TJ's TJ

Sweet! I was wondering how you were going to paint that galvanized Metal. You've got my wheels turning...I can do some welding...and My Uncle runs a fab shop. Do I get a frame now, while mine is still decent? Work on it and get it perfect, then swap it over...I bet I could pick another "decent" frame up cheap...
 
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Got the body removed this weekend. Had plenty of bodies (4 adults and 4 14 year old boy scouts) so piece of cake with the roll bar, dash and windshield still on (hard top and doors were off, seats out):
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That’s a lot of work haha. You’d really have to have a passion for doing that kind of work I’d imagine. Nice. I’d pony up and spend for another one, but I respect your drive. Def inspiring.
 
What kind of axle is that?

I love POR-15. That stuff is so durable. I took a hammer to a finished POR-15 surface, and even with multiple hard hits, it didn't come off!
 
Chris said:
What kind of axle is that?

I love POR-15. That stuff is so durable. I took a hammer to a finished POR-15 surface, and even with multiple hard hits, it didn't come off!
Click to expand...

We are sticking with the stock 30/35, but will be re-gearing to 4.56, trying to contain the costs at this point
 
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Looks fantastic. I’d be proud of that piece of work!
 
35 Rebuild first:

Carrier bearings pressed on, ring gear dropped on after warming it up with the map gas torch:
upload_2018-8-30_7-29-1.png


Made a tool to press on the inner pinion bearing:
upload_2018-8-30_7-31-25.png


upload_2018-8-30_7-32-9.png


If you look at this pic, the cage is above the race, so the tool needed to be relieved:
upload_2018-8-30_7-34-8.png
 
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Oh, and if you haven't done this kind of work before, here is the harbor freight bearing puller that I used to remove the pressed on bearing races. The cage must be cut off, then the tool grabs the upper race lip. Get it in place, then heat with a torch and they should come right off. BUT, this is not the preferred tool. A better tool is a clam shell puller (also shown below). The clam shell puller should allow you to get the bearing off complete (without removing/damaging the cage/rollers) incase you need to save the bearing (on a 30, the some of the shims are behind the races, so the bearings need to go on/off multiple times to adjust if you don't have set up bearings):
upload_2018-8-30_7-45-32.png


Clam shell puller:
upload_2018-8-30_7-47-56.png


To remove the ring gear, you take out the bolts, then tap it off around the edge with a hammer/drift.
 
So I did lots of research about how to set up dana axles and most tell you to start with the old shims and then trial and error with setup bearings. Some reference the pinion depth number that is typically scribed into the pinion face (by the manufacturer when lapped with the ring gear at the factory) and tell you to adjust from your old pinion number, but if your old pinion isn't marked, then that doesn't work and you are back to trial and error. Then I read the instructions that came with my motive gears. It is actually very straight forward, provided that you have a way to accurately measure the pinion depth:

1. Set the pinion depth (distance from the ring gear axis to the pinion face) to what is says on the face. This is the way that the gears were positioned by the manufacturer when they were lapped as a set in the factory.

2. Set the backlash.

3. Confirm that you pattern is good.

I am doing the 35 first. Because the pinion depth is set by adding shims behind the inner pinion bearing race, a set up race is required (OD needs to be reduced so that is slides in/out of the housing easily). And because you have to remove the pinion to add shims, you should also make a setup outer pinion bearing (ID needs to be opened up so that it slides on/off the pinion easily). Here is how I made my set up bearings:

Disk sander to the OD of the race:
upload_2018-9-4_7-39-47.png


Small sanding drum around the ID of the inner race (I tried a bigger drum, but is was harder to tell if you were keeping it parallel to the race while sanding):
upload_2018-9-4_7-41-45.png


I also machined out an old pinion nut to make it easy to put on/off for setup.

Install the pinion with out the crush sleeve or seal:
upload_2018-9-4_7-50-5.png
 
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This is the setup that I made to measure pinion depth. Two discs machined to the same OD as the carrier bearings and precision ground rod between them (you CANNOT measure from the bearing cap faces as the boring is done as an assy and the cap parting line will not be centered on the carrier bearing bore):
upload_2018-9-4_7-54-55.png


A precision block and a depth micrometer are then used to measure down to the rod. Simple subtraction of measurements gets you the pinion depth.

upload_2018-9-4_7-57-29.png


The pinion depth in my instructions should be set to within +/- 0.002" of the number on the face. With this set up we were able to hit that first shot, by adding shims behind the inner race and re-measuring.
 
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The carrier is then added and shims are added to each side of the carrier bearing races to set backlash. The spec for the Dana 30 & 35 is 0.005-0.008". A magnetic base and dial indicator are used to check:
upload_2018-9-4_8-2-7.png


Then the pattern is checked:
upload_2018-9-4_8-3-22.png


This looks pretty good according to the instructions. The only trial and error involved was picking shims to get the backlash set with some preload on the carrier bearings...
 
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Now that everything looks in the ballpark, the outer set up bearing on the pinion can come out and the new one dropped in and the pinion seal goes in:
upload_2018-9-17_7-35-5.png


The crush sleeve goes onto the pinion:
upload_2018-9-17_7-35-59.png


Pinion is installed with the yoke and a new nut, then torqued to provide the proper pinion running torque. Most people just drive the nut on with the impact, while holding the yoke with a glove, in small (1/16 - 1/8 of turn increments) checking running torque often. I used a big torque wrench to creep up on it. You can tell when the crush sleeve starts crushing because the torque required to turn the nut will plateau, there will almost certainty still be play in the pinion at this point (for information, the crush sleeve started to crush around 260 ft-lbs). Just keep turning in small increments until the play is gone, then creep up on it to get your running torque correct. I set mine right at 25 in-lbs. A dial or beam torque wrench is required to accurately measure this.
upload_2018-9-17_7-43-34.png


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Here is a good summary of specs:

upload_2018-9-17_7-44-27.png
 
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