Anyone have experience--personally, or had it done for you--welding the traction beams in a TTB together to improvise a "solid" axle? Also, how 'bout welding the front dif, since it only gets used off-road (2/4x4 shift-on-the-fly)?

Looking for pros, cons and how-to (with plenty of "why this way" and "why NOT that way"). Not currently interested in LS, lockers or a SAS or rear axle swap. Lots of guys talk about it (the welding) as an option, though none fess up to actually doing it; have yet to find a DECENT how-to and/or pros & cons article on FTE or elsewhere.

Here's the more pertinent info: 3/4+ custom (custom-fabbed coils) suspension all around / HD ball joints, D44 coil front TTB out of '93 150 4x4, replaced auto hubs w/ Warn manuals, BW1356 behind hand-made 1-ton E4OD (w/ the early E4OD bugs worked out), 8.8"/3.55:1 rear, '96 motorsport 351 that's "half '77C/M, half EFI Windsor with a 5.0 brain" (if you believe that), and a whole mess o' other stuff. Truck is a daily driver, a sleeper and a Frankenstein, plus she pulls VERY well to boot, all things considered (like the 8.8/3.55). 4.10s to come soon, w/rear locker, using stock housings to keep it a sleeper. Even found 16.5x9.75 rims w/ 5x5.5 bolt circle, haha! Don't plan to go bigger than 33x12.50, for level trailer towing w/ pintle.

I appreciate any input. Admittedly a long post, so thanks for your patience. Also, not a rookie, so no need to dumb it down for me.

Thanks in advance!
J. McG. P. ("JP"), in RI

 

i'll leave it at that......

 

welding your ttb solid will cause you to have no suspension....unless you cut off the center mounts and if your going that far....why not just swap in a real solid axle?

 

what if i used left-handed welding rods?

yeah, so it IS a snipe hunt after all, eh? thanks fellas.

now i'll go back to lurking another year-and-a-half before my next post.

shame.

 

ohhhhh.....in that case go for it!!!! make sure to take plenty of pics for a build thread.....

 

ya, you gotta use the left-handers with high pinion front diffs, due to the reverse rotation and all. helps if you've got metric vise grips too, i dunno why but that's what the guy at jiffy lube said, and he's been a "mechanic" all week!

maybe one day i'll drop a deuce-'n'-a-half in it like yours, yikes, that's a sweet build you got goin' on there!!

 

You could weld the 2 halves together if your a cheap *** and dont want to spring for a 100$ solid 44. But you would still have to pull them out, trim them, brace them. Then you would have to fab up a trac bar, And you would still have a 3 u joint front axle to boot. Not worth the hassle in my opinion.

 

It would be more of a pain in the a$$ to weld the ttb. In the long run, the cost would be less and you'd get a better setup by just swapping in the complete suspension parts from a mid-late 70's F-150. Look at my sig, and then ask how I know.....

Yep, I almost got ropped into the same snipe hunt and found out quick when I got my annie tore out with answers like "WTF are you thinking???"

 

not trying to give you a hard time....but really...if you just weld them...they couldn't pivot upward any longer....and that would make them solid with NO flex....you could do it...but then you'll have to fab up a trac bar and cut the mount tabs off.....and with the metal you'll have to buy to fab up the bracing....truly it would just be cheaper ( and stronger) to just swap in a d44 solid....

 

I have an idea. . . if your ttb is a dana 50 with 410 gears take it out and sell it to me and swap a solid axle in for yourself.

Does anyone have an dana 50 ttb they swapped out that they are looking to get rid of? I just broke the driver side of mine on my 96 f250 plow truck and need one for the rest of the season.

Mike K

 

ryan50hrl, not to worry, i can take the heat, haha. i've only ever "heard about" it, didn't understand "why" myself, just thought i'd ask the gurus on here in case there was some holy grail i was missing. asked the '87-96 forum guys too, got just as many laughs. appreciate all the input fellas, got enough projects, you're keeping me from wasting time on another, frivolous one.

JP

 

It has been done. It has been discussed, and it has been criticized.
If you have the abilty, more power to you, but most will argue about the strength of the TTB, and quite simply that the amount of work involved is not worth the reward.
A real solid axle would be much easier, and convenient.
Anyway, here is an article from a guy that did this years ago.
http://hometown.aol.com/jzettel73/TTB_Conversion.html

 

The only problem with that article is he did it to a 250 with leaf springs. Not too sure but I don't think it would work with the coils, unless you fabricate up some sort of track bar to go along with it.

Agreed that the effort is not worth the reward.