Work from home LJ

Took everything apart and cleaned it up. Bought some backup parts to compare against.

Turns out my “new” inner pinion bearing from Amazon was a dud. If you compare it against same PN/manufacturer to a bearing from rock auto they are not the same.

Difference is tiny, but it’s enough to cause these issues.

New (good) patterns coming soon

last time I buy Amazon parts
 
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Well that sucks! Was that bearing actually "Sold by Amazon" or a third party? I have no trust buying from third parties on Amazon - too much counterfeiting, and Amazon doesn't care about it. However, I have never been burned when Amazon is the seller.
 
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kameronkales said:
Took everything apart and cleaned it up. Bought some backup parts to compare against.

Turns out my “new” inner pinion bearing from Amazon was a dud. If you compare it against same PN/manufacturer to a bearing from rock auto they are not the same.

Difference is tiny, but it’s enough to cause these issues.

New (good) patterns coming soon

last time I buy Amazon parts
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I've been burned by scamazon trying to by spicer ball joints. Never again.
 
here’s pattern I’m pretty happy with. These are Revolution 5.13s. .042 PD with 8 backlash.

I tried everything I could to get the us standard gears to a runnable pattern and gave up.

Revolutions took an hour and a few adjustments.



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The only difference between Dana 44 rears with disc vs drum are the retaining plates right? I have shafts from both. Want to make sure that’s only difference.

I have replacement set 10 bearings going in, so I have to pull those anyway.
 
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hosejockey61 said:
Are you swapping entire axle assemblies or just the shafts, or just the brakes?
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Entire assembly. It’s my understanding the assemblies themselves are the same. The shafts are the same outside of the retention plate (different shape for disc vs drums) hanging on shaft behind bearing. And the brakes are obviously different.

So I think I should be able to bolt up new assembly with old shafts + brakes. I could even do shafts from drum setup if I changed the Retention plate to correct shape.
 
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Parking brake cables are different. Brake fluid lines are different.
kameronkales said:
Entire assembly. It’s my understanding the assemblies themselves are the same. The shafts are the same outside of the retention plate (different shape for disc vs drums). And the brakes are obviously different.

So I think I should be able to bolt up new assembly with old shafts + brakes. I could even do shafts from drum setup if I changed the Retention plate to correct shape.
Click to expand...

Are you swapping a Dana 44 with another Dana 44 or a Dana 35? I guess I'm not following what you're trying to accomplish. The shafts are the same in drum to disc for the Dana 44 with the exception of the backing plates like you mentioned. Disc have the raised lip whereas drums are flat.
 
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hosejockey61 said:
Parking brake cables are different. Brake fluid lines are different.


Are you swapping a Dana 44 with another Dana 44 or a Dana 35? I guess I'm not following what you're trying to accomplish. The shafts are the same in drum to disc for the Dana 44 with the exception of the backing plates like you mentioned. Disc have the raised lip whereas drums are flat.
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Dana 44 to Dana 44. Regeared extra so didn’t have to pull one on Jeep.

my theory I’m trying to validate is the Dana 44 drum mounts up to an LJ with a 44 disc assuming you retain the brake setup with the Jeep / axle shafts (or swap backing plates).

The brake lines / parking brake cables are staying mounted to my Jeep. I should only swap housing and shafts and then mount everything back up.
 
kameronkales said:
Dana 44 to Dana 44. Regeared extra so didn’t have to pull one on Jeep.

my theory I’m trying to validate is the Dana 44 drum mounts up to an LJ with a 44 disc assuming you retain the brake setup with the Jeep / axle shafts (or swap backing plates).

The brake lines / parking brake cables are staying mounted to my Jeep. I should only swap housing and shafts and then mount everything back up.
Click to expand...

So if swapping brakes from one to the other, then swap it all. Drums, backing plates, parking cables, lines to the block and shafts.
 
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I’ve been working non stop and Jeep projects had been on hold. This morning I had some downtime and wired up a new (to me) rear view mirror.

Gentex 453 from a Nissan (with home link).

4 wire job + some tedious running of wires from grill where temperature sensor is mounted to glovebox area where my wires are tucked.

Took about 2 hours to do right. 30 min to test and confirm it would work. Old mirror pictured because my wife didn’t notice the difference.

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This weekend I wrapped up a few projects that have been lingering.

Double din radio with CarPlay
Front/Rear view camera
Moved license plate to spare tire

The double din radio didn’t want to fit. Crutchfield says it does, the dash kit I got says not. Nothing a little dremel couldn’t fix

I’ve always disliked the rear bumper that came with my LJ. it was fine while I worked on other parts of the build, but it was time to go.

I grabbed a genright TJ bumper and flush mounted my rear view camera. I grabbed the frame tie in kit and reverse LED kit as well.

As you can tell, I haven’t tucked all the wires away at rear bumper yet. I’m still flushing out a few details there.

I have license plate lights to wire as well, but haven’t gotten that far yet. That’s next weekends project.

An astute eye might notice the new switch panel under my AC. I have 3 new items being wired in here to fill most of the gaps. Just haven’t finished them yet, so slots sit empty right now

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Looking for recommendations again.

Rock sliders with a step (wife wants the step)

Any good options? I do not want to cut tub (no full boat sides).

What should I buy? Buy once cry once is fine. I’m still crying from the gears and lockers anyway
 
kameronkales said:
Looking for recommendations again.

Rock sliders with a step (wife wants the step)

Any good options? I do not want to cut tub (no full boat sides).

What should I buy? Buy once cry once is fine. I’m still crying from the gears and lockers anyway
Click to expand...

Check @JMT 's thread on rock sliders. It is fairly extensive.
 
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