Print

[DutchVDub]

Decided to take apart the front axle



first the hubs









Then the spindles and shafts













The the carrier

[Smokestack]

Are you going to turn the knuckles and run a steeper angle off of your pinion?

[DutchVDub]

pinion angles are for the weak

no, i'm not rotating the knuckles yet.  its only a trail rig so it shouldn't cause me too many issues, especially with the unlocking hubs.  if i do get issues i can always rotate the knuckles later and adjust the pinion angle with my adjustable control arms.

[Smokestack]

Shoot, I need to let you drive the scout down the highway. 6 degrees of caster makes a world of difference. Just don't mind the wobble from the bent rim...

[Jesus]

I'm definately going to get a Lincoln when I finally buy a welder of my own. 

I concur.  I run a Lincoln 140C and it's awesome

[DutchVDub]

Shoot, I need to let you drive the scout down the highway. 6 degrees of caster makes a world of difference. Just don't mind the wobble from the bent rim...

I'm setting the caster correctly, its the pinion angle I'm going to allow to be off.  If that gives me issues then I'll rotate the knuckles to correct the pinion angle and keep the caster correct.

I'm definately going to get a Lincoln when I finally buy a welder of my own. 

I concur.  I run a Lincoln 140C and it's awesome

Yeah, I'm looking at the Lincon 180

[DutchVDub]

Its driveable again!!!!!!!!
 
Ok, so I haven't finished painting it or herculining the interior. Also there is still a D30 up front. Still no long arms either. However, the 8.8 is in along with some 4.56's and a Powertrax No-Slip. Brand new brakes for the 8.8 too. Oh, and a Crane diff cover to match. BOR 4" springs, 1.5" TNT U-Bolt elim's, and 1.5" shackles out back. Spidertrax wheel spacers/adapters too. Oh yeah, and my 350$ set of 35's.
 

 

 

 

 
 
No front driveshaft, but in 4Low (has the Tera 4:1 now) it backed up my driveway at idle w/ no input to the throttle pedal. Not only that, but when the front tires hit the curb it actually chirped the rears while trying to drag them up. Then it got the front over the curb and I had to hit the brakes so it wouldn't drive thorugh the house. All this at idle.

[Smokestack]

Look'n good

[DutchVDub]

Well got a lot done so far this weekend.

 

Removed the D30



 

Took off a bunch of other shite



 

Installed a bored out throttlebody



 

Replaced the waterpump, thermostat, rear main seal, oilpan gasket and fuelpump



 

Installed a Detroit Tru-trac w/ 4.56's into my D44, and welded the truss on



 

Installed the TNT Bellypan and arms



 

Made me a new exhaust



 

 

I also installed my RE HD Tracbar mount w/brace and Rusty's Steering gearbox brace. Tomorrow I'm going to work on removing the stock LCA mounts and installing the D44.

[Smokestack]

Removed the D30

Installed a Detroit Tru-trac w/ 4.56's into my D44, and welded the truss on

What, no sense of adventure? Just wait until you start cursing the D44 for blowing up and scope out a D60 for replacement. 

[DutchVDub]

Removed the D30

Installed a Detroit Tru-trac w/ 4.56's into my D44, and welded the truss on

What, no sense of adventure? Just wait until you start cursing the D44 for blowing up and scope out a D60 for replacement. 

I highly doubt I'll have that problem.  I'll be swaping out to chromoly shafts once I get the money.

[The Asshole]

so let me get this straight you bought a 500.00 jeep and dumped 5000.00 into it?

thats ok, i feel your pain, i bought my truck for 1300.00 dumped 3000.00 into it just to blow the motor, now another 3600.00 later im still not done.... lol


looks like a pretty soilid build....

[DutchVDub]

I'm not anywhere near 5000$ yet, even including the 800$ for the Jeep.

Besides, better than me dumping this much money into a 5000$ jeep just to trash it on the trail.

[The Asshole]

damn that looks like about 5grand worth of parts...... you trying to take carlos' spot as 719 econo shopper?

[kutark]

I had to stop reading this thread b/c its making me miss my jeep.

On a side note, what made you decide to go with an 8.8 over a standard 9" ford?

[Smokestack]

I had to stop reading this thread b/c its making me miss my jeep.

On a side note, what made you decide to go with an 8.8 over a standard 9" ford?

My guess: Dime-a-dozen, 4.5 on 5 bolt pattern, stock limited slip diff, dime-a dozen, still a pretty strong axle, popular so plenty of aftermarket parts, dime-a-dozen, cheap, only thing more popular is the Dana 44, dime-a dozen, etc.

9"s are expensive now-a-days, and, if memory serves me correct, Ford had some dumb recall years ago in the Explorer (I think it was that one, or maybe one of the rwd cars) where they had to replace the whole rear end in stead of replacing a bearing in the housing. It wasn't worth it for Ford to ship all of the axle housings back to their plant to be fixed so dealerships were just about giving the things away. Jeep people initially jumped on these because it was better than anything they had in their running gear (unless you were lucky and had a GC w/ the D44 rear option) and had the same bolt pattern so they didn't have to switch to 5 on 5.5. $10 in parts and whatever it cost them in labor to replace the (I think it was the) pinion bearing and they had a near bullet-proof (to a mildly built Jeep) rear end. That's what kicked off the 8.8 craze and they're still common for the reasons I listed above.

[LOS]

I dont know a damn thing ya'll just said.  But then again I dont know shit about axles... Im guessing the dana 30 (stock axles?) isn't very reliable on the trail?

[Smokestack]

I dont know a damn thing ya'll just said.  But then again I dont know shit about axles... Im guessing the dana 30 (stock axles?) isn't very reliable on the trail?

A D30 axle is usually good for up to 31" tires. A D44 axle is usually good for up to 35" tires (unless you're me) and a D60 is good till around 42-44" tires. Beyond that and you need either Unimog axles or Rockwells out of a Deuce-and-a-half. You can add various hardened/cryoed/treated pieces to the various axles to help them deal with the stress of the "upper limit" tires, but you'll blow them up at some inconvenient time.

[LOS]

What about yota's?  Am I gonna need to upgrade my axles when I go 33's on my truck?  I haven't heard of people having issues w/ em...

[kutark]

Im not 100% familiar with the axles on yota's.  But i knew a guy who had a 'zuki on 35's runnin toyota axles front and rear.

Basically with you're rearend you can have just about anything done, all you have to do is have a local shop weld the spring perches where they need to be, and then get a custom driveshaft and bam, you've just put whatever you want axle wise on you're yota.  If its not leaf in the rear though it gets a bit complicated.

Anywhoo.  Smokestack is right on the money, most people run max 31's on a d30/35 (most XJ's had hi pinion 30's up front with either a 35 rear or an 8.25 chrysler).  D44 is a super popular axle as well and if you're not a hooligan you can run 35's on it all day long.

[Barry]

What about yota's?  Am I gonna need to upgrade my axles when I go 33's on my truck?  I haven't heard of people having issues w/ em...

You should be fine... Brian Gauck runs 33's on his stock driveline... as do most of the yota guys... The ones that get crazy are runnin 35's and up, and going to the solid front axle swap.... Way beyond what you want out of your truck, as do I with mine...

[Smokestack]

What about yota's?  Am I gonna need to upgrade my axles when I go 33's on my truck?  I haven't heard of people having issues w/ em...

Yota axles are pretty strong. The weak link in the old toyota axles was the birfield joints (closed knuckles on front axles), but yours doesn't have that. Anything above 35s and you'd need something else, but you'd have to do some serious custom work to fit larger than 35" anyways so an axle swap would be elementary.