Gary Lewis Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Yep, tapped them there too. And actually I drilled them out to just over 3/8" ID about 2" deep from one end, then drilled and tapped them for 3/8-16 for the remaining 1" from the other end. I don't need a 3" long nut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Chilling the shaft could help with the install. But as I'm putting it in and out trying to get the pinion depth right I don't see any way to chill it while it'a assembled in the axle. And I could play a torch on the bearing to heat it while it's in the axle, but that seems like a risky move too, especially if I need to get very far with it. Honestly this part of the project has me really discouraged. So yes, it was good to make some visible progress! I seem to recall when I was rebuilding a 10.25" Sterling for a friend, in the installation kit was the option for an "assembly bearing" an outer pinion bearing that was clearanced to a slip fit on the pinion shaft to be used while setting the pinion depth and roughing the preload once the gear pattern looked good. Once I had a good pattern and the pinion depth shims were securely in place, I used it once more to get the crush sleeve mostly collapsed. I then removed the "assembly bearing" and put the new outer pinion bearing on and finished the preload setting using the old nut which I had cut the upset threads out of to get my bearing preload (just a few inch-lbs) then took the yoke back off with a puller, installed the new seal and yoke (old one had a lot of pitting where the U-joint caps go) and the new nut. Got it properly torqued and then set up the ring gear preload. Give me a 9" any day over one of these! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted July 11, 2022 Author Share Posted July 11, 2022 I seem to recall when I was rebuilding a 10.25" Sterling for a friend, in the installation kit was the option for an "assembly bearing" an outer pinion bearing that was clearanced to a slip fit on the pinion shaft to be used while setting the pinion depth and roughing the preload once the gear pattern looked good. Once I had a good pattern and the pinion depth shims were securely in place, I used it once more to get the crush sleeve mostly collapsed. I then removed the "assembly bearing" and put the new outer pinion bearing on and finished the preload setting using the old nut which I had cut the upset threads out of to get my bearing preload (just a few inch-lbs) then took the yoke back off with a puller, installed the new seal and yoke (old one had a lot of pitting where the U-joint caps go) and the new nut. Got it properly torqued and then set up the ring gear preload. Give me a 9" any day over one of these! I used setup bearings when I installed the OX in my original Dana 44 a few years ago. They were definitely easier to get on and off while figuring out the shims. Then after I had good backlash, a good pattern and good preload I used the same shims and pressed the "real" bearing on. And I wasn't even close. I had no preload and tons of backlash. I didn't even bother to check the pattern. I had to make a bearing puller to get the bearings off to try again, and that worked so well that I decided that on this go-around I'd just start with my "real" bearings on the carrier. Last time I didn't need to touch the pinion, so I didn't have any experience there. But from what I've seen on the internet and what I saw when I took the pinion out of this axle was that the inner shims are behind the inner race, so that needs to be pressed in and out to iterate shim thickness. So I made tools to carefully and easily press that race in and out. The Dana 44 (or at least this one) doesn't use a crush sleeve, it has preload shims. Those shims go on inside the outer bearing. And to adjust pinion height (which affects gear mesh) you need to take the pinion shaft all the way out to drive out the inner race to change shims there. So the outer bearing needs to come out to change shims in either location. From what (little) I've seen, this bearing just slips on and off, so there's no need for a setup bearing. But mine has a .0008" press. And the only way to get it off is to pound on the threaded end of the pinion shaft, which pounds the inner bearing into its race. That will get the bearing off, but it will wreck the bearing and race, and possibly the pinion shaft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted July 13, 2022 Author Share Posted July 13, 2022 I tried tapping the bearing on the pinion shaft. I guess you could say that it worked, if you consider taking full swings with a 32 oz ball peen hammer "tapping." There's no way I'm putting it together like this, I wouldn't be able to disassemble it without wrecking the bearing. At this point I can't imagine that Yukon is going to be able (or willing) to provide me with anything that will work well, so I think I'm back to the plan of making the parts I have fit. The good thing is now that it's only .0008" of steel to remove instead of .0023" I think I can do it with sandpaper, which will make chucking it in the lathe easier (since I don't need to worry about how a cutting tool will reach in) and give less chance of introducing runout. As to progress, I did make a little. Last week I made some "weld nuts" by drilling and tapping 3" long pieces of 3/4" round stock. Yesterday I drilled 3/4" holes in both sides of the frame to weld two of these in each frame rail (the round stock is welded to both the inner and outer side of the frame rail). These will be the mounting points for the skid plate. Anyway, today