time for a forced SAS

[Mr. Mindless]

I got the right side of the axle completely put back together

[Mr. Mindless]

putting the finishing piece in to get the left side brakes all done

[Mr. Mindless]

and then I found this broken off tap in the retaining bolt hole

I swear this axle is cursed....

I also noticed today that one cross of the left side ujoint is locked. I don't know how I didn't notice this last week since I was doing lots of turning and spinning and stuff, but.... yeah. So I guess that side needs to come back apart.

I'm thinking I'll have to pull it apart to get the caliper mount off and get that tap out of there anyway. I tried starting to drill it out with a hand drill, but I bet you all know exactly how well that went (couldn't even see a shiny spot at the bottom of where I'd punched it)

[Mr. Mindless]

so that leaves me with one other problem to solve Real Soon Now: I don't really have enough room for springs

in this pic, the spring is all the way against the C at the end of the axle tube (so it's giving me probably 3/8" more room than I really can have). The tape measure is going to the outside edge of my frame (no problem if the links are under the frame - would make a perfect bumpstop in fact, but mounting brackets on the cast chunk? welding to cast? )
Too bad my rig is too heavy for airshocks..... (front axle weight will probably be about 2800#) I really can't afford coilovers at all.

Those springs are 4" lift Bronco coils from SkyJacker, they're 19" tall - probably taller than I need.. Maybe I could go for stock height coils and put the links under them? that seems.... odd at best. I was just fawking around with how my rims and tires will fit, and I'll need to have the links in that far for tire clearance anyway.

recommendations for welding to the diff housing?

[Mr. Mindless]

so speaking of fawking around with my rims.... fitting the hummer rims on here isn't too bad at all. I'm not going to have to grind the caliper down at all. The way the stops are set right now (which may change, especially since one of them is half cut off for some damn reason or another - again with The Axle From Hell) the lowsteer tie rod clears and the steering arms clear.

The caliper key keeper bolt was hitting - I had to grind quite a bit off of it. I'm going to keep an eye out for a cap screw to do the job, since I do want to be able to remove the bolt after a few salty winters.

The more difficult to deal with point of contact is the bleeder screw. I don't really want any risk of breaking one off, so I'm going to have to do something there. I was thinking of cutting it off, drilling, tapping, and making a male-male adaptor to use for bleeding but it's really not big enough to drill and tap for something else hollow. I may be able to get away with cutting the nipple off, and then using a larger hose that would go over the nut for bleeding, but that leaves me with an open hole there getting full of crap. In theory it's only ever outbound, but I don't like the idea of a dirt packed bleeder screw.

Update: found a solution. The bleeders on the Dakota's stock calipers were much, much shorter (probably 3/8") and the same thread. Their nut was a hair too low though so I had to clearance the caliper a bit to get them to seat right. plugged up the bleeder hole with a machine screw, went to town with a 3/4" drill and got the 1/16" I needed and a little extra so I know it's seating right. Perfect solution.

I'm also *definitely* removing the inner disk shielding. That way I might have some prayer for brake cooling. maybe.

[killerdakota2]

looking good man it will all come together soon just remember to take your time and think everything through before you make a hasty decision.

[Mr. Mindless]

that fawking axle keeps me from doing ANYTHING hastily

decided to try and pull the shafts before I take a nap. I got the hubs back off, etc, take the nuts off the studs that hold the..... aw hell, I have no idea what the right name is. the short shaft that the wheel bearings ride on, along with the caliper mount and shield. won't budge AT ALL. popped the studs out, and I can see that there are two seams in there. it's not rusted in the bolt holes - I suppose that's good.... I pounded on it for an hour or two, and now it's naptime. Soaking in PB 'Blaster. Hopefully I can knock the shit out of it again when I get up, and then get on replacing those ujoints. I really wish I had caught that before I put it together.....

[killerdakota2]

dont feal bad i've had my axles apart so many times its unreal. for example this weekend i have to pull the passenger side back apart to put on a new steering knuckle for my hi-steer cross over steering If i can find the damn jam nuts for the TREs if your planning on cross over steering dont forget to order the jam nuts cause your gonna play hell finding them locally I'm thinking i'll end up making them myself at this rate.

[THURENfab.]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mindless

The caliper key keeper bolt was hitting - I had to grind quite a bit off of it. I'm going to keep an eye out for a cap screw to do the job, since I do want to be able to remove the bolt after a few salty winters.

If you go to any parts store and browse through the brake parts book you will see the stock, correct, slider lock bolt......... It is a flat looking bolt with a recessed allen...... the whole thing only sticks up about .150" above the slider.

[Mr. Mindless]

Thuren-
Sounds like exactly what I want. these hex head bolts came with the calipers, and the brake kit I looked at had the same style - do you happen to know something that I could have them look up these low lock bolts (most places around here don't like not having a vehicle model to look up against)?

