DirtyComanche

So, I popped the carrier out of my D44, and figured I might as well take the pinion out too... Something looks kinda wrong with 'dat dere oil slinger... Image Not Found And there was this: Image Not Found That was a pinion bearing preload shim! Ouch. I found more metal in the bearing on closer inspection. I have no idea how that would happen. But, what do you expect for something that's 35~ years old and out of a ford? Luckily I wasn't planning on running the 3.50 gearset it came with. I also had some axle tube nastiness. Image Not Found Nothing like 1/4" buildup of dirt, grease, oil, and who knows what on the inside of the tubes. So I took the inner seals out and cleaned the tubes: Image Not Found Rather nasty. I wonder if there's aftermarket outer seals for these things? I'm not sure, I know they make D30 ones. And I glass blasted my inner Cs. Image Not Found Didn't do a wonderful job of it, but they'll work.

Anybody run one? WIth EFI they're pretty stupid for the most part. Depsite that the rice-boys run them a lot... I think I might want one to keep an eye on my propane system... It was tuned professionally, but everything about that scares me.

I agree.

And to note, those are theoretical. For leaf springs the standard rule is to go 2* low to account for axle wrap.

That's right if you don't have a double cardon shaft... I sorta assumed he had one since he's going SOA. Kinda should... In which case the drive-line is like 2* down and you should align the pinion flat (0*) or something...

I've had everthing go wrong jacking with a hi-lift. Typically once you go too high, the jack is on an angle and will slip out from under the frame or kick out the base. I've also had the truck shift sideways and bend one. And a bunch of other things I don't want to admit to.

Search for 2.8 to 4.0L swap... You'll find a bunch. I'm no expert on the subject, but you can't use the same transmission. And you'll need a 4.0L wiring harness. Along with the radiator, rad support and some other doo-hickies.

You can still use shims. You don't want to though... If you look at one of my threads there's a bit about how my truck is shimmed (at BOTH ends, total of 8 shims). I want to say 7* up since nobody else will tell you. It should be ballpark 9* difference between the driveline angle and pinion 0*. You can be ballpark and it'll work if the shaft is balanced well enough... It jsut might vibe a little. Or maybe not...

I took pictures... Dunno why. Or why of. I've got about 2 of these done: Image Not Found They're a fawking PITA. Hopefully they won't leak. I think I'm going to braze the inner lip of the ring to ensure it is airtight (hence asking about brazing). I dunno how well I can braze with a stick welder. I might have to rent a torch to do it... Gotta torch some other crap too, so WTH. I also need to get some rebar or square stock bent to strengthen the inner bead. Other crap I've been working at: Image Not Found The D44 is a HP unit that's getting cut down. I blew the knuckles off today while waiting around because one of my toyota friends was over. Something about having to fix his frame. God damn toyotas. I'll have to take the carrier out tomorrow then take it to the machine shop. Screw cutting 3x.500 DOM myself. The other is my spare isuzu housing. It's all cleaned up (mostly) for my 4-link crap to go one once it arrives. I want to shave it too, but it seems like a PITA. I need another set of isuzu brake calipers, and an open third. Gotta go to the j-yard. Here's my tank setup: Image Not Found Aluminum tanks rock.

if you're talkin about like, holding a nut onto the frame so you can put a bolt through the other side (kinda like a nutsert) then i get what you're talkin' about. Yeah. It's apparently the only 'right' way to do that. As you won't alter the properties of the nut.

Shims suck. I have shims. I hate shims.

So, nobody brazes anything structeral? I've seen something that was aluminum brazed back together once. However, I don't think it was legal (aircraft part, pretty sure it was approved) Apparently brazing is how you're supposed to attach a nut to the back of something if you don't want it to decrease the strength of the nut... Okay, if nobody understands the above sentence, fair enough.

If nobody comes up with a good answer for you, I can tell you what I think it should be...

I never had a stock one that worked. They always just seemed weird and didn't do anything. Maybe I was doing something wrong. I carry a bottle jack instead, one of those slightly expensive ones. But not in the MJ. Well, I should but I don't. I always just use the hi-lift. And yes, I've dropped my truck with it more times than I can count.

Radiators would be brazed or soldered if they're brass. They could be if they're aluminum too - but I've never seen that.

What'd ya expect for $3-$10 for 120 fuses?

I did this a bit once... It's an amusing process. I really thought it had no practical application other than fixing brass things, or if you didn't know how to weld. But apparently it is actually strong? Despite not having any 'fusion' of the materials you can actually get a good enough bond with it that it'll produce a joint that is at least as strong as the materials to be joined? Does anybody actually braze anything structeral?

My flat-deck is 2x3x.188, and it's stupid heavy. I'm going to cut the back half off of it because of that... I'd recommend only using .120/.125 wall material at most. Unless you're planning to use it daily as a rockslider... In which case .188 makes more sense.

On the 89s they have a huge connector on the engine side of the firewall (it's actually 2 or 3 connectors, I guess) that you undo. Then you can remove the stuff in the way on inside and undo the fuse box... The exact specifics of how you're exactly supposed to do it are beyond me - mine had issues.

From the point of a fabricator, it'd probably not be worthwhile. It's often a lot easier to start from scratch and build everything to fit what you want, instead of trying to fit the factory. Maybe taking a short section of the origonal skins would be worthwhile to preserve the stock look. But not much else.

It depends how bad it is. If you clean it and it 'works' does that mean that it will continue to work? If I was to put money on it, long term you've probably got a major problem. The corrosion will continue all all of the terminals and any wiring that's been touched by it. Most likely it'll eventually fail. Either it'll just not work (good scenario) or it'll catch fire and destroy your truck. Honestly, I hate automotive electrical. It's all crap. The plugs are all random sizes and nothing is of very good quality. Anyways, the best bet would probably be to swap fuse boxes for one that's in better shape, and inspect any other of the wiring that could be affected. Which unfortuantly is pretty much all of it. Hence I got pissed off and rewired my truck.

The HD ones are so cheap now that's there's NO EXCUSE for getting a POS Hack'n'crap one. A driveshaft costs a bit. You can get a front driveshaft retubed/lengthened to get the job done. That's what mine is at least. I spent $120 on the retube, plus I provided a boneyard core ($30). Your prices will vary.

They're just like women... They need every bit of your stinking time or they freak out and blow up on you.

If they have a machine shop, they should. Most driveline shops don't balance shafts. They just chuck 'em on the lathe and shoot for about .010" runout (MAX) and call it balanced. Basically, if they have a decent lathe they can do it.

They're crappy tires. Really crappy tires. At least IMHO. You wheel soft mud and wattery mud, alright, they'll work. Providing you have enough power to keep them spinning fast enough. Throw ANY other condition in their and they SUCK. And they're bad news in snow too. Unless you're wheeling about 6-7" of wet snow on top of soft ground... Otherwise they'll just dig until you're laying frame. Or you'll have fun with them slipping over whatever is under the snow. They're too hard. They're ment to be TOUGH. Not to flex and conform to the shape of the traction media in a sub-5Klbs vehicle. All they did it set all your weight on a TINY contact pattern (a set of paddles) and typically you sink. Or go sideways. Or you get into something they can't sink into (wet logs, rock, stumps, etc) and they'll spin over it and make a stupid "thwap thwap thwap" noise. Typically they wait until you've got the tires going 50mph before one of them grabs something. Then you get to see how much inertia there is in your drivetrain.