Jeepster and Trail Forge Sport Bar

I thought I would give you guys an update on the Jeepster. I recently finished the installation of the Trail Forge Sport Bar in my Jeepster. The installation was fairly easy and required only minimal fitment at the weld joints.

I blew up the rear end in it, and against popular thought I rebuilt the Dana 30. I kind of wanted to keep it some what original. I installed Yukon gears, new bearings, and a Detroit True Trac. If anyone ever does this work there are some things you need to know. The True Trac for the Dana 30's is designed to be used in the front end, but they do make a racing set up for the rear end of Volvo's which will work. It comes with preload in it to allow use in the rear end. But, it does not have any type of thrust block. Which I was not told, but after I figured this out I already had the ring and pinion installed on it and the unit installed in the rear end so I had to adapt and over come. I had a 3/4" dia x 1.507" long piece of stainless made. We drilled a 1/2" diameter hole in the end of the right axle shaft and used a .002" press fit for the new thrust block and pressed it in the axle shaft to use as a thrust block for indexing the bearings. It seems to be working fine and it allowed the bearings to be set properly. All things considered if I had been told this by Randy's Ring and Pinion initially I would have probably found a D44 and went that route, but..............

Any way I have included some pictures of the Jeepster I hope you enjoy them. I have restored and rebuilt many vehicles over the last few years, and sold most of them. My wife tells me its not the kill but the thrill of the chase and when I'm done I need to do something else. The Jeepster though has found a special place in my heart and it is fun to keep tweaking it here and there.

 

looks like it came right off the lineexcept for the bar, but still really nice job.

 

Nice!!!!

 

Cage looks good. Was that a kit you ordered or is that your original design? I'd like to do something similar for my '72.

 

The bar came from Trail Forge. It is their Sport Bar kit.