Monday, October 31, 2016

Dodge Power Wagon W200 Strut Tower Brace

After some wheeling around I realized that chassis of my old beloved truck flexes so much. The main reason looked like the cross members under the chassis were not enough to prevent this flex.  To solve  this I searched internet about strut tower brace but no one offered a solution or idea.

At this point I was not alone, the friends at Mint Garage came with a design. I was a little selective about the design of the part since I love the looks of my engine bay. In the end I agreed to produce and install it. The tubing is stainless steel so it functions as expected and looks really good.






After the installation I made one more modification. I replaced the bolts that holds the Brace to the chassis with tapered ones. This gave me more clearance and confidence to prevent any damage to the shock absorbers during flex.





I just bolted the new construction through the holes which used to hold the original strut brackets.










More details and pictures will follow soon....



Dodge Power Wagon W200 Hydraulic Clutch System

My clutch on my W200 Power Wagon was mechanical and no hydraulic system was offered. The guy at the workshop said it is not possible to do it... Which triggered me so bad, thats why I decided to design my own. First of all, to be on the safe side I decided to get the longest stroke slave and master cylinders possible which are mainly Pull Type cylinders. Many reviewers had negative feedbacks about the pull type products so I wanted to go for push type which required the measure the total amount of travel necessary for disengage.

I found out that Slave Cylinder from Dorman is more than enough for the job. The part code is CS 360003 (33$). It is a 1" diameter, aluminum body slave cylinder for RAM trucks which approves that it is strong enough for task.




For Master Cylinder I found 7/8" diameter CNC Brakes 71178 (Steel  Body) or CNC71278 (Aluminum Body with steel sleve).




I fitted the master cylinder with a reservoir I found from Ali Express.



Aluminum Racing Drift Hydraulic Handbrake Hand Brake Oil Tank Fluid Reservoir E-brake



Unfortunately the size of the threads did not fit to the master cylinder so I had to machine an adapter for master cylinder and reservoir but the result was perfect.


Now it was time to adapt pedal fittings. 

I already ordered master cylinder fitting with the cylinder but of course, the main shaft was short for my application. I have fabricated the adapter between pedal and master cylinder.






Then a modification to the pedal was necessary to accept CNC Brake fitting (Blue part):
I welded the bracket to the pedal and drilled several holes for adjustment. 



Then it was time to drill the firewall, I found the location using extension pin and drilled with a punch. 


Now it is slave cylinder brackets turn. Below is the design of the bracket. 



Bracket is bolted to the bellhousing. Now comes another problem, even though I placed the slave as close as possible to the bellhousing the fork and slave are not inline. So I had to produce an fork extension like this:



Also I designed my push rod mechanism using link ball bearing to prevent any extra friction. 











I also had to get a specifically manufactured hydraulic hose which connects between master cylinder and slave cylinder. 






After bleeding my clutched worked perfectly. No gear grinding, no hard clutch pressure, it worked like a charm. Then I realized that my firewall flexed terribly during clutch operation. The sheet metal thickness was not enough to withstand the pressure of the master slave so I strengthened the firewall with two brackets, from inside and outside to prevent flexing. 



This modification ensured that everything will be strong enough for heavy duty functioning.

















Ducati Steering Damper

I also love my 2006 Ducati Multistrada 1000DS. I ride it often but in 2016 it is not easy to find every part you need, especially if it is a performance part. It does not look like a very powerful bike compared to current crazy horsepower bikes but it is capable of over-standard acceleration and 230 kph top speeds so I wanted to buy a steering damper. Unfortunately my attempts failed every time I mailed to stores which used to stock them. So I wanted to design my own bracket for Multistrada but it is applicable to all trellis frame bikes of this era or even all frames that has same tube diameter.

I checked the original design:

It requires a lot of installation work, dismantling the tank, etc and it is not available;






First of all I checked internet for alternatives, the best possible option looked liked this:



Actually it also has a clamp to the frame but the second point is bolted to the lower triple clamp. The name is "Kuan Bracket"and it is also not produced anymore. I also did not like the idea to clamp a bracket to triple clamp but I have to give credit to the huge efforts and nice craftsmanship.









So I decided to design  my own. The tube diameter of my frame was 28,4 mm. I also purchased a clamp for my fork leg from AliExpress  :):):) It is called:

"50MM Diameter Motorcycle front shock absorber fixed steering damper damping titanium foot fixer modification Universal"





It looks like this and costs 13$:

    

I also purchased 75 mm stroke steering damper from Aliexpress for 48$. I hesitated a lot for safety reasons. There is no failure stories or crash experiences from any user but generally the idea to use Chinese steering damper created a lot of hesitation. I decided to give it a try at least to test if 75 mm stroke is ok and if I can fit this damper to my design. The risk of failure is so expensive if I purchased a premium damper like Ohlins or Hyperpro. The dimensions of the Chinese damper is exactly same as Hyperpro, it feels like they just copied it. Of course, internals are a big question mark.





