Shaun got me to thinking about the trim rings that a few, and I think very few, of these trucks had around the shift boot - both transmission and transfer case. To me they really clean things up and give a finished look. And, some are available via eBay and elsewhere. But, I've not been able to find any for the ZF5 tranny's boot, which is larger than the NP435 uses. So, I'm wondering about making what I need, and want your help designing them.

I bought an original case and have taken some pics. Here it is from above:




This is a shot showing the two ridges:




And here is the underside and the prongs are what slip under the carpet and hold the thing down.




As you can see, it is a light piece that's just been bent - something I really can't reproduce. But, I do have access to a CNC mill, so could make them out of aluminum, which will polish up almost like chrome and then can be powder coated. So, I drew the original up on CAD:




And, from there I made it a solid piece and cut a slot for the carpet to go into:




So, is there an easier way? Do you see any problems with this approach? Any upgrades? I'm open to suggestions. Please?

 

Looks great Gary!

Have you factored in possible outside forces, such as the boot moving the carpet around and pulling it out of the trim ring?

 

I don't know. I could slot it deeper than 1/4", say maybe 3/8"? But in my case I'll want to cut the carpet just to fit, so it may take a bit of finesse to get the carpet back in the slot.

 

Great idea! If you decide to make them I would be interested in purchasing a set if you wanted to make extras. I would like the look of a nice trim rings when I decide to do my ZF5 swap.

 

If I get things laid out well for the CNC machine it won't be a problem to make more. (And, I may be buying the machine in question, so.....)

I'm thinking that I need to experiment to see that I have the slot for the carpet set up right. So here's my thinking. I'll use a piece of wood and round the corners to simulate the ring. Then set it on its side and mill a slot. Turn it on its next side and mill that slot. After 4 side I can cut the center out with a saber saw and see if it'll fit on Rusty. And, if the slot's not big enough or deep enough I can bring it back to the mill and enlarge it.

Does that sound like a reasonable plan?

 

How would you feel about fiberglass? You can make a negative of the existing ring, make negatives of the straight lines, cut the ring in half or quarters and insert the straight pieces to create the needed size. Tape all of that together and create a positive piece. You can then use this or make another full size 1 piece negative mold. From that you can create as many as you want from fiberglass or a pourable material .

Yes alot of work but if you have time its easily doable .

If yall think this is stupid.... Sorry

 

Sounds reasonable to me. Do you think you can make the wood hold a slot for the carpet without breaking?

 

I'm not sure I understand. Why not just do the negative and lay the 'glass in there? I've done some fiberglass repair, but never any finish work, so I don't know what has to be done to get a smooth finish.

 

Good question. I worked with the drawing on a very large monitor today so that bottom lip that's only 1/8" thick looked more like an inch thick. But, as I think about it a 1/8" wooden lip is quite thin and might easily break in just trying to get the carpet in. So, I could make the lip larger just to test the theory. Or, maybe go with a piece of plastic?

 

A piece of plastic would probably work well. Maybe an old plastic cutting board?

 

Gary...Look at LOKAR. I'll bet they have something close..

 

5280 - I don't know that there's a cutting board available, but I may actually have a piece of plastic the right size. I bought several scraps from a plastic outlet for making guides and templates for my wife's quilting and may have some left over. But thanks for the idea.

Jerry - I hadn't thought of LOKAR, but now that I've perused their web site I don't think that's going to work. First, they don't have the sizes I'm looking for, and size is critical for those that have original carpet with the hole(s) already cut. And, the stock size allows use of the stock boot. Second, I was looking for a stock look.

On the sizes, the stock t-case trim rings are 6" x 6 5/8" outside and 4 1/2" x 5 1/4" inside. But here's what LOKAR has:

 

Gary,

White plastic cutting boards are quite inexpensive at Walmart in the houseware section.

 

Thanks, guys. But I have a piece of acrylic that would work pretty well as a test mule.

However, as I think about the whole process it looks like I'd better try some of the other steps before I get too involved in testing. Here's kinda what I'm thinking:

1. Dimensions: I think the max the CNC machine can move in one direction is something like 7". But the outside of this trim piece is 6", so the width of the tooling itself may be an issue. I'd better confirm this will be doable before going any further.
2. 3D Conversion: I work in 2D but this will require 3D and my nephew that uses SolidWorks thinks he can do it, but I need to check to see what else he will need to be able to convert it.
3. G-Code: The CNC machine takes G-code to make it go, and supposedly SW can spit that out. However, while that nephew hasn't converted any output to G-code, his brother who has the CNC machine has. So that may take some back and forth.
4. Test: Once we've jumped through the hoops to get the code to the machine I'd like to run a test. That's because it is going to take some special end mills, called corner rounders, to create the "humps". And since they are different sizes it takes two of them. High-speed steel corner rounders aren't too expensive and they'll work on anything up to mild steel. But they won't do stainless, which requires carbide and that runs into money. So, I'm planning on going with aluminum and polish it and protect it with clear powder.

Having said all that, if anyone sees an easier way to do this PLEASE chime in. I haven't ruled out fiberglass but just don't know how to do it so am continuing down the path of metal.

In any event, here's what I think are the finished views:

 

I am surprised you have not made a forge yet and cast your own aluminum parts.

Many cool youtube videos. Make the mold from styrofoam and pack it in sand. Pour molten aluminum into the packed sand and it melts away the foam replacing the sand pocket with aluminum.

About 2 minutes in.