Axle build

Figured since the driveshaft is as important to an axle swap practically as the axle itself, I thought I'd throw this in here as well.

Took my old 4 cyl driveshaft apart to combine with the donor AX-15s 6 cyl driveshaft (I did an AX-15 conversion a while back, but the 6 cyl is a few inches longer)


Hammered out the old u-joints, pulled off the axle yokes, brake cleaner and wiped the crap out of it, saran wrapped the splines, wirewheeled the rust off and emery clothed the yoke cap holes, and wiped it all down with denatured alcohol and got this much prettier thing!


Then I hit that with a couple coats of Rust Reformer tapped in the new u-joints (every driveshaft specialist and mechanic I've talked to advises against using the press and recommends just a hammer and couple of sockets. Surprisingly, it worked great and even drove out all 4 OEM New England u-joints!)

These were my first ever u-joints and I had to redo one that I drove in the cap too far the first time and it was too tight to move. The secret seems to be to *almost* seat the first cap, then flip and *almost* seat the second cap, then just alternately lightly tap in each side until the point where you can insert snap rings. Result: extremely smooth motion u-joints!

And the finished prettiness!



Hopefully taking it to Montrose on my lunch break to get it balanced.

Is there not a breather on the D30? If there is, is it blocked up possibly? Usually in an overfill situation it'll just spit the excess out of the breather rather than blow an axle seal

ArticRubi wrote:Is there not a breather on the D30? If there is, is it blocked up possibly? Usually in an overfill situation it'll just spit the excess out of the breather rather than blow an axle seal

There is, and I was surprised that there wasn't any overflow or mess around the tube. I pulled it off and checked the tube and it was perfectly clear. Could blow through it just fine. The hole was clear and everything was good.

.....that's how badly I overfilled it, ha ha. It just immediately blew out the seal.

I also have some play in my intermediate axleshaft bushing, which can cause the axle seal to fail, especially under the excessive overfill it was up against.

I have slight play in my D30 pinion yoke, which means I will likely have to replace my pinion bearings soon enough. When that time comes I'll replace the bushing and seals as well. If the seal fails before then....eh, I'll probably just let it leak.

CrawlingForward wrote:
There is, and I was surprised that there wasn't any overflow or mess around the tube. I pulled it off and checked the tube and it was perfectly clear. Could blow through it just fine. The hole was clear and everything was good.

.....that's how badly I overfilled it, ha ha. It just immediately blew out the seal.

I also have some play in my intermediate axleshaft bushing, which can cause the axle seal to fail, especially under the excessive overfill it was up against.

I have slight play in my D30 pinion yoke, which means I will likely have to replace my pinion bearings soon enough. When that time comes I'll replace the bushing and seals as well. If the seal fails before then....eh, I'll probably just let it leak.

Ouch! That was a highly overfilled axle! Still very surprising there was nothing coming out of the breather. Ouch! It sounds like a master overhaul kit might be in your future. I picked up two for my D44's through Superior for $240 each I think. A bit more expensive that doing portions, but at least then you're not chasing shimmies and leaks.

Oh, BTW, very nice write up, you really know what you're doing there!

ArticRubi wrote:Ouch! That was a highly overfilled axle! Still very surprising there was nothing coming out of the breather. Ouch! It sounds like a master overhaul kit might be in your future. I picked up two for my D44's through Superior for $240 each I think. A bit more expensive that doing portions, but at least then you're not chasing shimmies and leaks.

Oh, BTW, very nice write up, you really know what you're doing there!

Ha ha, yeah. Do you see how high the fill plug is on the SOLID cover? I filled it until it flowed out the fill plug.

So I'm quickly learning what I'm doing, but I definitely still make the occasional rookie mistake.

A lot of it would have been nice to know beforehand, while I had things on the bench, but at least it makes me learn. Hopefully within the next year or so we'll get a house with a garage and the ability to get another vehicle, so the YJ can stop being a DD and I can do these projects without worry.

Yeah that's always an issue when your rig is a DD. I don't have a garage at my place, but I do have a nice sized basement for anything I can pull off the heap to work on. Sunny days in the driveway are always nice too. Luckily I'm in Somerville so for 99% of the traveling I need to do I can get to the subway in 10 minutes and if I'm up on jack stands its a no worry situation.

Speaking of which, I'll be on jack stands next weekend:
Reid knuckles (raise tie rod above axle center line, improved drag link flip geometry)
Synergy ball joints (stock JK's are CRAP, mine are about shot with only 10k on lift and larger tires)
RCV's (super pumped about these, supposed to be BUTTER smooth even approaching full lock)
Also have a couple of 1310 driveshafts to put in, my front shaft took a dump after the last wheeling trip. JK's use a CV joint at the transfer case side of the front driveshaft (and for both on the rear) and the front doesn't deal well with the added angle caused by a lift.

Yeah, I saw that on Baystate! Sucks, but it sounds like it was fairly expected.

Let us know if you'd like any extra hands to help out! It'd be nice to work on a rig where I wasn't paying for the parts for once, ha ha.

Absolutely, I always like to have some experienced help around. *cough* not my roommates *cough* I'll quit hijacking your build thread and start my own when it gets closer. Probably going to be weekend of 5/12, 13, I've got all my parts in but I'm committed this weekend to smoking a few pork shoulders for my girlfriend's brother's party this weekend.

Was fixing some broken images on this thread and realize I never resolved what the clicking was.

Ended up being loose lugnuts on the driver rear tire, clicking as the tire shifted. (aka BAD)

Luckily caught it in time before I died on the highway and all is well with the tire and the axle.

Luckily the loose nut behind the wheel found the loose nuts at the wheel..lol
Didn't you notice the squirrels following you around trying to get your nuts!!