Build quality seems good, better than expected. The operation is also smooth and damping adjustment works as expected.

It was very difficult to measure and produce this clamp as one piece so I manufactured this clamp two piece in order to try and fit the extension to clear all parts of the motorcycle.

Below is the drawing of the clamp: (all dimensions in millimeter)



I installed the clamp on the frame. Then on motorcycle, extension bolted to the damper, I marked the position of the extension. Then dis assembled all parts for welding. This is why I choose iron as material, to be able to work on it easily. Unfortunately  my welding skills are not ideal so the welds look terrible but penetration is ok.

After everything was ok I painted the parts.

  


This is how it looks after installation. 75 mm stroke is perfectly enough for the bike. The rod of the damper does not touch anywhere so no further modification is necessary.



       
       


I just ditched the mudflap (part no 11 in below drawing) which is bolted to the lower clamp.



As a result I have successfully installed the damper. It is perfectly effective and everything looks clean. In the future I would like to machine this clamp from one piece aluminum, it will look much better. Also a premium class damper is planned but so far the Chinese damper works better than expected.




Dana 60 Rear Disc Brake Conversion

I love my 1973 Dodge W200 PowerWagon but was not happy with current drum brake setup. So I started to look for a disc brake conversion kit in the market. Unfortunately most kits required extra drum brake setups. There was only one offer that use Cadillac calipers with built in handbrake system. During my researches I saw that Ford Tranist V347 caliper has built in hand brake. Well it is also a Dana 60 but with welded brackets for caliper mounting. I thought it will be easy to adapt this caliper to my existing full float dana 60. First of all I purchased the calipers, you can find them everywhere:





During my researches I found out that the thickness necessary for rear disc brake of Transit V347 is 15mm thick. I found out that non-vented disc rotor for my vehicle is 15 mm thick so it was a very easy find for me. You can use any 15 mm, 8 bolt disc from any manufacturer but if the total diameter is different than you need to re-design the brackets. 







Then after careful measuring I designed the brackets. Due to the geometry of the calipers I was necessary to mount the brackets from pumpkin side of the axle so 3 bolt mounting was mandatory instead of 4. 


Below is the picture of my bracket and shims that are laser cut. Shims are 12 mm each and main bracket is 10 mm in thickness. I  made a mistake and did not cut the bracket and shims open. If I do it again I will receive them cut (through the white lines) from laser. It was not easy and clean to cut by wheel. 



New bracket design for laser cut (includes lines for laser machine to cut open)


Remember that for my disc rotor the shim needs to be in 24 mm thickness. I cut two 12 mm shims. For different disc rotors you may need different thicknesses. 

I do have dxf file for this bracket for laser cutting, I can share if requested. 

Bracket is ready, Disc Rotor ready, caliper ready: ACTION:

I purchased stands and rest the axles on them:


Loosen the nuts to take out the drums:



Unbolt, take out every drum mechanism:

 


You are left with 4 bolts that hold the drum plate, unscrew them: (don't forget to loosen brake line behind the plate which is connected to the cylinder which you can see on top)



With a hammer, take out the bolts which holds the hub and drum:


Clean with a wire brush:



You  need new and longer studs for this installation, with everything clean and oiled, with the help of a nut, screw the studs to their places.


I measured every stud to check if they are all seated equal.


And first look to my creation (without brackets installed) :




And the brackets come to their new home: 

I used 1/2" bolts which fitted tightly to the existing holes without modification. 

                   


Note that caliper is tilted clockwise. This is to achieve correct handbrake cable connection angle. Of course this is copied from Ford Tranist V347 geometry. :)

         

First hub+rotor assembly then caliper is mounted. Fist time true fitment! Hurray!



Don't get confused by the wheel spacer. 





Everything is installed: 



Please remember that rubber hose comes with the caliper, don't forget to buy the brake pads :) I also used standard Ford Transit V347 hand brake cables. There is only one thing, there are two different lengths for left and right. I purchased two rights because my handbrake system was modified and I needed two long cables. I yours is standard, which is split it to two from drivers side, you may need left (short) and right (long). Frankly, first I got the short ones but did not fit, so changed them with longer ones. 




Now my brakes are perfectly stable, in rain, mud, and especially through the year. Drums' setup changes and they loose bite. I am very happy with the conversion. It was cheap and manageable. 



Handbrake cable connection pictures will come soon.....