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Oil seal mod. for 3053 input shaft

Jeepsinker

Jeepsinker

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Doing prototyping right now. Will let you know when I have a finished product in hand. I will have 2 or more made on the first run so a few other people can have a go at it at the same time. Best to have more than one test vehicle at a time.
 
Jeepsinker

Jeepsinker

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Pm me your address and I'll send you one when they are done. The first ones will be made from 4140 chromoly, because my machinist apparently has 5" round chromoly stock up to his eyeballs.
 
welldigger

welldigger

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Jeepsinker said:
Pm me your address and I'll send you one when they are done. The first ones will be made from 4140 chromoly, because my machinist apparently has 5" round chromoly stock up to his eyeballs.
Click to expand...
Huh. The seal retainer will be the strongest part of the transmission lol.
 
Jeepsinker

Jeepsinker

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Yeah, the chromoly really isn't necessary, but the machinist has a bunch on hand. The first ones will be made from chromoly, and the rest will be made from 1045. Of course the chromoly will be made available at a slightly higher cost for those that prefer it.
 
Jeepsinker

Jeepsinker

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Alright, I am going to accommodate as many of you fellas as possible on this first run. I need to be clear here though. These won't be free. You will pay what I pay plus the shipping charges, and the cost of the seal. I am not going to ship these without the seal installed because I don't want anyone getting their part and finding out the seal won't seat properly. All I will ask is my cost on all of it and a small amount for my legwork, and most people say I don't charge enough for what I do, so you have my word that I'm not trying to make a bunch of money off you guys. This is going to be for the good of us all. I just can't work for free.
 
Jeepsinker

Jeepsinker

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Progress: On a Haas CNC lathe. This is number one, first cut from real steel. The machinist is also a member here and a good friend of mine. He quoted me at $600 material and machine time for one piece at a time, but the more I order the cheaper it gets. 5-10 pieces gets it down around the high $200s to low $300s range. Bear in mind that the material per piece is only about $35. What eats us up is the machine time.
Aluminum would be much cheaper and machine much faster, but I don't think it would be a good material for this job.
 

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DavidWymore

DavidWymore

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Sounds about right. Time to get a group buy together...

How about a plate and tube pressed/welded assembly instead of billet? Less material to hack off, but more time to put it together, probably a wash.

If the original is cast, some high grade alum might work, but it wouldn't be cheap...
 
Jeepsinker

Jeepsinker

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The plate and tube is a wash. We already discussed it and there is too much room for error, especially where we are already trying to stop a leak. The issue I have running it in aluminum is that it doesn't wear as well as steel, and the throw out bearing moves on this shaft a whole lot. Aluminum can cut the machine time down by 2/3, and even with higher cost of material it still comes out a fair amount cheaper. I just know for sure that it won't hold up like a steel version, and we don't want to sell substandard parts.
 
Jeepsinker

Jeepsinker

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If I can order 15-25 units at a time, I can get the price per unit down to around $225. This does not include the seal or shipping though.
I have seen group buys go south a few times on this forum and it makes me pretty uncomfortable. I NEED to do a group buy in because I can't afford to buy them myself up front.
Is there any way we can do this with some moderator or administrator oversight? Maybe start a dedicated thread, have a trusted moderator or admin keep track of it and the money/ orders? I'm not sure what to do here. I believe I've shown myself to be trustworthy enough to handle this, but I would like to give those who order and send money some insurance. Maybe my address in a pm to each person who orders?
 
rustystud

rustystud

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Jeepsinker said:
Progress: On a Haas CNC lathe. This is number one, first cut from real steel. The machinist is also a member here and a good friend of mine. He quoted me at $600 material and machine time for one piece at a time, but the more I order the cheaper it gets. 5-10 pieces gets it down around the high $200s to low $300s range. Bear in mind that the material per piece is only about $35. What eats us up is the machine time.
Aluminum would be much cheaper and machine much faster, but I don't think it would be a good material for this job.
Click to expand...
Your right, keep it steel.
 
rustystud

rustystud

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Jeepsinker said:
If I can order 15-25 units at a time, I can get the price per unit down to around $225. This does not include the seal or shipping though.
I have seen group buys go south a few times on this forum and it makes me pretty uncomfortable. I NEED to do a group buy in because I can't afford to buy them myself up front.
Is there any way we can do this with some moderator or administrator oversight? Maybe start a dedicated thread, have a trusted moderator or admin keep track of it and the money/ orders? I'm not sure what to do here. I believe I've shown myself to be trustworthy enough to handle this, but I would like to give those who order and send money some insurance. Maybe my address in a pm to each person who orders?
Click to expand...
I'm still in at $300.00 . This will solve a lot of problems, especially to though's of use who go off-road and get their trucks in funny positions. No more oil on the clutch ! and even more importantly keeping the transmission oil level where it should be.
 
Jeepsinker

Jeepsinker

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I stopped in again today. Got to talking about guns and forgot to get a pic of the part, but it is almost done. Poor guy is working on it in between jobs but doing some nice work. It is almost done, just some inside work on the base and the mounting holes left. Sorry guys, but looks like this one is going to be the only test unit, and the only chromoly unit unless someone specifically orders a chromo one. He only had one piece of 6" roundstock on hand, the rest was 8" and 3.5".
He did say today that 10 units he is sure he can do out the door for $300. Remember though, the more of these he makes, the cheaper the price will get.

I still have to price and source seals.
 
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