Trout Industries Bookends Tech Bulletin

HD Ring Gear shop manual BOOKENDS

Below you will find the Trout Industries HD Ring Gear Bookends

PROCEDURE

Step 1) Select the ring gear of your choice. I prefer Dana 30 and Dana 35 ring gears, but any small ring gear will work (Toyota, Suzuki, etc). Usually its not hard to find someone who has some old 3.07 gears around that no one will ever want and you can swipe for free. Damaged gears work fine for this as well (carnage is COOL). Make sure the gear is clean and free of oil. I spray it down with Brake Cleaner, wipe it off with a shop rag, and blow it dry with compressed air.

CAUTION: Make sure the gear is completely free of brake cleaner and the can and rag are removed from the welding area as FIRE and EXPLOSION can result.

Step 2) Cut out a base plate. I cut the base plates out to be approximately 4” x 5” and use 18ga stainless steel…but that’s just what I had laying around. Any thin sheet metal you can weld to will work

Step 3) Stand up the ring gear. I hold it in the vertical postion with a right angle magnet, but anything that will hold it in place (clamp, helper, etc) will work.

Step 4) Slide the base plate under the flat side of the ring gear until it hits the gear teeth. Don’t push it under the teeth, but just until they hit it

Step 5) Tack-weld the base plat to the flat part of the gear tooth. This works best with a MIG welder as you can stick the wire out of the gun and reach into that triangle shaped area quite well with a steady hand. Also, I set up the welder for the thin sheet metal so I don’t burn thru. This isn’t a structural weld, just some “boogers” to hold it all together.

Step 6) Grab the gear and turn it over so you can get another tack weld between the gear and base plate.

Step 7) Double check that the base plate is still “square” to the ring gear. If its not, you can flex the tack welds to get it back into position

Step 8) Weld the base plate to the gear. Small stitch-welds work well and allow the thin base plate to cool between stitches and not burn thru.

Step 9) Clean up your welds, knock off any little BB’s, and sand off any burn-thru you may have on the bottom of the base plate

Final Step) Place on the shelf and stand back to admire your handy-work. You’ll appreciate it every time you take a book off the shelf!