- Joined
- Dec 29, 2010
- Messages
- 1,768
I haven't had much time lately to share or be involved in the everyday happenings with all my Bronco peeps. I'm currently Training 2 guys in 2 different departments while tag teaming the boxing and shipping duties with Suzy. Our Veteran Shipper moved on a couple weeks ago and we are revamping the shipping and packaging department before we hire someone to run it. Unfortunately the fun stuff gets put on hold when you have to work 12-14 hour days. Not complaining about the work load, I love what I do and I love that our work helps so many people build a bronco of their dreams.
So Today I want to talk about one of our most popular products. The Long Travel Radius Arms. When I first started working for the Duffs I watched how they were being built and I was impressed with how much welding goes into these arms. There were only a few details I thought could be improved. Quite a few skilled welders and fabricators have worked for Duffs over the years but when I came onto the scene all of them moved on. All that was left was Tony who had spent 3 years in manufacturing working his way up from a hobbyist to a skilled weld & fab guy and a couple new guys that were still getting familiar with building all the different parts. Their welding techniques still had room for improvement. Their welds created an excess amount of clean up and the open corner welds were either undercut or over filled. I worked with them on weld settings, gun control, metal prep and weld pattern technique. Now that the welds were dialed in, I had one other thing I wanted to ensure, that the guys were welding in the threaded bung for the heim joint so it was 100% safe and strong. Don't get me wrong there has never been an issue but I wanted to ensure that there was a proper amount of weld gap between the insert and the tube. I made sure everyone was clear that every weld on these arms was critical to the safety of our customers.
There's a lot that goes into building a long arm Kit. Especially since we offer the arms for Dana 44's and Dana 60's as well as every model of bronco and a few years of explorers and rangers. It's our number one priority to have a supply of them on the shelf ready to ship out at any given time.
I want to leave you all with this. I love what I do and I love being a Duff. My Mission is to make sure everything we build and everything we ship out is a quality product that you are extremely happy with. There is always something that can be built better and sometimes there is a quality control issue that needs to be addressed. Make sure you contact me or call James Duff first so we can do everything in our power to do right by you and fix the problem.
As you can see the wall thickness is .313 which equals 5/16"
I set the weld gap to 5/32" for optimal weld penetration.
In this pic you can see the fit and finish of where the tube and the plate make contact. The guys used to back fill all the gaps with weld but this method proved to overheat the tube in a critical area and the welds rarely looked good w/o some grinding. So now we have a collar that fits perfectly around the plate and tube and looks great after it's welded.
Our stiffener plate is stitched in and provides moisture to escape (arm is upside down in this pic)
In these next few pics you can see the heat signature of where Thea arms are welded inside and out. Stress relief zones are left unwelded to give a perfect balance of strength and give. if a weld were ever to fail between the tube and plate it can't spread all the way from front to back. With so many guys using these arms for hardcore fun we have to build in safety standards for them as well.
These next 4 pics are from 2 arms I randomly pulled off the shelf. Each arm has to look this good or better to pass QC before We will allow it be shipped to our customers. Here is our signature color duff blue.
And here is our other color option Silver Vein. It has an added cost due to the sv which also has a clear coat added. So Essentially this option has a stronger PC coating.
So Today I want to talk about one of our most popular products. The Long Travel Radius Arms. When I first started working for the Duffs I watched how they were being built and I was impressed with how much welding goes into these arms. There were only a few details I thought could be improved. Quite a few skilled welders and fabricators have worked for Duffs over the years but when I came onto the scene all of them moved on. All that was left was Tony who had spent 3 years in manufacturing working his way up from a hobbyist to a skilled weld & fab guy and a couple new guys that were still getting familiar with building all the different parts. Their welding techniques still had room for improvement. Their welds created an excess amount of clean up and the open corner welds were either undercut or over filled. I worked with them on weld settings, gun control, metal prep and weld pattern technique. Now that the welds were dialed in, I had one other thing I wanted to ensure, that the guys were welding in the threaded bung for the heim joint so it was 100% safe and strong. Don't get me wrong there has never been an issue but I wanted to ensure that there was a proper amount of weld gap between the insert and the tube. I made sure everyone was clear that every weld on these arms was critical to the safety of our customers.
There's a lot that goes into building a long arm Kit. Especially since we offer the arms for Dana 44's and Dana 60's as well as every model of bronco and a few years of explorers and rangers. It's our number one priority to have a supply of them on the shelf ready to ship out at any given time.
I want to leave you all with this. I love what I do and I love being a Duff. My Mission is to make sure everything we build and everything we ship out is a quality product that you are extremely happy with. There is always something that can be built better and sometimes there is a quality control issue that needs to be addressed. Make sure you contact me or call James Duff first so we can do everything in our power to do right by you and fix the problem.
As you can see the wall thickness is .313 which equals 5/16"
I set the weld gap to 5/32" for optimal weld penetration.
In this pic you can see the fit and finish of where the tube and the plate make contact. The guys used to back fill all the gaps with weld but this method proved to overheat the tube in a critical area and the welds rarely looked good w/o some grinding. So now we have a collar that fits perfectly around the plate and tube and looks great after it's welded.
Our stiffener plate is stitched in and provides moisture to escape (arm is upside down in this pic)
In these next few pics you can see the heat signature of where Thea arms are welded inside and out. Stress relief zones are left unwelded to give a perfect balance of strength and give. if a weld were ever to fail between the tube and plate it can't spread all the way from front to back. With so many guys using these arms for hardcore fun we have to build in safety standards for them as well.
These next 4 pics are from 2 arms I randomly pulled off the shelf. Each arm has to look this good or better to pass QC before We will allow it be shipped to our customers. Here is our signature color duff blue.
And here is our other color option Silver Vein. It has an added cost due to the sv which also has a clear coat added. So Essentially this option has a stronger PC coating.
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