Father & Son Build - Shortened Axles & Shift Rod

Sam starts out solo and notes the mistake he made when he ordered up the CV and Axle kit for the 3x3 arms and 002 Bus transmission which meant he had to shorten the drive axles so they could be installed with the 930 CV joints. Once that was done Nate joined in and the pair got the CVs packed with grease and the axle assemblies were installed on the car. Once that was done Sam tried to cut his head open again on the steel Baja Bug rear fender, and installed a custom made clutch cable tube bracket. Then to finish off, he and Nathan removed the stock shift rod, installed a shortening kit, a new shift rod bushing, urethane shift coupler and Nate's Baja was a few steps closer to being able to be driven again!

Video Transcript

Hi guys, I'm Sam. Nate's off being a kid, so I guess it's just Sam's garage today

Or at least for now. Last night, we got trailing arms put in, and rotors put on. Now, I have to work on our axle. I originally planned on running 3x3 arms and a 002 transmission, which meant I needed a 20 1/4 axle. However, I decided to go with 930 CVs, so I changed out the kit to 930 CVs, still with the 20 1/4 axles, not remembering that when you go to 930s, you need an inch shorter axle. So, my 20 1/4 long axle won't fit, so I need to cut this down to 19 1/4. Then, I will just clip the axle up top and we'll just float it at the bottom. Not a big deal, we used to do it back when we had to run Type 1 CVs on the 11 cars. So, that's my project for right now, and then I can start assembling all these axles.

I've got my axle marked to 19 3/8 of an inch that way I can come back later, assuming these will actually work properly, which there's no reason they shouldn't. I've got a piece of masking tape, got my precision grinder. I'm just going to come here and cut that.

Now, I'm just going to go through and de-bur the edges and then I can slide a star on and off. That way, make sure it's nice and clean over here. Nice and clean and slightly warm. That worked exceptionally well, I think that should do pretty good. That just means that when it's at its shortest point, hopefully we're not going to get any binding through the cups on either side. That's why axle length is important. You need to be long enough to go with full droop, short enough to go when the axle's parallel and all the way up and down should be good. At the end, if it does work well, I'll just have my buddy cut a groove in for the lock on this side.

Now, the fun part, and I say fun just laughingly because a lot of people don't like to assemble CVs. It's honestly not that big of a deal. We've got our star, and this only goes in one side. It cannot fit in this side; it only goes in the one side. The one side that it does go in actually goes to the outside and that's where we actually have our bevel. Now, this is opposite of our boot lip. This is where our boot's going to sit. If you notice on the CV, there's a wide edge and a narrow edge. Same thing, we have a wide edge and a narrow edge. We want to put wide edge, narrow edge, narrow edge, wide edge like so. Put our balls in, get a couple started, and just drop them in as you go, just like that. We've got that CV ready. I guess this is a good enough workbench for the rest of it.

Still warm, CVs come with grease, and these are spiral locks, much easier to deal with. That will go on like that and then that will go like that. Go ahead and grease these guys up.

Well hey, look who it is. H, look who decided to come in and see what's going on. Got our axles trimmed down to length. Now, I'm about ready to... so which side is cut? This side? This side does have a groove. Oh yeah, but now I'm about ready to pack this thing full of some grease and then put it on and go for a test try. Not quite yet.

And our CV kit comes with bolts, so I might as well get these guys ready so I can go hang this thing on the car. Alright, so I got my bolt ready to go. I better get some gloves on because this is guaranteed to get dirty.

Yeah, uh, can you grab me a roll of paper towel from inside please? Ran out last night, I never grabbed. So, that's what the bearings look like. Wow, that's what the CV joints look like. CV joints. Don't let that drop.

Wait, so there's four of them or one per... both? One packet? This is one CV joint. Oh, one packet per CV. Got it. So, it comes with four of those things? Wow. Yep, four CVs, four packets.

Alright, that side is done. Let's throw that over there so that doesn't get countered too dirty. Pull off the CV. Oh yeah, I'm going to pack it right here and then just put it up in place. I mean that's waste.

Let's get our spiral lock set. Alright, come on. You're working the wrong way on me. Now, there we go. This guy's ready to hang on the transmission.

Sweet. Smart bells, not dumbbells. Expensive bells, but yeah. Alright, that wasn't ideal, but I mean grease up everything else. It'll just grease up everything and like potentially the engine when it spins, huh? Yeah, I mean we'll just go grab a paper towel on wipe afterwards. Yeah, there we go. That's that. Uh, do you have all the other ones or just one? Yep. Oh yeah.

Now it's on automatic. So just run it in. When it stops, just pull the trigger. Yep, all good.

Got to make a touch cable bracket for the transmission, to move our clutch cable bracket up for our bowden tube. We've got to shorten our shift rod. Oh yeah, and then I've got to swap out the pressure plate on your engine because this is an early style throw up bearing. So this is a 68, 69, or a 70 bus transmission. I can tell that because it's got early style throwout bearing that needs to be replaced. Anyway, 930 CVs, my custom mount, customized mount, no need to notch our frame. Alright, we're going to do the other side.

