H233B Diamond Axle Assembly

[SteeevO]

This axle has been in and out of the truck quite a few times now just getting everything right for the solid axle swap kit, but upon taking the steering knuckles back off, I took some pics and wanted to give a brief explanation of how the knuckles go onto kingpin D60 Inner C's. It's actually pretty easy.

You'll notice that the top of the Inner C has a threaded hole in it, This is where the upper kingpin threads in.
The upper kingpin is a cone shape with a hex hole in it like for a massive Allan key. you'l want to screw that in and torque it down. one way to torque this down without a massive allan key is to get a 14mm bolt and nut, then weld them together for a small tool that can then drop into the upper kingpin and use a torque wrench and socket on.
Pics are below.

[SteeevO]

For the lower kingpin you will need to seat the bearing race into place in the inner C.
I didn't get pictures of it going together but I can explain what in the pictures.
Looking at the hole for the lower kingpin in the C from the top you'll see a metal cover with a rubber dust seal around the edges. these easily slide into place before put the bearing race into place. the bearing race is a press fit and will hold this cover and dust seal in place.

Once the bearing race is in place, you'll need to grease the bearing and put it into place from the bottom of the C, the bearing is held in place by the lower seal whcih is a press fit and can be easily tapped into place.

[SteeevO]

Next the Steering Knuckle goes on hooking the upper kingpin and swinging the bottom of the knuckle into place.

The lower kingpin is then slid up into the knuckle and into the center of the bearing in the inner C. the lower kingpin in held in place by 4, 1/2" fine thread bolts.

Then the plasic bushing for the upper kingpin in put into place around the upper kingpin. keep in mind that there is a small rib on the bushing and it indexes into the knuckle.
If you are not using high steer arms then the rest of the upper king pin will go together as follows:
A small washer/spring retainer sit on top of the bushing, then the spring then the cap whcih is also held in place with 1/2" fine thread bolts.

In these pictures we're just mocking things into place and were waiting on the high steer arms that we're actually going to use. but you'll want to bolt the spring cap all the way down flush with the knuckle with a gasket in between.

[cbrgoose]

very nice!! Ill be checking back for more details soon. What are you using for brakes,shock, steering, axles, gears,etc..?

[SteeevO]

Most of the build is outlined in the original post of this thread so check out the details above. There is quite a bit there.
Stay tuned there will be much more on this build soon.

[cbrgoose]

Hey Steve, on one of our phone conversations you had named a company that you said has a good "axle build kit". The one with brakes, rotors, etc. What company was that? Everything is looking very good by the way! Ill be looking for more pics this weekend! Have a good one 

[SteeevO]

Yup! The name of the company is solid Axle Industries but to be honest some people haven't been very happy with their products lately so I decided to not use their front end kit. Which actually kinds sucks because I don't think there is any other company that puts out a kit like theirs. now I've got to piece it all together. 

[cbrgoose]

Thats disappointing. I was looking forward to a kit. Thanks for geting back to me!

[SteeevO]

Moving forward with the steering install!!

With Kingpin outters and high steer arms you'll want to remove the springs pictured in the photo and replace with the round disc that is supplied with artec high steer arms.

An allan bolt and jam nut are used to pre load the bushing rather than the spring. the allan bolt is threaded straight through the enter hole on the high steer arms.

High Steer arms use studs rather than bolts to fasten them to the knuckle. (the Reid Knuckles use 5 studs but due to a shipping error only 4 are shown in some pictures, we got the additional studs installed after these pics were taken)

[SteeevO]

I'm considering selling the Diamond Axle for this 3-link kit with all the brackets on it ready to go to eliminate misplaced brackets. things need to be placed with very little margin left for error. However here are the coil-over brackets before being welded to the axle.
They are welded part on the knuckle and part on the axle tube.

Next to the coil-over brackets the link brackets are welded to the axle tube.
You'll notice the hole in each side of the coil-over mounting brackets. this is to access & remove/replace the link mounts bolt that holds the johnny joint in place. More pictures of these brackets in later posts.

