Bringing the 4lb Caged lower back from the Dead?

[cj428mach]

I'm glad people are excited about this.

I mailed off the parts for the locking hubs to Cozmo yesterday, he's supposed to get the parts Friday and I know he'll do his best to get them cranked out as soon as he can. I kept the parts to assemble one locking hub for myself in hopes of trying to get my lower back on my car for testing this weekend.

The only thing I'm having trouble with is studs for the locking hub. It appears to be hard to find any sort of selection of small press in studs. I can get 5/16's studs custom made to fit this application but it'll take weeks and be fairly expensive $4-4.50 per stud....not bad but I have to buy a large quantity to get this pricing. I may just have to gamble on them and spend the $300 on buying them in bulk.

If anyone with one of the original 4lb lowers can get me the stud diameter size I'd appreciate it as we know that works. I believe the original 4lb caged lowers had longer studs than necessary which increases the chance of getting into the radiator hose. I'd like some that are just long enough to get total engagement in the nut.

I don't like gambling but this project has a ton of my money tied up in it and I hope it works out lol.

 

[cj428mach]

I have a little news to report tonight.

I had some plates cut for the locking hubs that actually had a 14mm hex hole cut into it this way when I installed the 14mm shaft its not all being held by the weld the plate is also holding the Hex shaft securely.

Here is the plate before I welded in the shaft, you can see how the hex shaft fits snug in the hole.

I drilled and tapped the tribar for 3/8" NF thread and installed studs. i had to grind them down to insure they were flush and didn't rub the pulley. Here is the back side of the pulley

Here is a pic of the tribar assembly with studs, and the new locking plate to prevent over tightening.

Last pic is of the 4lb pulley reinstalled with the locking hub.

So far the cobra has 20 miles on it with the new locking hub. I've been beating the hell out of it and so far everything is holding up fine. I have to admit these lowers are making my car see boost a lot more often than normal so I hope you guys appreciate it lol.

Anyways I'm going to keep using it to prove that this method will work with the 4lb lower. I think after doing this I'm going to spend the big money on getting custom press in studs made for this to save people the hassle of tapping their tribar assembly.

Hopefully the new 1 pieced machined locking hubs will be available sooner rather than later.

 

[joshcarp81]

Looking good buddy! Keep up the good work.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I don't think you'll ever have to worry about getting stuck with any of the finished product. They'll sell like hot cakes!

Please put me down for a flap jack...

Thanks.

 

[cj428mach]

I've managed to get 70 miles on my car with the locking hub over the weekend and everything looks fine.

I've come down with a terrible cold so I haven't done much on it and didn't even go to work the last few days. I did manage to get an order placed for the custom made studs. They're thinking about 2 weeks to produce them and then shipping time from the NE so probably close to 3 weeks.

Cozmo sent me some pics that he was getting the locking plates put together and they look good. Things are still moving just probably not as fast everyone would like.

 

[Cabbage]

I'm impressed with all the work your doing. I hope these sell well for you. I'm in for one when there ready.

 

[cj428mach]

Sam aka Cozmo2806 came through on the 2 piece locking hubs. He did beautiful work on assembling them and then cleaned them up in his lathe afterwards. They definitely look better than the one I did myself thats on my car lol.

These hubs have the center cut out in a 14mm Hex so the Hex shaft is actually being held by the surround metal and the weld is just extra insurance. This way we're not relying on the weld to hold everything (sorry Sam not knocking you welds lol)

Now the only thing left on the list is the press in studs. Then I'll be able to put together a few complete kits with the 2 piece hubs. The one piece hubs are still waiting for their spot in line at the machine shop.

 

[TP 112]

Sweet! PM when ready to sell.

 

[0-MYSTACHROME-4]

Excited with all the progress and results so far and would like to pick one up when all said, done and fully tested.

 

[cj428mach]

A little update.

I checked with the fastner company making the studs and they said they should be ready to ship middle of next week. That means I probably won't have them until the end of the month.

