Outer Limits 4x4 Board

im just wondering if anyone has rotated their swivel hubs? im curently doing a toyota centre conversion and a 4 inch lift and just got my spindles and swivel hubs bored out for my big axles and am considering rotating my swivel hubs to correct cvs.

What is the best way to do this? redrill the swivels say 10degreese clockwise or redrill and tap the housings?

Just thinking about it would it be stronger to redrill and tap the housings? but i think it would be easier to redrill some holes offcentre on the swivels

slot the swivell housing.

Michael.

get the swivels machined
this is done by elongating the existing holes and making 2 new ones to locate swivels...
2 new holes will need to be drilled and tapped into housing... PITA due to tolerances, but well worth it...
Not real cheap either...
LRA charge just under $300 shipped to your door...

1. Check current castor. If you cant measure it take a guess, every 1/2" of lift loses 1 deg of castor.
Stock castor is 3 deg, swivel pin inclination is 7 deg. Stock bumpstop clearance is ?
If measured castor will probably be different ~1/2 deg side to side, have been told this is to account for camber in road and still track straight with no steering input.
Slotted/drilled/worn radius arm to axle bushes or worn swivel bearings will hamper accurate measurements of castor.

2. Mark swivel ball mounting flange and diff housing mounting flange with a reference mark so their relative position to each other is known.

3. Mark a new reference point on housing flange. Circumference of flange is ~360mm so every mm is 1 deg. ie if current castor is +1 and you want -3 then a mark 4mm from your original reference should be made. Move them in the right direction, ie rotate top of ball backwards, unless youve cranked the radius arms and you will need to take castor away, watch tie rod to diff centre clearance if going this way.

4. Remove swivel balls and elongate holes same distance as new refernce mark to old ref mark distance (ie 4mm) using die grinder/file, or a rotary table and mill if you have access to this gear. Dont go overboard, only go as wide and long as you need to, try not to damage face of mounting flange and dont leave any burrs at edge of slots. I have done a set with a round file and its doable, if a little tedious.

5. Reinstall swivel balls, align reference mark on swivel ball with new mark on housing. Dont use a gasket, just silicon/sealant, this will allow metal to metal contact at the flanges and no additional bolt/dowel is needed IME if bolts torqued correctly.
This is a good time to set the swivel bearing preload and renew the knuckle seals, wheel bearings etc.

6. Check castor. Adjust if you got it wrong or vehicle doesn't drive like it should. Keep an eye on bolt tension for a while afterwards, reference marks give you a visual if swivel ball has moved, which will only happen if the bolts arent torqued correctly.

Cheers
Daryl

ok so im just wondering if anyone has any photos of theirs? i doubt anyone would....but if i elongate each hole on my swivels say 8 degrees with a milling machine or similar i can then simply bolt them back on.

And mark reference marks one at the original and one at the new and check them to make sure they havent moved.

i could then when im happy with where they sit take the hubs back off at a later date and drill a hole thru my swivel and into my housing then take the swivel off and tap the hole and bolt it permanently into place?

SWAMPRR wrote:ok so im just wondering if anyone has any photos of theirs? i doubt anyone would....but if i elongate each hole on my swivels say 8 degrees with a milling machine or similar i can then simply bolt them back on.

And mark reference marks one at the original and one at the new and check them to make sure they havent moved.

i could then when im happy with where they sit take the hubs back off at a later date and drill a hole thru my swivel and into my housing then take the swivel off and tap the hole and bolt it permanently into place?

you will not be able to drill your swivel with it mounted... the ball is in the way
here is a good article with pics from LRA website http://www.lrautomotive.com.au/57.html

IIRC, Haultech can slot the swivels, as I seem to recall Sam saying at one stage they had made a jig up. PM or email them.

yep i got Race Engineering to do it while i got the swivels bored out ...i got them to elongate all the holes one side clockwise the other anticlockwise.

Im going to put them on torque them up and make a piece of metal to fill a couple of the small holes to stop it moving if im happy with the setup. and maybe even put a spot of weld over the small pieces of metal that i can later smash out with a punch if i have to take them out if i have to

just drill a hole in the swivel.... mark it on the axle housing... drill and tap it and put a bolt in....
in my opinion this is FAR safer than running without... you dont want your castor changing as you drive....

yep that sounds good too bit easier and safer

$300 is a bit steep.it only takes an hour to do it in a miller with a jig.did a set the other week,for this low flying twin turbo rangie.made heaps of diffrence to the way it drove.went about 5mm around,this worked just right.if you take time to mark it out,a file or die grinder will do.it just takes time and effort but saves $300.anyway $300 buys lots of beer to cool you and a mate off as you take turns on the file.

rotate swivell housing = lovin it!!

down side = $$$

race engineering in brisbane did it for me, it wasnt a perfect fit some of the holes where a bit dodgy off centre i think but i managed to do up the bolts with only stripping one or two bolts on one side..other one he did was perfect fit...

charged me $44 all up ! but i had to tell him what to do to it because he didnt even know what a swivel housing was - they do mostly speedway stuff and some 4x4 axle / wheel modifications

anyone can do this mod all u need is a drill press and and make up a jig to hold it i dont have one yet big enough

mark out your swivels and new holes and redrilll them, i did mine 8mm off centre to the original one side in one direction and the other side opposite direction. but im going to be running a 4" lift

far better mod than castor correction bushes that will restrict your flex of the front radius arms, im going to get a set of hautechs bushes when i put it all togeather.