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Friday, March 30, 2012

meet the new gears / mini locker rev1

Ok- so the jeep is now a jeep-chevy-scout-isuzu hybrid.  It IS all American though- the isuzu came with a rear dana 44  (courtesy of the USA)  with 4.30 gears. (with a custom center pumpkin)
The differnce is that the isuzus ring gear is thicker and the pinion gear , the gear side bearing is puny compared to the scouts the yolk side is exactly the same.

*****update...  isuzu had proprietary dana 44s with special carriers and pumpkins-  they won't work in US vehicle dana 44s- they are >1/2" off!!!!******** regardless of what the guy that sold them on ebay says.
It falls half way through the scouts race before seating.  the isuzus bearing race wallers around in the scouts housing.

The first time since 1974 that these two guys have parted ways

Note the scouts ring on the left, and the isuzus on the right. 
 The  inner spacing ring measured exactly the same between the two, it just that one on the right is thicker.
Because of this, if the carrier pin ever has to come out, the ring has to come off.



Here's the pinion and all accessories from the rear axle.
The shims go between the housing and the bearing races.
Note the mangled oil slinger next to the gear.  somehow
parts of it are chewed off.  It turns out the rear had koyo
bearings but still had timken carrier
bearings, so it had been gotten into before.



isuzu on stock scout carrier up and scout ring lower


---------------------------------

 a mini spool isn't just a name- it really is small
Here's what it looks like taken apart. The round parts go into the side of the carrier, and the carriers cross pin goes through the square blocks.  100% lockup.  If I want to change it back later- the spider
gears can be back in within an hour.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

post incident assessment

Cleaned everything out of the commando after megarun. The jeep seems to be in very good condition considering being bounced all over in E. Texas.   Found dirt, tree branches, and that all the tools in back were bounced around so much that the came out of their cases. (including the winching kit and a 200 pc electrical connector kit.)
After 1/2 hr picking up parts, I was advised by the boss that the jeep needs bucket seats and a roll cage before it goes out with the family in it. 
Ok twist my arm.  I'll get on it after the rest of the repairs.
Still have axles (coil sprung front??), front shocks, driveshafts, POWER steering, trim bodywork, armor, seats, herculiner, and a cage.
The easiest coil front would be to make it like a land rover defender / early bronco with the coil buckets/ shock towers
and positioning arms off the frame. 
This guy hob-nailed one together in Norway: http://www.fullsizejeep.com/1024/p_suspension.htm

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Megarun v2.0

screw it, i'm wheeling it with a dana 30 and 44 tomorrow.   if it can make it around the block by itself, it can make it out there. going to bolt on the rear bumper and skid plate and tow hooks and just go for it.

Pre incident. just got done running some 3 diamond trails, the narrow wheelbase
is a big plus cutting between trees, but the manual steering eats that up.
Got so off camber on politician trail that a guy had to push on the passenger
corner of the roof to keep it upright until the jeep got to where it could right itself.
Wheel base and lift height are excellent.

Rocker knocker.  
The jeep covered 3/4 of the rock garden
without any dings except for a shock just driving it slow. 
One time during competition though and poof- insta dent!
  I obviously didn't get the side plates on, but in a way its good.
The plates would have been dragged off by the rear tires hitting the corner of the
wheel flares.  So now I know what to trim.

The previous test run on the rock garden proved that the shocks weren't up to the test.
It flexed the eye and upper mount off the shock, and the shock was dangling
by the 3/4 mark of the course.
Everybody couldn't believe that 36" tires were shoved up that
 far into the wheel well


See whats missing from the previous posts pics.
All I can say is re check everything before going out. 
Oh BTW- I installed a Clarke 180 (very rare option ) posi locker
in the rear.  Worked awesome.

Heres what stopped me dead on the rock garden during competition.  The front end flexed farther than the driveshaft
would allow and ripped the yolk from the shaft.  An in-situ weld kept it going for the rest of the day.


 The "mighty" dana 30- still in one piece after being bashed on boulders.  Still can't
wait to get the d44's on ....