NP 231 replacement with Klune V and Bronco Dana 20 update... stretch soon to follow

[vwtipeii]

Curious, was it a spur type gear that broke? Those are normally considered the Dana 20's weakness.

Haik said that the low range gears had several teeth sheered off and whatever gear runs against it as well. Finger pointing going towards the shop I had rebuild the TC the first time... I don't care about it... I just want to be able to wheel

[ROBERTK]

Who did the TC the first time? I thought it was never actually opened? Just kinda all just shipped in and bolted together?

[aw12345]

If the bearings weren't loose and all trust washers and related part were in place then the rebuilder has no blame.
You got a 30 year old transfer case with an unknown amount of miles and abuse,then you put a klune planetary box and a stroker engine in front of it. Then you romp on it with with a 150 to 1 gear reduction and then one wonders why something breaks go figure.

[vwtipeii]

Well I purchased the Dana 20 a year and a half ago from a guy on Craigslist for $200.00. I took the TC to a shop here in the SouthBay and asked him to go through it and let me know if we need to rebuild to or replace anything. I was told a few gears were chipped and should be replaced. I ordered them through http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/. I also ordered the upgraded output shaft: http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/product..._Output_System

IF I recall properly the gears were between $75.00 and $150.00
upgraded output shaft: $450.00
Labor: $400 for the rebuild.

Here are pics from the TC after our recent trip to Parker, AZ:






Since the case was gouged, Haik used a new case (new to me since they don't make these TC's or gears any longer), new gears and swapped in my old upgraded output shaft and shift rails.
The new case worked great this weekend. It didn't pop out of gear like the previous Dana 20. Actually as some of you recall I had a hard time engaging the Front wheel low range because the TC is so tight now. that will loosen up over time.

Some other things:
I upgraded the speakers in Cynthia's TJ:






I tried to mount them without an enclosure originally and they sounded like crap. I got the idea from Jeep Forum to use the stock sealed inclosure. Works great

i also swapped out the rear 5.25 factory speakers with RF 5.25" replacement speakers:





I was actually a little surprised to see that the RF magnet is smaller than the factory set up. After all is said and done I actually think the factory system highs sound better. I am going to add a small 4watt 4 channel amp and new head unit. That should perk things up a bit

[inVERt'D]

Well I purchased the Dana 20 a year and a half ago from a guy on Craigslist for $200.00. I took the TC to a shop here in the SouthBay and asked him to go through it and let me know if we need to rebuild to or replace anything. I was told a few gears were chipped and should be replaced. I ordered them through http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/. I also ordered the upgraded output shaft: http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/product..._Output_System

IF I recall properly the gears were between $75.00 and $150.00
upgraded output shaft: $450.00
Labor: $400 for the rebuild.

Here are pics from the TC after our recent trip to Parker, AZ:

Since the case was gouged, Haik used a new case (new to me since they don't make these TC's or gears any longer), new gears and swapped in my old upgraded output shaft and shift rails.
The new case worked great this weekend. It didn't pop out of gear like the previous Dana 20. Actually as some of you recall I had a hard time engaging the Front wheel low range because the TC is so tight now. that will loosen up over time.

Those are the spur gears, alright. I don't know what you were doing when you stripped them, but even being new, that doubler put a lot of strain on them. Not to mention if they happened to be Omix gears--no telling where they were made (China) or what the true metallurgy is. With the upgraded output shaft, those teeth were easily the weakest point in the case, and apparently, the weakest part in your drive-train.

I like Dana 20s--they're cool old-iron transfer cases, but those spur gears were a shortcoming in the design, which is why the Dana 300 doesn't have them. If you follow "BillaVista's" Dana 20 saga, he thought he'd fixed his Dana 20's "one weakness" by upgrading the mainshaft and tailhousing to a $500 Advance Adapter unit. He also installed a ($1000?) Tera-Low gearset. He ran it behind a 203 doubler. Then he stripped the spur gears and bought an Atlas 4-spd.

[aw12345]

Like I said there is a lot of torque with the klune and the stroker in front of it and the Cluster/ spur gear is pretty small/ doesn't have a whole lot of tooth contact with the bigger gear. meaning take it easy on the ole box or she'll go poof again and will be inneed again of new dentures. My advice would be to run the D20 transfercase in high range as much as possible. It crawls pretty nice with the klune alone.

[inVERt'D]

Like I said there is a lot of torque with the klune and the stroker in front of it and the Cluster/ spur gear is pretty small/ doesn't have a whole lot of tooth contact with the bigger gear. meaning take it easy on the ole box or she'll go poof again and will be inneed again of new dentures. My advice would be to run the D20 transfercase in high range as much as possible. It crawls pretty nice with the klune alone.

I had intended to refer to your earlier comment about the Klune. Would you agree about the following list being from safest to most dangerous?

1) Klune high and Dana 20 high
2) Klune high and Dana 20 low
3) Klune low and Dana 20 high
4) Klune low and Dana 20 low

Of course, that's leaving the 5-spd trans out of the equation, but the same applies, the lower the gear it's in, the more torque to break the weakest link down the line.

The Dana 20 really is a great little transfer case, and I hope the new one works out better.

[aw12345]

It krawls nice with the Dano 20 in high and the Klune in low seems to me that is where most crawling should happen

[inVERt'D]

I'm sure it does crawl well. 4:1 with 4.88s (?) ain't too shabby, really.

[vwtipeii]

I run the 2.46-1 TC low mostly for fire roads... I run the 4-1 low on the klune for normal rock crawling... I run the almost 10-1 low low only when I am just going to idle over something and i don't want to stall and really want to take my time. I will normally run the tranny in 2nd or 3rd because the low low is just waaaay too low in first.

All seems well after IDTT last weekend. the newly rebuilt TC is tight and stays in gear now. Gear noise now is also greatly reduced from the previous TC.

Well... brown santa came last night... I have my HUGE new subwoofer box that cost a whooping $20.00 off of ebay.com:





the Kicker is a replacement for the TJ subwoofer in the center console. i was going to replace the stock one in Cynthia's 03 Rubicon but decided to keep it for my YJ instead. I put the pictures of the magazine there so you can tell just how small the subwoofer box is. It will fit nicely behind my seat even when I am all loaded up for a wheeling trip

[vwtipeii]

Well.... yesterday was a great day with Jonah, Mike and Tom. I really can't say enough about the day or the great people that were with me when the events of the day happened. All in all.. an amazing day and a story I will never forget the rest of my life. Thank you again to Jonah, Mike and Tom for being there. Mike... sorry about you really "being part of the experience". Tom.. great videos...

http://s409.photobucket.com/user/994...ile-1.mp4.html

http://s409.photobucket.com/user/994...ile-6.mp4.html

[dirtman13]

Should have gone with the Alpine speakers instead and that wouldn't have happened. Glad your ok.

[inVERt'D]

Welcome to the inverted jeep club! :beer:

[curtis]

Bummer but glad to see your still smiling.

[aw12345]

Half way in the first video, I knew bad things where going to happen. The Unloader just doesn't flex good enough for that much fun.
Somebody should have stopped you from doing just that. Did you drive it home or pulled the triple A card? That was a pretty nasty flop endo combo. Oh well, now that it's out of the way, you can start thinking about bigger better things for the lil YJ, that almost could.
For antics like this you need lots of flex and a suspension that doesn't unload. Flooring the Jeep might have saved the day

Skeeter's proud entry in the flopper club