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OX'ing My Dana 44

Discussion in 'Builds and Fabricators Forum' started by Posimoto, Jun 11, 2013.

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  1. Jun 11, 2013
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    Last November I posted up a WTB for an offset D44. I didn't really expect to find one close by, but figured I look anyway. Mike Starkey pm'd me that he had one for the taking, just to get it out of his way. Turns out I had to drive right by his house on my way to my Mom's for Thanksgiving. So, here's the saga. I have a slightly bent housing in the Jeep now, so I'm building the axle that Mike gave me to replace it. Fortunately the axle already had 5.38 r&p in it so I put new bearings and seals in it after cleanup.

    Here's what it looked like when I picked it up.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Build date for the ring and pinion Dec. 29th, 1960

    [​IMG]

    I test fit it in the Jeep with the weight on it to set the pinion angle and weld the spring perches on.

    [​IMG]

    Ready for paint.

    [​IMG]

    Had the Ox case in and out at least a dozen times to get the backlash right. Fortunately I was able to borrow a very nice bearing puller which really made it easier. I also already owned a carrier spreader.

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    Kinda hard to see in this photo, but the shift ring that locks and unlocks the case is on the right.

    [​IMG]

    I though I was just about done until I tried to install the cover. It has a shift fork on the inside and it was keeping the cover from fitting down all the way onto the housing. Apparently some or all of the older D44's are a little thinner at the rim where the cover bolts on. Warloch came to my rescue and told me that he had a similar situation with an older D44 and that he had cut the ring off of a thick D44 cover and used that with a gasket on each side to fix it. I scrounged around the garage and found a sheet of 1/8" thick aluminum. I put painter's tape on it and traced the outline from one of the gaskets.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I cut it out with a jigsaw with a good wood blade in it. Cut like butter. I cleaned all the burrs off it and hit it with some steel wool.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Worked great. I put a little dab of gear marking compound on the shift fork and installed the cover to make sure I had some clearance between it and the bottom of the shifter ring.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I've still got a lot to do on it. I forgot to mark the shock mounts when I test fit it, so it's got one more "in and out" before I can weld on the mounts and finish painting it. I'm working on a mount for the shifter handle that will be welded to the driver seat frame. So far, so good. I'm pretty happy with the gear pattern, although I'm far from an expert on that. The last two gear sets I set up worked fine and were quiet, so I guess this one will be OK too. More pics to come.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2013
  2. Jun 11, 2013
    Long&Low

    Long&Low Active Member

    Geauga County, OH
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    Noce job on the spacer piece. I've had luck using a wood blade in a jigsaw cutting steel in odd shapes, it surprises the heck out of me.
     
  3. Jun 11, 2013
    '74Renegade

    '74Renegade Active Member

    Fair Oaks, CA
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    Sweet! I have an extra housing just waiting for this treatment. :beer:
     
  4. Jun 11, 2013
    willys59cj5

    willys59cj5 Sponsor

    Gilroy, CA
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    Nice work John. Planning to have it in the jeep by July?
     
  5. Jun 11, 2013
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    Thanks guys. I have to admit I was a little nervous when I discovered that the cover wasn't going to fit right. In the end it took me about an hour to cut the spacer and drill the holes. No big deal. I remembered that Warloch was using OX's in his rigs and that he must have dealt with the same issue. I PM'd him and he told me how he made his work. I also contacted OX and they said that they had only heard of this problem once or twice before. Their solution was a spacer too. They don't have them but were willing to find someone who could make one for me. By the way, that OX cover must weigh about 10+ lbs.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2013
  6. Jun 11, 2013
    Mike S

    Mike S Sponsor

    Cameron Park Ca.
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    John, glad the old axle has found a good home :D

    Anybody want to haul off the old front axle??

    Are you using the same ring/pinion that was in there already?? Sure doesn't show much wear if it is the old one.

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Jun 12, 2013
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    Yes, that's the original r&p. Doesn't show much wear, the ring has some minor pitting, very minor. I soaked it in kerosene for a week to clean it. I was happy when I saw the condition of the gears. I was hoping to be able to use the same size shim packs on the OX, but it wasn't even close. On the pinion I just replicated the original shims for depth but had to adjust the preload shims a bit more. I replaced Timken with Timken, so the tolerances are probably pretty good between them.


    Sorry Mike, I already have 2 D27's composting under the deck. :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2013
  8. Jun 12, 2013
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    I don't know Ryan. If I can get it in soon enough to run it for awhile before the trip, I'll go for it. If it starts to get tight on the timing I'll wait until after the Rubicon.
     
  9. Jun 12, 2013
    jeep67

    jeep67 Member

    Shasta, Ca
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    Nice job, John. I am currently having problems with my rear Detroit locker with a full-floater kit installed. The wife took the jeep for a ride last week and she said the rear of the jeep made a big bang and then it continued to clunk on the way home while under power. I suspect one of the hubs may have broke (I hope that's the case, anyway) causing the locker to engage and disengage sporadically. I think my troubles all stem from a bent housing. At one point I replaced the hubs with drive flanges, but due to the bent housing the splined axles literally wore down the spline in the flanges. I have a second rear end in my shop with the same gear ratio (5.38:1) and would like to swap the Detroit locker to it. Since you have experience with swapping cases, do you think it would be difficult?
     
  10. Jun 12, 2013
    rsbad454

    rsbad454 Member

    NorCal
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    That's cool....fb
     
  11. Jun 12, 2013
    djbutler

    djbutler Sponsor

    Rio Linda CA
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    John,
    Very nice job! Like the spacer solution.
    Don B.

