ORD Blog

We get quite a few emails with drive shaft angle questions, recently we had a customer looking for help with some binding issues. We figured it would be a good tech note for others!

Stephen

It has been a few months but i finally got things almost back together.  The issue i have now is that my front drive shaft is binding at the axle joint.  With weight on the springs and the truck sitting on the ground it does not bind but as soon as i raise the truck about an inch or so it starts to bind. 

I noticed that these springs don't have a degree wedge. My old skyjacker 8” springs did have a wedge.  I think I  need to get some degree shims.  My plan is to loosen the u bolts and use a jack to rotate the axle and measure the change in angle.  How much can I safely rotate the axle.?  This is a stock dana 60.

The main cause of this is i had to move my drive train forward to clear the firewall which increased the driveshaft angle….

Thanks for your help 

Customer

Hi Customer, it's...

Check out this old article from Four Wheeler on our steering arms with Reid Knuckles

Written by Jordan Jones May 1, 2009

Link to original article HERE 

The pitman arm is a key part of any steering system involving a steering box, since it’s literally the part that bolts to the output shaft of the steering box.  So here are some details about various GM pitman arms and why we use the parts we do.

In the GM squarebody (and even earlier) world, the 4wd trucks use a different steering box output shaft and pitman arm arrangement than 2wds.  On a 4wd, the pitman arm points to the side of the truck and the draglink runs toward the back of the truck to the steering knuckle.  On a 2wd, the pitman arm points straight back and moves the centerlink side to side to move the tierods to steer the tires. 

The steering boxes between 2wd and 4wd are identical (except for internal tuning differences) except for the output shafts with the most important detail here being that the bolt pattern on the housing is the same so a 2wd box will bolt up directly in place of a 4wd box.  The steering boxes also move the output shaft the same direction...

Here’s a question we get all the time:  “What axle gears should I use for my combination?”

Obviously there are a lot of engine, transmission, tire size, vehicle weight and intended use combinations but here are some general guidelines and specific recommendations.

In general we like to gear a lifted truck to run more RPM rather than less.  Usually a lifted truck ends up with bigger tires, exterior accessories that add aerodynamic drag, the lift itself adding aerodynamic drag and often bigger axles, transfer cases and transmissions that make our power requirements greater.  Your typical lifted K5 Blazer can very easily end up with the equivalent load of a loaded down pickup so we tend to look at gearing systems for heavier rated factory trucks or towing packages for lighter rated factory trucks.  The big thing you see is that they’re geared deeper, no big secret.

The first thing to consider is if you need to gear for the road only or for offroad use also.  Typically with...

Here is a reloaded page from our old website

This section shows you ORD rigs and our customers' rigs in action on the toughest and best trails in the country. 

We've grouped these photos roughly by suspension type -- leaf springs front and rear;  front coils with rear leaves; and coil springs at all four corners.  Whichever setup you like, we're pretty confident that we -- and ORD customers -- have built and 'wheeled the very best of each breed using ORD parts.

David Kennedy's K5 at 4WOR'S Ultimate Adventure '05

MOAB Easter Jeep Safari 2002

KOH 2012

KOH 2012 was GREAT!  We finished 12th overall out of a field of 137.  We're really hungry for a top 10 but this is our best finish yet and we can see the top from here.  We have pictures and comments on our Facebook page HERE.
There are also some good pics on our photobucket page HERE.
GoPro video of our qualifying run with a good near rollover HERE.
GoPro video of the first 2 hours of our race HERE

We'll update this page more as we go but that's a LOT of material to check out along with our build threads in some of the links below.

Pretty familiar looking racer on that poster!  This is the official course map poster from the 2011 event, definitely an honor to be on that one!

On our way to KOH 2011 we stopped by Superior's warehouse in Las Vegas to pick up some of their chromoly 14 bolt shafts.  They're awesome, Mac said they had to really work on them to make a shaft significantly better than stock and they did it. 

Here's Wally pre-running the course:

New...

Below is the build thread on Cheap Truck from our old website!

One piece of advice we often throw out for anyone building a truck on a budget is to pick up someone else's truck or even just an abandoned project.  You can get a great deal on some good parts that way, or even pick up a complete running truck that just needs some tuning to get it dialed in.  Just to prove the point, we decided to put our money where our mouth is and now we have our "Cheap Truck".

We actually had a local guy come to the shop to tell us about this truck he was selling because he was moving, hadn't used it in years and just needed it gone.  It's a '74 long bed 3/4-T with a fresh GM 350 (335hp maybe?), SM465, NP205 and a 4.10 geared 14-bolt and external hub D44.  The guy had a ton of added goodies like a Detroit in the rear, 4" stiff lift, dual batteries with isolator, MSD ignition box with a Mallory distributor, electric fuel pump and a bunch of AN lines, suspension seats, fiberglass cowl induction...

