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Intermediate shaft

Discussion in 'Early CJ5 and CJ6 Tech' started by Patrick, Mar 9, 2016.

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  1. Mar 9, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    My dana 18 has a Terra-Low 3:15 gear set in it, and it was installed with whatever intermediate shaft they supplied at the time. It has 15-20K miles on it, and is pretty noisy on deceleration. I'm suspecting it's the intermediate shaft.
    So, who is currently selling a quality shaft? Novak? Theirs is expensive (which is fine, as long as it's a good one).
    Any other known-good suppliers? I intended to use the AA tapered bearing setup like I did on my other CJ5, but with the Turbo 350 adapter, there's no room for the bearing adjustment nut on the front of the case.
     
    Patrick, Mar 9, 2016
    #1
  2. Mar 9, 2016
    nickmil

    nickmil In mothballs.

    Happy Valley, OR
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    Novak or have one made. Herm offers one that is supposed to be Rockwell tested, yada yada, but I've seen a few failures. May have been a fluke, but once burned, etc.
     
    nickmil, Mar 9, 2016
    #2
  3. Mar 9, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    Yeah, I hear ya. And I've heard things..;)
    After the big intermediate shaft fiasco years ago, I'm a bit leary and didn't know the current situation. I might be able to clearance my adapter to fit the tapered bearing shaft, but not sure. Thanks Nick.
     
    Patrick, Mar 9, 2016
    #3
  4. Mar 9, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    Any idea who supplied Terra-Low's shafts 12-14 years ago? lol
     
    Patrick, Mar 9, 2016
    #4
  5. Mar 9, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    Does loud whine on decell sound like intermediate shaft?
     
    Patrick, Mar 9, 2016
    #5
  6. Mar 9, 2016
    nickmil

    nickmil In mothballs.

    Happy Valley, OR
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    Yeah it can do that. The intermediate gear rocks on the shaft and the gear mesh is off. Can make a heckuva noise on decel.
     
    nickmil, Mar 9, 2016
    #6
  7. Mar 9, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    It has a Tri-County girdle, and a finned aluminum pan. Between the two, it's hard to seal. I really don't want to remove the girdle, so I hope it doesn't leak any worse after I pull the pan.
     
    Patrick, Mar 9, 2016
    #7
  8. Mar 9, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    Depending on what you find, I'll order a shaft from Novak and get it fixed.
     
    Patrick, Mar 9, 2016
    #8
  9. Mar 9, 2016
    jpflat2a

    jpflat2a what's that noise?

    Hermosa, SD
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    Novak in mine.
    No complaints.
    D18 pretty quiet since it was rebuilt 2-3 years ago.
    But only has about 800 miles on it maybe since then....
     
    jpflat2a, Mar 9, 2016
    #9
    Patrick likes this.
  10. Mar 10, 2016
    Posimoto

    Posimoto Hopeless JEEP Addict

    Minden, Nevada
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    I've had issues with premature wear on shafts from Novak and Herm. I'd go with the AA conversion. I had to modify my T18 adapter for the reason you stated regarding the adjuster nut. I'm not sure if the T98 adapter is different, but there's always a way. I used a holesaw to cut the adapter plate. I'm very happy with the tapered bearing conversion. If you talk nice to mcgruff he might do the machine work on the gearset for you. By the way, the roller bearing setup on the stock intermediate shaft is just bad engineering, kinda like the bell-crank steering. The side loading on the shaft cannot be properly dealt with using rollers.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Posimoto, Mar 10, 2016
    #10
  11. Mar 10, 2016
    Rralphs

    Rralphs Old Member

    Nederland, Co
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    Maybe a stupid question but is there any reason the shaft can't go the other way such that the nut is on the back?
     
    Rralphs, Mar 10, 2016
    #11
  12. Mar 10, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    The shaft only goes in one way
     
    Patrick, Mar 10, 2016
    #12
  13. Mar 10, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    McRuff did my gear for the AA kit in my old Jeep. In fact, mine was the first one he did.;). My adapter is for the Turbo 350 auto, so it's substantially different
     
    Patrick, Mar 10, 2016
    #13
  14. Mar 10, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    Actually, my adapter might be able to be clearanced, but I don't want to pull the transfer case at this point. If I can stick a good quality needle bearing shaft in there for a hundred bucks and have it last me a year or so, I'd be happy.
     
    Patrick, Mar 10, 2016
    #14
  15. Mar 10, 2016
    Rralphs

    Rralphs Old Member

    Nederland, Co
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    I ment the AA shaft. Seems to me the only reason you'd need to put it nut end forward is so you can remove it with the transfer case installed.
    The original counter shaft has a bolt and tab to bolt the shaft from spinning and coming out. From what I can tell the AA does not.
    I'm also not sure how far the butt end of the shaft sticks out and if that would solve the clearance with transfer case adapters.
     
    Rralphs, Mar 10, 2016
    #15
  16. Mar 10, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    The front hole in the transfer case is slightly smaller in diameter than the rear hole. The shaft will not go in from the front.
     
    Patrick, Mar 10, 2016
    #16
  17. Mar 10, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    I remember years ago when the poor quality intermediate shafts started coming out. It was a big deal. I would like to think the issue would have been resolved in the last 15-20 years, but apparently that isn't the case. Is it just the shafts that have issues (with the case hardening) or are there issues with the needle bearings in some of these "kits"?
     
    Patrick, Mar 10, 2016
    #17
  18. Mar 10, 2016
    Mcruff

    Mcruff Earlycj5 Machinist

    Albertville, AL
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    Probably both since most kits source the bearings from overseas cheap stock
     
    Mcruff, Mar 10, 2016
    #18
  19. Mar 10, 2016
    colojeepguy

    colojeepguy Colorado Springs

    At the foot of...
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    FWIW, when I put the AA kit in mine, I couldn't find a single shop in this city of a half million people who would machine the gear. I even tried machine shops that do prototype work and aircraft specialty stuff.
    Wound up sending it to Mcruff in AL and he did a great job as always (2 thumbs up Mike!) but the additional time shipping the gear back and forth considerably lengthened my down time. Just a warning to anyone considering the AA kit.
     
    colojeepguy, Mar 10, 2016
    #19
  20. Mar 10, 2016
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    I believe the gear Mike machined for my old Jeep was the first one he did. I don't like having the Jeep down for long (not like I don't have more Jeeps I could drive) but if that's the way it is, fine. The last one I did, I just got another transfer case and rebuilt it with the tapered bearings, Novak pan, and the just swapped the cases, so the Jeep was only down for a couple hours. If I do the tapered bearings on this one though, I'm going to have to modify the adapter. At this point I'll probably just put another standard shaft in it.
     
    Patrick, Mar 10, 2016
    #20
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