Today was the day I almost quit my build project. I ran into a very nasty little problem of my own making, and I almost, honest to God, quit the whole damn thing. I really thought, "Screw it! I'm taking money out of my retirement funds and buying a Caterham."
Fortunately, some quick addition and subtractions with respect to the purchase price of a Caterham brought me back to reality very quickly.
The objective today was to get the rear axle into the chassis that I just returned to the build table. It never was easy to place it properly, but it would go. However, that was before I welded on all the brackets, and critically, the emergency brake system.
To go in, the axle must be turned onto the rear cover, slid in place on a section of plywood sheet, the plywood removed, and then rotated forward (towards the seatback) 90°, then slid forward to it's final position. It's tricky, but if you watch your fingers, it's do-able. The problem is that I took up my small amount of slack space with the emergency brake bracket and also prevented full rotation on the build table with the trailing arm brackets. It was really my own fault. I just didn't leave enough clearance to do the job easily.
To do the placement now, it has to come in from the bottom and the pinion rotated upwards to get enough clearance. That's much easier to do from jack stands rather than the height of the build table.
Also, fortunately for me, I had cut away part of the build table, so the Panhard rod system could be fabricated in place, which provided an entry hole from underneath. That was just dumb luck on my part, but it's the way things will be on the completed build.
I won't go into all the struggles necessary to get it in, but suffice it to say, it was a long, long day. I also got stubborn and prideful, and just wouldn't take a break, rethink things, and get myself some help. My wife had the good sense to call a neighbor, who really was super and stuck with us until the job got done, for which I'm truly grateful. So, here it is in proper orientation and up on blocks. The correct height will be set when the tires and wheels are on, and some "shelves" have been added to the build table hold them (and the live axle) independently.
Attachment:
DSC04633.JPG
Here's the little booger bracket end that served as my tormentor today. You can see the scuff marks left my the pinion shaft flange visible below it.
Attachment:
DSC04635.JPG
Here's the abuse the diff cover suffered trying to rotate the axle.
Attachment:
DSC04637.JPG
It required some real serious fiddling and several hoists with the shop crane plus the help of my wife and a neighbor.
Attachment:
DSC04630.JPG
They say, "All's well that ends well", and I'll just leave it at that for today.
Cheers,