Below is the build thread on Burly Burb from our old website!

This buildup runs in chronographic order, the earliest mods at the top and the latest mods at the end.

Our green K5 has been getting a little bit biased toward trail use, so when it came time to pick up a general purpose traveling, camping, fourwheeling truck, we ended up with this '88 Suburban.  Now that 3 kids are part of the general traveling package, the full size rear doors are great to have and the cavernous interior means we can carry all the people and gear we need, and sleep in the truck too.

The overall goal is to leave it low enough to get decent gas mileage, add a little lift and a little bigger tire to help with the offroad use, and not spend a bunch to do it.
Here's what we started with:
 

Here's what it looked like a day and a half later with what we're now calling the "Stage 1" buildup:

It started out with stock suspension, a fuel injected 350 motor, TH700 trans, 208 t-case, 10 bolts front and rear and 235/75...

Below is the build thread on Wally from our old website!

Wally

Wally, our K5, morphed again. This time in response to a bent and twisted front axle housing, a desire for better side clearance, a bunch of bent up metal and of course a desire to improve performance.

Here it is on the trail in Poteau:

 

Here are some shop pics of the recent changes. Here you can see the stripped chassis with the new tube work in the previously open door areas and the raised nose.

This is the repaired t-case crossmember with the rear suspension mounting brackets. It was bent up to the point the crossmember was hitting the 205 so now it's beefed up and trussed to prevent that.

These show the new "boatside" job on the rocker area. Up to this point, the nerf bars were in the same location as they had been with the full body, now they fit the rest of the truggy much better.

Here are a couple of pics of the configuration before summer '05. After the rolls in Farmington we ran the truck a couple more times and...

Below is the build thread on Cousin Willard from our old website!

Cousin Willard

Below are some old magazine articles that we had on our website:

We're grateful ( and kinda proud, too) that the major four-wheel drive magazines have included us in their pages, on their TV shows and videos so many times over the years.

Below: Our green monster made the 4WOR cover!

It gives us the idea that ORD products and our particular brand of 'wheelin wackiness must be on the right track!

This is where we'll share some of our magazine coverage - features on our rigs, plus tech and installation articles involving our products.  Check out the first samples by clicking the small pictures at the left and below.  They're from the 4Wheel & Off-Road's Ultimate Adventures in 2006 and 2007.  And be sure to check out www.4wheeloffroad.com for more great event coverage, and to subscribe if you don't already get this great mag!

We had a great time on the Ultimate Adventures in 2006 and 2007, and we look forward to lots more in the future!  Click the small pics below and look for the...

Below is a customer question about leaning springs and what to do to remedy the situation. We figured it could be helpful for many people:

A lean is fairly common and is a byproduct of a soft spring and kind of unique to this truck platform because the front springs’ mounting width is fairly narrow. A small difference in the height of the springs can make an exaggerated difference in side to side height and a small weight difference can also also cause an exaggerated ride height change. To put some numbers on it, the springs are about 32” center to center and the outside of the body where you see and measure is about 80”. The body has about 2.5:1 leverage over the springs so a ¼” change at the spring pad should convert to 5/8” at the body line. It also works the opposite for weight, any weight change has a big lever arm over the springs and makes itself look way bigger than it should.

We have yet to have a spring problem that was causing a lean so I’m betting your springs are just fine...

Ever want to see pictures from events we go to or trucks we build? Below are a couple links to some huge photo dumps!

BLAZER BASH 2019

ULTIMATE ADVENTURE 2019

PHOTO BUCKET

Below is the original text from the build thread copy and pasted here. Some of the text might not make much sense since some of the conversation is missing. To find the whole thread check out HERE

Also you can find the parts we used HERE

Now the only thing left in the truck is the long block.:shaking:
We actually shopped a little for this truck, we wanted the 88-98 type body style with the big block and after our recent headaches with 4L80's we really wanted the NV4500. Plus I've never wheeled a properly set up truck (low geared) with a manual so it'll be fun driving something different. We wanted a running driving truck so that we wouldn't be building an engine and transmission and we kind of achieved that.

Turns out the 454 had the standard manifold leaks and some exhaust leaks so we're fixing that. At least it's easy to just fix stuff and put it back where we found it rather than building from scratch. We are resisting the urge to add a cam, headers and custom exhaust since we have...

Best Way to Setup Your Steering Gearbox For Hydo Assist

Recently we were asked about the steering box end caps and why we don't offer a tapped one for hydro-assist. Since this is an often asked question we figured the answer could help a few others out as well!

"I'm planning a hydro assist conversion using the part below (tapped end cap for steering gearbox), tapping the other hole for the system in the aluminum cap on the top of the steering box (there's a link in his description to a video on youtube where a guy does this on a jeep). If you made a part like that, I'd buy it from you. Is there a specific reason that you don't make that, or wouldn't recommend it?"