[SteeevO]

Moving into the axle housing itself, axle shaft seals need to be pressed into place.
There are some special tools available that make pressing these in easy however, if you're careful you can put a tube down the opposite side axle tube, put a plate between the end of the tube and the seal and carefully hit the end of the tube with the sharp blow of a large mallet. thing need to be square a true when doing this or you will mess up the seal. It's best to get assistance to make sure everything is situated properly before swinging the mallet.

[SteeevO]

Thread in the studs into the housing around the 3rd member opening and apply gasket maker / silicone. then slide the Completed H233B 3rd member into place bolting it to the housing with lock washer and nuts.

[SteeevO]

Next we need to install the Axle Shafts.

Putting the inner and outter axle shafts together with a U-Joint is pretty simple.
Pull the U-Joint caps off and insert the U-Joint cross between the U-Joint Ears one at a time.
Then press/hammer a U-Joint cap through the hole in the Shafts ear far enough to get a C-Clip or Full Circle Clip into the grove in the U-Joint Cap. Slide the cross into the inserted cap and flip the axle shaft over to insert the other cap into the other ear.

The same process is used for putting the other shaft onto the same U-joint.

These inner axle shafts have been splined to fit the 33-spline H233B carrier.

[SteeevO]

You can now slide the axle shafts through the center of the steering knuckle, down the axle tube engaging the shafts splines into the H233B carrier.

Then slide the Spindle over the outter axle shaft and against the steering knuckle, and the Caliper bracket on after that.

Since we are using 1/2 Ton calipers we will need to clearance the spindles. Some companies sell these already machined but these started out as OEM dana spindles that still need to be modified. you can easily do this with a grinder. Trace the spindles overhang past the caliper bracket to cut on. this will be a half-moon shaped cut. remove the spindle, cut the piece out and put the spindle back onto the knuckle. (make sure the spindles you're using have the bearing on the backside pressed in, otherwise you'll need to press them in yourself, yukon spindles come 'Loaded')

[SteeevO]

Next the hubs and rotors go on.
You will need to pound the wheel bearing races into place with a race driver or similar tool.

Here I used wagoneer d44 Rotors on the d60 hubs. the rotors needed to be machined out to fit around the hub and the wheel stud holes needed to be slightly enlarged. Some companies like SOLID and SKY Manf. sell rotors that are already machined and ready to go on but of course I have to do everything the hard way and did it myself.

The wheel studs get pressed / Pounded through and hold the hub/rotor assembly together.

[SteeevO]

You will need to grease the wheel bearings,  and put the inner wheel bearing into the hub.
Then tap the seal into place into the back side of the hub.
Grease the spindle and slide the hub/rotor assembly onto the spindle, slide the outter wheel bearing over the spindle and install the spindle nuts and lock ring.

The 2 spindle nuts are different. One has a small stub sticking out. this is the inner spindle nut which goes on first, then the lock ring that needs to get indexed into the innter spindle nut stub and then finally the putter spindle nut.

[SteeevO]

Next the locking hubs need to be installed.
I used the Yukon Locking hubs and installed then per their instrustions.
It's really hard to take pics of that process and not get the camera all greasy but it's not a hard install.

[cbrgoose]

Very nice detail!! Thanks. It looks great.

[The_Magicians_Eye]

Thank you 

[seandlane]

Awesome choice of knuckles and arms
Do you know if those inner C's require any grinding to fit RCV's?
Also, regarding the length of arms and steering angle, what stroke of ram would you say to use for a double ended full hydro setup? 

I have a Howe eight inch DE ram laying around, but I'm wondering if I should swap it out for a ten inch travel ram.  if ten is a bit to much, Howe can put internal stops into the ram to prevent damage of knuckles etc.

Thanks, and the precision of your build looks awesome.  Very clean.

[SteeevO]

Thanks Sean
I doubt the knuckles need any machining / grinding for the RCV shafts but I'm really not sure. Usually chromoly D60 shafts require a little grinding in my experience on factory knuckles but these went in just fine.
I believe an 8" Ram would be good but I'll measure and get back to you.