Alright, um, maybe right about there. Possibly actually, hold. Can this go lower? Yes, you can.

Are you freaking kidding me, dude? Is it bleeding? Uh, doesn't look like it. Okay, thank God. I was about to say, that was just plain stupid. Two days in a row? I mean it's not really the best having a giant sharp edge, right? Yeah, I mean probably not, but usually there's a tie in the way.

Alright, next problem we have is this bowden tube bracket. I can't really get it in place down here. So, I took some vague measurements and by eyeballing everything, including the cable, I basically drew up this bracket. So, this bracket will bolt on there, and then this will bolt on there, and then our bowden tube will actually have an appropriate bend on it once I get it all bolted in place. I got some washers right there.

Oh, it is bleeding, is it? Son of a gun. I mean it's a different cut this time. Nice. Can you go get me another band-aid and some alcohol? Get an alcohol rub. Alright, put that on there or just squirt that on there and wipe my head down. Pardon me. Nathan's operating on my head since these metal fenders are really sharp and I stood on them twice in as many days. Alright, it's fine. Paper towel hurts more than the alcohol. Are you okay, Dad? Yeah, I'm okay. Again? Again, two nights in a row? Oh my gosh. Probably should have waited for the alcohol to dry out, but whoa. Alright, that's burning my eyes.

Okay, um, moment of truth. Do we have a clutch cable wing nut, Nathan? Anywhere? If you want to grab that, should be in this bin. Alright. Oh, I need that 13 mm wrench when you have a chance to. Oh, and then you want to grab me two metal washers as well. Alright, and then I'm going to have you... did you get that wing nut? Yeah, I did. Let's get that wing nut started. There we go. I should have grabbed a six-shooter from work. Six-shooter what? Six-shooter clutch adjustment nut. Um, I don't know if you want to grab your chair and put it in place or if you just want to go up there and sit on a bucket and operate the clutch pedal. Hit it.

That feels very light. Well, there's no engine, buddy. Yeah, actually that's a good point. Alright, hit it again.

Alright, so tomorrow I need to bring home brake calipers for the parking brake. So, how much tighten? Just a bit. Alright, here, hold on. Let me see if I can pull. Yeah, I think we might be getting some more holes in the... now go hit it. Oh yeah. Alright, go hit it again. Oh, that feels way better. Way better. Yeah, it's like perfect. Nice.

So from here, I guess kind of the next deal is working on the... that's only 6:47. We can probably get that shift rod shortened. Maybe. Let's get to work on that.

Pull out this shift coupler, pair of vice grips if you need to grab a hold of that and pull out that screw right there. Oh, I dropped it. There you go. Got it. Let up these old things. Let's grab a hold of the tab.

It's a weird angle, my apologies. What we need to do is, with our shifter at the front in the middle of its position, we need to note how far this is. Nathan, you want to grab me a pair of vice grips? So, I got to put our transmission in neutral. Up front, our shifter cup is in the middle of the hole. So now, when we look back here at the transmission, yeah, it's a touch bit too long. Huh, it's a touch too long. So, we've got to pull out basically the distance from here to there from our shift rod. So, we'll have to cut this end off and we're going to weld in an adjustable end. So that way, we'll be able to adjust the shift rod.

Nathan's going to pull off the access plate. Flathead screwdriver so you can pop that off. Definitely going to have some original black paint under there. There we go. Look at that. Now we got to go inside. Do we need to reweld anything or? Yeah, we need to cut this and weld it. Alright. And kind of just the long process of feeding this towards the front of the car. Quick. You're going to have to grab it at some point, dude. Yeah, I'm trying to. Alright, there we go. Got it. It's really freaking light too.

Let's grab our shortening kit. It's a walking stick. So they're supposed to be bent, right? Yep. We've got absolutely no bushing left. I'm sorry, we have a little bit of bushing left. But we still have our clip left. We need to save our clip bushing. I already have a new bushing. I thought ahead. And this entire thing needs to be cleaned up really, but one thing at a time.

So, from the centerline to there, roughly 1 1/8 of an inch back from the center of this is where we want the center of this to be. So, we want the new end to be an inch and 1/8 back. Uh, can you give me a marker? So, I want the new end to be 1 1/8 of an inch back. Oh, so that means that... oh yeah. So, I want that to be there, and I want the end of this... I want to give a little bit of a gap for filling it with weld, but I want this to be cut off right there. And I believe I have a tubing cutter that will work just perfect for cutting this.

Get a bur bit to open the end of this up, because that's one bad thing about tubing cutters. They actually roll and crush the end of this over. See how well the uni bit works. I'd say that works wonderfully. Try to make sure we have this straight up and down with our end, which I'm not. Grab me a wrench that fits the end of that while I get the welder ready. Alright, so I use a wrench to make sure we're up and down flat at the front, flat there. Alright, I get a ground, ground, ground, ground, ground, ground, ground. I get a ground, I get a ground, ground, ground.

