BudBuilt---> BudBroke

[AxleIke]

After two faithful years of service my bud built xcase skid finally gave up the ghost. I've gotta say, i'm impressed with the beating this thing has taken. Highly recomeneded product.

The pics are hard to see, but basically the plate folded just behind the xmember, and is now pinned against the case. This means that anytime the drivetrain is under load, it makes a horrific noise and the whole truck vibrates. Yeah. Sucky.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/AxleIke/IMG_2124.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/AxleIke/IMG_2126.jpg

Not sure what i'm going to do now. Been thinking of lifting the guts, but that is a lot of work that i don't want to do right now. Perhaps the timetable has moved up eh?

[bamachem]

take it off, flatten it out, add some stiffener ribs, then beat on it some more??? :D

[Ric]

take it off, flatten it out, add some stiffener ribs, then beat on it some more??? :D


thats what i was thinking, once ya got it flat again, ad some angle iron to it,, should help out

[AxleIke]

well, the thought is to beat it down. Problem with welding is, i either weld to the bottom and decrease ground clearance further, or try to weld to the top, which wouldn't really strengthen the weakened area. I may just bend it down for the rest of the summer, and watch it as a weak spot. Take care of business over the winter.

[Lee]

you kidding?? that thing is not done yet!

i have sledged my skids straight, but more recently took it to my buddy's work and we used a 150,000 pound press to fold it straight again.

dont give up on it yet!

[Cheese]

I would say Bud Bent.

The problem is they will bend there again.

Add some nose to tail ribs and count pennies for a pure tube belly.

[AxleIke]

its off.

I'll get around to bending it straight. Welds will happen, it will just have to lose clearance.

No need to count pennies, the fix is cheap when looking purely at the money side. Not so cheap looking at the labor/hassle side. I lack motivation at the moment.

I will talk to you about it over beers.

[bamachem]

I would take some 3/4" x 3/4" x 3/16" thick angle, invert it so that it's as low-profile as possible, then weld it to the bottom of the pan along each edge (near the bolt heads) for added stiffening. it will also help to protect the bolts, and it won't be much lower (if any lower at all) than the bolts anyway.

[MTL_4runner]

I gotta agree, that's "Budbent" not "Budbroke".
Someone with a press could straighten that out pretty quickly, then just weld in some ribbing for stiffness.

[all_terrain17]

Put a label on it and ship it to me, I will fix it for you buddy :D

REALLY need one of these things.

[Intrepidyota]

I wonder if you could get a local shop to bend you up a replica of that, but in 1/4" or 3/8", then you just have to get some longer bolts, drill, and tap, then run the thicker one. Personally I would run angle iron on the top and notch it to fit over the crossmember part a bit to help stop it from bending again. I actually just picked up one of these and I wondered if it would bend like this...looks like I need to add some reinforcing before I bend mine.

[MTL_4runner]

Not sure how heavy these things are, but if you bent it out of thicker material, going from 3/16" to 1/4" plate will be about 1/3 (33%) heavier. Going from 3/16" to 3/8" will be twice as heavy as te original. It should be very stiff and use minimal extra clearance, but the added weight could be significant.

[AxleIke]

Lets be clear. This is bolted to a 80's 4banger with 90 horse. You could strip it down to a frame, a seat, and a steering wheel and it would still be a gutless wonder. It is a heavy sob, but heavier wouldn't make any difference. However, that's not the route i'll be going.

I am going to bend it flat with a BFH, and weld some angle inverted to the bottom. I already stripped out the stock bolts that came with it, hence the huge bolt heads hanging down. the angle should help protect that at least.

Realistically it just needs to last the rest of the summer. As cheese said, i'm counting my pennies for something better.

[AxleIke]

it is temp fixed.

cut it nearly in half, left about 2" in the middle.

Heated, bent, rewelded, ground, welded 1/4" strap and 3/16" anlge to fix.

Counting pennies.

[Intrepidyota]

Pics of said fix? :)

[AxleIke]

I'll get them. My camera is broken, and i'm not sure what is wrong with it. Stand by....

[Intrepidyota]

Took me three trips to bend mine, 2 days at Rausch Creek and one day up here. :( Mine is just a hair away from the t-case still though, not touching like yours is. I plan to leave it until is causes a problem. :)

[AxleIke]

Well, fix it like this, and it won't bend again :D

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/AxleIke/IMG_2170.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/AxleIke/IMG_2171.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/AxleIke/IMG_2172.jpg