...sorry...another build thread...

I totally agree with you Tim, but i already bought brand new warn premiums and they came in a week ago , 19 spline, and the outers on the new shafts will be 19 spline. If I had actually planned all of this instead of just ordering willy nilly I could be looking at 30 spline outers right now. oh well.

I have a new spindle and spindle nuts on the way from wild horses, and a new set of chromos from robert at rawkhaus. it should all be here mon-tues next week. in the meantime ill knock out the ball joints and maybe paint some exposed welding...

i agree with the "lies into the price" this one was priced somewhere between too high with this many issues(expected some , and already knew I had to do all my own brackets) but too high when I am buying new chromos, new spindles, locking hubs, splindle nuts, ball joints, etc. oh well, all in all im still going to have a trussed d44 with chromos and a ARB with all new bearings, seals, spindles, hubs, etc etc etc for a good price in the end. any beat up 44 will need some work.
 
Oh well I stuck with 19 spline as well, since I bought a newly rebuilt 44. At least we know where the weak points are!
 
Ya. I can swap these 44 shafts pretty damn fast now. its not as hard as I remember it being to pull the entire spindle, hub, etc etc off on a 44.

ya I am kicking myself for not going 30 spline, but I do have a new set of chromos coming (375$ shipped for shafts and U joints , both sides) and Ill use my current shafts as spares so I should be covered. then ill start driving it again and hopefully find time to (which should only be one nigth after work...):

install waggy pitman arm.
cut down coils
make upper and lower coil spring retainers.
relocate trackbar frame side higher to match waggy pitman arm
get new rims on the rear tires and use the 5 on 5.5 holes in the rear

after doing:
ball joints, shafts, spindles, hub bearings, lockouts, etc. luckily its all pulled off, just need to knock out the new ball joints, and just wait for the chromos and spindle to get here in the mail.
 
got driver side ball joints and spindle on.

Anyone know the torque specs for the 5 spindle nuts? I pretty much have everything else down.

Ball joints are odd. I guess you should torque upper nut to 100, lower to 75, then pull off upper nut, torque the sleeve to 50 ft lbs. I tried to torque sleeve first and it just kept tightening all the way down. that was way too much pre load with the upper nut back on and to 100 ft lbs. UGH. really? So I was able to back it off a bit, but it stripped out. So the knuckle seems to be ok for now, just sucks that I ruined a sleeve. I am going to run it as is for now.

also slapped a spicer 760 U joint in the new pass side shaft. the driver side was an actual 4340 chromo, so Im leaving it alone, since the U joint was good.

so three major issues should be fixed by the end of tomorrow night:
bad ball joints
too loose( and probably bad) driver side wheel bearings
loose pass side high steer knuckle


between those three things my steering and handling should be phenominally better.
 
are you running split washers on your histeer arms? if you are, ditch them. they will cause you many headaches down the road.
 
NO you torque lower nut to 75 ft lbs.
-then torque upper sleeve to 50 ft lbs.
-THEN you torque upper nut to 100 ft lbs.

Spindle nuts on my Chevy knuckles were 60 ft lbs.
 
thats exactly what I did at first. I did lower to 75, then sleeve (to get 50 ft lbs on the sleeve , the sleeve ended up being half way out of the upper knuckle hole and down on the ball joint shaft alot which didnt seem right at all. Once I tightened the upper nut to 100 ft lbs and checked the sleeve it had more than 90 ft lbs on it. I was able to back the sleeve out a little before stripping it. I was effin pissed. Im just gonna roll with it as is for now.
 
rockclimber said:
are you running split washers on your histeer arms? if you are, ditch them. they will cause you many headaches down the road.
Click to expand...

You mean the split lock washers? Ill check, I believe so. its only on the passenger side that I have a hi steer arm.
 
blondejoncherokee said:
You mean the split lock washers? Ill check, I believe so. its only on the passenger side that I have a hi steer arm.
Click to expand...

yes. split lock washers suck. they will crack and split under load causing your fasteners to become loose. there is no need for them.

Ideally, you want to be using studs in the knuckle and conical nuts on the arms, but you would need to countersink your arm for those to work.
 
rockclimber said:
yes. split lock washers suck. they will crack and split under load causing your fasteners to become loose. there is no need for them.

