4 Wheel Disc and Rear D44 Full Float Conversion Writeup

The brackets you re-drilled look good. You are right on about the studs for the hubs. One thing about using all thread. If you look at the stud holes in the hub you can see that they are back bored for the collar on a standard stud. It's been my experience that the back bore is what causes the bolts to come loose. It allows for some wiggle at the outer end of the bolt. It might be that all thread will work loose just like bolts do. I used studs that were coarse thread on the hub end and fine thread on the outside for the nuts. Since you already made them up, I'd say use them and keep an eye on them. If they stay tight you're good to go. If not, switch to studs.

 

Cool - thanks, Posi.

 

Well, I am back at it today - finally have a little time to work on the Jeep. Thsi is what it looks like outside today, so I pulled her in the garage. This will force me to get this done, as I am in my wife's parking spot!



As a side note, my clutch quit dis-engaging ... it is a cable clutch (that I think one of the PO's hacked in), so I am going to investigate either a AA chain setup or a Novak or Partsmike Hydraulic setup.

Anyways, here we go. Decided to start with the rear.



Pin came out and nut loosened up no problem. Out came the MONGO hub puller.



After tightening up and wailing, and I mean WAILING on this bad boy with a sledge, I was just standing there scratching my head drinking my soda, and pop ... she came loose.

Looks pretty clean in there ...



Take the six nuts off, and disconnect the brake line. Brakes/backing plate comes off, with a bunch o' shims.

Put the drum back on, put the axle nut on a few turns, yank the drum 4-5 times (using it as a slide hammer), and the axle and bearing come out.



Use a seal puller to yank the axle seal out of the housing tube. Wipe up the grease.

Time for some scraping.



Also time to decide ... to put the outer seal in or not. That is the question. I am leaning towards leaving it out.

More later.

 

Rocky, how much wedge (degrees) did you have to put in to get the caster right? Would you start with none and then get it measured at a shop or go ahead and put some in to start with?

 

I was ~1* so I put in 4* wedges. The spec is 5-7 so I should be in spec. I know the steering is what I would call normal now. While I wouldn't swear by it, I think most start w/ ~1* when they swap in the D30. I would've gone w/ 5* wedges if I could've found some (I was in a hurry). I think Mike Mcruff will make you a set of 5s. Give him a PM.:v6:

edit: I just noticed you're working on a D27. The above statements are for a D30. My 27 didn't require as much, so you might want to have it checked first.

 

I'm swapping in a D30 ... so that's why I need the shims. I'll talk to Mike.

 

I decided to leave the seals out. We'll see how that works.

Flange cleaned up and axle in:



Put a thin bead of RTV on the back of the spindle (in the corner of where the flange on the spindle meets the machined part that sticks into the axle housing). Mounted up the spindle - tight fit. Put the spindle mounting bolts back in from the back and put the disc brake bracket on.



Used grade 8 nylock nuts torqued to 40 lb-ft to hold everything together.



Next up - welding the brake line tabs onto the axle. I suppose I am going to weld the tab on like this - vertical from the axle, so the hard line will come into it from the front, and the flexible line will exit from the back of the tab and curl around to the caliper.



QUESTION: I used the original bolts/studs for attaching the spindle and brake bracket - are these strong enough? I supposed they will be stressed a lot more than with the original semi-floating tapered axle. If I need to swap those out, now is the time.

 

OK - no responses to my question. Leaving the original studs in ... hope they are OK!

Greased up the bearings, mounted up the rotor/hub:



Welded on the brake line tab:



Loaded the brake pads in and mounted up the Caliper:



Looks like it fits good!

So far the worst part of this whole job is greasing the bearings.

 

Warn hub on, all ready to go:



Wheel on - here's the test ... give it a spin (by hand):



Spins good ... OOPS! It stopped. Well, it appears my wheel clears the caliper, but the WHEEL WEIGHT put on there for balancing does not clear. This is either a trip to the tire store or buying 1.5" spacers that I was thinking about anyways to make the rear track match the front D30 I'm puttin' in. I think it needs more pondering.

 

Thanks! I went ahead about bought some 1.5" spacers off of epay.

Meanwhile, I'll go ahead and get the other side done so I can move on to the front. Wife is getting ancy about her parking space in the garage ...

 

Troy,
Can you tell me the pro's/cons of leaving that seal out? I am at that point in my 25 build and one side had a seal and the other didnt. Thanks

 

I think you want the seals on a D25 ... They are in the center, just outside the diff on each side.

The seals I was talking about were the ones inside the ends of the axle housing on my rear D44 axle.

 

Pro's of leaving them in:
Oil doesn't mix with the grease in the hubs so less chance of a leak at the locking hub.
Less mess when re-packing the bearings.

Con's of leaving them in:
Bearings run cooler and last longer
Locking hubs stay lubed better so the bearing/bushing the gear rides on lasts much longer.

It's a preference call on this. I don't run them myself but it's just a preference on my part.

 

Plus depending on where and how you 'wheel, the seals will help to keep the innards of the axles cleaner from mud and water.

 

Looks great!!

TimD

 

Well, apparently, two of the hubs I mounted to the rotors / pressed studs through are old D25 hubs. Bearings and seals won't fit. I'll be pressing the studs out and figuring out what to do. Maybe when I take the existing hubs off of my D27 I can use them. Meanwhile, I'm finishing up the back.

 

I noticed on Partsmikes site that he has the cj rotors and hubs for only 99. That might be what you need. They are already assembled with studs.

 

In case you haven't determined by now, I work slow.

Got my spacers in - these will alleviate the clearance issue on the rears and also make my rear same width as the D30 front I'm putting in. I will have to get the weights moved to the inside rim face or something to get clearance on the front and/or if I ever want to rotate my tires.




Started taking my front axle apart. The actual axles themselves look good - I'm gonna save them and other parts to put in my D25 on my M38A1. Also, I'm gonna clean up these hubs and see if they are usable with the D30 or do I need to get the backs machined for the rotors. I got my press in (bought this one for $148 shipped to my door with press plates: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...n&item=320467458150&view=all&tid=488204451011) so I can now press studs and other stuff.




As part of this project, I am also doing Herm's Dual MC. I went ahead and pulled off the old MC today. It's gonna take some work and grinding to get the new Herm bracket in there.




I am also doing Herm's reverse Ford Saginaw conversion, so I'll be removing the old steering box as well. I think I will disconnect it, lower it down to the floor, cut the column off of the steering box, and then take the column out through the cab.

The more I work on this Jeep, the more I see where the PO hacked things (bolt missing from Steering box, one bolt missing from trans-trans adapter, one both missing from motor mount, hacked fuel lines and wiring, hacked clutch linkage, hacked reverse light switch, I could go on ...). Somewhat discouraging. But I keep reminding myself this is a 44 year old vehicle.

More later. Please respond with comments and/or suggestions if you see something I could do better.