PolarYJ: NextGen

[nblehm]

You do all the hard stuff on the housing and dont do the gears?

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by nblehm

You do all the hard stuff on the housing and dont do the gears?

can and have, even bought the pinion depth gauges and such ... but excuses and complaining.

local shop is $300, should i just do it myself? i have the stock bearings to make set-up bearings from still. 9" are so much less fuss, and i did still have EMS Offroad, who i bought all the axle guts from, build the 3rd and ship it. but he was cheaper

[6DoF]

didn't do a whole lot over the weekend, but did get some detail things together

-new master cylinder
-changed engine oil
-fill the ax-15 (was like a qt low )
-d300 is still over-full n clean, so let it leak!
-cleaned up both frozen drive shaft slip yokes, for the shake down i'll just splice in tube to make them longer. also pulled the 1310 shaft off the shelf from the TJ before i went 1350, it's like brand new. it's maybe 1" to long, so i'll keep the smaller old shaft for a spare.
-front 40s are mounted on the wheels
-installed the traction bar
-installed UTV rear view mirror that clamps to the cage

and cleaned the shop, that always feels good.

[6DoF]

the mirror should be good

https://www.kolpin.com/utv-rear-side-mirror




also took this pic to send the in-laws who got me the painting ladder for x-mas. Colin suggested i ask for it. anyone who doesn't have one needs one yesterday, anyone who has one, why didn't you tell me sooner!?! also like the worst picture ever.

[Cobound]

Slick ladder, I like that! I used a cut down tree stump

KOH sweatshirt

[6DoF]

D60 dropped off this morning with the new guts to be installed! hoping to get it by end of day Friday, but he couldn't promise that.

[6DoF]

well ... "early next week" turned into same day!

picked up the axle this morning at 7am when i dropped the wife off for work. with truck down, and the summer only tires on the vette low, she didn't want to drive it in this all-day monsoon. i didn't figure i was going to have an easy time getting the d60 into the back of the TJ.

[6DoF]

BOOM!! Still lots to do, but that much closer.

[nblehm]

Sick dude! I need to get back into another crawler.

[6DoF]

i need the rear axle parts to show up ...
-rear 3rd member so i can modify the drive shaft.
-rear axle shafts in with the 3rd so i can run the axle and "turn" the brake rotors down with a grinder. dodge d60 rotors are the same as a 3/4ton chevy, except larger dia. i'll grind these for a trail rig vs buying new.
-brake turned down so i can install the calipers, so that i can bleed the brakes.

i'm also waiting to know the rear DS length before i make the front. i'm hoping i can split the difference and still use the same shaft front and rear.

before all that,i still have stuff to do:
-finish welding and install the steering
-run air lines and switches

and other crap ...

[6DoF]

small rant ... why on earth does ARB, and now Yukon (i assume to follow ARB) use 5mm air line for lockers!?!?! you can't get a damn 5mm PTC fitting with an NPT thread, only BSPT. is this really just to make you buy their entire system "cuz it's easier"? it's stupid. not to mention they have you tap the housing for 1/4" NPT for the bulkhead fitting. is that fitting really a custom pc and NPT on one side and BSPT on the other, or are they asking us to just ram the fitting home. ugh.

on that note however, 5mm line, if properly cut/prepped, will go into and seal really nicely to a 3/16 PTC connector. it's just hard to get the line out later.

[6DoF]

still moving fwd, still waiting on rear axle guts. front brakes are connected in. steering is welded and painted, just waiting on install tonight. air switches are mounted and plumbed with the exhaust just an 18" run under the seat to keep mud out. front axle is fully assembled, locker function from switch confirmed, just needs fluid now that the RTV is cured.

i really need a 90* fitting at the axle though, will order that with all the trail spare/repair parts.

i really like these mechanical shuttle valves so far, keeps the system super simple.

[nblehm]

My only experience with arb lockers wasnt the best. My moms TJ and my old TJ both had them in the rear dana 44s and they were always leaking.

I take it you didnt have to mess with the steering to much with pushing the front axle foward?

[6DoF]

so the steering is together as of moments ago ... but not the final solution. i'm convinced that i'll go to the 4500 style steering before too long. so, with that in mind, i set up the drag link for 3 turns lock-to-lock on the stock d60 steering stops. i'll open that up some once i have the ram and chromoly shafts, so a little room left to go further later.

drag link should be high enough that the lower tie rod never gets into it, even without bump stops. but now i have to worry about the lower rod, and later the lower ram. it's at least above the axle CL. i also like how flat the drag link came out, should be nice on street if i ever drive it. i also feel like a later project would be to weld a double shear plate to the pitman, easy enough i think. could build a double shear set up onto the high steer arm too really, and might weld a nut to the knuckle for the 5 bolt hole. little stuff that's getting skipped til i NEED it, or need a project.

[nblehm]

Ive gone down a rabbit hole this morning. Do you use an alignment bar when setting up your rear axle? I just scrolled through your first page and might have missed it.

[Cobound]

Nice updates!

ARB answer, yes...they do that so you buy their overpriced BS! Found out several years ago the hard way...back when I had my black TJ, super pissed about that. I ended up buying spares that I still have in a bag somewhere in my garage heep today

Those switches are nice...use them on my JK, they were installed by the PO and I like them. I use CO2 for my lockers, a small Powertank setup, super slick.

I need a new heim up front eventually...still ok to drive, but there is just a slight bit of wear and movement that I'll need to address before too long.

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by nblehm

Ive gone down a rabbit hole this morning. Do you use an alignment bar when setting up your rear axle? I just scrolled through your first page and might have missed it.

Yes sir! 1-1/4" solid, ground/hardened/polished steel rod with the sleeve pucks for the carrier and axle ends. i have pucks for d44, d60, and all 3 9" carrier bearing sizes. i also have 2 different semi-float bearing end cup dia, a d60/14b threaded puck for spindles, and a buddy just made a d44 threaded spindle puck so we can build his 944.

willing to rent it to ya for shipping if needed. would be one box of adapters and one tube of the rod. i cleaned up and painted an empty stock 9" case to use with the fixture on this axle, it's nice to be able to reach in thru the pinion support. he might have bought it though for the 944.

[nblehm]

did you make the cups for the d60 spindles?

[6DoF]

also, while RuffStuff no longer sells the rear axle flange for the front spindles ... i've been informed of a place that still does. i completely forget who right now, but Eric at EMS offroad knows. he's THE man for anything axle related from tech to options and the experience to back it up. great dude, just hard to get a hold of some time. last time we threw around ideas of how i might have done these axles differently, worth a call for ya i suspect.

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by nblehm

did you make the cups for the d60 spindles?

i "designed" all the parts based on what was out there. a local machine shop did the round pucks for me way back cheaper than i could buy them online. a dude at SB&D machine shop turned the threaded pucks as a "g-job" for me.