    Hi Don,
    I've done the same job, swapping a different differential case into a housing with existing gears. Not too hard of a job provided you have a bearing puller and press to get the side bearings on and off.
    You shouldn't have to worry about the pinion depth because the same pinion is staying in the axle housing. Possibly like John said the pinion preload may need adjustment, that is an easy one to change. The shim stack on the end near the yoke determines the preload.

    The work will be getting the backlash correct with the new differential case. You probably want to use new bearings for final assembly. Start with the old bearings from your old case if they are good. If you can borrow a good bearing puller like the one Yukon sells, it's easy. If you don't have the bearing puller you could hone out the ID of your old bearings to convert them into setup bearings (if you got them off without destroying them). All this is important because you will be doing several trial assembly steps and measuring backlash with a dial indicator as well as checking the contact pattern with marking compound. You need to be able to get these side bearings on and off without destroying them or the shims.

    Like John says, if you get the backlash within spec, the pattern will probably read OK. If it doesn't, that indicates the R&P is worn pretty good. I have setup D27s with an excessive backlash measurement to get the proper pattern, and regarded that as acceptable in a part time front axle. I don't think I would do that on a full time rear axle. The thing is, it will be almost impossible to hit that measurement 1st time so you need to figure on the need to do multiple bearing on and off/measuring steps.

    A case spreader also makes this job easier. I have one I built from some scrap steel back when I was a millwright.

    I've got all the tools and pullers if you want to bring the axle down here. I know Sacramento is a long way to travel, but I'd be happy to help out. I remember you crawling under my CJ on the trail a couple years back.

    Don
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2013
  12. Jun 12, 2013
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    It's not too difficult, Don. You do need a dial indicator to check the backlash at the ring & pinion. Measure the backlash in the diff you are going to swap the Detroit into. Install that ring gear onto the Detroit. Then install the Detroit and measure the backlash. If it's within a a couple thousandth's of the same reading you'll probably be OK. If not you'll have to pull the carrier bearings and move shims around to either increase or decrease backlash. Spec for the rear D44 for backlash is .005 - .0010 When I got this new axle I measure the backlash at .008 and I was able to hit that number with the new case. Measure it in 3 or 4 places and take an average. If you have to move shims you'll need a good bearing puller as the bearings are really tight on the case. If you don't have the tools to remove and install the bearings, I'd take it to a driveline shop and have them set up the backlash. I have a 12 ton press and it takes that much to press on the bearings. You might get lucky and just be able to swap the ring gear and the backlash will be close enough.
     
  13. Jun 12, 2013
    jzeber

    jzeber Well-Known Member 2022 Sponsor

    Morgan Hill, Ca
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    Wow John you don't mess around. Looks good!
    I have a pair of "set up" bearings floating around somewhere. A good friend used his lathe to clearance them slightly so they would slide on and off without using a puller. I used the set up bearings to get mine close and then installed the new bearings and rechecked all the tolerances when I installed the Detroit.
     
  14. Jun 12, 2013
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    I used setup bearing for this too. In the past I found that the case always got tighter when I pressed on the real bearings. This time it was a lot closer with the setups, but still had to swap shims a couple of times before it came out where I wanted it.
     
  15. Jun 12, 2013
    jzeber

    jzeber Well-Known Member 2022 Sponsor

    Morgan Hill, Ca
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    I am pretty sure the same thing happened to me. Not really sure why.
     
  16. Jun 13, 2013
    djbutler

    djbutler Sponsor

    Rio Linda CA
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    My experience with the setup bearings is the same as you guys. They serve to get you close, but bearing tolerances are only so good. To expect bearings from different lots even if from the same manufacturer to have the same stack height within .001-002 is asking a bit too much I think.
    Jeff, how much trouble did your friend have opening up the ID of the setup bearing set he made for you? I tried the same thing on my lathe. The inner race is so hard I didn't even attempt to cut it, so I used quite a bit of emery cloth wound around a 3 stone hone to open up the ID. Took me about an hour on each one.

    John, did you use one of these bearing pullers?
    [​IMG]

    Don
     
  17. Jun 13, 2013
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    That's exactly the puller I used. They work great. I used a grinding wheel on a drill to open up the bearings. Finished them to size with a brake cylinder hone. I think setup bearing are only good for getting you close. You'll still have to make final adjustments with the actual bearings you will be using. I start with a shim pack on the ring gear side that gives you zero backlash. Put the case in and measure with a feeler gauge how much shim you need for the other side, add another .005 or .006 for preload and then see what you have for backlash. If the preload on the carrier bearings is good but not enough backlash I pull a small shim (.002) from the ring gear side and put it on the opposite side. That will loosen up the backlash a little but keep the preload you have already set. A real driveline mechanic probably has a more efficient way to do it, but that works for me. Patience is the key.
     
  18. Jun 13, 2013
    Heatseeker

    Heatseeker Member

    Calaveras...
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    John, what made you decide on the Ox locker? I'm just curious.
     
  19. Jun 13, 2013
    jzeber

    jzeber Well-Known Member 2022 Sponsor

    Morgan Hill, Ca
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    Hi Don,
    My friend has had the set up bearings for a while. They have a 74 Blazer that used to have D44 front and he made them for that. I am not sure how he clearanced them on his lathe.
     
  20. Jun 13, 2013
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    The brute strength and reliability of it sold me. I didn't want another locker that relied on air or electricity to operate, although the OX can be had in a configuration that uses either air or electrical to operate. I chose the cable actuator.
     
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