[BabyWrangle]

I'm swapping in either a full width D44 or D60 into the front of my rig soon and I have 2 questions. First, the axle is going to have manual hubs so what do I do with the vacuum lines running to my D30? Should I just cap them off or something? I want to keep my 231 because I have too much invested in it to get rid of it now (Currie SYE and Tera 4:1). Also, what did everyone do for steering? How did the stock steering match up to everything on your donor axle? I want to do a high clearance crossover steering eventually but I'm more concerned about getting it up and running as soon as possible because this is my daily driver and I can't afford to have it down for an extended period of time. Pics of your setups would be great, especially closeups of steering and stuff like that. Any other suggestions for a first time 1 ton axle swapper? I want things to go as smoothly as possible, so can you tell me what problems you ran in to while doing your swap?

 

[Insayn]

I just capped the 2 lines that ran to the axle disconnect and zip tied it out of the way.
I had gathered all the parts for my axle swap and assembled them on the axle. Including the high steer arm, drag link and tie rod. You will still have to worry about drive shaft lengths being correct and alignment.

 

[BabyWrangle]

Yeah my rear shaft shoud be fine because even though I'm putting on lift springs, the nose of the pinion is about 3" longer than my D35 so my rear CV shaft might have to be shortened. I just planned on not running the front one while I took measurements and stuff and then sent onetoncv my order for my new front shaft <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> . I just need to be able to drive the jeep, not too worried about going wheeling right after I get it all done. I'm going to have to measure for the front driveshaft and shocks and then make some brakelines. Oh well it will be worth it. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[BabyWrangle]

Anyone else?

 

[Jakesteramalamajama]

Originally posted by BabyWrangle:
<STRONG>Anyone else?</STRONG>

I did the same as Insayn. Just taped up the fitting real well (where it plugs into the disco assembly on the axle) so it wouldn't suck dust and shite into the intake manifold and then I zip tied it up, outta the way. Incidentally, the little 4WD light on the dash even still comes on when the 231 is shifted. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

As for your other question, I can't help you as much because mine's a Waggy axle, not a full-width so it came with crossover steering from the factory and I just used all the Waggy components. FWIW, the only problems I have is a dropped pitman arm hitting the tie rod during heavy articulation (SUA).

HTH,
Jake Harsha
Hunt Technologies
Pequot Lakes, MN

 

[Flip1YJ]

I'm guessing that you are going fullsize for strength for larger tires(38's maybe?) my thoughts would be to get rid of the NP231 before you grenade it, and cut your losses on the parts invested. Pick up a NP241 out of a full size, or go Atlas.

 

[DE Jeeper]

If you want to get rid of the vacuum lines all together get the 4WD sensor and wires from the t-case of a non-discoed XJ. It has 2 wires coming off it. One goes to ground the other connects to the wire that goes into the electro/neumatic sensor on the fire wall. This way your light still works and you have eliminated the plastic tubes.

 

[BabyWrangle]

Originally posted by Flip1YJ:
<STRONG>I'm guessing that you are going fullsize for strength for larger tires(38's maybe?) my thoughts would be to get rid of the NP231 before you grenade it, and cut your losses on the parts invested. Pick up a NP241 out of a full size, or go Atlas.</STRONG>

Well as of now I am running the awesome 4 cylinder <IMG SRC="smilies/rolleyes.gif" border="0"> so I don't think power is going to be an issue with breaking stuff. And yes, I'm going to run 39.5" Boggers offroad (possibly a set of road tires if I can find space to store them) but I don't think it will be too much problem with 85:1 gearing (stock tranny, 4:1, 5.13s). If I break it then I'll cut my losses and part out what I can and cough up the dough for an atlas 2. I'm easy on the gas and basically I let my YJ idle over stuff so its not like there's alot of stress from me gassing it all the time. Hell I am rougher on it while driving on the road then on the trail. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">