I looked around and got a lot of varied opinions on this. Having picked up a 23 spline AW4 and D300 I decided to jump in. I have no pics but this is all pretty self explanatory. This is going on a NON-flipped application. Non-clocked.
#1 remove D300 input bearing retainer and disassemble. Go get a 6209 bearing with seals on both sides part numbers vary, 6209-dd should work.
Hang the bearing retainer on a lathe (I used an Aamco brake lathe) and turn off the stock seal retainer area. Basically the part will become flat with no protrusion.
#2 sight down the back of the trans. Mark a line on the output shaft where it sticks out past the t-case adapter. Remove t-case adapter, protect openings WELL with rags, cut off shaft to achieve zero stickout. I used an air cutoff wheel.
#3 look at the rear of the removed tcase adapter. You will need to remove about 1/4 inch of the bolt hole at the bottom right of the adapter, and use a correspondingly shorter bolt. Otherwise the Dana 300 shifter housing's base will hit the transmission here. Moving the bolt inward fixes the problem.
Lastly- you will need to make a spacer plate. The problem is the input gear on the D300 has an angle past the stock seal area. Without the 1/4 spacer plate the increased radius will end up pushed into the seal, not good. Other option- you could probably machine out the seal stopper in the AW4 tcase adapter so the seal doesn't bottom out, and instead push the seal forward another 1/4 inch.
One other thing. The aw4 speed sensor does not clear the input gear of the 300, it hits the OD. Mine is going in a trail buggy xj, so I'm not too upset about it. I did take a pair of side cutters and nip the end of the sensor off instead of filling the hole with silicone. Who knows, maybe it'll still work? The speedo will still drive off the tcase of course, but I don't know what the trans will do without the input. Oddly the speed sensor sits to the rear of the speed sender, not right next to it, maybe it could be relocated ??
This is not completely finished- I need to cut out the 1/4 spacer plate tonight and make sure it snugs down, but it should give *just* enough clearance.
One other possible caveat, in passenger drop non-clocked configuration the front output yoke is pretty tight to the trans. I don't even think you could go bigger than a 1310 yoke. Depending on lift height, high or low pinion diff, the driveline might get reallly close to the rear trans cooler line.
#1 remove D300 input bearing retainer and disassemble. Go get a 6209 bearing with seals on both sides part numbers vary, 6209-dd should work.
Hang the bearing retainer on a lathe (I used an Aamco brake lathe) and turn off the stock seal retainer area. Basically the part will become flat with no protrusion.
#2 sight down the back of the trans. Mark a line on the output shaft where it sticks out past the t-case adapter. Remove t-case adapter, protect openings WELL with rags, cut off shaft to achieve zero stickout. I used an air cutoff wheel.
#3 look at the rear of the removed tcase adapter. You will need to remove about 1/4 inch of the bolt hole at the bottom right of the adapter, and use a correspondingly shorter bolt. Otherwise the Dana 300 shifter housing's base will hit the transmission here. Moving the bolt inward fixes the problem.
Lastly- you will need to make a spacer plate. The problem is the input gear on the D300 has an angle past the stock seal area. Without the 1/4 spacer plate the increased radius will end up pushed into the seal, not good. Other option- you could probably machine out the seal stopper in the AW4 tcase adapter so the seal doesn't bottom out, and instead push the seal forward another 1/4 inch.
One other thing. The aw4 speed sensor does not clear the input gear of the 300, it hits the OD. Mine is going in a trail buggy xj, so I'm not too upset about it. I did take a pair of side cutters and nip the end of the sensor off instead of filling the hole with silicone. Who knows, maybe it'll still work? The speedo will still drive off the tcase of course, but I don't know what the trans will do without the input. Oddly the speed sensor sits to the rear of the speed sender, not right next to it, maybe it could be relocated ??
This is not completely finished- I need to cut out the 1/4 spacer plate tonight and make sure it snugs down, but it should give *just* enough clearance.
One other possible caveat, in passenger drop non-clocked configuration the front output yoke is pretty tight to the trans. I don't even think you could go bigger than a 1310 yoke. Depending on lift height, high or low pinion diff, the driveline might get reallly close to the rear trans cooler line.