Rebuilding front dana 44. - Page 6

Sierra Drifter · 12-10-2007, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmyohn

ive been waiting for this thread to pop back up

did u ever get the TnT kit together??

Nope, I've been really lazy and neglecting the Jeep.
I've been playing with the Vette too much. The TnT kit and stiffners have been sitting in the garage for months, I'm planning on doing the TnT long arm and rear disc brakes this winter.... if I can get motivated again.

Bryson · 12-21-2007, 03:05 PM

Specs on the Vette please!

Gravesdiggerxj · 01-02-2008, 04:54 PM

Great Job!
I joined up here just to see your pics in this thread.

I'm doing a 44/9" swap. The rear is done and all that is I have left is one upper control arm mount, wheel bearings, brakes and steering on the front axle. Thanks for the motivation to keep my build going... I've been flat-lined for about a month.

Sierra Drifter · 01-06-2008, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gravesdiggerxj

Great Job!
I joined up here just to see your pics in this thread.

I'm doing a 44/9" swap. The rear is done and all that is I have left is one upper control arm mount, wheel bearings, brakes and steering on the front axle. Thanks for the motivation to keep my build going... I've been flat-lined for about a month.

Thanks for the kind words, and welcome to the forum!

Sierra Drifter · 01-28-2008, 03:35 AM

Converting drum brakes to disc brakes on the rear Dana 60:

I decided to go ahead and do the rear axle disc brake conversion.

So I looked around at a lot of different kits. There are basically 2 kits, one kit uses Chevy 3/4 ton truck calipers and does not include any type of emergency brake, for $300. The other kit uses eldorado calipers that include an integrated emergency brake for $490. I went with the more expensive kit because I wanted the e-brake.

A lot of vendors offer these kits, I bought this one from a vendor on e-bay because he had a lot of positive feedback from people who purchased his kit and they were happy with it.

The kit includes all parts needed:
2 caliper brackets, 2 calipers with integrated e-brake, 2 rotors, grade 8 bracket bolts, pads, flex hoses, hub seals, pins, and e-brake cable springs.

I pulled the axle shafts and removed the brake drum/hub. Then I removed the brake backing plate.

Next I attached the new caliper bracket. I didn't take a picture at this point so I borrowed this one...

I seperated the hub from the drum by driving out the wheel lug studs.

Sierra Drifter · 01-28-2008, 03:44 AM

Next I turned the hub over and attached the rotor with the studs.

I removed the hub seal and the inside wheel bearing. I washed the old wheel bearing grease out of the bearings and repacked them with new high temp disc brake wheel bearing grease and installed new hub seals. I then reinstalled the hub and rotor assembly.

Next I installed the calipers with the new brake pads.

I didn't have any issues with installing this kit, everything went together as designed.
I purchased new hard brake lines and bent them to fit.
I still have to install the axle shafts, install some brake line clips, bleed the system, and change my diff fluid. Then I'll do some road testing. More to come....

RuffedUpXJ · 01-28-2008, 11:25 AM

Looks awesome man. I am looking to do the same this summer.

KjT95xjCountry · 01-28-2008, 03:49 PM

damn - just read thru this for the first time. nice build!

HeepToJeep · 01-28-2008, 10:26 PM

Excellent work on both the axles and the write up, this thread will be useful to a slew of people! I'm curious what the weight difference is with the new axles as well as how well it's worked out as a daily driver...comfort, handling, MPG difference ect ect. What's the total bill on this whole project? Put any thought into converting the rear end to coil spring suspension?

Wm

Sierra Drifter · 02-20-2008, 11:48 PM

I bought a T&T Y-Link upgrade kit with frame stiffners months ago when I was doing my axle swaps. But by the time I finished with the axles I was sick of working on my Jeep and I just wanted to drive it. So now I'm finally motivated to install this kit.

and the stiffners (bad pic)

Primer and paint

I was concerned about water getting between the unibody and the stiffners and causing rust so I decided to paint the stiffners before installing them, and then paint the stiffners and the unibody rails again after they are welded in.

Sierra Drifter · 02-21-2008, 12:35 AM

Installing the frame stiffners is pretty straight forward, I just followed T&T's instructions, which were well written and included several pictures. First thing was to prep the surface of the unibody frame rails. My frame rails were covered with a thick rubery undercoating, then Patriot blue paint, then primer, and finally what appeared to be a galvanized coating. A wire brush didn't even touch the undercoating and I didnt' want to use a grinding wheel because I was worried it would remove too much material from the already thin unibody sheet metal. I ended up using this twisted wire wheel on an angle grinder.

