Manky Monkey Motors Axle Mounting Clamps

[tbone]

Lets have a bash at making the clamps to hold that back axle to the frame. Once again i`m giving full credit to Mr Andy Field for the design, because i`ve not seen them anywhere else.

[tbone]

Ok, we know that reliant axle tubes are 2" O.D, cos Andy said so, so we are gonna need some 2" I.D pipe and some 3mm steel plate.  My first problem was getting hold of the 2" I.D, i couldn`t get any! Now i could have popped along my local pipe supplier n spent a fortune buying 6meters of the stuff but being a skinflint, i didnt, i dug out some 50mm bore pipe that i had laying in the shed, i also dug out some 2" O.D pipe which i`ll use as a temperary axle tube.

[tbone]

First job then is to cut it to length, 4" in this case. Easy enough cos i recently bought meself one of them fancy cut off saws. So into the vice, measure 4" from the end of the pipe to the cutting disc, clamp it up tight and cut 2 pieces.

[tbone]

While i`ve got the saw warmed up, i cut the 3mm plate. 4" long by 2" wide, and your gonna want 8 of these. 2" is slightly wider than we need so i`ll trim it later, its just that the plate i had happened to be that width, but it has to be 4" long cos thats the length of our clamps.

[tbone]

So far, so good. Tricky bit next, slicing the pipe in half lengthways. To do this i first used a steel rule to measure accross the O.D of the pipe, 60mm. Then i got a plastic rule and measured the other way, no prizes for guessing that too was 60mm. More importantly, where the 2 rules crossed was the centre of the pipe and this enabled me to mark the halfway point on the pipe wall. Just one point, when your doing this, make sure one of your marks lines up with the inside weld seam, this will save you trying to grind it out later.

[tbone]

Having scribed the half way point i now needed to mark down the length of the pipe, you can use anything with a 90 degree angle to do this with, i used a cheap square, lined up at the top on my mark then scribed down the straight edge to mark the length. Then i did the same down the other side.
This does not have to be 100 percent accurate but the closer you can get to the centre, the better.

[tbone]

Time to dig out the angle grinder and slit the pipe. Make sure your pipe is held securely when you do this! Take it slow and try to get the grinder at a 90degree angle to the pipe, working along your line.

[tbone]

Do this down the other side as well and you`ll now have the two halves of one clamp. So do it all again to the second bit of pipe we cut and you`ll have 4 halves, which is what we need. Give them a quick going over on the grinder to de burr all the edges and tidy up what remains of the internal weld seam and they should look something like the pic below.

[tbone]

and thats it so far cos when i went to set my welder up i found i was out of gas! So look out for the second installment coming soon 

[tazet]

Thanks once again. You know how to keep me busy. I've lost track of all the things you have written to add to the main site.

For those of you that don't have a bench saw thingy, we used a hacksaw and/or cutting disc in the angle grinder to do everything.

[tbone]

Thanks once again. You know how to keep me busy. I've lost track of all the things you have written to add to the main site.

HMMM was it you that took my gas bottle, so i couldnt finish this ?
Seriously though, it`ll be a few days till i can get back to this one and finish it. 

[tazet]

Phew! do I get a break now 

[Shriva]

VERY nice articles! And i love the pictures that are included! Very helpfull!

Thanks for taking the time to do them, and i look forwad to more! 

[tbone]

I`m glad someone reads them  .
Just attempting to show how things can be done by one man in a shed with basic tools, obviously different people will have a different take on doing things because there are always many ways to achive the same outcome, and this is simply mine.
All the credit though must go to Andy, who`s designs i`m simply copying and to Tanya who sorts out my ramblings and `iffy` camera work, and makes it all look rather good.

[Manky Monkey]

Oi!
I sort out the ramblings & iffy camera work! Tazzie does the clever button pressing thing, but I'm not just a pretty face you know!