OX'ing My Dana 44

Best way to remove material on something as hard as a bearing race is to grind/hone it.

On a lathe I would put the race in a 3 jaw chuck, and a 3 or 4 stone spring loaded hone such as a cylinder hone in the tail stock chuck.

 

Mike, that is exactly the setup I started with. I found the stones in the small engine cylinder hone were glazing within the 1st few minutes, with no discernible dimensional change in the bearing ID yet.
That is when I started with a strip of 120 emery cloth wrapped around the hone, long enough to make two turns. As the emery became clogged I would reverse the wrapping direction to use the other end of the strip. I think I used 2 or 3 such strips before both the bearings were opened up enough to slide on the differential case.

Don

 

I would be willing to bet my friend used the same method as mentioned, emery cloth. The set up bearings did make the entire procedure a bit easier. I did not have a set when I rebuilt the front. I am always worried about ruining the bearings pulling them off multiple times. We were lucky and only had to take them off twice. Nice that he has a hydraulic press too.

 

I used a Ridgid brand oscillating drum/spindle sander.
Probably took less than 5 min.per bearing.

 

Thanks. I hope you have it installed for the trip!

 

I made a bracket to mount the shifter for the OX. Welded it to the seat frame on the driver's seat. I'm about ready to measure for the cable I still need to order. I have to admit that running cable is not as easy as running wire or air line, but, it's going to be bulletproof.







Now with 5 shifters!

 

Guess it is time to install a PTO............

 

I have a Koenig PTO winch out in the shed, just don't want to spend the $ for an adapter to be able to run the overdrive with the winch. But, 6 shifters, man, who could compete with that!

 

Get a twin stick! 7 shifters! R)

 

I'm already there.

 

I pulled the old axle out today and stripped it of everything. Got the new axle in position, hanging from the u-bolts. I still have to fab some shock mount tabs and weld them on. Then I can re-install the Ox case and start putting it all back together. Hoping to be driving it this weekend. I just ordered the cable for the shifter, but it won't be here until July 2nd.

 

Made some shock mount tabs yesterday and welded them on, hit it with some paint and plopped the axle back in today. I should have it on it's wheels tomorrow. The cable for the shifter arrived today, right on time.





It's the little things that slow you down sometimes. the bracket that holds the brakeline fitting that bolts to the cover wouldn't work with the Ox cover. I ended up spending an hour or two making a new bracket that works. Here's the old one and the one I made for comparison.

 

Any word on what is going on with the rear end? Hope you were able to fix it John.

 

When I shift it into lock I have a rumble and slight vibration. I thought maybe I didn't have the shift fork installed into the shift ring properly, but I loosened the cover today to drain the oil and it looked like the fork was in the ring. The installation instructions mention that there is a potential for the pinion to come in contact with the shift ring. I checked for this during the install and I thought I had plenty of clearance. But it's pretty hard to see the end of the pinion with the case installed. I should be able see if that's the case. If it is I'll have to pull the case and the pinion so I can have the pinion clearanced. I should have listened to my intuition and not installed this axle before the trip. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

 

Quick update. I found the problem The threaded end of the cable was protruding from the fork connection and was making contact with the ring gear. Tech Support told me that occasionally the company that makes the cables for them get a little off in the lengths. I had the proper adjustment made when putting the cable into the housing, but there was just enough threaded end hanging out to make contact. So hopefully I'll have it back together today and be able to get some miles on it before Sunday.

 

Wew....glad it turned out to be something relatively simple!

 

I'm glad you found the prob and it was simple fix! Now drive the wheels off of that thing and get ready for the trip!

 

Took it for a ride out in the woods today. Everything seems to work fine. Yay!