My '96 progress thread

[Georgia Mike]

Just thought I'd start a "progress thread" that I can come back to from time to time when I need to get re-motivated or just to reflect. I'll start with a pic from the day I brought it home. It was already proven on the trails, and it had a look that only a true Jeeper could love (or an idiot lol)



First mod was mounting my Warn HS9500i on the bumper. Oddly enough, I had to modify the Warn bumper...to fit a Warn winch on it :dunce:





Wendy says she rarely sees me smile like this. Must be that stupid Jeep thing no one seems to understand (even me)

 

[Georgia Mike]

So after that trip I felt that the rear axle was making more noise than I liked. Even though I tow it wherever I go, or close by to where I'll be wheeling, I thought it was best to check it out. After going through the noise in my head, I was convinced that the carrier bearings were shot, so I ordered a rebuild kit. When I started the disassembly, I found this in the pan:
(it's hard to see, but inside the pan looked like a glitter bomb had gone off)



Magnet doesn't lie



I grabbed the passenger side shaft to remove it, I instantly knew something was up. It had a lot of lateral movement, when it should have none. Axle bearing and shaft were SHOT, and at the time I though that was my whole issue.



I got a shaft from PullaPart, and a new bearing & seal. Buttoned it all back up and it had quietened down substantially, but not all the way. I said screw it and ran it for the rest of the year, just kept highway use to a minimum.

 

[Georgia Mike]

In the mean time, we had a lot of fun at Gulches on a couple of rides. I suck at taking pics, so I'm grateful to have friends on the trail that remember to take them!




Getting rid of the sway bar because it kept falling down on the trail


Broke my bumper on Palmetto Crossing



Some time over the summer I ordered the D&C Extreme cage kit



Stripped the interior in preparation for the cage install



After a lot of fidgeting and fussing, cussing and trying to hold my mouth right, I settled on a good position for the bars that struck a good balance of protection and passenger/driver comfort, then got my buddy Aaron to burn all the joint welds in. I tackled the foot plates.

 

[Georgia Mike]

While the XJ was down for the cage install I added a pair of Datsun 720 pickup truck hood vents. From the factory, they only had a small oval opening on one of them, so I milled out in between the slots and made them both fully functional





Fast forward a few months and Andy tags me in a Facebook post for a couple of "Late 70's Ford axles"



I talked with the guy a bit, and made the long haul to the Chattanooga area to take a look at them. On the surface, they were a bit rougher than I thought they'd be, so we negotiated what I felt was a fair price and I hauled them home.

 

[Georgia Mike]

I put the Ford axles on the back burner for a few months and came up with a game plan. In the mean time, I decided to readdress the rear axle after I'd broken a second pinion yoke. Just for reference, there are two different styles of Chrysler 8.25" pinion yokes; short & long. I didn't know this the first time I replaced it and I just grabbed the first one I found at PullaPart. It wound up being the short style. Unfortunately, the short style can't be drilled for u-bolts because it will need to be spot-faced on the back for nut clearance and that procedure removes too much material, which weakens the yoke (or at least I didn't feel comfortable with how much material I had to remove when I tried it). The long stlye yoke didn't need to be spot faced and all that was needed was to drill the bolt holes out to 5/16" to accept u-bolts




So, that job wound up spiraling out of control, and the next thing I knew, I'd disassembled the entire rear axle. I discovered what I initially though was a blunder by whomever installed the gears & locker. I thought that they had reinstalled the bearing caps backward. They had severe wear with a definite line where it began, so my initial thoughts were the caps were installed wrong and it was putting the races in a bind.




After scratching my head for a few minutes, then going home for the evening in disgust, I came back the next day with a fresh pair of eyes. I swapped the bearing caps side to side only to find out they were much more mismatched that way than the way they were originally installed when I took it all apart. I reinstalled the carrier and had another look. I looked straight down through the axle tube, out through the other side. Now it made sense. The whole housing is pretty badly bent and that's why everything is all out of whack. I'm pretty sure the gears are okay, and I know the locker is fine, but at that point there was no point in wasting the new bearings & races from the install kit just to ruin them again in short order, so I just put it back together...and will rock it as-is.

 

[TMC-XJ]

Dude nice work!

What tail light housings are those?

 

[Georgia Mike]

Thanks!

IIRC, they are Farmer Matt housings, but not 100% sure on it. One thing that I am positive about though.....I nearly rip the passenger side housing off every time I go to Gulches lol

 

[Ghost]

Nice! Love the new heap!

 

[Lowrange2]

You're dragging that thing to Uwharrie in a couple weeks, right?

 

[lt99ls1]

I
I looked straight down through the axle tube, out through the other side. Now it made sense. The whole housing is pretty badly bent and that's why everything is all out of whack.

Can you get a bottle jack and a chain on it and straighten it out any?

 

[Georgia Mike]

You're dragging that thing to Uwharrie in a couple weeks, right?

