1945 Willys MB. Part 5, Actually doing things

[TreeFarm]

Well, my new transfer case showed up today. Large bore dana 18 with tera-low 3.15:1 gears. Unfortunately the tapered roller bearing upgrade was not done and the input gear was not included... Guess I wont be driving this weekend.

I got in all the bits to stuff those JK gears in my standard housings.

I have been up to some other stuff while I wait. Finished up rear bumpstops and flexed it out in the garage.

 

[max 02]

If you are going to post pics could you please clean your garage floor.
I seen a crumb!

 

[centexk5]

I’m convinced his photos are staged with how clean the floor is. I can’t take a tire off without a pile of rust or mud.

 

[TreeFarm]

Is that better? Haha, the grey does a good job at hiding the dirt. The worst spots get swept at the end of the day but it’s far from clean.

 

[centexk5]

Yes. I feel much better haha.

 

[max 02]

Way better!

So dirty… Hahaha

 

[TreeFarm]

And the rear bump stops are good enough.

 

[TreeFarm]

Way better!

So dirty… Hahaha

Yes. I feel much better haha.

Im just really enjoying having a nice smooth garage floor for once. My last one was so rough I could never keep it clean

 

[TreeFarm]

Well the shit show continues. Transfer case showed up with out some machine work done and missing a gear. Managed to get them to send me a machined intermediate gear for the tapered roller bearings, but the input gear was still not in the box. They were supposed to send me an input gear this week but it’s still not here. What a headache.

The intermediate gear had a few dings on it that needed blending. Took care of that today and dropped it into the case. I guess I’ll get the case installed and everything bolted up while I wait on an input gear. Thankfully that can be installed through the PTO port.

 

[TreeFarm]

Update on the headache that is my transfer case. So like posted above, the case was not built to my specs originally. They sent me the correct intermediate gear, but again forgot to include the transmission output gear. A month later my output gear shows up. I install the case, less than a mile down the road its making a horrible squealing. Pull the case back apart and see that they did not trim the 4wd shift rail to clear the larger Tera low gears. After cutting that and rebuilding the new case, it works as its supposed to.

uncut shift rail contacting gear,


Shift rail with 1/2" cut off


Gear after kissing the shift rail.

 

[TreeFarm]

Some more transfer case setup. and the first shakedown run. Put about 100 miles on it after getting it all sorted.

 

[Truckman4life]

Sounds like that was a mess! Glad it's working now and hopefully it stays that way.

 

[TreeFarm]

Thanks, I'm hoping to not break the transfer case again. If I do I'll be crawling back to the same guy who built this one again.

 

[TreeFarm]

Same size tires, one makes them look normal, the other does not.

 

[TreeFarm]

fall colors.

 

[mrk5]

Such a cool rig! Nice pictures too.

 

[TreeFarm]

Fitech update. My usb cable caught on fire the other day. I was driving home in a rain storm. Some water was blowing in and I guess shorted out the usb cable. The engine shut off. Popped a fuse in the EFI harness that FItech wont tell me what all it powers, but the usb port is one of those things. Replaced the fuse and the cable went up in smoke. Unplugged the cable and drove home with no issues. The short also took out the hand held unit. Fitech wants $45 for a usb cable and $140 for the hand held. I guess I learned the limit of what it can handle. I will be trying to source the USB chip and repairing this unit. I guess ill water proof it all while I'm at it.

The handheld is mounted by my rearview mirror. I have a full top but no doors. Its not like this thing was getting rained on directly but did get some spray from the wind.

 

[Truckman4life]

That sucks!

 

[TreeFarm]

The fun has begun. Time to build the axles. Im stuffing JK 5.38 D44 gears into my standard 44 housing. 30 spline chromoly shafts and CTM joints. Here are some comparison shots of the gears. JK gears are about 1/2" larger. Thick cut. Moved farther away from the pinion so the pinon can be larger. 1/2" bolts rather than 3/8" The pinon is larger in every way and the yoke is about the size of a D60. It just took some cleaning up of the housing to make them fit, and drilling out the carrier to fit the larger ring gear bolts.

 

[TreeFarm]

And for the shafts. Nitro 4340 30 spline shafts in and out and 30 spline slugs. This will match my rear axle when I full float it. For that Ill be using D44 spindles and hubs with 30 spline slugs and custom shafts.

I chose to go with CTM over RCV because of the pain that is installing RCVs on GM D44 knuckles. These shafts are the most expensive part of the whole jeep.