D30 Upgrade

Looks Good from here..........

 

Thanks for all of your help and insight!

 

Were you able to find steel shims. All of the aluminum ones I used in the past broke at the center pin.

 

Yes, I picked up a set of Rubicon Express steel 4 degree shims. I hope to have them by Fri or Sat.

 

Shims are supposed to be here tomorrow. Hopefully I can get them installed Sat or Sun and try it out again. Correcting the toe in helped a bunch but it still wanders a bit. I'll install the shims and check toe in again.

 

I've thought about toe-in quite a bit over the years. It makes sense to me that the larger the tire diameter the more toe-in you need. If you consider the diameter of the stock tires in relation to 33" tires it seems to me that if you just extend that 1/8' toe for say a 28 or 29" tire out to fit a 33" you would have a lot more toe-in at the outside of the tire diameter. But I could be wrong.

 

The shims showed up today. Quality product but I mistakenly ordered 2 1/4" wide for the 1979 axle. I used my high speed to take 3/8" off each side and they fit perfectly. I had to make longer leaf spring pins also.
Anyway, I am now at 5 degrees positive. I did not get a chance to drive it yet.
I did find a loose wheel hub that may have been contributing to it wandering.
I'll check toe in hopefully tomorrow afternoon. Posimoto makes a good point above, I'll try to keep it close to 1/8. I found a write up a long time back about setting toe in. Mark both tires with a chalk line around the entire tire. Use the chalk line for measuring.
Drive line angle looks just fine. I'll get a pic tomorrow.

 

Finally finished. The shims definitely helped. It drives much better now and the wandering is almost gone. I need to check the toe in again. After the shims were added it was at about 3/4". I set it close to 1/8" and will drive it some more and check again.
Pic of pinion angle with shims. No worries!

 

I forgot to mention that I need to get out and try it in the dirt and rocks. I am really interested in how the ARB will work. I have never owned a selectable locker. Also looking forward to seeing the difference in the turning radius vs. the D27. This took much longer than I anticipated but I wasn't really in a hurry. The cost was a little more than I had budgeted but I also found some great deals (ARB, gears). After I take it for a test run I'll update again.

 

Looks Good.......

 

Finally took it out today. Toe in set close to 1/8" and it drives much better. The wandering is pretty much gone. Now to try out the ARB.

 

I finally got out this past weekend to try this out in the dirt. I had a couple of issues and one observation.
I really like the ARB selectable locker. Only use it when you need it, although it gives you more confidence to try things you may not have before. (good/bad?)
Issues:

• After playing around in some rocks for an hour or so and then a steep twisty hill climb we were cruising down the back side of the hill and the front driveshaft came out at the diff. I was able to stop quickly and had no major damage. The 2 cups in the diff side came off and the driveshaft fell out. I was able to strap it up and get back to my tow rig. I replaced the caps and drove it the rest of the day, no problems. I am getting older and may have forgotten to tighten the u-bolts or some needle bearings fell out when it was apart. Doubtful though since I do not remember them ever being off. Ill watch it and see.
• I found out that I can turn much tighter left than right. Possibly 50% tighter. I went to the local school parking lot after and tried both directions. Left I can u turn in 3 parking spots, right takes 6. I get almost 2 full turns of the wheel left and only about 1 1/2 right. It is possible that it has been this way forever and I am just noticing with the D30. Is it possible the pitman arm is not properly set up on? What else should I look for?
• When I was towing to the park I would get a bit or side to side movement from the Jeep, on the way home I had none. Maybe things broke in?

Overall very happy with the upgrade. I have the best brakes I have had in 22 years of ownership and the locker worked great. We only stayed about 4 hours. It was 93 when we left around 1pm, just getting too darn hot.

 

That's awesome!

Your steering sounds like the pitman arm setup. Take it off and turn the wheel a 1/4 rotation to the right, then put it back on.

I got some of my first drives on mine this last week, and ohhh man you aint kiddin, the big front discs are a huge diff. So much so I was finally motivated to fix my seat bracket lol.

Sucks about the joint/shaft. Prolly hand tightened it, and forgot about it (BTDT too lol).

 

The steering gear has to be centered...............before anything thing else takes place..........3-3.5 turns either left or right is about average..............then the Pittman arm has to go on centered L/R in the middle of that travel normally parallel to the chassis or dead straight ahead or probably in your case facing rear........in some pittman arms you have to file another grove in the key to get there..............once centered then the spindles need to be straight ahead then adjust the drag-link...

 

One thing to look out for is the front diff cover. My steering isnt a true 50/50 either since I'd rub my diff cover if I went full lock to one side (right I think).

 

II suppose you have a Saginaw box mounted ???
Manual or Power ?
Jeep box or other ?
Many of the boxes have predetermined indexing for the pitman shaft.
You may need to customize (file) the pitman splines so you can re-index the pitman to the shaft ???

 

You may also want to check the knuckle stop. It's a bolt on the back side of the housing which restricts the knuckle travel when turning. Usually adjusted to prevent tire rub on springs when turning.

 

Thanks for all the great replies, I love this forum!!!

Probably true. I am getting older and my meds for auto immune can cause memory loss. When I fixed it Sat. I had to use a bar to hold the drive shaft from moving, hubs unlocked. I don't remember doing this before.

Power Saginaw steering, pitman facing rear. This was my first thought so I will be looking into this.

I did not check this but will soon. One thing did happen when it was really twisted up (3 wheels on the ground in some deep ruts) the steering would "lock up" and I had to jerk the wheel to unlock. Definitely rubbing on something.

Saginaw power. PO did the conversion but it is a good set up. This may be my next step.

I did check this in the school parking lot. Neither side is coming anywhere near the knuckle stop.

 

Sounds to me like the length of the pitman arm may possibly be an issue.
Short pitman arm on a Saginaw power system will oft be too short to allow the R/L sweep that is required.
And this also depends on excactly where the power box is located.
You have to locate the power and or manual boxes far enough away from the tie rod so you can use correct length pitman that provides full sweep needed. Got that ?
So just how long is your pitman arm ?
Should we assume perhaps you have a Jeep version of the Saginaw 800 box.
The Jeep Saginaw 800 boxes were clearly embossed with "76" .

 

Good info above and completely makes sense. I'll look for a 76 and measure the length when I get a chance.