You're dragging yours to DT this weekend, right? :looney:

Can you get a bottle jack and a chain on it and straighten it out any?

I could pull it and chain it to the welding table, but I'm building that 60/44 combo, and I rarely drive it on the street any more so it's not high on my priorities list. I think the axle housing is pretty much ruined at this point anyway. The carrier bearing caps have a small, but detectable mismatch now and I don't think straightening it would fix it enough to risk wasting the new bearings. A bare junkyard housing would just make more sense at this point.

 

[Lowrange2]

Nope. Gotta work.

 

[Georgia Mike]

Fair enough. I'll be broke next weekend lol

 

[lt99ls1]

You're dragging yours to DT this weekend, right? :looney:



I could pull it and chain it to the welding table, but I'm building that 60/44 combo, and I rarely drive it on the street any more so it's not high on my priorities list. I think the axle housing is pretty much ruined at this point anyway. The carrier bearing caps have a small, but detectable mismatch now and I don't think straightening it would fix it enough to risk wasting the new bearings. A bare junkyard housing would just make more sense at this point.

:doh: I made a mistake and thought this was the 60.

 

[Ghost]

You're dragging yours to DT this weekend, right? :looney:



I could pull it and chain it to the welding table, but I'm building that 60/44 combo, and I rarely drive it on the street any more so it's not high on my priorities list. I think the axle housing is pretty much ruined at this point anyway. The carrier bearing caps have a small, but detectable mismatch now and I don't think straightening it would fix it enough to risk wasting the new bearings. A bare junkyard housing would just make more sense at this point.

8.25? I think I have a basically bare one in the trailer around back..... let me know if you want it.

 

[Georgia Mike]

8.25? I think I have a basically bare one in the trailer around back..... let me know if you want it.

Yup....8.25"

Ok, more pics:

I'd almost forgotten all about the drain pipe incident at Gulches! First trip there with this XJ, first trail.....I found the only piece of drain pipe at the end of T'nT and folded back the lip of my wheel enough that the tire immediately lost all its air. Thanks to Glenn for helping me throw on the spare that helped get me going again. Later on, while on Radical Ravine I managed to shove dirt in the bead of the spare and fought that leak for the rest of the day.



After beating it back into submission, this gives an idea of how badly it was bent

 

[Georgia Mike]

I finally started the tear down of the front Dana 44. This particular 44 is from, as mentioned before, a late 70's Ford F250. 1977 model, axle manufacture date of 7-23-1977 if I'm reading the BOM correctly.



After seeing what I saw on the outside, I'm sure a lot of (normal) people would have walked away. The steering setup was comical to say the least. From the passenger side tie rod end "replacement" where they were apparently too cheap to buy a new, long side tie rod end, and just replaced it with a short side end by butt welding it on....




In which they installed no cotter pin, but no worries! A lock washer will be good!



Then there was the short side end that looked like it had been greased...well, never



And then there was this stuff. A steering arm lift block with the obligatory broken bolt, a dropped pitman arm, and a "new" drag link made from what's most likely plumbing pipe with a nut booger-welded to each end. But hey, they installed heims so it's bling! Awesome stuff!

 

[Georgia Mike]

And this, kids, is why it's important to maintain your drivetrain components; ESPECIALLY if you're into mudding. Luckily, when I went to look the axles over at the time of sale, I instantly knew they were going to need a full rebuild. They pretty much had it written all over them so all of the following issues didn't surprise me at all.

Mud is bad for bearings. If you're gonna go muddin', change your diff fluid often. Yes, that's mud in the bottom of the diff cover



...and in the bottom of the housing, and all over the ring & pinion (which wound up being 3.73's instead of 4.10's like advertised)



Removed the hub lock out, and more dried mud was caked all inside which made getting everything out a pure joy!



I got everything off and wound up having to drive the brake disc off with a heavy rubber mallet. It should have just slid right off. Why was it so hard, you ask? That's right: MUD and a lack of maintenance! I had to put the spindle in the press to get that bearing off. Luckily it didn't take a whole lot of pressure, it just wasn't coming off by hand lol



Outer bearing



Axle shaft



And here is the reason this axle is desirable and worth the total rebuild....3" axle tubes with 1/2" wall thickness. Beef! :clap: (sorry for the crappy cell phone pic)

 

[Georgia Mike]

Took care of a few last minute odds & ends before going to Durhamtown Tellico this coming weekend.

Topping off the rear diff fluid



Then I washed it and put on some more stickers. Important stuff, you know. And as you can see, at this point I've stopped worrying about that stupid tail light housing and it's just gonna stay like that unless it gets totally ripped off or I get off my butt and build gaurds to keep it from happening again. The downside is right now the wasps have easy ingress to the inside from the open holes behind the housings. Ask me how I know :dunce:

 

[Luke95]

Looking good.
I guess I should probably do my rear wheel bearings.