In other setback news, it's once again the Axle From Hell. The spindle won't come off the knuckle, so I can't get the axleshafts out to do replace the bad ujoints. Hammering has been doing nothing, even with a decent amount of heat. I can see two crystal clear seams in the bolt holes, and so far it's been clean metal under all fasteners, so I'm not sure why it's so stuck. No more sight-unseen axle purchases for me

[Mr. Mindless]

got my panhard bar mounts fabbed up today. got replacement locking hubs ordered. got the spring perch off the axle. still haven't gotten the spindles off the knuckles. I'm not going to put anything on the axle until I can get those spindles off - if I can't, it's unusable. Axle From Hell.....

I've got new upper balljoints and new axle ujoints. Need to check at NAPA for the lowers but they were closed when I got there. I think I should be able to cut the knuckles off if I need to and then I can possibly be more persuasive with the spindles - though on the bench they aren't tied to a 300# anchor....

Tried and failed to get new studs and nuts, and proper lugnuts for my humvee rims. '92 AM General Humvee was in the computer, but no parts were available for it, at least wheel-wise. I'll have to play the match-up game at a good fastener store on Monday.

Tomorrow I really wanna get those spindles off, then I can finish the axle, and start welding mounts on it. Then I have to finish the trans/ link mounting crossmember, and then I can build my links and have the axle under the truck. If I get those spindles off tomorrow, I could have the front rolling Monday. The rear should be easy, but fabbing hangars and shackles will probably take a day. I think rolling entirely by the end of the week.... Then drivelines, steering, brakes, tires. I'll miss testing it out next weekend in the Adirondaks, but I think that's okay. Maybe it's first outing can be some easy stuff at Rausch Creek the end of Sept....

[Mr. Mindless]

I spent a lot of time watching this tonight. About three hours, in fact....

[Mr. Mindless]

This is most of the bracket for the axle end of my panhard bar

[Mr. Mindless]

To give you an idea how it will sit on the axle tube. the cardboard is what my link mounts will look like - I need to get a couple 2-3/4" hole saws tomorrow so I can start making things that go on axle tubes.

[Mr. Mindless]

and this is what the frame end of the panhard will mount to.

[Mr. Mindless]

So I guess today was forward progress... of a sort.....

My dad came by to lend a hand today. We tried lots of heat and lots of pounding to get the spindles off the knuckles, but made no headway at all. Since the knuckles cannot be pulled properly without the axles being out of the housing, the only option left was to cut the ball joint studs off to remove the knuckle.

After about 4 wasted hours of heating and beating, the torching too probably another 1.5-2 hours, but I got them cut off.

There are no outer axle seals, so there's a LOT of dirt in the axle tubes that I need to clean out so I don't push it into the chunk.

I'm going to have find a machine shop with a BIG press to try and get the spindles off the knuckles. I'm going to try tomorrow to do the ujoints, and if I can't do it with hand tools, I'll get the shop to press them out for me too.

I'm back in Rochester right now. I'm going to see about getting some slightly better tires for the ramcharger tomorrow morning, and then I'm heading back down to work more.

I've got to get the inside of the axle tubes cleaned out so I don't push a bunch of dirt into the diff (no outer axle seals), and then I've also got the trans crossmember to finish, more tabs to fab, and a complete panhard link mount to put on the truck. Plenty to keep me busy until I get the spindles taken care of, and without starting to put things on an axle that I still don't know for certain will work (I've got visions of that knuckle shattering instead of giving up the spindle, or vice-versa).

As long as it's going to be in a machine shop, I'll have them take care of the broken off tap, and drill + tap the passenger side knuckle for a steering arm (left side is already tapped from factory stupidsteer arm).

Only interesting pics from today are from torching the ball joints - I might post them up later.

[Mr. Mindless]

Another day with not as much progress as I would have liked.....

I got 90% of the old parts broken down and ready for sale - one torsion bar doesn't want to come out of the lower control arm, but I'm sure after a night soaking in PB Blaster (as in, I filled up the cavity with PB, about a quarter inch deep. soaking.) it'll be able to be convinced. That cleaned up the garage quite nicely.

Took 5 minutes and pulled the rear driveshaft. Looks like the ATF that's leaking all over is from the transfer case, which I look at as a Good Thing since that's a far easier fix than the transmission as far as I'm concerned.

Spent a couple hours beating the drums off my Sterling 10.25". They were pretty badly rusted on around the backing plate. The innards look mostly passable, except for a broken lower return spring on one side, and a screwed up auto adjuster on the other (had come disconnected, and I think is bent....). The shoes are also mismatched: on side has bonded pads that look brand new, the other side has riveted pads at about 75%. So I'll pick up pads and a hardware kit. Nothing caked around the wheel cyls, so I'm pretty sure they're in good shape. I also ripped a brake line off (while dropping the axle), and there was fluid, so they should still be wet and alright internally rust-wise too, I hope.

I broke down my wheels and knocked all the studs out and took the weights off, so they're ready for prep and either paint or powder, along with replacement studs and nuts. I think I'm just going to go with a gloss black. I've got to clean up the axles' hubs too, since they won't be covered by anything.

