[Joe Dillard]

With the projects friends and I sometimes do while working in my garage, I often find myself wishing I had a cutting torch, or a plasma cutter for various jobs. I had borrowed friends' plasma cutters before & they have always made quick work of the projects I had been doing. I have used them before as well at friends' houses/shops so I knew how handy they were to have around.

Anyway, after doing a few months of interweb research & shopping around on various websites, cyberweld, craigslist, ebay, talking with friends who use them to make a living etc, I found a nice machine locally at a reasonable price that should be able to do pretty much any job I come across. It's a Miller Spectrum 625.

Later today, I'll be using it for the first time as I'm in the process of designing & building a new truss for my YJ. I made a cardboard template and have traced that shape out on some flat plate steel. More to follow on that - later today....

[TallJeep]

Very nice!!! Let us know if is good!!! I'm thinking about getting one, I'm a little tired of the torch.

Gus

[Jim B]

Joe, looks like a really nice little unit and the Plasmas sure come in handy.

If you don't mind, can you tell us how much they usually go for

If you plan mounting it on the YJ, how will you power Inverter, etc.

If you mount on the YJ looking forward to the pics, please keep us posted on this.

[Joe Dillard]

I cut a piece of flat plate with the plasma yesterday & it worked great!

Jim, cost was ~$1600 from a local welding supply store. IIRC, suggested retail is ~$2100. The small black door you can see on the side of the plasma is for storage of consumables, which it came with a few consumables.

There are no plans as of yet to mount it in my Jeep.

I picked up a cheap cart for it which matches my welding cart.



I traced out the cardboard template on the flat plate steel & cut it out yesterday.

The truss will have an upper support integrated into it that you can't see here - but this is the beginings of it thou.







Test fit:

[Rollbar]

Looks good Joe! R U gonna put a small plate on the opposite side (don't think U need it due to no leverage etc). Also, R U gonna tack it it (spot weld 1' lengths) or run a full length bead? Will it hit the pan & R U gonna have to lengthen your bump stops? What is the height of the truss @ the pumpkin?

Thanks,
JimII

[Joe Dillard]

Thanks.

I plan on removing the axle shaft & cutting the driver side tube basically in 1/2, then sleeving it with 3" x .250" wall DOM similar to what I did for the long tube. The sleeve will be plug welded and completely welded by a series of stitch welds to the housing & inner C. This will make the axle tube 1/2" thick. Then weld a new driver side spring perch & lower shock mount on like the other side, and also do another ubolt eliminator. This should strengthen the driver side by quite a bit.

On the outside of the perches, I plan on welding in some gussets.

You're right - I plan on running a series of stitch welds along the tube, then weld it to the housing as well. Then weld in an upper support brace made from 1.5" x 1.5" x .188" wall HREW. With my chop saw, I'll cut a slice parallel to where the tube has the internal weld & slip the square tube over the top of the main support truss, then weld that all together.

As far as clearance is concerned - I just double checked. After all is said & done I'll have ~10" of clearance between the top most portion of the truss, and the bottom near where the lower crank case pully is, at normal ride height. So all will be good there.

[Joe Dillard]

Update:

[Rollbar]

Now that, is a good idea.

P.S. POR-15 will get in all those joints when U R finished.

[Joe Dillard]

Speaking of good ideas (POR 15).

As you might have already noticed - I haven't painted the other portions of the axle just yet, knowing I'd be welding to them in the coming days. I may give the POR 15 a shot. Thanks for the idea.

[Rollbar]

Your welcome Joe. I would just pour it in and let it run into all the cracks/crevices and drain it to the end cutting the slag off wen dry, then you will get the stuff every where & not have to worry later on. But you don't really have to worry about rust where you are, do you? Anyway, it can't hurt.

I used it on everything and the underside of my tub. One quart did the whole bottom and I used a pint to do the hood/fenders/accent parts.
Go here ----->





It flows real well and I used a regular paint brush from Lowe's (2bucks) to do all the parts/accent pieces.

[Joe Dillard]

Update pics. I was meaning to post these.

You can't see here, but things are fitted and I made the tact welds. I'll probably finish up welding it in tomorrow & put some paint on things.

[Rollbar]

Nice Joe & I like the small grove next to the spring plate for strength. One question though, will it interfere with spring replacement, I can't tell @ this angle.

[Joe Dillard]

Good eyes. It should be fine and not interfere with spring or hardware use at all.

[JeepinIan]

Why square tube? Isn't round tube stronger?

[Jim B]

Joe,

Very beefy truss.

Reason for the truss, are you having problems or have seen others start to bend the axle tube under torque.

What size tire are you running now.

[Joe Dillard]

JeepinIan, on Jul 2 2009, 06:41 AM, said:

Why square tube? Isn't round tube stronger?

It's a square headlight thing.

Actually, I had the tubing laying around my garage & wanted to use if for something & the opportunity arose for this little project.

[Joe Dillard]

Jim B, on Jul 2 2009, 06:43 AM, said:

Joe,

Very beefy truss.

Reason for the truss, are you having problems or have seen others start to bend the axle tube under torque.

What size tire are you running now.

Jim,

I basically cracked in 1/2 my passenger side axle tube underneath the SOA perch while in Colorado wheelin. I did a trail repair/weld, but wanted to add more beef to it so I sleeved the tube & completely eliminated the vacuum disco housing in doing so.

My HPD30 now has a 3" axle tube (vice 2.5") and it's 1/2" thick in areas, plus now it's trussed.

Tires are still 35x12.50x15 MT/R's.

Yep, I know of a few folks who have bent their housings and/or axle tubes. Usually these are beyond minor repair, but mine was caught early enough that I could patch things together without breaking or damaging any of the internals.

[Rollbar]

I have another question.

Joe, instead of building such a tall truss (maybe not such a tall etc), why can't someone run like a beam over/under the tube? Beam meaning just a thick piece of steel maybe a 1"x1"x1". Thus eliminating the plate but still strengthening the axle housing. Maybe might have to run the 1x1x1 up over the pumpkin though, not sure.

Your/others thoughts?

[Joe Dillard]

The truss really isn't all that tall. Maybe the angle of my pics make it appear that way. It sits 1 7/8" above the highest point of the differential housing, and I still have an additional 10" of static clearance between the truss & the engine.

That idea would work, but I would think that with a square piece of steel (perhaps bigger than 1" x 1") & a round axle tube, there'd be an unsightly gap between the two pieces of metal & it *might* be hard to fill-in while welding.

The contour of the axle housing where the tubes enter, creats a hump, and the top of the housing would contribute to making things a bit more challenging with a piece of square tubing if you wanted to make it look symetrical and triangulated, which triangulation adds greatly to overall strength.

I'm not saying it can't be done - just that it would be more involved I would think than the manner I did this one.

My friend Stu Olson has a nice TJ truss on his rig you may want to look at for other ideas.

http://www.stu-offro...rffab/fab-1.htm

[Rollbar]

Joe Dillard, on Jul 2 2009, 07:09 PM, said:

That idea would work, but I would think that with a square piece of steel (perhaps bigger than 1" x 1") & a round axle tube, there'd be an unsightly gap between the two pieces of metal & it *might* be hard to fill-in while welding.

The contour of the axle housing where the tubes enter, creats a hump, and the top of the housing would contribute to making things a bit more challenging with a piece of square tubing if you wanted to make it look symetrical and triangulated, which triangulation adds greatly to overall strength.

Thanks Joe, I didn't even think of that @ the time and I guess it would be a pain. I like what Stu did, looks good as yours.

[BigBlock]

Nice job on that truss & it gives me ideas.