I went down to bare metal around the edges where the stiffners would be welded.

Then I put the stiffners in place and used a floor jack to push the stiffners up tight against the unibody. With the jack holding the stiffner in place, I tack welded them in a few places.

Next I measured and marked the stiffners where I need to to drill holes for the bolts and crush sleeves that would hold the combination belly skid-transmission mount-control arm mount in place.

I used a uni-bit to drill the 13/16 holes in the outside of the frame stiffners. Once the outside holes were done, I then used a 3/4" hole saw to drill through the 2 layers of metal that are inside the frame rails, then finally I drilled a 1/2" hole on the inside surface of the frame rails.

There are a total of 6 bolts requiring 12 holes to be drilled. This was a time consuming process as I measured and checked about 10 times before drilling.

Next I installed the bolts, crush sleeves, and mounting plates.

At this point I am ready to bolt in the belly skid.
But.... before the belly pan, this seemed to be a good time to install another item that I've had laying around in the garage for months.

Sierra Drifter · 02-21-2008, 12:58 AM

I bought a NV241OR transfer case out of a 2004 Wrangler Rubicon. I've had it for over a year

I kept putting off installing it. I figure now is the right time since the T&T Y-link kit makes doing it latter more work, because removing the T&T belly pan means dicsonnecting the axle control arms.
Here is a picture of the Rubicon t-case. This t-case has a 4:1 ratio in 4Low compared to 2.71:1 in the stock NP231.
It's also much stronger with 32 spline output shafts, and bigger chain and gears, stiffer case, etc.

Removing the stock t-case was a PITA, because the top 2 nuts are difficult to reach and you have to use a short stuby 9/16 end wrench. I removed both driveshafts, disconnected the breather, shift linkage, and the wires. Then I lowered the tranny/t-case as far as I could. Then I struggled for more than an hour with the 6 nuts that hold the t-case to the trans. But finally I got it out.

Here is the NP231 and the NV241OR side by side. The 241 is considerably larger.

The Rubi t-case is supposed to be a bolt in upgrade that doesn't require any modifications. We'll see.

Badride · 02-21-2008, 12:00 PM

I just finished installing the Rubicon 4:1 case in my XJ. Like you said, removing the bolts in the old one was a pain. The Rubicon case fit and I am not sure if there would be any problem except that I replaced the short arm kit with a long arm kit while making this change. The new transfer case ended up hitting the back lip of the new case because it is larger. I trimmed it with my plazma cutter and it fit fine. Just to be clear, it did not hang down below the skid plate/crossmember, it only hit the lip that turns up in the very back of the plate. I am very happy with the swap.

I really do appricate your write up! I am planning to doing about the same thing to my XJ because I plan to put in a LT1 motor soon and I will need the axles to hold it.

**ChiliPalmer** · 02-21-2008, 01:07 PM

Looks good but did you really put those stiffeners on without at least painting the uni-rail underneath?

Sierra Drifter · 02-21-2008, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Driver

Looks good but did you really put those stiffeners on without at least painting the uni-rail underneath?

Well its tough to weld through the paint. I follwed TnT's instructions and removed everything to bare metal in the areas they indicated. The heat from welding removes all the paint in the immediate area anyway. I guess I could have used weld-through primer. I will paint after I'm done stitch welding. I will also seal the top and bottom edges to prevent water from getting between the unibody and the stiffners.

02-21-2008, 12:00 PM	#88
Badride Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Etowah,Tn Posts: 15 Profile Gallery Classifieds My Jeeps	I just finished installing the Rubicon 4:1 case in my XJ. Like you said, removing the bolts in the old one was a pain. The Rubicon case fit and I am not sure if there would be any problem except that I replaced the short arm kit with a long arm kit while making this change. The new transfer case ended up hitting the back lip of the new case because it is larger. I trimmed it with my plazma cutter and it fit fine. Just to be clear, it did not hang down below the skid plate/crossmember, it only hit the lip that turns up in the very back of the plate. I am very happy with the swap. I really do appricate your write up! I am planning to doing about the same thing to my XJ because I plan to put in a LT1 motor soon and I will need the axles to hold it.