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Humpty Dumpty Wrangler Project

03 Jeep Wrangler w/ 5.3 Vortec Swap
Overview Gallery Discussion
Working on the rear suspension and axle. In the process of tearing down the rear dana 44 axle that came on the jeep. After hours of research it was determined that the axel came from a late 90's early 2000's Isuzu Rodeo or Honda Passport.
  • 1993-1995, Model 44/216, RODEO, 58-inches wms
  • 1996-1997, Model 44/216, RODEO, 61-inches wms
  • 1998-2002, Model Super 44/226, RODEO,PASSPORT (HONDA), 63-inches wms
I couldn't find any bearing retainer plates for a dana 44 that matched the ones on it so I just started digging and came across the forum below that led to my conclusion. Now I can order bearings and seals (TIMKEN SET 10 (U360L and U399). Also, the oil seals that I pulled out were CR 18731), cleanup the inside of the diff, and polish the housing before it goes back under.

www.355nation.net

Dana 44 Rear Axle Build - Updated Parts List (5/19/2014)

For this project I will be swapping out the stock AAM 800 (G80, 3.73 gears) in favor of a Dana 226 (Model Super 44) with disc brakes, 4.30 gears, and TRAC-LOC from 2001 Honda Passport. Before getting into the actual build, here’s a little background tech. Isuzu Danas can be found in three...
www.355nation.net www.355nation.net

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Good chance your front axle is from a Wagoneer. The Isuzu D44 is a popular swap because it has disc brakes and is a similar width with 6 lug wheels. I used to have one with the AMC model 20 rear. I was looking for the Isuzu D44 as a swap for the model 20, bit stronger and disc brakes. Never did find one and sold the truck eventually.
 
Glad you started the build, looking forward to seeing it in person. I recognized the welding table as the one we used to set the gears on the k5s front d44
 
HankScorpio said:
Good chance your front axle is from a Wagoneer. The Isuzu D44 is a popular swap because it has disc brakes and is a similar width with 6 lug wheels. I used to have one with the AMC model 20 rear. I was looking for the Isuzu D44 as a swap for the model 20, bit stronger and disc brakes. Never did find one and sold the truck eventually.
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Yeh, not sure, but will let you know...I do know the gears are different so we will have to swap them out to match. I think it's a 3.88 or 3.83, can't remember in the front and 4.10 or 4.30 in the rear.
 
1300obo said:
Glad you started the build, looking forward to seeing it in person. I recognized the welding table as the one we used to set the gears on the k5s front d44
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Yeh...looks like I have the same procedure coming up on this one...should be good to go once we get the origin of all the parts. I saw you coming right along on yours, looks good.
 
nkgilbert said:
Yeh...looks like I have the same procedure coming up on this one...should be good to go once we get the origin of all the parts. I saw you coming right along on yours, looks good.
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Thanks, give me heads up when you get ready to set the gears
 
Got the rear axle housing all cleaned up last night...bearings are on back order or not found...have to call and bug the parts guy again. Quick question, does anybody know if this is the BOM list or identification number for the axle or just a timestamp for the tube. The info I'm reading on line doesn't line up with the correct number of characters for the Dana / Spicer number...not real sure what it is.IMG_1074.JPGIMG_1073.JPG
 
I clicked on this link hoping to see one of these!

wrangler.jpg

I imagine this will be neat anyway.

Martin
 
Got the engine block back from the machine shop today...looking for some quality input and possible issues that could arise. We left it up to the machinist to determine if the block needed to be bored or just honed. He said it didn't need a bore and just block honed it. A couple of the cylinders came back with spots that did not get honed. I check the cylinder with a bore gauge and the dimple is about .0005 deep with a variation of .0015 from top to bottom of the wall. Does the block need to be bored .03 over or was the guy just trying to save me some money knowing that the variation was well inside the tolerances for a rebuild. Also, can the block just be honed more to get dimple and some of the vertical scare lines out of the walls? We are fixing to put about 3-4K into the motor with new rods, pistons, cam, and lifters and would hate to start with a block that will potentially have issues shortly down the road. Comments requested and welcome...preferably anyone with engine experience that may have continued with a rebuild with a block in this condition.

On a more positive note...finished my easter egg hunt last weekend for the rear end bearings for the Isuzu Dana 44 226 and parts should all be in by this weekend to put the rear end back together. I'll take some picks of the gear pattern and rebuild...it cleaned up really nice.

