POORBOY OFFROAD

Coming soon Black Widow Performance 14bolt disc brake conversion. I will post up the install and final product hen finished.

 

 

product: Chevy Dana 60 OX locker by OX Brand.

I'm not gonna get into the how to on the install of the locker and gears. I'm gonna just touch on a few things that came up while installing and also will report how it does in real world testing.

 

First off the locker was not a direct bolt in unit. You have to disassemble the locker to install the ring gear and reassemble. It is simple to do and the instructions were good. As for the housing I am using a 1980 chevy 1 ton Dana 60 axle and as you see in the pic there is a webing cast into the housing next to the breather hole. The locker cannot be installed without removing the casting. The instructions never mentioned it.

You must grind enough away to not only clear the locker but clear the forks that are in the cover.

Installing the cover and adjusting the cable were as simple as the instructions said. I will tell ya one thing, this cover is heavy duty. I have had this out twice since the install and the last trip I got hung up on a boulder and hit the diff. Nothing happened other than some paint damage. The cover has to be no less than a 1/4" thick.

So far the good and the bad are as follows;

Pros:

1. heavy duty cover and very good quality material used thru out.

2. So far appears to be a solid unit that will hold up to some abuse including full throttle landings.

3. Good instructions with unit.

Cons:

1. On solid ground with drive flanges it does not imedietly engage

2. Price tag is still a bit high

3. Cable actuator mount could be made of thicker material.

I will give updates after a few more runs.

I happened to win a Q Industries MV50. I won this on RavenOffroad. It was donated by BlackWidowPerformance.

I used my pump today. The pump appears to be pretty good quality. Came with a real nice bag and coiled hose. The pump also is equipped with an on/off switch and pressure gauge. The other thing I like about the pump is it has heavier gauge wire than most store bought compressors. Instead of a light duty cigarette plug it has clamps that go straight to the battery with an inline fuse. I pumped up 2 tires(thats all I aired down). I didn't time the first tire but did time the 2nd. I started at 10psi and went to 40psi in a 37x12.5x16.5 Irok. It took approx 9min. So if I timed the first tire it may have been slightly faster since the pump was already warm from pumping when I timed the second.
So compaired to the ARB in my other truck it did good no complaints here. If your looking for a good inexpensive truly "portable" air compressor this is it. The one thing ARB has over it is the fact it comes with dash switches and pressure switches however it is also a design specific compressor. Dollar for dollar if you are buying one for the sole purpose of airing up tires and maybe charging an air tank then Black Widow's would be the better choice because of the price.
After prolong use I will repost and let everyone know how it holds up.

*update*

I got a little more use out of the compressor on a run to TSF. We finished wheeling and one guy in the group had a small portable compressor and was airing up some 38.5x15.5x16.5 swampers. I pulled out my compressor and proceeded to air up 2 of his tires from 10psi to 28psi in the time it took him to do 1 tire. I didn't bother timing it because it was cold and raining and wanted to get the heck outa there. I don't remember the brand he was using but it was like the compressors you get at GI Joes for around $40-$50. Needless to say I'm still happy with my pump.

found at http://www.blaxkwidowperformance.com

As soon as my locker arrives I will give a quick over view of the install. Not concentrating on the gear side as much as what it takes to do the ox locker and cable install along with running hydro assist steering without interfering with the cable.

Black Widow Performance has just become an official sponsor of Poorboy Offroad. I will post up reports on their parts as I test them on my own rig. They are a vendor for many other aftermarket products that I will test as I can afford them. Stay tuned for more to come. 

Products: OX U-Joints for a Dana 60 and Yukon chromoly axle shafts with 35 spline outer shafts.

Here is a shot of the housing. It is a heavy duty piece that should hold up well.

This is the Yukon shaft. It is also a stout piece. The arrows indicate where grinding will have to be done. A standard U-joint or a CTM would probably not have clearance issues but the OX has a wider cross and will hit if the edges aren't removed.

You can see in this pic where it would hit if left. The ends of the OX are a machined surface that rides inside the axle yolk. The shafts I purchased were all a little bit different size inside the yolk. The 2 outer shafts were ok out of the box, the OX joint fit with between .010 and .015 This was a little sloppy but bad enough to send back. The inner shafts yolks were too small and required to be clearanced before the joints would slide into place. 

You can see the course machine marks that were on the yolk. These were alot courser than what I would have expected. They probably would not have been an issue with a standard u-joint.

 I began filing by hand until the marks were gone and the surface was true. This took a lot of time. Would have been a lot quicker with a milling machine.

 Here is where I started the die grinding. The center of the yolk had to be ground so the race could be placed into the u-joint after it was installed and the pins were pressed in.

The above shot shows why grinding is important. The race will not go into the housing with out forcing it which will mess up the threads. Trust me I messed the threads on one of mine. It striped the cap when installing. Thankfully the guys at OX were understanding and shipped me out a replacement part.

This pic shows the pins pressed in.

Notice on the corner of the u-joint ther is a little dimple. This is from the u-joint hitting the shaft before the yolks hit. The next thing to do is grind more of the axle with a die grinder until the yolks touch.

Here the yolk is hitting the other axle. I actually ground the shaft so the ujoint and axle all bottom outs at the same time. I will still have to adjust my steering stops so this wont happen when turning.

This picture really shows the turning radius you gain by grinding the axle shafts until they fit the u-joints. The axle in the front is unground and the one in the rear has been. That little bit of movement can equal alot of movement with a tire on there.

 Here is a stock dana 60 shaft and the yukon with OX joints.

I'll post up again when the shafts are installed and they get some trail time.