Yep, it's welded all the way. Yep. Oh, that's good. Now we got to just take the sanding wheel and sand those welds down flat so that they slide through the bushing. So, we should be shifting by the end of the night. Yep. Yeah, just two more things to go. Throttle and, um... throttle, pressure plate, new throw... honest, or wheels. Wheels is a big one now. Yeah. Huh. Because we really... we got wheels, we drop it on the ground, drive it. Once this is done...

Until this thing cools off, it's going to be very difficult to turn this shaft in there. In the meantime, we can get some sandpaper and clean this guy up, and I can start with a wire brush.

I've got our clip, and somewhere around here, I have a new bushing. And what I do is I put the clip on the bushing, and then I stick it inside here and just push it into place. Positive snap. Push it back and forward, and it's good to go. Conveniently enough, I have some leftover CV grease.

Now the fun part of feeding this in place. Fortunately, I can see the shift coupler inside, or the shift. It's got to be able to get this in place. Haha, we are through. I see it, and it's going backwards, so that's right.

Now, the extremely fun part is grabbing a hold of that greased shaft and pushing it back in place. Alright. Uh, we might have should have vacuumed that bit out first. We might do that when pull that out. Then just like that. Is it all the way where it needs to be now, or? Well, at the front it is, so chances are at the back, it's pretty close too. Yep, I see it. Alright. Perfecto. Now we can go to the back. Are you going to throw it on? Sure. Alright, remember it's greasy but... gosh. About to start this thing. It almost reminds me of the dune buggy. You get it? Yep. Sit enough? Nice.

Alright, so our throwout needs to go horizontally. That needs to sit in the middle of that cup. Let's plan this properly. Let's put our shift rod coupler on. Push that back. Is that easy to push that back? It is when you have a cage, apparently. Let's see if I can't bring that shift rod up and in the end of this. Now, yes, I can. Alright. Oh yeah, look, I can see the tire from here at the bottom of the car. Alright, underneath the car, I should say.

Shifter in the middle of its pattern. Let's make certain that that doesn't drop out. Hopefully, we'll tighten this guy in. And no, I'm not going to safety wire this thing on right now. Good and tight. Good and super tight. Out of gear. There we go. Oh, I already had a 19. I don't know if you got another one, but I had one. That is the middle. So, our shift rod is in the middle, and our coupler, our rod, rather, could be a little bit longer. So, I'm going to lengthen it real quick to get in the middle of this cup. Let me push that out of the way. Pull that up and pull it back. And I guess right there's fine. Oh, wasn't one. This is adjustable. So, alright.

Um, right. Actually, I think we're... no. Okay, so that's... that's neutral. Yeah, neutral, and we're in the middle. We're in the middle in the front. Pretty darn sure that’s middle. Alright. Alright. Where's those bushings and rods and screws and stuff? Thank you. And then tools, bushings and rods and screws and tools. And I'm going to do this because dropping these things is not fun. Yep. So, what's that material called? This is polyurethane. Is it always red or just... uh, not always, but very commonly it's red. We normally go in through the side. So, try to stick with tradition. Reversible gear wrench. Whoa.

Alright. You know pliers are where? Somewhere, hopefully right here underneath my foot, Nathan. That's where they are. Oh. Why couldn't you see underneath my foot to tell me that's where the needle nose pliers are at? I was looking over here. Well, I would say because I don't have x-ray vision, but okay, that also works.

Alright, so we are straight up and down and in neutral. Not quite. And we're on the back end of that. Perfect gaps at front and rear. Alright, so we've got that probably as close as it's going to. While Nathan's working on making sure this GoPro doesn't go dead, I'm going to work on getting this bushing in place. That's the other GoPro. We're not filming on that one right now.

Alright, I had to switch GoPros. And running low on light on here too. Nathan, you want to grab me one of the mag lights? Sure. And I can see the tire. Hello, tire. And click, click. You hear that? Now it's tight. Now, the fun part is making sure that this gets tight. Because if that ain't tight, then when you go to shift, we're going to have a whole bunch of problems. I'm going to have to do this with a proper wrench. 15/16 it is. Alright, that's... and our shift rod at the front is straight up and down still. And I am going to tighten the ever be-lee-jez out of that. The what? Ever be-lee-jez out of that. Alright, Nate. Alright, go put a shifter in, buddy.

There's a bug in your bug. Yeah, there's a bug in my bug. Oh my goodness. Bug, your bug is a bug. There's a bug in a bug that is a bug, yes.

Alright, don't worry about the bug. Is it right? Yeah. Put it in neutral. Alright. First, second, contact the neutral. Third, fourth. Does that look right? That looks good to me, buddy. There's a little bit of play in this bushing right here. That's not too big of a deal, right? When we have this transmission gone through, we'll have that taken care of. Yeah.

Nathan, what you got going on there? Fixing the floor panes? Um, that's not quite how we do it, but I've seen worse.

And with that, we've got axles in, clutch cable hooked up, and what else did we do in that video? Oh, we also did the shift rod. I think we just finished with the shift rod. And Nathan just finished with some cardboard floor pan because I've seen worse. Yeah, and I'm not kidding about that. Yeah. Thanks for watching. We'll catch you in the next video. And remember, life's full of good people. If you can't find one, be one. Later, guys.