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If you dont get replies on the cylinder issues, repost the specific problem in the garage and more people will see it. You'll likely get all the input you need in a short period of time. Let me know when you're gonna set the gears. I want to head over for that
 
1300obo said:
If you dont get replies on the cylinder issues, repost the specific problem in the garage and more people will see it. You'll likely get all the input you need in a short period of time. Let me know when you're gonna set the gears. I want to head over for that
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Thanks...wasn't sure if this was the place for that or not...will try there. Yeh we plan to put things back together this weekend...all the parts are in and everything is cleaned and ready to go. Have some concerns due to the lack of sacrificial bearings as they got sacrificed during the teardown...gonna throw it back together with the same shims and see what it looks like.IMG_1088.JPGIMG_1089.JPG
 
Rear Axle assembly didn't go as planned. We were able to assemble the pinion and carrier and test the pattern with the old crush sleeve to see if the shims were good. Pattern came out fairly good, might be a little towards the toe of the ring gear in my opinion but we're gonna go with it. So we moved forward with the seal and new crush sleeve, nut, etc. (final assembly, right...wrong). We ran into a problem getting the pinion bearings to suck up together on the pinion. There was some discussion as to whether it was the crush sleeve or the bearing that was causing the issue, keep in mind we already had 200 ft/lbs of torque on it. After ruining the seal and examining what the issues was, turns out the crush sleeve wasn't crushing...put it in the press to start it then had to dig out the 3 foot pipe wrench and 5 ft cheater bar on the 3/4 drive ratchet. Probably took 600 ft/lbs to crush the sleeve and get about 10 in/lbs of preload on the pinion. Got another seal and a solid spacer coming for the back...gonna try that route to keep from replacing the crush sleeve each time it comes apart...shout out to the guys at West Coast Differentials. Guys were amazing when it came to identifying the parts for the rear end and getting them shipped out in a timely fashion...received them in a few days. Test pattern pictures below...any feedback / opinions are welcome.IMG_1093.JPGIMG_1094.JPG
 
nkgilbert said:
Rear Axle assembly didn't go as planned. We were able to assemble the pinion and carrier and test the pattern with the old crush sleeve to see if the shims were good. Pattern came out fairly good, might be a little towards the toe of the ring gear in my opinion but we're gonna go with it. So we moved forward with the seal and new crush sleeve, nut, etc. (final assembly, right...wrong). We ran into a problem getting the pinion bearings to suck up together on the pinion. There was some discussion as to whether it was the crush sleeve or the bearing that was causing the issue, keep in mind we already had 200 ft/lbs of torque on it. After ruining the seal and examining what the issues was, turns out the crush sleeve wasn't crushing...put it in the press to start it then had to dig out the 3 foot pipe wrench and 5 ft cheater bar on the 3/4 drive ratchet. Probably took 600 ft/lbs to crush the sleeve and get about 10 in/lbs of preload on the pinion. Got another seal and a solid spacer coming for the back...gonna try that route to keep from replacing the crush sleeve each time it comes apart...shout out to the guys at West Coast Differentials. Guys were amazing when it came to identifying the parts for the rear end and getting them shipped out in a timely fashion...received them in a few days. Test pattern pictures below...any feedback / opinions are welcome.View attachment 375672View attachment 375673
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Forgot the add the URL for the differential place...www.differentials.com
 
yeah, i think where we went wrong was we should have put away the seal until we had the pinion preload set. i just didn't think we would have to take the crush sleeve back out to get the process started with the press. i would be interested to see what some of the other members who have done gear set ups say. also, i think you use the old pinion nut to set preload, then put in the seal when you have that set, then torque the new one to around 150-200 ft lbs, which should not be enough to further deform crush sleeve and change preload. anybody have any thoughts?
 
Rear axle chapter is almost complete. Everything is back together and seems to functioning properly. We went the route of swapping the crush sleeve out for a solid spacer. This is my first axle assembly, but I found the crush sleeve to be a harder to pin point the pinion preload then the solid spacer. The spacer comes with a shim kit and you just start with shims that get you a little bigger than the crush sleeve that was in the axle and go down from there. You only have to put the 100-150 ft/lbs of torque before you know if the shims are correct or not. Once you get it pretty close you can move to the 200 ft/lbs of torque. If the shims are correct, you will strip the pinion before you crush the bearings, and that's not gonna happen with 200 lbs of torque as opposed to the 600-700 ft/lbs required for the crush sleeve. I will say if you know what your doing, the crush sleeve would be quicker with a single assembly, but with someone trying to do a dry run and validation checks, the crush sleeve added another layer of difficulty for me. Front axle should be fun too, since we need to swap out the gears to get both the front and back axle in sink.
 
Where did you get the spacer idea? Seems like it would be fine to do it that way since the front dana 44s are done the same
 
1300obo said:
Where did you get the spacer idea? Seems like it would be fine to do it that way since the front dana 44s are done the same
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I read on some other forums that the spacer is better and more durable for more aggressive 4x4 applications, both ways are acceptable and can be interchanged (i believe that is the case, when I asked the guy at west coast he didn't act like only certain axle assemblies would take a solid spacer). We didn't necessarily need the spacer for those purposes but we wanted to try the swap to see if it was something that could be done if at some point I really needed to do the conversion in a higher HP application, either on a street application or off-road. Also, the guys at West Coast had the parts in stock so and now I don't have to replace the crush sleeve if I'm just changing the seal...honestly I'm not seeing the upside to using the crush sleeve other than being lazy.
 
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