DirtyComanche

OEM Spicer gearsets are better quality than the standard consumer grade gears, and will have been set up correctly. I don't think you can easily regear a D30 to 4.10 for less than $400. Even Yukon gears, install kit, carrier, will be more than that by a fair amount. If you wanted to install a full case locker, I would say it makes no sense, since you would need to do a whole setup anyways... If you're just looking to stick the axle in and go, while it might not be a bargain, it's still cheaper than other options, and there is minimal hassle. You also could install all your new wear parts on the axle at your leisure, then install it as a whole fresh assembly. But I'd wait and see if he will come down. Or if you know somebody local to him, have them swing by (don't tell him you sent them, have them contact themselves) with $200 in nice crisp 20s and see if it makes it happen. One problem is it can be hard to determine if a gearset is any good or not on a pulled axle. I remember tearing down a D44 that appeared to be in very nice shape, gears looked very good, all the bearings were happy and not scored or pitted... But one of the slinger rings or shims in it (I don't remember) had come loose and machined the pinion down to about 1/2 thickness, basically just cut a nice thin little groove in it all the way around. Had the axle actually been stressed it would have very easily snapped, as the pinion was only 3/4" diameter at that point, and since it was cut sharply it was now a major stress riser. It's rare, but things can go wrong that are not easy to see just by pulling the cover and taking a look.

Price is high unless it is in very good shape. If it is 'As pulled' I bet the ball joints, u-joints, and wheel bearings all need to be replaced, and the hubs might be worn or of an inferior design. Most of the D44 aftermarket hubs aren't much good, IMHO the only thing worth running at this point is the Yukon Hardcore ones, unless somebody else has cloned them. No brake calipers is a bummer, and no steering isn't helping even if you were unlikely to reuse it. I would try to pay less. It probably has 3.07 gears also. Realistically you're going to dump $1000 into that axle, maybe more, to make it into something decent. Personally I do not recommend or endorse staying at the factory-ish axle width for tires any larger than 35". What are your plans?

No, there isn't. You would want to use it if you had the HO head, since the ports would align properly. Just bolting it onto a Renix, I do not see how you wouldn't lose power. The ports are so badly misaligned that you're going to see a 20%~ reduction in area, with a massive turbulence inducing 'ski jump' on the bottom and a large blocked section at the top. Unless I port the head I doubt I am seeing any improvement with this, even though I now have gone to the large HO throttle body, and did some port matching to try to minimize the ski jump on the bottom of the port. The reason I swapped to it is because the header I bought didn't actually clear the Renix intake. It looked okay dry fitting things against the old gasket on the floor, but in actual practice the rear tube was hitting badly on the rear intake runner. I missed it because I was more concerned with the flanges fitting, which was what is normally the problem when using a HO header on a Renix. Even the HO intake didn't actually fit and had to be ground a bit. I did some more poking around and it seems this header is actually a clone of one meant to be used on 99+ applications, where the intake then changed again. Unfortunately I modded the header (added an O2 sensor, changed the flange to a V-band) and then built the entire exhaust system around it, otherwise I would have sent it back to the seller with a nastygram. The real pain with this is that I can't locate a TV cable for a reasonable price, so I'm going to make the Renix one work. Also I just bought a brand new Renix throttle cable, which is now going to be taken off and put on the shelf... Then I get to mess around adapting the fuel lines, TPS, add the intake temp sensor, etc, etc.

Moving a trailer with a front hitch is super easy. My plow truck was set up with one, since the plow attached to it, and I would use it if I needed to get the trailer in and out of the shop since it was way easier to tell if you had the trailer where you wanted it. Then I destroyed my plow and built a new mount, so the front hitch isn't as useful now.

And it has lasted without issues?

