Got my torque wrench and gave the pinion a spin last night. Fully assembled with oil seal and it read I guess...1 in-lb So I guess I'll have to tighten that up a little bit.

 

ummm yeah.

 

Hopefully and educated guess on the crush eliminator length vs the current crush sleeve gets me a good number on my first shot....a guy can dream cant he

 

No pictures to add but just felt like updating this post. Been working hard on the axles.

14 bolt is pretty much wrapped up for now: new seals, all the bearings looked good so I'm going to reuse them, reset the gears (pattern sucks but is what it is for used gears), Yukon grizzly locker, disc brake conversion, new upper link brackets that better match the theme of the build, had to modify the Barnes 4WD diff cover, shaved the housing....and then desided I wasnt comfortable with how thin the housing got so I fab'd up a skid plate that smooths out the bottom and added back some thickness.

05+ front 60 I pulled everything from the diff, all the bearings, races, seals, etc. Pulled the 4.10 pinion and ring gear from my mid-80s 60 and working on getting them prepped to go in the 05+. Next week I should be getting the 05+ put back together: all new bearings, seals, and Spartan locker.

 

I'm about 4 hours in to chasing my tail try to set the gears on the 60 and already hate Dana axles. About ready to say f it and build a 14 bolt front

 

I wouldnt know anything about the struggle you face. Carry on.

 

Neither did I until about two days ago Always been intimidated by setting gears so I've avoided up until now. Decided it was time to concur my fear. I'll get it figured out eventually, I always do.

 

Came across an oddity last night. This is my first time messing with a 14bolt so not sure if this is normal or not. Was trying to install passenger side axle shaft and was struggling. Looked down the tube and looked like the locker was offset in the carrier. Odd. Pulled the carrier and it looks like what I was seeing was actually an offset in the casting of carrier. Hard to convey this in pictures but lets try.

Red surface is what would be inline with the splines. Green surface is set back from that but its not concentric with the red surface. Almost like the casting was offset. Is this normal?

 

I cannot help you with that question. When I looked down mine, I did not see anything that resembles what you are seeing.

 

Yeah who knows. I was able to get the shaft in on Sunday but took me a bit to find the hole.... I've never run a 14 bolt before so not sure if it was me being a newbie or what. Run it and see what happens.

After my intital bout with the 60 I decided to buy setup bearings. Excellent decision on my part 😁 Also loosened up the ID on my outer pinion bearing so it wasnt so hard to get on and off. Those two things helped a ton and I think I got the BL and pattern about is good as its going to get.

 

As I mentioned I've never had wontons - well, not under a Jeep/Buggy thing anyway. But I cant imagine it being off like that is going to be good for it? I feel like thats an instabind on the shaft?

 

I get my wontons from the Chinese restaurant down the street.

 

^^ yep

 

Both axles are just about wrapped up in terms of their rebuilds. Took longer than I expected but I learned a lot so happy about that. Ordered up some American Iron outer knuckles and their ball joint deletes so that I can get the steering finalized. While I'm waiting on that stuff to show up I'll get the hydro ram mount built up on the 60. Will be nice to do some metal fabrication for a change Once that's all done time to tear into my 4.0 and see why the crank shaft has a ton of end play.

 

Making progress. Hope you get to run it this year.

 

Doing my best to make progress every week 🤘 Unless something major comes up it really should be ready for at least a shakedown run this year. All the major systems are there, its just a matter of finishing them all.

 

Lets go!!! Maybe we can meet up at the Badlands park this year.

 

That would be a lot of fun if I can get it to that point.

 

Looking ahead at plumbing for brakes...Thoughts on a single lever cutting brake? 3/4" bore with rear single piston calipers? Not sure where I'll package it but seems like it would be handy to have.

 

Decided to go with the inexpensive 1550 stock shafts. Crazy how much bigger they are than the 1480.

 

Working on my own locking system to keep the 14 bolt axle shaft bolts from loosening. Should know early next week if it'll work out.

 

Blue lock tite. Don’t overthink it. Haven’t seen one missing from anyone’s rig yet…..

 

Saw enough posts about people having issues with them loosening and I thought it would be a fun thing to design.

Plates turned out good. Need to pick up more cotter pins to finish it off.

 

Cool idea. I never had an issue with bolts backing out. However, I know this is more common with hardened shafts. I just blue loctite them. Will see if I have issues. If I do, I thought about just drilling the heads and saftey wiring them. Give it that cool aviation feel! Cool solution to an issue that should work.

 

I thought about wiring them as well but if they ever had to come out it seemed like it would be a pain in the ass.

 

I dig the design and you having the ability to make them! Would look nice out of some billet...... hmm......

 

I'm pretty fortune to work where I do and buddies that'll run g-jobs for me 😁

Got some cardboard boxes from American Iron and Branik this week. Fingers crossed I'll make some solid progress on the front axle on Sunday.

 

Those of you running the 05 and newer front 60's....and might be the 99-04 too. Did you keep the factory vacuum seal on the axle shaft? Google search didn't give me to much info other than probably helps keep dirt and water out for longer bearing life. Just don't feel like fighting that seal if I don't need to. If it's worth keeping I thought about trying to sand the rubber down a little so it's not so difficult to install and smear some grease to help seal out water.

 

I agree with the loctite or simply torque them properly. I had my 14b axle shaft come loose once but 100% my fault. I broke one and did a parking lot repair using my 3/8 cordless impact to tighten them. Forgot to go back and give them a good tighten with a wrench.