{"id":2579,"date":"2024-07-05T18:29:54","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T18:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/?page_id=2579"},"modified":"2024-07-06T07:05:21","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T07:05:21","slug":"pullman-build-log","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/pullman-build-log\/","title":{"rendered":"Pullman Front Axle Build"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2579\" class=\"elementor elementor-2579\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5d15189 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5d15189\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-59afb54\" data-id=\"59afb54\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7483de6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"7483de6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.22.0 - 26-06-2024 *\/\n.elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px}<\/style><h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Front Axle Build<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-26fc863 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"26fc863\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ecb18a5\" data-id=\"ecb18a5\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3be8b79 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"3be8b79\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.22.0 - 26-06-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=\".svg\"]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/elementor\/thumbs\/Pullman-Front-View-copy-qq8ifqimf14lswc358elyd0gt77oiynvu7wgwbu0nk.png\" title=\"Pullman Front View copy\" alt=\"Pullman Front View copy\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c142c90 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"c142c90\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"168\" src=\"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Screen-Shot-768x168.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-2581\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Screen-Shot-768x168.png 768w, https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Screen-Shot-300x66.png 300w, https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Screen-Shot-1024x224.png 1024w, https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Screen-Shot-1536x336.png 1536w, https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Screen-Shot-2048x449.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Design using OnShape<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ddaafca elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"ddaafca\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Clamped.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-2585\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Clamped.png 480w, https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Front-Axle-Clamped-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Clamping pieces to the welding table<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7d2dce0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"7d2dce0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"402\" src=\"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Finished-Front-Axle-768x402.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-2587\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Finished-Front-Axle-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Finished-Front-Axle-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Finished-Front-Axle.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Finished Axle<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ac2cfc9\" data-id=\"ac2cfc9\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b717f3f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b717f3f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.22.0 - 26-06-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p><strong>INTRODUCTION<\/strong><br \/>The front axle design will be my first challenge.\u00a0 Since I have a 50&#8243; wheel track, the axle will need to be a lot wider than what one can buy from Renegade or any others. \u00a0 I also wanted to to have the same shape as the real Pullman, so it had to be a custom build.\u00a0 I felt up to the task.\u00a0 I learned a lot about welding on my previous Bugatti project so I was eager to dip my toes into fabricating a complete axle including the spindles.<\/p><p><strong>SPINDLES<\/strong><br \/>For the spindles, I decided to copy the set I had on my Bugatti that I purchased from Renegade.\u00a0 This departs a bit from the appearance of the much larger size spindle design of the original Pullman car, but going with the Renegade design seemed more attainable.\u00a0 I examined and measured the various parts and then found sources that were identical or very similar.\u00a0 I found a lot of parts on McMaster-Carr, but boy was it expensive with shipping.\u00a0 Since I did not have a metal mill or lathe this was going to be particularly challenging.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><p>Cutting the pipe for the barrels was done on my homebuilt metal bandsaw.\u00a0 I deliberately cut them slightly over-sized then used my 6&#8243; disc sander with 60 grit stick-on paper to finalize the fit perfectly.\u00a0<\/p><p>I also needed to bore out the spindle barrel to fit the bushings at each end, so I bought the right size drill bit (even more expensive).\u00a0 That turned out to be a complete disaster.\u00a0 I could not get the drill bit perfectly centered to the barrels.\u00a0\u00a0 I think my drill machine tolerances were also not as tight as needed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><p>If it doesn&#8217;t work, go buy the right tool for the job.\u00a0 That&#8217;s my brain rationalizing the need for an expensive metal lathe.\u00a0 A Harbor Freight lathe starts at $750, ugh&#8230;that&#8217;s a tough one to rationalize.\u00a0 Investigating these and other mini-lathes taught me they don&#8217;t particularly handle steel parts very well.\u00a0 For that you need to step up to around $1300.\u00a0 Added to that, you need to buy a 4 way chuck, and a lot of other tools.