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Well since my tire wobble didn't turn out to be a suspension problem, I thought that I would continue the story in this forum. I got some great guidance from everyone last time so I thought that I would throw this out for discussion. If anyone else gains from it, then even better!
I broke a ring gear in my low pinion Dana 30 axle. I always try to make it a habit to upgrade something that I break. Since things are financially tight for me right now, I decided that the lowest cost option would be to swap out for a High Pinion axle.
Curtis met me at Pick-A-Part on Father's Day morning and in 1.5 hours from parking to leaving, we had a very straight, but greasy high pinion D30. It came out of a 90's XJ. I really appreciate the help Curtis! You Rock!
Kurt offered to help me set the new ring and pinion, but wanted to try to clean it up a little before I hauled this greasy thing down to his place:
Simple Green does a fair job normally, but this thing was still a crud-covered mess. I didn't want to waste anymore time and after dropping a heavy weight on my big toe, the fire to clean it any further went out.
Kurt, Art, and Nick all helped strip the old bits off and out of the housing:
Even Ozzie pushed a wrench!:
I got new 4.88 gears from Brian Nash (ECV Jeep). He gave me a great price on the ring and pinion as well as the bearing install kit. Hit him up if you have any gearing or drivetrain needs.
With luck, we were able to get the gears set and everything together pretty quickly. I really appreciate everyone's help. Unfortunately, I was wrapped up in the process and forgot to take pics!
We drilled and tapped a new tube hole for the ARB locker. Kurt also set up a better vent tube connection while we were at it.
After I got the thing back home, I was determined to get all the greasy crud off of it. I used hardcore engine degreaser, a scrape, and a wire brush, but I finally got most of the oil off of the axle!:
I removed the XJ steering knuckles and the upper control arm bushings on the axle. The axle bushings were shot! Here is the original next to the new one that I got from Napa:
I am going to do some welding on one of the mounts, so I only put the bushing over the diff back in for now:
For rock crawling, I found that there are some parts of the axle that take a beating if you don't protect them ahead of time.
The lower control arm mounts really need reinforcement to keep them from spreading:
I cut some 3/16' plate to join the two flanges into a box for strength:
The upper control arm mount on the axle tube is fine for the road, but I have seen these warp and collapse through hard offroad use:
I cut off the reinforcement that I used on the last axle and plan to reuse it on this axle. D30 housings also have a tendency to bend over time giving a slight smile effect to the assembly. My old axle is doing this, so I made some reinforcements to support the tube strength:
Tomorrow, I will start welding the armor and reinforcements into place if all goes well.
I broke a ring gear in my low pinion Dana 30 axle. I always try to make it a habit to upgrade something that I break. Since things are financially tight for me right now, I decided that the lowest cost option would be to swap out for a High Pinion axle.
Curtis met me at Pick-A-Part on Father's Day morning and in 1.5 hours from parking to leaving, we had a very straight, but greasy high pinion D30. It came out of a 90's XJ. I really appreciate the help Curtis! You Rock!
Kurt offered to help me set the new ring and pinion, but wanted to try to clean it up a little before I hauled this greasy thing down to his place:
Simple Green does a fair job normally, but this thing was still a crud-covered mess. I didn't want to waste anymore time and after dropping a heavy weight on my big toe, the fire to clean it any further went out.
Kurt, Art, and Nick all helped strip the old bits off and out of the housing:
Even Ozzie pushed a wrench!:
I got new 4.88 gears from Brian Nash (ECV Jeep). He gave me a great price on the ring and pinion as well as the bearing install kit. Hit him up if you have any gearing or drivetrain needs.
With luck, we were able to get the gears set and everything together pretty quickly. I really appreciate everyone's help. Unfortunately, I was wrapped up in the process and forgot to take pics!
We drilled and tapped a new tube hole for the ARB locker. Kurt also set up a better vent tube connection while we were at it.
After I got the thing back home, I was determined to get all the greasy crud off of it. I used hardcore engine degreaser, a scrape, and a wire brush, but I finally got most of the oil off of the axle!:
I removed the XJ steering knuckles and the upper control arm bushings on the axle. The axle bushings were shot! Here is the original next to the new one that I got from Napa:
I am going to do some welding on one of the mounts, so I only put the bushing over the diff back in for now:
For rock crawling, I found that there are some parts of the axle that take a beating if you don't protect them ahead of time.
The lower control arm mounts really need reinforcement to keep them from spreading:
I cut some 3/16' plate to join the two flanges into a box for strength:
The upper control arm mount on the axle tube is fine for the road, but I have seen these warp and collapse through hard offroad use:
I cut off the reinforcement that I used on the last axle and plan to reuse it on this axle. D30 housings also have a tendency to bend over time giving a slight smile effect to the assembly. My old axle is doing this, so I made some reinforcements to support the tube strength:
Tomorrow, I will start welding the armor and reinforcements into place if all goes well.
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