Ideally, you want to be using studs in the knuckle and conical nuts on the arms, but you would need to countersink your arm for those to work.
Click to expand...


ive always been familiar with studs for arms, ive never seen anyone use regular bolts . It does have the conical washers thankfully. When I pull it off to do the ball joints on that side tonight ill inspect it and pull out the lock washers. I would not mind grabbing some studs for it.
 
got the driver side all buttoned up, new synergy ball joints, new timken bearings, new warn premium hub.started pass side, but I noticed the spindle on the pass side was fubar. the area where the outer bearing rides looked like it was eaten away . im gonna try to grab a new spindle tomorrow from wild horses in stockton ( and spindle nuts/washer, and the 5 spindle studs/nuts too)


pass side ball joints are in, as well as new timken bearings and seals. just need to figure out a spindle and then slap it all together. Literally just about everything on the front end is brand new....

once this part is done I will addressed and fixed:
the bad ball joints
bad driver side wheel bearings
loose high steer arm on pass side.
bad lock out on driver side
stock shaft and bad u joint on pass side replaced with a chromo and spicer 760(need to get some full circle clips)
bad pass side spindle
all around in general very poor condition of the front end
(also swapped out pads and calipers for thunderbird calipers and some good pads)

I plan on doing some HAWK pads and Summit brand slotted and cross drilled rotors soon enough.

I feel pretty good that after this there wont be anything else up front to replace unless I grenade the ARB on the first run which at that point I would give up wheeling for the next 6 months and take up hiking.

it was still cheaper to build this 44 than buy a ARB with super dana 30 30 spline kit, and is far stronger by far.


oh and synergy ball joint instructions:
torque lower to 80
torque upper to 100
take off upper nut, torque sleeve to 50.
then toque nut to 100
pretty much what I guessed...
 
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wish I could see pics. I run pads off a 78/79 bronco so I would imagine theyll fit but the setup I was going to was going to be about half that price. I dont know what D52 calipers are. I run T bird calipers.

I jsut looked up D52 calipers, Ya I am not running that style.

actualyl now I have no idea, I think the pads might be a D52 style though.
 
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NO mine are D50 style
 
ordered another spindle, another Hub for the rotor, timken bearings for the next time , seals, and spindle nuts and the knuckle to spindle studs/bolts as well. Man it doesnt end. Also ordered some decent brake pads and some summit racing rotors.
 
So wild horses wanted 80$ for a set of 4 timken bearings and seals, bronco graveyard wanted 50$, and found em rockauto today for 36$ for the 4. ordered another set for hte next time:


brand new driver spindle:


new pass side chromo:


good times with ball joints



slapped some rotors and pads on the padres 4runner. Had terrible vibrations under heavy braking.Not anymore.



and some powerstop pads:
thing has a way better pedal feel and stops great now




our pug doing some yoga:



joshs 220 from last week:
 
Front end is done and the thing is up and running again. steering is much tighter and much better all around handling. No more "wanting to DW" feel like it had before.
 
You still planning a stabilizer, or does it feel stable without? I know once I got my track bar and drag link dialed, I saw no reason to mess with a stabilizer.
 
Its pretty dialed in, but there is still a little bit of something there. I need to play with Toe in and caster, I think I have too much positive caster , maybe like 8-10* . For the time being to slow things down I plan on putting a stabilizer on. I really dont see any negatives about using the stabilizer I already have and using some shock tabs and about 20 minutes to mock it up and weld it in. I wouldnt pay money for a bolt on kit though.
 
steering still isnt to my liking 100%. Although its much better than it was. its definetly tighter and is safe to drive now, no more going into other lanes while turning before it turns.... now its almost too tight. its like it went from way too sloppy to way too tight now. if that makes sense. like any movement of the wheel and its moving . Ill check toe in again and maybe adjust caster some more. I am thinking a stabilizer might slow it down, and if it does, ill call it done.

I am also planning on chopping the coils down about 2"-3" off of each. its way too tall in the front. With gear loaded its far worse. I actually want it to be raked rear to front, not front to rear. The 44 swap put it up higher.

Or , Does anyone know of any stiff spring rate 3.5" coils? I like the RE 5.5" coils, they are around 240 (zj 4.5" coils) and 185 (XJ front 5.5" coils) , whereas the 4.5" coils were much softer.

I am leaning towards the RE 3.5" coils since they supposeedly are around 240

I guess my fear is , that a 3.5" coil will still be too tall.


 
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