By now you are all probably wondering what this axle is going to be used for and why all this work. This axle is going to be used in the rear of my 4wd Long Travel Trail Runner. I am in the process of converting the rear suspension from leaf springs to a 4-Link style. Now was the perfect time to build a really strong rear end, that is the same width as the front end, and will accept the 4-Link. Now onto the progress...
Lucky for me the axle that I chose to go with is a centered housing design. Meaning that the centerline of the 'pumpkin' is the center of the entire housing. The other style of axle is a centered pinion. With a centered pinion the housing is offset, you can see where this would be a pain in tabing it for a link type suspension.
The folks at Giant Motorsports sell a 4-Link Tab 'kit' along with their WIY back truss. The pieces are all laser cut for the utmost in precision. Buying them already cut made setting it up a breeze. All I had to do was mockup the tabs with the heims on the housing and break out the tape measure. After much measuring and remeasuring I tacked them on, removed the heims and burned them to the housing.
In the next installment I will show you the rest of the Upper 4-Link mounts and trim pieces.