I welded them in and ground down all of the welds that were going to be in the way. Then I put a little paint on the bare spots and called it good for the weekend. Once the paint is dry I'll be ready to put the transfer case back in for the last time and start hooking up shift linkages (or at least seeing how hard it will be to do that with everything up higher!) Tonight I got the transfer case in for the last time! I didn't get any pictures, but if you look back a couple pages you can see where it was in for the second-to-the-last time. It looks much the same now, but with the trans crossmember painted and all of the bolts in and tight! Seriously, I forgot and put everything away before washing my hands, then didn't want to dig my way back under to get pictures. I'll try to get some the next time I'm working on it. Next step is the transfer case shift linkage. With the t.case up higher I don't know if I'm going to have any clearance problems there. I'm betting that if there are I'll be able to resolve them without lowering the transfer case again! But I'll find out for sure in a day or two. And removing the pressure of getting this done before our trip next week has made it a lot more fun again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted July 13, 2022 Share Posted July 13, 2022 Tonight I got the transfer case in for the last time! I didn't get any pictures, but if you look back a couple pages you can see where it was in for the second-to-the-last time. It looks much the same now, but with the trans crossmember painted and all of the bolts in and tight! Seriously, I forgot and put everything away before washing my hands, then didn't want to dig my way back under to get pictures. I'll try to get some the next time I'm working on it. Next step is the transfer case shift linkage. With the t.case up higher I don't know if I'm going to have any clearance problems there. I'm betting that if there are I'll be able to resolve them without lowering the transfer case again! But I'll find out for sure in a day or two. And removing the pressure of getting this done before our trip next week has made it a lot more fun again! I'm glad that removing the pressure is making it fun again. That's the whole idea! And I'm glad you have the t-case in and tightened down. I'll bet the link will be easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted July 14, 2022 Author Share Posted July 14, 2022 I'm glad that removing the pressure is making it fun again. That's the whole idea! And I'm glad you have the t-case in and tightened down. I'll bet the link will be easy. Here are the promised pictures of the installed transfer case. I'm happy with all of that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted July 14, 2022 Author Share Posted July 14, 2022 Here are the promised pictures of the installed transfer case. I'm happy with all of that! I'm a little less happy with the top side, where the shifters are. It'll work out OK in the end, but it'll be a little more fussing around. Here's a picture from the top where you can see how CLOSE the case is to the floor. It's not actually touching, but there's well under 1/8" clearance. But "close" isn't a problem, "past" is where it gets troublesome. Here's a pic with the cover set in place. I've already cut out the center section so the "tower" can come up through the floor (it used to be below the floor). Now I'm "gonna have to get crafty on it" to figure out how to get boots there to stop hot air and road spray from coming through. I think I'll end up making a sheetmetal box to cover it up to the top of the tower and put a boot on top of that. But I'll have to see how that works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Here are the promised pictures of the installed transfer case. I'm happy with all of that! Wow Bob, you've done a great job getting that TC up out of the way! The cross member looks good too. Do you think you might be better off just creating a new tunnel (or using a repop to extend the existing?) I've seen that Ron (Reamer) built an entire early Bronco from parts, and it looks fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted July 14, 2022 Author Share Posted July 14, 2022 Wow Bob, you've done a great job getting that TC up out of the way! The cross member looks good too. Do you think you might be better off just creating a new tunnel (or using a repop to extend the existing?) I've seen that Ron (Reamer) built an entire early Bronco from parts, and it looks fantastic. Thanks! I am very pleasantly surprised how high I was able to get it. Doing something to replace the entire tunnel like you suggest would likely be a cleaner look in the end. But I think it'd be more work. And this Bronco is no showpiece, so I'm good with quicker rater than nicer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted July 14, 2022 Share Posted July 14, 2022 Thanks! I am very pleasantly surprised how high I was able to get it. Doing something to replace the entire tunnel like you suggest would likely be a cleaner look in the end. But I think it'd be more work. And this Bronco is no showpiece, so I'm good with quicker rater than nicer. I was just thinking of how to get a bit more clearance for the TC and providing some kind of raised plane so you could attach a shift boot. Though I don't know about the boot you might need for your twin stick setup. It seems there are no compound curves, just simple folds. Looking forward to whatever you figure out. Progress is good!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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