To Taper Bearing Intermediate Shaft Or To Not - This Is My Query

Drivetrain parts are coming in hard and fast. Assembly is happening whenever I can get away after work. I've moved from the T18 work to focus on the Dana 18. I have a large bore 18 and it leaks like a faucet. I'd like to change things. Its pretty quiet - maybe a lil hum going down the road but doesn't bother me. Should I just do a standard intermediate shaft or go with the Advance Adapters taper bearings and have my gear machined? This is one of multiple vehicles for me and by no means a daily driver. I'll wheel it but nothing crazy. Ultimate stats on the Jeep will be 33x10.50 tires, a rear locker, T18 transmission, and of course the Dana 18 transfer case. So...what would you do?

 

Unless you plan to put a few thousand miles a year on it or plan on having it for thirty years, just go with a good quality new shaft.

 

I forgot to mention price differences if that helps anyone decide for me. The Advance Adapters kit comes to about $145 shipped. The Novak center shaft kit comes to $98 plus shipping. So effectively the same price. The machining doesn't cost me anything. This is gonna keep me awake tonight if I don't place my order before midnight! Help! lol

 

What Daryl said is my recommendation. I have had both and I am currently running the AA unit. The new transfer case that is being built is getting an AA unit for the terra lows. During the summer I often will run a couple hours of freeway driving @ 65-70 to get to our camping areas. The stock setup ran noticeably hotter than the AA shaft. I put almost 5,000 mi on my jeep last year.
If your just tootling around back roads, town traffic and no long highway drives I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Are the gears available already machined?

 

Yes, Herm has them ready to go.

 

When I did mine, I couldn't find a machinist in this city who could do it. I even tried machinists who do prototype and aerospace work. I wound up having Mcruff do mine, he did his usual excellent work but shipping to and from Alabama added a lot to my down time.
If you go with the standard setup get the one from Novak I think they have the only decent one available.

 

What part of Alabama is Mcruff from? Because I am right outside Birmingham.

 

I don't remember but you can PM him he's a member here.

 

Thanks for the input folks. Closest trails are about 2 hours from me which I doubt would put a hamper on the stock setup. Since the prices are so close I'll probably go with AA but jury is still out. Might wait to pull it apart and see how the shaft looks - if its not scored or heat marked it might just go right back in.

 

Albertville just south of lake Guntersville.

 

I live in McCalla not far from Tannehill ironworks

 

I drive mine every day. When it had a Dana 18, I would have to change the shaft about once a year. Southern Cal. freeway speeds probably killed most of the shafts. I would not use a plain shaft again if I had a Dana 18

 

Yes, but what's the quality of the gear ?
Off shore junk ?

 

So it sounds like finding a new old stock gear and having it machined locally will be the best bet.

 

I think so. I'll be using the stock gear I pull. I don't believe all the indian parts are bad but certainly they can't be American grade. I'd stick with an NOS or seasoned original gear.

 

He sells about 10 transmissions/ transfer cases a week. Pretty much every gearbox listed on the internet from all of the big name Jeep suppliers are being drop shipped from him. If there were real problems with the gears that he has been sourcing over the last ten years it would have been caught by now. We only see horror stories posted online, nothing about the 95% plus success rate stories though. Remember that many of the problems that you see posted online are by people that are not qualified to change out their own wiper blades much less install an overdrive. I have personally seen forum members flame him only to find out later that they were indeed the person that screwed it up and of course never went back to later post that they screwed up. Nothing is perfect in this world but sourcing NOS parts for projects is getting difficult if not impossible at times and isn't an option for most.

 

I visited Herm at his shop two weeks ago. Met the whole family, talked for 3 hours. I was shocked at how much stuff he sells out of that little shop. After fighting it for 3 years, I took my problem overdrive to him fully expecting him to say that I had messed it up/ run it low on oil. He tore it down and found a miss manufactured part and offered to rebuild it for free. I am going another route so I instead got in shop credit. With the amount of products he personally builds and sells I can see how things can get overlooked in a one man shop.
I have been very frustrated in the past with him, but now I understand the problems we had and I appreciate his willingness to work with me after I used the product for 3 years.

 

As someone who puts a number of miles on my CJ6 every year, I'd recommend the AA kit. McRuff did my machining. It made the case quieter and seems cooler.

 

HTOD Guy recommended not doing the AA conversion if I didn't drive my CJ6 much. I would do it for the simple reason of the extreme variation in quality of new parts available for D 18/20's. If you buy new parts and you run a file across the shaft and it cuts metal, don't use it. YMMV Good luck!