birfield or longfield? help please!

[BigValveTurbo]

ok so i pulled my front axels in my 77 fj40
and i foulnd axels that are about 3/16 of an inch thicker than the stock spares the guy gave me with the rig. also they are about 1/2 inch longer and have way more splines on the hub end ,about thirty with out counting them..the stocks have 6-8...sorry no pics i cant find the cable to my digital...

help! what kinda axels are these?

[woody]

your old birfs are 1975-older coarse spline birfs from a drum front axle

the ones you received "new" are 76-newer fine spline birfs....depending on the measurements, they could either be 76-78 fine spline or 79+ fine splines (yes, there are minor differences)

how the hell you got shafted with 6-spline birfs in a 77 cruiser is beyond me, but it's possible the idiot PO installed a drum front axle in there (I've seen dumber)

Your old birfs make great paperweights....

[BigValveTurbo]

no no the fine spline were in the rig and the course spline were in an extra set of axels that came with the rig...

[woody]

aaaahhhh....the coarses are yer bookends then...

76-78 birfields are ~3/16" longer in the shaft, and ~1/16" thinner across the flat portion of the bell.

79+ birfs (cruiser and minitruck) are all identical, and can be used in a 76-78 housing with some tweaks....take your 4" angle gringer to the fish-mouth opening of the axle housing (NOT the knuckle and NOT the birf) and after a few seconds top and bottom, the later birfs will slip in there. Make sure you stuff rags all around to catch the grindage, and also stuff one inside the inner seal.

When you reinstall the spindle/hub, you'll notice that the birf no longer extends thru the lockout, but sits flush. You'll need a metric bolt and a fender washer here, rather than the square-clip that was used stock.

[65SWB45]

birfield or longfield?

The way these pirate guys feel about coarse birfs, the only way those could be associated with a longfield is when you find a 'long' field to play lawn darts with them!

We could even have a birfield lawn-dart tournament at Surf-n-turf












with metal detectors!

[peesalot]

not so Mark , I am sendin some cores to bobby right now to have em bobbified.
So drum long's are comin.. I am gonna try and get several sets together so if you might be interested in tryin em out just pm me.

[65SWB45]

Originally Posted by peesalot

not so Mark , I am sendin some cores to bobby right now to have em bobbified.
So drum long's are comin.. I am gonna try and get several sets together so if you might be interested in tryin em out just pm me.

Thanks John, but to borrow one of my favorite terms I've learned on Pirate, that's called polishing a turd!

While I am not thrilled with the breakage rate of coarse birfs, or the fact that I've gone thru eight of them, I am in favor of leaving well enough alone. I consider it engineering the weak link. I would much rather fish the guts of a grenaded coarse birf out of my knuckle than figure out how to get a broken inner axle shaft out that broke on the trail! And I'm not planning to upgrade the inners either.

No offense to Nolen, but his article on longs and pigs vs Dana completely bypassed what we can refer to as my plan C [as in Coarse]:












KISS!



And as for my original suggestion of birf lawn darts at Surf N Turf, I figure you and I could split up the donated 'darts' after the tournament to carry for free trail handouts!

[woody]

Actually, Mark, that axle writeup went thru the wringer on Saturday and passed with flying colors...I wedged the left front tire so hard under a rock that something important had to give...

interestingly, it was the front output SHAFT of the transfer case that split....looks JUST like a busted pinion (which, BTW, I'm quite good at....)

For you Orion builders who think you needed a stronger case and perhaps even that bling billet t-case nose cone, I'd consider a cryo-job on at least the front output shaft...

[peesalot]

Mark , it is not polishing a turd cause it is getting the most outa what you got. I have extra inners that I'm going to martac so changing birf's and fishing inners will be easier. Do you really think the drum birf's modified will snap inners and have me callin pig ? If enough people feel that they will that have experience with longs then maybe I will just run the turd's. KISS ,
Mark , always a cold dose of reality , sending license light money today.

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Hey PeesAlot.. I'd carry a piece of welding rod with ya just in case?.. Attach it to a battery clamp to fish out the inner axle that broke.. The martack won't really help all that much if the splines twist locking the shaft into the diff or birf..
Probably only needed if you run a front locker tho. Or turn hard in reverse!
Just an idea..

[peesalot]

I try to carry birfs and inners so unless its stuck in the third , which I gots me a spare all loaded with arb , I can fix on trail and do the hard stuff on the workbench. My idea is to carry stuff so I can replace broken shit. I just have not changed a pinion yet so I carry the whole third.

[4x4Poet]

Originally Posted by peesalot

I try to carry birfs and inners so unless its stuck in the third , which I gots me a spare all loaded with arb , I can fix on trail and do the hard stuff on the workbench. My idea is to carry stuff so I can replace broken shit. I just have not changed a pinion yet so I carry the whole third.

You carry a spare third with an ARB installed Now that's investing in four wheeling!

You gots me envious.

Walt<><