\u00a0 And so it goes the snare that starts at $750 and keeps rising to $1500, then $2000, then $3000 and more.\u00a0 While were at it, we might as well spring for a lathe\/mill combo so the range was now $5000 and even higher.\u00a0 Where am I going to house this beastly machine that I don&#8217;t know how to use?\u00a0 My garage shop is already busting at the seems, but certainly I can find the space and money to fill it.\u00a0 I must, I must&#8230;\u00a0<\/p><p>Remarkably, common sense prevailed and .\u00a0\u00a0 I took the parts to a local machine shop where one day and $25 later I had two barrels with bushings in their place.\u00a0 Driving home from the machine shop I felt immense satisfaction and pride knowing I&#8217;d overcome this machining obstacle and saved $4,775!\u00a0 (Yes, I have learned how to think female after nearly 50 years of marriage and watching endless chick-flicks).\u00a0 My wife should be so proud of me!\u00a0 But I can&#8217;t share my victory with my wife without also condemning myself by exposing the way I think, so this little victory will have to remain a secret.<\/p><p><strong>AXLE BODY<\/strong><br \/>As you can see from the design drawing on the left, the axle requires several bends along the length to keep with the shape of the real Pullman.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t have a heavy-duty bender, so I elected to build it from 1.5&#8243; x 1.5&#8243; x 1.20 wall square tubing.<\/p><p>I printed my axle design to full length to use as a template.\u00a0 My initial plan was to make cuts at each bend along three of the tube&#8217;s sides, leaving one side intact for added structural integrity.\u00a0 I quickly discovered that was not going to work.\u00a0 To get precise angles, I needed to make separate parts.\u00a0 So I cut eight separate pieces.\u00a0 I was quite surprised how long it took to cut each one with a hand grinder equipped with a cut-off wheel, clean the edges, sand the edge precisely to match the template, grind all edges at a 45 degrees to optimize the weld penetration, and finally brush clean all the perimeter. I did not want to leave any stone unturned.\u00a0 The last thing I want or can afford is for the front axle to fall apart while I&#8217;m driving.<\/p><p>Once all 8 pieces were ready, my new Harbor Freight welding table came in handy for clamping each piece precisely to the template in preparation for welding.\u00a0 My table was not long enough to accommodate the entire length, so I had to do 2\/3 then shift everything for the remaining 1\/3.<\/p><p>One thing I learned the hard way while welding my Bugatti frame was managing heat.\u00a0 If you don&#8217;t clamp your object down to a flat base and then spread out your welds so your not just focusing on one area for an extended time, you&#8217;ll get warping.\u00a0 I also patiently waited far more than ever before to wait for parts to cool down naturally before flipping to another side.\u00a0 So I used a lot of clamps, welded one segment, then shifted to the opposite side of the axle, switching sides while also allowing for cooling off.\u00a0 It took a lot longer this way and required a lot more discipline than I had when I built my Bugatti.\u00a0 I guess that&#8217;s what I love about this sport is all that we get to learn even if its by our mistakes.<\/p><p>Fortunately, all my preparations and patience paid off.\u00a0 The axle was perfectly straight with no twist or warpage. I felt immensely proud of my achievement.<\/p><p>Once the axle was welded, I ground down the welds and then hit the entire assembly with a flap disk.\u00a0 It sure looked good, but it is still not finished.\u00a0 I still needed to weld on the spindle brackets.<\/p><p><strong>WELDING THE SPINDLE BRACKETS<\/strong><br \/>Now for the hard part.\u00a0 It was imperative that the spindle axles were perfectly aligned and that I got about 5 degrees of caster offset.\u00a0 After a lot of tinkering, I used a long length of my spare 1-1\/2 square tubing for a straight edge that spanned the length of the axle assembly to perfectly line up the two spindle axles.\u00a0 Then I jury-rigged the brackets to a 5 degree angle for the castor.\u00a0 While it was easy to write these few sentences, I fiddled around a good hour and maybe more coming up with the rigging.\u00a0 This time I just used my portable wooden workbench then once everything was ready moved the bench to my welder station and attached the ground to the axle assembly.\u00a0 The welding took about 30 minutes, again exercising patience to allow for cooling.\u00a0 Then I cleaned it up and walla, it was done.<\/p><p><strong>FINAL THOUGHTS<\/strong><br \/>Building your axle can be a real-time sink.\u00a0 In my opinion, buying a completed assembly from the likes of Renegade is worth every penny.\u00a0 But if you need to go the custom route, have lots of time on your hands, and really want to challenge yourself, then building your own axle may be the only way to go.\u00a0 I could have just gone with a straight pipe axle like I see on all the equivalent Ford cars of that period, but that would have been cheating and not remaining true to the inspiration car.\u00a0 So even though it was a lot of work, I am so glad I went this route on this project.\u00a0 The only question now is will it hold up?\u00a0 Was my welding good and penetrating?\u00a0 To both questions I feel quite confident all will be well.\u00a0 <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Front Axle Build Design using OnShape Clamping pieces to the welding table Finished Axle INTRODUCTIONThe front axle design will be my first challenge.\u00a0 Since I have a 50&#8243; wheel track, the axle will need to be a lot wider than what one can buy from Renegade or any others. \u00a0 I also wanted to to &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/pullman-build-log\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pullman Front Axle Build<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2579","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2579"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2621,"href":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2579\/revisions\/2621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobugatti.pro\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}