One of the nice parts about starting from scratch with this particular axle was building custom mounting brackets that offer increased strength as well as good looks. Notice how the bracket captures the entire axletube, thus providing the most contact area possible for welds. This can be a good thing when bouncing aggressively over slippery logs in the Frame Twister. Once the proper angle was established, these brackets were welded all the way around the axletubes.
Toby added a gusset to each lower-link arm bracket to ensure strength. These little touches can make all the difference when extreme-force events occur.
This is how the upper third link, constructed of 2-inch OD 1/4-inch-wall DOM seamless steel tubing, attaches to the axlehousing. This link triangulated the mounting links. We like this setup because it's beefy and simple. Later on, when we set up the front suspension, we plan to add a Panhard bar to locate the front axle laterally. Toby built the three-link arms out of.
Our friends at Howe Performance supplied us with a fully hydraulic steering system for the project Titan. We'll save the details of how this system was set up for another article. Hydraulic steering systems can be very tricky to get right, so we plan to cover the details in depth to avoid possible confusion. For now, we'll just say that Toby mounted a double-ended ram up high using the correct method to prevent steering failures.
We wanted a driveshaft that could withstand the abuse of TTC, so we contacted our friends at Pat's Driveline. We asked them to build us the ultimate front driveshaft for our project Titan. Pat's Driveline is owned by the Gear Center Group, which is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. With more than 20 retail operations across Canada, Pat's is one of the leading drivetrain specialists in the world. They offer a wide variety of product support for powertrain components found in all types of mobile equipment. For us, they built a beautiful long-travel, 1-ton unit. It features a Bigelow 40-degree CV joint to help reduce driveline angle and minimize vibrations; seamless tubing; a long-travel slip section with rolled splines for increased load capacity; and a nylon-coated slip sleeve for reduced friction. Both ends of this driveshaft feature 1350-series U-joints.
Finally, with all these stout axle components in place, we wanted a built-in failure point to protect the truck's vital components. Our answer came in the form of a Power Train Saver, also from Pat's Driveline. These units are proven effective by large-scale trucking firms to prevent drivetrain damage due to overtorque situations. The Power Train Saver installs inline on the driveshaft and houses three easily replaceable torque fuses to protect differential gears, axles, and driveshafts. When an overtorque event occurs, the torque fuses will shear. The driveshaft will remain in place supported by an internal system. To get back on the trail, you simply remove the broken torque fuses and replace them with new ones. It only takes about five minutes to change a set of torque fuses, and they're available in shear values from 2,000 to 45,000 lb-ft of torque (We haven't been able to test the setup yet, but the plan is to start low and work our way up.) We suspect these units will become very popular in coming years as they can save tons on money when used appropriately.
This is how we left our project Titan once the majority of the front axle work was completed. It's always hard to visualize the end result, so we installed some tubular spacers to demonstrate ride height without the Fox coilovers in place. Next time, we'll tackle the truck's flexible suspension setup. Stay tuned.