Wildman's TJ is getting a face lift

Worked on the crush sleeve eliminator spacer first thing this morning.

Used a piece of aluminum block as a flat surface to sand the spacer flat.

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Then got back to installing the gears. I added 0.002" of shims on the gear side which tightened up the backlash to 0.003". Carl wants it between 0.002-.003" so I should be good.

Coast side which is the drive side for this axle.

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Drive side which is the coast side on this axle.

20220205_113343.jpg


I think I'm done but will wait for input from others who setup gears more often than me.
 
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SoCalGlide said:
Glad to see your back is allowing you to get back at it.
Click to expand...

Thanks, this getting old thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. I would have taken better care of myself if I'd known I was gunna be around this long. I'm sure 15+ years of humping a 80+ lb rucksack and repelling out of helicopters didn't help any.

Picking that ARB & ring gear up and out of the housing and then turning to set it on the bench didn't help any.
 
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Wildman said:
Worked on the crush sleeve eliminator spacer first thing this morning.

Used a piece of aluminum block as a flat surface to sand the spacer flat.

View attachment 307478

View attachment 307479

Then got back to installing the gears. I added 0.002" of shims on the gear side which tightened up the backlash to 0.003". Carl wants it between 0.002-.003" so I should be good.

Coast side which is the drive side for this axle.

View attachment 307480

Drive side which is the coast side on this axle.

View attachment 307481

I think I'm done but will wait for input from others who setup gears more often than me.
Click to expand...
Still has the look likes it deep but I think that is more from the tight backlash. It is definitely better to take no chances of it running off the top of the tooth at all for your application.
 
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Blackjack said:
Still has the look likes it deep but I think that is more from the right backlash. It is definitely better to take no chances of it running off the top of the tooth at all for your application.
Click to expand...

I'm going to pull 0.002" tomorrow and see what it does. I'll run another pattern and compare the two and pick the better one. Then from there I'll put all the new bearings on and get it assembled. Then I can move on to other things.
 
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doesn't really look to deep to me but does have that flat bottom.
i like your coast swipe better. PITA tryin to bounce back 4 pages to compare patterns. i thought coast looked good at .050 under the pinion and 004 BL.
but being a tad OCD about this crap would make me try a .048-.049 under that pinion to see if it cleans up.

the variable for me is not understanding what a very tight BL does to the patterns.

this is how my HP gears ended up.

81979748_3323676241038300_1669676482009497600_n.jpg


81334184_2526081930999650_8297594692355227648_n.jpg
 
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Based on all the comments I went back and pulled 0.002" of shims from the pinion depth. And ran the pattern just to check things.

And then the drive side (my coast side)

20220206_085957.jpg


The coast side (my drive side)

20220206_090011.jpg


This actually has a better looking pattern than yesterdays so I'll run with it.
 
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Wildman said:
Based on all the comments I went back and pulled 0.002" of shims from the pinion depth. And ran the pattern just to check things.

The coast side (my drive side)

View attachment 307693

And then the drive side (my coast side)

View attachment 307694

This actually has a better looking pattern than yesterdays so I'll run with it.
Click to expand...
Looks good. Git er dun.
P man said:
Way to keep with it..I wouldn't have the patience to set gears up lol
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While you do need some patience, not every gear setup is a tedious as Wildmans. About 70% of the time using the original shims will get you in the zone unless you are correcting for a previous problem.
 
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P man said:
Way to keep with it..I wouldn't have the patience to set gears up lol
Click to expand...

This axle has been a LOT more trying than most axles. Heck I've started with bare housings and had them go easier than this axle. And I thought i was done but I've got to make some minor changes.


Blackjack said:
Looks good. Git er dun.
Click to expand...

It's nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Blackjack said:
While you do need some patience, not every gear setup is a tedious as Wildmans. About 70% of the time using the original shims will get you in the zone unless you are correcting for a previous problem.
Click to expand...

This is very true. When I was doing this for a living I could knock out most gear swaps in 6-8 hours with an occasional axle getting done in 4 hours. This axle just seems to be fighting me every time I turn around.
 
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persistence pays, you don't always notice how, but it comes back to ya. that's the best pattern yet and good job for pushin on and makin sure and tryin that 1 last set-up. that looks best of all to me.
 
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Got the new air collar installed and the carrier installed into the axle.

20220206_120932.jpg



Then installed the bearing cap. This is the OLD style ARB where you had to notch the bearing cap for the air line to come out.

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But you also had to make sure that the line wasn't touching any part of the cap.

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Then route the line around and up to the bulkhead fitting.

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And then connect the copper line to the bulkhead fitting.

20220206_124147.jpg
 
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I didn't run a final pattern yesterday so I did one today just to have it for my piece of mind.

The coast side for me (Normal Drive side)
20220207_134534.jpg



And because it's a High Pinion axle being used in the rear of my Jeep this is my Drive side (Normal Coast side)

20220207_134550.jpg



So if this axle was being mounted in the front of a rig it would be driving on the drive side of the gear to clear up any confusion. If this was a low pinon axle then it would be driving on the normal drive side of the ring gear tooth.
The reason why all this matters is that by driving on the coast side of the gear it is weaker than if it was driving on the drive side of the gear. So this is part of the reason for using a stronger ring & pinion set in this application.

Clear as mud?
 
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Well I checked my ARB before I'd put the cover on. And realized that I can't use the fancy cover I'd bought because of where the air line for the ARB comes out. And when I checked the ARB I found out I had a air leak.... :( I'd tried to use the square 0-rings and had lubed them up good but I still ended up cutting one of them. So I had to pull the carrier back out. :cautious: Put the round o-rings I'd bought and slapped it back together.

This FUCKING AXLE hates me... It has fought me every step.

So then I started on the new brakes for the rear. This axle came with Explorer brakes which IMO are too small for anything over 35" tires. So I'd decided to buy the Cadillac Eldorado calipers with the built in parking brake from Ruff Stuff and got their brackets also.
So I watched some video's on How To and read some install instructions and went and tackled it.

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I'm using the same vented style rotor as what is on the front of the Jeep.

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Actually wasn't that hard. I'll do the other side tomorrow and work on the soft like routing.

20220209_174021.jpg



20220209_174039.jpg
 
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