it might be the start of a decent little side earner for you (or anyone else).

Yeah im deffently going hilux picked up my housing today.the welding part/keeping cool/section at a time is the easy part for me as I'm a Sheetmetal worker by trade and have this issue every day.my main thing is now working out exactly what parts i need to do the disk brake conversion etc bracets rotors from some one who has done this befor.but yea your right I'm for I could knock a few of these out fairly cheaply

Why does everyone these days seem to think Billet is the go for everything.
Billet axles are the worst option for strength this side of Cut and weld.
All good axles are forged with no machining across the grain as happens with anything billet.

The only reason Billet anything is so popular is that CNC gear has become so cheap in the States and it is even cheaper to have made in China compared to Forged,It is all about the right material and most importantly the right grain structure in the metalurgy which basically means Billet is out and forged is in.

No Factory sports option stuff is anything but forged and that should tell you something,Billet is cheap to do to custom low volume applications and that is why they use it not because it is better.

Axles are the main safety aspect of many live axle conversions and that is the last place to cut corners,One does not want to look out the drivers window and see your rear wheel accelerate past the car.

sorry to burst your bubble jmac but if diff shortening was so easy I and companys like craft ,bosnjack eng, scw and a host of others in other states would have not done hundreds if not thousands of repairs to diffs that have been done by the average bloke with a stick welder and a grinder . there is a very involved process to shorten a housing and keep it straight AFTER it has been welded and by straight I mean test bar straight. What's a test bar I assume you ask? its a ground bar that is put through the housing and is located in the hemisphere bearing diameters by precision bushes , then another set of bushes is used to test the alignment of the wheel bearing diameters in relation to the test bar and ultimately the centre bearings , the trick is every weld pulls the tube and in the case of a leaf spring saddle that's 4 welds on about 100 deg of one side of the tube, that makes for a banana diff that has to be straightened after all the welding is done , and did I mention that you have to keep the flange face of the wheel bearing end square to the test bar also . if this is wrong the diff will eat wheel bearings and chew out the limo cone splines . by all means have a go yourself but beware of the mistakes all the so called "experts" seem to make , then when you want it done properly (with a warranty I might add) don't winge and whine at what the engineering companies charge

This is true wards after weighing up the options craft differentials will now be doing all the work.as you said wards theres a bit of work keeping them straight and square.they have done plenty so they know what they doing.hoping to get a chance to drop it to them this week

yes they will look after you, I have done a lot of work with "red" their housing fabricator , tell him wards says hi

wards, with respect don't put words in my mouth, I know about the test bar stuff. About the only way I could perhaps convey to you that this is the case is by saying (and I'm sure you will have seen this, but likely anyone without experience with this sort of work hasn't) that it's not unusual on bw diffs _before_ any shortening or work has taken place, esp if they've been in a relatively heavy car, that they are no longer actually straight but can tend to have a slight bend, with the outsides being 'forward' vs the centre if that makes sense (I'll do a diagram if not)



, I know about the potential for warpage, but it also depends on the extent to which it has to be altered in order to shorten it, and there's certainly (not that that is being discussed here) some difference between shortening and doing a complete sheet metal housing, or re-inforcing a housing with bracing along the back of the diff as is done to some ford 9" housings. I also made absolutely no reference to a stick welder, so I don't think it's fair to criticise me for allegedly thinking something that I categorically did not think. Just for the record, it'd be a couple of tack welds as necessary (and re-checking before proceeding) with a mig, and then tig for the rest. Not that that is exactly a government secret. If the person didn't have use (and ability) with a tig welder, I'd 'maybe' in some cases believe it's possible to do it with a mig, maybe. But a stick welder? Not in this lifetime.

I'm not suggesting you aren't good at what you do, so please take this in context. I am aware of more than a couple of people who have done this themselves and the cars are still going strong some years down the track. They had access to decent lathes and milling machines that allowed them to make jigs and bars in order to make it straight and make sure it ended up straight afer welding. I'm also aware of more than one diff shop who do some atrocious work (and I am certainly not putting you in that boat) and continue to do business none the less.

You're not bursting my bubble. I would hope I'm not bursting yours if I was to simply say that whilst it might not be a good idea for homer simpson to try and diy this, people with fitting and turning or similar backgrounds won't exactly struggle to do it.

I hope this has come across politely enough, I'm just saying that you have mis-interpreted and partly mis-represented where I was coming from, and have made some incorrect assumptions about my knowledge on the issue. Now perhaps that's because I didn't write a 10,000 word post covering all possible questions (ironically that's why some of my posts on other forums have stretched beyond a page or two - because any time I left out the smallest detail someone would nit pick it) that might arise. Can't help that, I just don't have the time for it much these days. SO if that's made it look like my earlier post was in that context, no dramas.

I don't take offence to what you've said, and I hope I haven't caused any with my reply.

not a problem john, I find myself having to bite my tongue a lot when I read some of the posts on the different forums , as you mentioned if you leave out one small detail some 14 year old "expert" drills you over it. yes you are correct on the "borg warner" housing issue , in my last job we did a lot of work for DANA the manufacturer of that diff and I was surprised to find out that the center section of the diff is completely assembled (all gears,bearings , limo hemisphere and back hat) before the housing tubes are pressed in and puddle welded into place. so its not surprising that they aren't straight. and as you mentioned they bend under load anyway .here is a pic of a sheetmetal housing I made for a torana drag car , it had to be straightened after every weld event and then we ended up machining the diff center mount face and re drilling the stud holes to get it right again , no offence taken or intended.

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