So I heard a while ago that there was a rumor that i really didn't have an explorer axle in my truck. well today i got my shock tabs welding on and i finally got some pictures.

Also Justin has been begging for these pictures for a while too.

 

You should be slapped in the phucking teeth for working on your truck when its so dirty.

 

those are some ugly welds dude. did even finish welding it up...

 

My truck gets cleaned then dirty really quick, it spends most of its life on my logging road.

The one is ugly but its strong

 

x2.....im not sayin im a good welder, just agreeing

 

Well they should hold up.

 

How do you know it's strong?

 

^^x2! no way to tell it's strong by just looking at it!


I told you those shock tabs need to be 45 degrees on the axle...not 90 degrees. You just lost travel and improper shock valving. Unless you plan on running stock length shocks with 3" of lift in the back.

 

I think it calls for some destructive testing!!!!!

And plus one for what Shane said. Clocking the shock brackets messes up your usable travel.

 

I'm gonna go ahead and say with the area he's welding around, it wasn't cleaned before it was welded. Dirty base metal, poor penetration, porosity and lack of fusion... All things I see happening on those tabs. Grind them off, do it again, but do it right with the right angles and make sure it's clean.

 

x2...just cause I am lazy right now.

 

I could see the color change in the metal for good penetration. The tabs are like that so when i get the exploder leaf springs in there my shocks will be long enough.

 

color change in base metal is merely heat. take a grinder to steel and you'll see it change colors. that means nothing.

Exactly what trevor said.....doesn't look like proper cleaning of both pieces of metal: the base and the bracket. Whatever. It's just shocks anyway...don't need to be too strong to stay together.

 

Clocked shock tabs FTW! I've had mine clocked for almost 2 years now. I know Griggs did it to his truck too. No lost travel here, and Griggs never complained either. I'm running the stock shocks out back, don't know what Griggs did though.

 

what the HELL are you talking about?
losing shock valving due to where the tab is? are you on crack? it has nothing to do with the internals..

and what 45º are you talking about? i think the one your talking about would be 135º if you wanna be more **** about it.. where the stock tabs were right? yea, lower right not upper right -- looking at the axle from the side. you know what happens when they hang under the axle? yep, they get caught on **** and bend.

he didn't lose travel, the shock is the same length, he may have lost up travel but not down.. and still then his shackles are probably stock so he wont get the full amount anyways.


and yes, you can look at a weld as minor as that and get a very good idea.. you can see if it hasn't penetrated at all, andddd it looks like its all just gobbed up.

mine are in the same place, but i need to lower them back down. i dont have much up in the back after i took out the 2" blocks, which i had in after the 6" ones


damn.. i had 6" blocks and it rode level(with a ton of metal in the back).. then the 2" blocks had it level... now i have no blocks and it rides level.

 

well i just drove it 100 miles to college and the shocks are fine.

 

Got that part backwards.

 

have you checked your pinion angle? and are the spring perches welded on?

 

No he didn't...

"Up travel"...referring to the travel of the axle upwards, was lost. Because now the shock is X-amount closer to being completely compressed.

"Down travel" ....referring of the travel of the axle downwards was increased, the axle could go farther downward without maxing out the shock, assuming there aren't other mechanical limitations (which there are).

 

how so?
the shock tabs from the factory are lower than that..

 

you have flat leaves like me! haha im gonna get some explorer leaves someday...

 

Yeah why the would i drive it with out them welded and the pinion angle is correct. I set it up the way you told me too


Matt is right i lost up travel


Thats the plan thats my my tabs are rotated up so one i get them the shocks will be like stock

 

yeah i did what you and stone told me to do.

 

I know nothing about welding, but I dont see how anyone can comment on the strength of the welds just by these pictures...

And Downey, Im sure that if you did what Beard and RazorsEdge told you to do, you did it right!

 

you can see it gobbed up and not tied into the axle that well.. maybe we could get a better picture?