Change over

I didn't know that the later centered differential was 1" wider than my offset 71 differental. Caused much time with a tape measure to be wasted.
Here's some pictures of the install.

 

there's more going on there than just a D44.......
new crossmember, Dana 300,.......
are you making the Jeep trail rated ?

 

Ya missed the 11" brakes with parking brake hardware and the new transmission, also the Lomax 4 to 1 gear set.
I just seem to have trouble keeping the Dana 18 alive so I changed to a NV4500 to keep the O.D. that I need for my daily driver and I hope the Dana 300 is a lot more durable.
The transmission seems so much larger than the SM420 but the transmission cover will be somewhat smaller for more foot room.
More pictures.




I don't know if it will be more "Trail Rated" I am just trying to make it more "Street Rated"

 

drive it to work today Ray?

 

I shortened the driveshaft at work today, I still have a short list of things to do before I can try it out. I have to remake the twin stick because they came out too far back, I think my new design will be better anyway.
I really want to get done before T.D.S. so I can go as a shake down run. I have never been to the T.D.S run and I want to go before they have a chance to close it down. I won't go on the organized runs, just wander around the perimeter and watch everyone.

 

progress report please-

 

Ran out of gear oil for the rear differential, made the rear driveshaft too long by 1/2". Not a lot of significant progress today. I will redo the driveshaft tomorrow and continiue on the twin stick mounting change.
Several other small items to be done before I could make it to T.D.S. like the front driveshaft and floor cover.
Two major elements keep me from the preliminary drive are the rear driveshaft and bleeding the rear brakes. If I can get those done then I could see if I made a huge mistake or not.

 

measured three times and it's still too long?
cut your way in
weld your way out

 

Sometimes I think you can over measure.
Fixed it today. I might get enough done tomorrow to test drive it.

 

Update:
Got it drivable with the correct lenght driveshaft. I blead the back brakes and welded on the bottom shock mounts.
Drove it around the block and did a quick check of the transmission gears. All were functional. Have to wait to test the transfer case gears untill I get the twin sticks remade. I left the transmission cover off (because it still has to be reshaped) to see and listen and it seems a lot quiter than the old set up.
I then finished a few more things and drove it to get a Slurpee (its hot in San Diego today).
More work to be done tomorrow.

 

Well that didn't go quite as planned.
I got almost everything done before heading out to TDS with My Jeep friend Lee.
We got to the vendor area around 10:30 and drove by someone with a camo painted CJ-6 parked around the back parking area. I was hoping to go by after we went through the vendors but by the time we got done I think he had left.
We then went out and bounced around a little in the mud hills and then stopped for lunch. A few more easy trails because I had never towed a trailer off road before but Lee made sure I gave it a pretty good workout since he was in the lead.
Low range is a little lower than with the SM420 and dana 18. It was very controlable and pretty quite. I did miss my Detriot Locker though. I had to practice backing up when going uphill.
We then stopped again and I noticed that I was leeking some trans oil and that pretty much ended the day for off roading. We got back on the road to head home, I didn't think that I had lost a lot of oil and the leak didn't seem to be getting worse.
Made it home and took the trans cover off to see were it was leaking from...
I had negected to tigthen the four 10mm bolts that hold the shift tower on and after the long drive out it started seeping out the top. I had been driving the Jeep the whole week and it had not been leaking, I though I would be good but nooo.
Sealer and tight bolts seem to have worked so far.