mvusse

You won the last battle, I'm sure you guys will win this one too. Hang in there!

When I was originally contemplating SOA for the future I though that bolt on kit looked pretty good. When I actually did it I bought a set of after market perches that were something like 8.5" long to prevent axle wrap, got it all set up and bolted together and tacked them into place with the neighbor's wire feed welder. I then took the axle (which did fit in the back of my Cherokee, I wasn't sure it would) to a local welding shop and had him weld it on the rest of the way. $20, fully insured and guaranteed. Used the largest stick welder I've ever seen, and the weld looks better than anything I can do with a MIG. If I didn't have access to a welder at home I would have torqued down the bolts good, make some marks so I can make sure the axle didn't rotate on the way and carefully driven it to the welding shop. The bolt on kit, even though it looks good, costs more than having perches welded on, does not allow you to adjust the pinion angle if needed to correct for non stock shackles or a tc drop kit, and gives you more junk underneath the axle to catch on rocks off road. Don't waste your money.

I agree also that it is worth it if they are 4.10 gears. most 4.10 axles are found in 4 cylinder 5 speed trucks. If they are 3.55 gears, which a 4 cyl 4 speed should be I'd pass.

In Ohio, tires, wheels, head lights all need to be DOT approved to be allowed on the road. Not that anyone pays any attention to it, though. But if you get in a wreck and they find non DOT approved parts on your vehicle, whether they caused the wreck or not, they ticket you for operating an unsafe vehicle.

The Aussie replaces the spider gears and side gears. So if you get the Aussie at the same time as the 29 spline shafts, no side gears are needed.

That depends on the rim. Max air pressure on the tire manufacturer's recommended rim size will give even wear on a radial tire. I have a set of 3 perfectly evenly wore LT265/75R16 load range E from the Suburban in the basement. They have about 70,000 miles on them at 80 psi. Tire plaque on the truck recommended load range C at 45 psi.

140K on both my rigs. They are currently within 100 miles of each other. But the MJ has done 24,000 miles over the past 14 months I've owned it, the XJ has gone about 3,000 in the same time. The previous 2 owners didn't drive it very much.

For best fuel economy, run the air pressure at the max. That will, however, also give the harshest ride.

No specific purpose. I bought it to replace my Geo and I needed better gas mileage than the Suburban got. Then I got caught up in the wheeling thing, and now with 33x12.50s my mileage is down the drain. But I also have a stick shift Cherokee now that is pretty good on gas so no biggie.

I lost my 15 mm TWICE a while back doing that. managed to fish it out both times, but it was very time consuming.

Well, today I lost all brakes on a down hill, busted front axle and u joint, lost my exhaust and had my fan shroud just about shredded, Still had a lot of fun, and because of the locker I was able to keep wheeling with the busted axle, but it will be a while (more than a month probably) before I will be wheeling again. Have to safe up some money for needed fixes and upgrades. Need to get the new rear axle ready and installed, need new front shafts and still need to finish bump stopping or cutting. Also need to figure out new rear shocks. And install the passenger side engine mount.

JeepSkool took it's toll today. Brakes went out, which I found out after climbing a hill, while on the way back down. Pedal to the floor and no brakes that I could tell. Turned out my rear brake shoes had so much material ground off by the sand again they needed adjusted. So I got that fixed. My exhaust from the down pipe on back fell off, got it back on before going home, busted a front axle. U joint grenaded on the rock pile and all 4 ears broke of the two ends of the axle. Gotta love the Aussie; kept right on wheeling the rest of the day. Lost the vacuum lines off the front axle twice, but I'll be swapping in shaft with the bigger U joints, which are all single piece shafts, so that won't matter. Mechanical fan ate up most of my fan shroud because of the bad engine mount. Eventually I tied it down to keep it from spinning before it was through the shroud and would start on the radiator. I then hooked the electric fan back up to take care of cooling. I also got my new rear axle.

I backed into the hole to test the depth before we attempted to cross. When my tailgate went under the others decided it was too deep to fjord it. Today's pictures. Broke an axle, but not the D35. because of the locker I was able to keep wheeling, even though I had only 1 front drive wheel. Also lost my exhaust, lost my brakes on a steep long downhill (that was a bit hairy), lost the vacuum lines off the front axle not once but twice, and the fan shroud got damaged quite severely by the fan before I tied the fan down to keep it from spinning and hooked up the electric one again. Image Not Found

My Saturday pictures:

What's all this talk about 27 spine? I paid $100 for a 29 spline axle.

I dented the gas tank, damaged what's left of my rear bumper a bit more, got a few pebbles in the brake drums, got it stuck a few times, painted it mostly uniform "mud grey", and let it have some fun. Best of all, I get to do it all again tomorrow!

Could also be lifters.

I picked it up about 90 minutes ago. 3.55 gears, which means it will work with my current front axle. $100 even!

Tie road mount on the axle :huh???: Did you mean to say track bar mount?

Jack up the front of the vehicle (NOT the axle). When the pressure is off the spring and the axle has no weight on it it should be a lot easier to roll it back.

Just found out passenger side engine mount is bad also :headpop: Will replace it next week after JeepSkool.

I was going to look for a Ford 8.8 this summer (or earlier if I need it) to replace my D35, but I may have come across a Chrysler 8.25" 29 spline axle out of a 99 XJ. It says complete except shock mounts, and it's only 10 miles from my house. Assuming it has the correct gearing, would this be good enough to handle 33s and eventually get an Aussie in it, or still too weak? How worried should I be about the C clips with this axle and 33" tires? How much do you guys think it's worth?

If you can't say anything nice... I'll keep my mouth shut.

JeepSkool also has a class III licensed shooting range. That's a Browning M2 mounted in the back of that Gator.

With your current set up, to prevent drive shaft vibrations your pinion angle should be parallel to your transfer case output. Or at least close. This will point the pinion to where? About the front bumper? With a double cardan drive shaft the pinion u joint should be straight in line with the drive shaft, or pointing to a few inches behind where your carrier bearing is going to be. How can you think that is about the same pinion angle? Good idea, though, but don't think you're not going to have to move your perches. And you'd have to point the truck downhill to be able to fill the rear diff with enough oil, or make another fill plug higher up on the cover.