I was also going to get the crossmember finished up, but I couldn't get the spacers I need to make finished tonight - I broke a bandsaw blade (fell apart at the weld while working through inch thick Al in horizontal mode) and the only replacement around was just about completely toothless. I finished the cut I was making, and confirmed that my pattern is right, but I need to finish shaping the bracket before I hog out the holes and bolt it up in prep to weld. (the Al is serving as a spacer for a bracket welded to the crossmember securing it to an oddly shaped section of frame)

Still to do:
take care of the machine shop stuff - taking the spindles off the knuckles, turning brake drums, getting a broken off tap out
32 lug nuts
32 split rim studs and nuts
clean out the front axle tubes so I can reassemble it
fab the 4 axle-side link mounting brackets
mount panhard bracket on the truck
fab coil buckets for the axle
either rework the coil buckets I got from the JY or fab new for the truck end as well.
fab links
steering
rearend everything
brakes

[THURENfab.]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mindless

Thuren-
Sounds like exactly what I want. these hex head bolts came with the calipers, and the brake kit I looked at had the same style

Try throwing this part # at your local parts store and see what comes up..... H5019 ........ that should be right..... it's a 1/4" allen head, 5/16" x 18t bolt just for that..... that # I gave you is a CarQuest #......... Keep the pics coming!!!!

[Mr. Mindless]

thanks, thuren! teh zone (sic) didn't really know what I wanted, and they didn't have it once he figured it out.

I also haven't found lugnuts for the hummer rims that I'm happy with (they seem to want a very steep taper - like maybe 60deg instead of 45deg). I bet that has to do with the stud size..... damn. The front 44 needed new wheel studs, and I just matched the front to the rear with 5/8-18s, but I bet the tapers in the rims are drilled and tapered for like a 9/16 stud. I wonder if I can get away with what I've got. I don't really want to have to pull and push 32 studs and spend another $50.

I'm also having trouble finding proper studs for the split rim. Nothing NAPA or AZone had was threaded all the way down to the shank, which I think it really needs to be. I'll have to look at what I can get away with, and it will depend on the nuts I use, too. AZone had one style that probably could work, but I'm trying to *get rid* of the metric sized on my Dodge =) The shank on that also looked a hair larger than what I'm replacing, so that would be 32 holes to enlarge by like 3/64 - and that small a change would just suck to drill.

I also missed the machine shops today, so I'll have to try for that tomorrow, and I forgot to pick up 2-3/4" hole saws for axle brackets, and realized this 15 minutes after the good hardware store closed, and the crappy one had nothing.

Yay wasted days! oh well, I get my best work done at night anyway

[Mr. Mindless]

pulled the rear axle. had to cut the spring mounts apart to get the springs off the frame - bolts completely seized in the bushing sleves.

the spring hangars are riveted to the frame, and the front rivets also are a major player in holding two sections of framerail together (I'd never noticed that the rails were two pieces....). I ground the head off one, and tried BFHing through a punch: didn't move a bit. Then I tried a drill, and that will be *extremely* slow progress. I thought for a minute about just grinding them flat to the frame and ignoring them, but then I realized that I'd then need to poke new holes through a double framrail to mount my spring hangars. I think I'll see about getting those 1/2" buggers drilled out. There's only eight of them. per side. and I'm not sure I can get a drill to the top pair on the front or any of the rear. guess I'll find out, since I can't pound them out.

Didn't get to a machine shop to get the spindles pressed off the knuckles yet.

Forgot to get my pile of hole saws so I can fab things onto the axle tubes.

Where would you guys pick up a full set of bushings for 3" wide leaves? (out of a late model fullsize Bronc, need front, rear, shackle)

Also, I'm looking for ideas to clean out axle tubes....




now for the pictures!
now you see it....

[Mr. Mindless]

now you don't!

[Mr. Mindless]

having tires for an axle makes moving it around a LOT easier. I should get some tires. (too bad I can't AFFORD them right now!)

[Mr. Mindless]

I like axle seals out at the ends of the axle. Where they do some good to keep the axle tube clean. Dana seems to disagree with this philosophy. So what are your bright ideas for cleaning this shit out of the axle tube so I don't push everything that's left back into the diff when it's time to put things together?

This is what came out after I tipped the axle up on end and "thumped" it against the ground a few times. There's definitely still more in there, since I can put my finger in and come back with oily dirt. And that's exactly what it is - oily dirt, with a bit of rust for color and a few pieces of grass for good measure.

[Mr. Mindless]

Like the soot on the C? Check out the torch!

That's what you get when you burn off a full set of ball joints - grease, teflon and all.

Most of it wiped right of, thankfully (not my torch!).

[SolidAxleDurango]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mindless

I like axle seals out at the ends of the axle. Where they do some good to keep the axle tube clean. Dana seems to disagree with this philosophy. So what are your bright ideas for cleaning this shit out of the axle tube so I don't push everything that's left back into the diff when it's time to put things together?

This is what came out after I tipped the axle up on end and "thumped" it against the ground a few times. There's definitely still more in there, since I can put my finger in and come back with oily dirt. And that's exactly what it is - oily dirt, with a bit of rust for color and a few pieces of grass for good measure.

I dunno... I hate that too. I wish someone made a seal like Superior does for the D30. Best you can do is carefully support each end of the shaft as you guide it back into the housing - just be sure not to drag it in the gook. Of course the long side is harder! hehe..