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.

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

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 ....

rear shocks

The fronts were put on using original lower mounts and elevated upper mounts. supposed to be bronco shocks.
  blah. boring, not worth a picture.

The rear shocks needed all new mounts to make these work.

The original shocks went from the ubolt plate up and backwards

to the frame on the outside of the springs

The rear are supposed to be for a blazer, they came with upper studs.

some angle was cut and bolted to the frame, then some c.r.e.w.

tube was welded across that

the lowers are 1/2 x 3" bolts welded to the axle tube and spring perch.

body armor

BTW thanks to Barney and Todd for the help w brakes and the armor.

just made a cardboard rocker template into a 3/16 x4" rocker guard. 

 I don't know how this thing will be installed yet because the jeeps rocker

is a hollow box that cant be accessed for bolts.  I think if it were welded on it would

fall off with the first or second rock or tree it hit. hmmmm....

The gas tank skid plate is taking shape 3/16" w a little 1/4" metal thown in for kicks

 

Transfer case skid plate-  1/4"

Angled to match the crossmember support.

Exhaust v1.1

I, and the jeep are not welcomed back at the muffler shop.  JK,  forney muffler put on a KILLER exhaust on the jeep,  it stayed an extra 5 hours on the rack, but the exhaust is tight and almost completely in the frame.
Chase, the exhaust genius, said he's never had such a tight spot to work in.
 It has duals halfway down the pipe, then under the rear seat it goes through the muffler ,
over the axle and outside the rear drivers side frame.

The only problem with it being so tight is that the exhaust will have to be loosened

to get to the transmission shifter later.....

high and tight.  I could also snorkel it...

he left some extra pipe on so i could run it through the bumper

new axles (kinda) v1.4 3-28-12

Scout II axles.  I guess the scout rusted off the top of them.  R.I.P. to a great four wheel drive.

Dana 44s 30 spline w lock out hubs. 58" wide which will take care of
the tires hitting the springs near full lock.
58"-53"=5" / 2 = 2.5" wider each side than the jeeps stock narrow axles.
I'm sure there won't be ANY other problems putting these on. Riiiight.

Lighter than full size ford dana 44 for sure...

What a difference 5" makes..

The cover came off and some light gray "ooze" came out with some very clear water.

I guess the axle was left upside down so the vent sucked up water.

Got the passenger side hub  pulled- The bearing grease was brand new- bright red.

There was also 50' of fishing line wrapped around the inner axleshaft along with

several pounds of dirt. Brand new brake pads too.

Also got the drivers side pulled- new grease there too. I guess it was being rebuilt then abandoned.

The white lines are center to center of the jeep springs, the yellow are the original scout pads.

The scout has a pad cast into the bottom of differential, 

 The new differential pad is centered over the right inner axle u bolt. this needs to be ground off the top

and positioned to match the other new pad, OR move the jeeps springs out a bit.

good link to whats happening:

 http://www.jeeptech.com/convaxle/ihscout/d44f.html

Orange box =stock scout gearing, Red box =stock jeep gearing, Green box= now in the black @ 2766
w  4.56 gears in 3rd. Overdrive rpms should be @2000.
With the new sized tires the new gearing should be close to the stock 3.73 & stock tires thus, easy highway cruising w an overdrive and better wheeling with the dana 300.

{Scout 2s had a v8, 3 speed auto, 3.55 gears, and dana 20 w 2:1 low range and did just fine. although 10 mpg uphill, downhill, or towing, or being towed}

It came with a scout power steering box but I don't know the condition of that either.
They're post '74 due to disk brakes and rear drums.
 

I need to tear into them completely, they're pretty ugly right now. The parking brake cable was cut, so the
jeeps will have to be transplanted onto it.  I may see if the jeep brakes fit on the rear.
I don't know the rear drum size, but they seem smaller than the jeeps 11" drums but they look a little wider.

$update$: acquired new rotors and got them pressed on the hub for $52 per side,
 ball joints- chinese $15 ea or moog for $47 ea,
 calipers $19 ea reman., precision u joints $14 ea,
axle pads$13 w shipping, and going to rotate knuckles on axle 6*- time and labor.

Finished with the outers of the axle finally.

New rule #1- unless I'm out in the boonies and desperate, ball joints will be done at an auto shop.

I will gladly take all components to them, a stack of cash, and smile when they hand me

the bill just so I do not have to do this again.

I rented a ball joint press from the parts store.  Guess what- they don't fit 4wd axles!!

 (not the top one at least) I guess they're made for teeny tiny car parts only.

I had to cut down a old driveshaft tube to make a tube tall enough to fit over the top joint and "coerce" it into

position, and had to make a spacer to push the bottom one all the way through.

"Super strength" Precision (MOOG) swivel joints installed FINALLY
These are not greaseable because the cross is solid.  I replaced
the vaseline that was in the joints with some better grease prior to installation.
BTW: Take in the old u joint to the parts store so they can't sell you the
wrong part...twice..

-----------------------------------------------------
I started chopping on the scout axles finally- after megarun, I realized how extremely narrow (and tippy) the jeep was. 
When new, the scout was 3300 lbs, I guess they used 1 3/4" wide springs, but more of them to distribute the weight.
The commando was 2800 lbs and only uses 3 rear leaf springs in the pack, although wider.

rusty, scout- wider perch jeep

Crusty , pitted wheel bearings

Jeep has (6) 3/8" bolts holding the backing plate on,

the scout has (4) 1/2" bolts. I think that fords had 5

Backing plate with all cruddy hardware still on it.

todo:
gears, bearings, brake lines, steering, rod ends, redo driveshafts.