I am sensitive to the time i take away from you and others. From the
machine work i have seen you do, i know you have a lot going on within
your person, as well with life and your family. If you have someone
that has a good machine background that you can correspond with i am
very glad to here that, if not, i would gladly talk in depth about
your possible approaches to your projects so you can give it the best
shot the 1st time, i have work on projects with some sharp people over
the years and will share any trade secrets that I know of if it will
help you. In closing i am a big re-purpose type of person and don't
like to see metal go to scrap before its time. What i do is any heavy
wall pipe or round or square stock that was an old worn part or a take
off/scrap, work well, axles (the rear drive ones) are good steel, the
older the better, off a big truck even better. The downside of this
approach is you end up with a lot of stuff that needs a place to rest,
before its used on some other project. I wish you well in all your
projects!!