One of the lowers has been assembled and is ready to go by its new owner and I hope it gets tested soon. Waffleman is installing his tvs now and his lower should be on the car soon.

My personal car has 220 miles on it with the 4lb and locking hub with no issues so far. Not going as fast as id like but its moving at least.

 

[WaffleMan]

TVS is on. My lower will be on sometime in the next week

 

[cj428mach]

TVS is on. My lower will be on sometime in the next week

Glad to hear. If you need a hand on assembly let me know. I have the 2 piece locking hub and bushing material if you need it.

5 of the pulleys are out there in the hands of those that felt they didn't need the custom studs and were willing to gamble on new product without a lot of testing. So far only one is on a car and thats mine. Hopefully with waffleman we can have his on in a week, another guy hopes to have his on by April 2nd for a dyno day.

 

[cozmo2806]

Sam aka Cozmo2806 came through on the 2 piece locking hubs. He did beautiful work on assembling them and then cleaned them up in his lathe afterwards. They definitely look better than the one I did myself thats on my car lol.

These hubs have the center cut out in a 14mm Hex so the Hex shaft is actually being held by the surround metal and the weld is just extra insurance. This way we're not relying on the weld to hold everything (sorry Sam not knocking you welds lol)

Now the only thing left on the list is the press in studs. Then I'll be able to put together a few complete kits with the 2 piece hubs. The one piece hubs are still waiting for their spot in line at the machine shop.

Lol no worries bud, this was an excellent design!

 

[cozmo2806]

More good news guys, looks like the standard metco 76mm idler will work with these lower pullies.

 

[cj428mach]

Looking good Sam and another great alternative to the 63mm as the larger the idler the slower it spins the bearing. Thanks for posting the pics.

Will your pulley be on and ready to rock for your April dyno day? or are you going to run your custom lower?

Unfortunately the cheap steel 70mm Gates idler pulley I found won't work as they don't have the right offset so only half the belt would ride on the pulley. Now I did come across this Dayco 74MM idler that looks extremely stout and would be easier on peoples budgets then any of the aftermarket ones.


Its a double ball bearing and available at rockauto for $40.XX and the part number is 89110.


I hope some of the others with the pulleys will post up pics as they go.


As for some updates to the project, the studs are supposed to be finished tomorrow and they'll call me for payment then ship them. Hopefully by midweek they're in my hands ready to start making kits for the remaining 5 pulleys.

 

[cozmo2806]

Mike, I will probably just use yours to tune my car. Its lighter and slightly larger. I just can't find or think of any issues yours will have.

 

[KLLR SNK]

The clearance of the 76mm appears to be a little tight for sliding the belt on and off. Mike's 63mm idler looks like it would be a non-issue for belt installation. I have an email into ThumpR regarding their single and double bearing 70mm pulleys. ThumperR also has a 60mm pulley but it's not as cost effective as the Metco 63mm Mike is using.

 

[cozmo2806]

The clearance of the 76mm appears to be a little tight for sliding the belt on and off. Mike's 63mm idler looks like it would be a non-issue for belt installation. I have an email into ThumpR regarding their single and double bearing 70mm pulleys. ThumperR also has a 60mm pulley but it's not as cost effective as the Metco 63mm Mike is using.

It is a little tight getting the belt on and off, but you still can get it.

 

[TP 112]

Man I hope I can get my hands on one of these when they start to be sold. PM sir when ready to move the final product.

 

[cj428mach]

Man I hope I can get my hands on one of these when they start to be sold. PM sir when ready to move the final product.

Im working on it. Hopefully middle of next week I'll have the remaining 5 kits available. The only thing a person will need is to source an idler. Im going to order that 74mm I posted from rockauto.com today to test it. If it fits it will probably be the best and most economical solution for an idler.

I also ordered a tap and die set in order to clean up the threads on the tribar/drive assembly on a few lowers I have. If anyone needs their threads cleaned up ill sure try to help as the tap and die set is over $100 for the size and being LH thread.