Prorock 80 Magnum front steer axle

[Waffle]

It's been a long time in the making, but this project has finally gotten started and is currently being built. Special thanks to Adam Ford from Build Co/The Weld Shop for making it happen.

Specs will be 71"ish WMS
CTM racing 40 spline spool, 5.13 gears
4" x 1/2 wall tube
Crane Magnum knuckles w UB adapters
RCV direct drive big bells
05+ 8x6.5 unit bearings
Crane 13.5" GT 6 piston brakes
Howe 2.5 x 10" ram

 

[Waffle]

Starting with a NOS PR80 chunk bought years ago and supposedly just a 1/4" loss of ground clearance to a standard D60. Chunk weighs exactly 100lbs.

 

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D60 is out, so I'm committed this time.

 

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Original plan was 3/8 wall to save a few lbs here and there, but once I started lifting all the boxes of parts, well, yeah.
4" x 1/2" wall

 

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Decided on 6° caster with 10° up on the pinion. Hope that's good cause that's based purely on info I've learned from forums like this and not from experience.

Top truss, link & shock tabs are in. Working on the bump pads.

 

[Waffle]

Ran into a major snag on thurs when mocking up the knuckles. Everything was fine on one side, but moved to the other and upon threading in the kingpin bolt by hand it stopped half way. Tried to back off by hand and a few degrees later it stopped again. Uh oh. Yeah, it seized.
A few things happened. A few words were said and before long it finally snapped clean off at the shoulder. Apparently you're suppose to bathe these in antiseize or this can happen. Made a call and Adam shipped me out another kingpin bolt, which should arrive in a couple days. Saved my ass for sure!
Drilled out the arm, pryed the remaining chunks out and retapped it. Currently debating on putting a heli-coil in cause the threads aren't as clean as I'd like and there's a bit more play vs the other side.
That's all caught up for now.

 

[Waffle]

So....a long time ago I had a PR80 built out back, but ended up using a fabbed diff cover instead. The Dynatrac cover sat in a box for a couple yrs. Spent another year as an ashtray then finally got trashed cause obviously I'll never get to build a PR80 front since Dynatrac quit selling the chunks.
Then I got my hands on a chunk lol, so I ordered another PR80 diff cover and let it sit in the box a few yrs.
Flash forward and my guy texts me.....Hey! This doesn't fit!
Turns out Dynatrac accidentally put a standard D80 cover in the box and I never checked. So here I am, waiting on the new PR80 diff cover to get shipped. AGAIN!

 

[Waffle]

I have two 40 spline spools in my possession and I have to choose.
Spool 1. CTM racing. 1.5" spline length and the splines have a noticable curve or smoothness to them. No sharp edges. Involute splines? IDK. It's a heavy mofo too lol.
Spool 2. ECGS which is made by IMS. Splines run all the way through but have a very sharp edge to the teeth. Lighter and looks like any other spool.

I prefer CTM by reputation alone, but wish the spline length was longer.

 

[Waffle]

Decided to stick with the CTM. It has a hub register for the ring gear and fits very snug. The ECGS spool has none and the ring gear just fell right into place. I didn't like that at all!
I bought this dusty CTM spool from the same guy who years ago built my rear PR80, so it's quite possible I have the same one sitting in the rear. Back then he said he had the spools made for him. Perhaps 8yrs is long enough and I'll pop the cover off for a new gasket and take a look.

 

[ridered3]

Cool to see you building out the Dana 80!

How is the trailer holding up?

 

[Waffle]

Trailer is great! I'll have to update that thread with a pic including all the extra storage I added. Still wish it was narrower though. Those twisty narrow back roads to Golden Mountain are brutal!

Big bells n beer

 

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What's it like dealing directly with RCV? I'm ready to order custom inner 300m shafts and submitted my housing specs to them today, but I'm finding this part of the process to be the most difficult. I called but couldn't reach who I needed to. Feels like it's better to go through a dealer rather than RCV directly.

 

[Waffle]

I've submitted my specs to Branik too since Stan answered the phone and actually took the time to talk about what I have and needed. Tbh that took me by surprise. Down side is no warranty, no coating and I'd loose the warranty on the big bells.

 

[Waffle]

Ordered inner shafts today from Branik since RCV lead times are currently at 12 weeks. Ram mounted & tie rod links ordered too.

 

[ridered3]

12 week lead time is pretty crazy but glad Branik can get you taken care of.

 

[Waffle]

Hope it works out. I'm really nervous because it all hinges on Branik getting the bell side of the inner shaft specs correct based on info they gather and not from me.
I had called Mark Williams too but was quoted $3000 and 6 weeks. That's nuts!

Housing is nearly complete. Putting it all together before I take it home to tear it back down for paint.