Ford 8.8/Dana 30 Trusses?

I have seen lots of pictures of trusses installed on ford 8.8s and Dana 30s and I have been thinking about trussing mine....I intend to stick with these axles for a variety of reasons that are to lengthy to describe here, suffice to say I am looking for help on the subject of trussing these two axles, not about why I should not truss the 30 etc.

What I have seen such as the TNT Customs trusses for the 30 and 8.8 in pictures is that it appears that the truss is only welded to the tubes and not to the pumpkin... this is where I am having reservations, I have seen cast iron/steel welded, and under many different ways including preheat, nickel rod etc... and I have seen most fail, and fail miserably.. so I don't really want to weld to the pumpkin.. now from what I have seen regarding not welding to the pumpkin, is there even a point, does the truss do anything if it is only welded to the tubes?

It will not only keep the tubes from spinning it will also keep your axle from looking like a smiley face if you accidently catch some air.

Here's some links to my stuff:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65946

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=77827

Still sitting on the bench so not tested. Rear axle is consuming time these days. Wilwood e-brakes are kinda neat.

Some pics of the upcoming TnT one here (for others reading the thread):

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=82637

kid4lyf has a different approach on the truss but looks effective. A search should find it. There is also the "Mako Products" truss.

RE: welding to cast not working. The Dana 30 center section is cast steel - not nodular iron. Welding to it should be no big deal provided pre-heat and slow cooling. Guys have been welding to cast centers (including N-iron) for ages without issues. Might be a "user thing" you've encountered. There is a guy in our local club that has welded control arm mounts directly to the N-iron centers of Scout II axles with a MIG and no pre/post heating. No issues and he is into the rock crawling thing with his built Samurai.

HTH

I've blown out many shocks, broken axles, grenaded a detroit whick took the r&p with it, but I've never bent the axle......

please make note that this is a baja truck and the lower shock mounts aren't too low....

vegas_baja said:

I've blown out many shocks, broken axles, grenaded a detroit whick took the r&p with it, but I've never bent the axle......

please make note that this is a baja truck and the lower shock mounts aren't too low....

Click to expand...

Isnt that a ford 9" which is made of of formed steel??

Well I don't think I will bother with a truss, I don't like welding cast, iron or steel, anything cast, and family says not to do it cause it will weaken the cast wheither it is preheated and cooled slowly or not... Ill just end up making the axle weaker in the process of trying to make it stronger

twisted_ed said:

What I have seen such as the TNT Customs trusses for the 30 and 8.8 in pictures is that it appears that the truss is only welded to the tubes and not to the pumpkin... this is where I am having reservations, I have seen cast iron/steel welded, and under many different ways including preheat, nickel rod etc... and I have seen most fail, and fail miserably.. so I don't really want to weld to the pumpkin.. now from what I have seen regarding not welding to the pumpkin, is there even a point, does the truss do anything if it is only welded to the tubes?

Click to expand...

The truss still serves its purpose when just welded to the differential tubes. It will prevent your housing from bending or distorting and will also help prevent the axle tubes from rotating. Some may think that it doesn't but the truth is that most times an axle tube rotates, its only one side not both. By making the two opposing sides one, it pevents the tube from moving around inside the housing ends thus makes it extra difficult for the tubes to rotate.

In the past we have infact welded to the casting around the truss. There's an Avalanche Contender Chassis running around with one of our trusses on the front end (welded to the center) and it's never had an issue. At the same time, we've never had an issue with one that's not been welded to the cast either.

The install is a snap on an XJ and for the price it's an inexpensive piece of insurance against having to build a diff all over again.

Matt