Dana 18 Rebuild

Getting ready to put my transfer case together now that i have a spare second. Wheelie was kind enough to send me a twin stick housing that i still need to clean up, so I am almost ready.

I was looking for online tutorials and found the usual text ones with pictures in addition to the Novak one that came with my rebuild kit. I happened upon a youtube video but almost never watch them because they usually have some guy doing something stupid and telling me its fine. I can screw it up all on my own without a video of it, thanks!

This one is not like those. I recommend watching it if this is something you're looking to do.

 

I think he is a member here. He has posted a few links to his video's before. That is a great tutorial, thanks for linking it up!

 

Yes - I used that video many times a few months ago when I overhauled my D18.
I like his method to remove the pilot bushing, and gauging how far to press in the new one. The FSM says nothing about that!

 

This..............a blind bushing adjustable removal tool.

 

Those are cool.
I am just going to take a hack saw blade and cut it in 2 pieces and pull it out. I saw the guy in the posted vid do that and its a simple quick cheap solution.

 

Today I cut the bushing in the output shaft and used a chisel to peel it out. I then made a bushing tool to install the new one.


My old bushing was .560 in from the outside of the shaft, so thats where I cut the shoulder to stop the new one from going in further.

I also made sure to cut the tool where it inserts into the bushing a couple thousandths smaller because the bushing is going to contract a bit when I press it in. I may or may not need to ream to size.

 

I am assembling this transfer case as we speak. Setting the end play is kind of annoying. I want more than .002 endplay but its either that or .005. Both are in spec, but I would rather it not be so tight as to create a lot of heat. I really want .003~.004. Whatever. All the Novak shims that came with the kit are stamped out of .008~.009 material. My old ones are (3) .030 with (1) .002 shim.


What concerns me is when spinning the output shaft and holding the output shaft to the front, as if it was in 2wd, I get a slight gall. Its not bad, but I can feel it. When I pull on both ends of the shafts it goes away while I turn it. The bushing went in straight with my tool with zero deformation and I used a press, so no impact was used.

The cup/race where end ply is set falls out of the D18 case by itself if I dont hold it when the cap is off. Case might be junk. Never rebuilt one of these before so i got no prior experience.

I made the mistake of using some high tack to set the gasket in place on the shift housing side and did both sides, so of course when taking it apart to check it out, I wrecked it. Had to make a new gasket. I think I might put this transfer case together the rest of the way and either it works and then blows up or it works and doesnt.

Tape template for new gasket.

 

Intermediate gear and shaft are in. It was really easy in comparison to setting the shims. I used a very thick highly tacky transmission assembly lube. The intermediate gear requires a lot of force to turn and I think its because of the assembly lube. I can turn it by hand, but it does take effort. I drizzled some oil into the lube hole for the intermediate gear and it got slightly easier.

I thought the O rings were going to be trouble on the Novak shaft. Nope. easy. Only hangup was the 3 times I had to remove the gear to put the outside washer in the right place. Didn't need to use PVC or anything to hold the rollers in place wight he assembly lube.

A couple things I didnt do.

I did not safety wire the bolts for the shift forks. I didn't have any "safety" wire and didn't want to go out on a fruitless search, so I did what was done from the factory on the large hole case I am using and used red locktite. The later d18s use an allen set screw and locktite. I did the same. To take it apart I can get heat to both places during disassembly.

I also didn't use the copper spray gasket stuff on the shims because I couldn't find any. I used "High Tack" instead.

I was dead set on making a disk brake parking brake out of a yamaha snow mobile. I may rethink that because something funny happened.

The other day I was driving my son home from school and something starts smoking real bad, like my jeep is on fire. I look over at my son and he says, "Dad, I hope we make it home". Me too, then i look at the dash and the parking brake is on. D'Oh...

Well I guess the new shoes wore into the old drum brake grooves and it works better than ever. maybe it just burned off the old gear oil! hahahah!

 

Do it!! Fix what's not broken!!

 

It is kinda broken, it just works better after I lit it on fire and tried to break it more.


On my first 2a the drum exploded before I ever got it. it was a spinning disk of terror!

 

At least yours works, 'sorta. Back when I was about 14 riding around with my brother we decided to see if the parking brake worked in the MB. Both feet on the dash and I pulled hard enough that my butt was out of the seat. It became known as the emergency brake. If you needed it, you were in a pile of trouble.
My Mitsu Fuso has the same style driveshaft parking brake system. I can lock up the rear duals in gravel with it. ?

 

How did the high tack affect your end play? That's part of the reason for using the copper spray. It has the least affect on the end play setting.

 

Didn't check it. Guess I should. huh? Thanks for the heads up.

 

I rechecked end play and get .005~.0055. Thats about what I had before I applied the "High Tack". I didnt go crazy with it and only applied enough to seal. I also applied it and assembled it immediately.

The intermediate gear is real tight. I am attributing it to the assembly lube. I cannot turn the output shaft by hand, no yoke installed. I used all the roller bearings from the Novak kit. I have read where there are 2 extra on other kits for some reason.

I am concerned that the output shaft bearing cup/race can fall out of the case when the bearing cap is removed. I saw no signs of spun bearing in the old cup/race though. Hope to be a better transfer case than the one I am running now that thunks real loud when you depress the clutch and unload it when shifting gears.

 

LOCTITE 660 QUICK METAL RETAINING COMPOUND, PRESS FIT REPAIR 6ML TUBE

 

I am pretty sure high tack was used to seal it up before I got into it. Nothing would dissolve the stuff off the old shims but laquer thinner, the solvent for "high Tack'". Could be wrong.

 

I thought about using a bearing and race locker. I am not really sure it shouldn't do what Its doing since I have not done this before. The case is not wobble loose around the race, but just not as tight a fit as I would expect. I am also afraid that If I set it incorrectly and use the stuff, I am SOL. If I spin the race and it blows up, as long as it doesnt kill the Novak shaft, I dont care. Thats the expensive part of a rebuild kit.

 

pulled the old d18. Got the rebuilt unit in place on the back of the SM 420 Novak adapter. This new large hole D18 required a different adapter for the adapter. The new bearing and adapter assembly is a VERY tight fit inside the transfer case and I am having a heck of a time getting it on. I used some studs to line it up and am using a dead blow hammer to slowly pull it together. I am not real happy about the super tight fit. Its a bit over kill.

 

Did you measure the OD vs the ID? anything over .0012 difference can make it pretty tough to get inside another without cooling one part and heating up the other.