How did you measure that? HO gasket, Renix intake: Image Not Found Renix gasket, HO intake: Image Not Found Note, the HO intake has already been ground/port matched about 3/16" at the bottom. There is still 3/16" or so left before it would align. Yes, the gasket was put on the head to check that it matched. I will trim the HO gasket in that area before install (I'm going to buy a better gasket anyways). Unless I have some funky unobtanium parts, I do not see how it is only 1/8". 3/8", I'd buy that. If somebody said 1/2", I'd not say they were out of line. I'm going to do it, if it leaks I will pull a HO head, but I have zero interest in doing that right now. This already turned into a massive waste of time. I am tempted to port the head a little bit at the top, but also I'm not terribly interested, I think with the amount I took out of the bottom I have a reasonable compromise.

That half of that brace he cut out was doing something useful.

In the long run, will this actually stay sealed? I'm looking at it right now, and I'm really struggling with it... It looks like the lower part of the intake flange is mostly covering the port in the head, with very very little overlap onto the actual mating surface on the head. I've screwed up and I'm honestly at the point that I might be going to get a HO head since I just don't believe this will work well.

Alot. Like a stroker or supercharging. That's what I figured, just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to run into issues.

Oil filter nipple, as in changing to the HO one with standard threads?

So how much does one have to upgrade a Renix before the Volvo injectors aren't the right choice?

Unless your eyes are way better than mine, that looks like the "Attention! Warning! Vorstich!" (or whatever it says) sticker for the oil filter threads being metric. And I can't read the vacuum diagram well enough to tell what it is... But the Renix ones had the diagram there too.

I'd install a rear anti-sway also. You can set it up with disconnects for when you don't need/want it. They make a huge difference, having towed with similar trucks with and without them.

I'd have given the guy $1500 for that thing before he had time to finish saying he wanted $1500.

The FSM alludes to it being a magnetic sensor (VRS), but they don't say. However, you need 3 wires for a Hall sensor to work, so it can't be that.

I thought the Renix crank sensor was a hall effect type? Suppose I could look in the book and see if they say anything.

Kinda curious why you went with this rather than a Megasquirt II or such?

The fuseable links are the black lumpy things in the wires off the studs on the starter/ignition relay. If they burn you won't get power farther on down the line. I don't know if that relay is the same a 4.0L one, so I can't tell you which wires hook to what. You can pull the loom apart and trace the one to the starter solenoid easily enough. I would probably touch it to the battery hot side and bump the starter over just to confirm that still works. Get yourself a manual and start tracing wires? Wiring is almost impossible to troubleshoot without being there in person and having a diagram.

Not all aftermarket glass is the same thickness either.

Check your fuses? And fuseable links?

Do what Hornbrod says. Or move the swaybar forwards via poorboy methods, which is to drill new holes and either slip tabbed bolts in, or use a threaded insert, or slip in a nutplate. The factory put the swaybar too close to the coils to begin with, IMHO, it only gets worse if you move the axle around any or are playing with the pinion angle.

Both of you guys see good hot summer weather, eh? Do you have any other mods that might be relevant, such as hood vents? I've been out of the Jeep stuff for a while, so I don't remember lots of things, but was there major documentation of early HO engines having heat soak issues? I'm still messing with the exhaust, so the intake isn't back on yet anyways.

IMHO it's a supporting mod. You do supporting mods so your other mods work correctly or better. This is a low compression 'truck' engine, the factory ignition system is beyond adequate for that. So, does anyone make one anyways? Not much point getting excited if there isn't one. Although I'm sure you could adapt something else to work.

Spoke too soon, they sent me a FedEx Ground label. There isn't such a thing here. I'll call them back tomorrow, I've run out of care right now.

I recently purchased a cam position/sync sensor off them, they had it listed as fitting the 4.oh when it actually is for the 2.5. Since their automated return process doesn't work well for this, I simply called them and explained what was up. 2 minutes on the phone, the guy looked up the part and went "Yup, that ain't right. I'll email you a prepaid return shipping label." 1 minute after hanging up the phone there was return instructions and a label in my email. I'm guessing they set their automated return thinger up that way to prevent abuse.