Once you get thru the Jeep axle talk, this is somewhat of a mini trip report with pictures (as requested).
So I got a little side tracked here, but it’s all part of the cause. The Jeep is the intended TV for the big Poet Creek trip and the rear axle is making unhappy bad diff bearing noises. It’s a weak Dana 35 with 3.07 gears that are way too tall for the 31 inch tires that are on it, requiring more clutch to get going and only allowing the use of 5th gear on dead flat or down hills; not at all good for any hardcore off roading or towing.
So the options are to rebuild the existing axle with 4.10 gears, an ARB air actuated locker (that would require an onboard air system) and 35 spline axle shafts; but it would still be a weak D35 housing. (They tend to break at the axle tube to center housing joints.) This would take the Jeep down for some period of time and would more likely mean doing the delicate gear set-up under the vehicle.
The impetus for upgrading to a Dana 44, a much stronger axle assembly, is that if I wanted to look for and buy a swap axle (that is, an axle already set up with a locker and 4.10 gears, or one that I could rebuild on the bench and then install in a day or two) why would I bother with another D35?
So now find one, ideally a stock one from a TJ Rubicon. They already have 4.10 gears, are nearly a bolt in affair (except on zero or low lift Jeeps… like my 1-3/4 inch spacer lift… I probably will have to shorten the rear drive shaft by 3/4 inch) and already have a factory air locker (a low pressure unit that has a very small and compact pump that gets mounted underneath the vehicle). A few years ago everyone was plucking their TJ axles out and updating them to aftermarket stuff, or ‘tons’ (Dana 60’s) and you could find lots of them as take outs in front and rear pairs. Now they are fewer in between with everyone moving to JK’s, which are still D44’s, but 5 inches wider, have a different wheel bolt pattern, and are not at all a bolt-in.
I have been checking Tempest for a couple of weeks and this was the only one to pop up in a reasonable driving distance. It is from an ’04 Rubicon, the last of the TJ’s. The previous owner (PO) was running much larger tires with more lift and had swapped in 5.13 gears. The original rear locker that he removed is supposedly a limited-slip (LS) when unlocked. I’m not sure if this is typical for all Rubicons or if it was a less common option, but it was part of the package deal. The diff that is currently installed is a front non-LS Rubicon locker, but the spider gears are broken (pinion spins the ring gear and axles over nicely, but when you turn both axles in opposite directions you can feel it skip and jump over the missing teeth on the spiders). He said he installed it because they are supposed to be stronger than the LS style locking diffs. I guess not strong enough for his wide gumbo 35 inch mud tires, but surely on upgrade for my much smaller 31 inch (stock Rubicon size) all terrains.
The rear drive shaft on a 2-door Jeep is fairly short due to the short wheelbase, so when lifted very much you usually have to switch to a double cardan style of constant velocity drive shaft. That means that you have to run adjustable link arms and rotate the axle so that the pinion is in align with the driveshaft. So this axle has an add-on drag link bracket that accommodates 3 inches of lift and some tilt. It is bolted on thru the original drag link bolt hole (with an anti-crush sleeve), a couple of other bolts drilled thru the factory bracket, and a small weld bead across the bottom; easy to remove.
Also to accommodate this tilt, the lower shock mounts are a weld on modification kit that moves the shock mounts out and down slightly to gain clearance from the spring buckets. This is a beefy add, so if it is compatible with my lift shocks it will stay.
The picture in the ad showed the axle with a nice cast “Solid” brand diff cover, but when I got there the axle had a stock sheet metal cover. However, instead, he included a NIB bearing shim and seal setup kit with good quality Timken brand bearings and new seals of equal value.
He threw in both sets of the original 4.10 gears and, lastly, dove under his Jeep to pull the rear air pump off for me. The gears look to be in really good shape.
The axle shafts were already unbolted, so we pulled those out so that I could see the splines, and they looked good, too. There was a little bit of water in the end of one of the axle tubes that probably got by the half stuffed bearing, but there wasn’t any rust with plenty of lube oil film present (again, the axle shafts had been pulled when he took the brake parts off to swap onto his aftermarket replacement axle assembly, and just hadn’t been stuffed all the way back in). So the unit hadn’t been sitting out very long.
So the package ended up being the axle assembly with shafts and cover, but no brake parts, missing axle retention nuts… didn’t think to ask, no vent fitting and no brake line bracket; a LS air locker; the pump; three gear sets (the pair of 4.10’s, plus the 5.13’s in it); and another broken, but potentially repairable, air locker. He was asking $800, I offered 6 and we settled on 7.
I mentioned to my coworker/fellow jeeper friend Larry that I was trying to decide between taking the ferry or driving around with the utility trailer in tow, and the added cost that comes from that, and he offered to loan me one of his three hitch mount cargo baskets. This one is designed for a mobility scooter and has a folding ramp gate, but when folded back flat it didn’t get in the way. Problem solved!
On the way there I drove around thru the Broncs, across the Throgs Neck Bridge, onto the Cross Island Parkway (something I would not have been allowed to do with the trailer) and out the LIE; a little more fuel, an $8 bridge toll, but no waiting.
For the ride back I decided to avoid the traffic and take the Orient Point Cross Sound Ferry from the east tip of Long Island back to New London. I stopped along the way at a nicely located golf course and had BBQ ribs in the club house (decent ribs but too much sauce).
That put me at the ferry slip just as the 3 o’clock ferry was leaving, so I had to sit and wait for an hour. Nice day to take a peek at the beach there next to the ferry slip with the Orient Point lighthouse in the distance.
The ferries are converted WWII LST landing craft.
A fellow passenger was in a built up/kitted out VW Syncro bus with front winch and rear tube bumpers, a roof rack cargo carrier, a fold down grill table next to the spare tire, bigger tires, and some fat tired mountain bikes on the rear; adventure here we come!
The ferry load deck.
This particular LST-510 had an Omaha Beach D-Day pedigree. There was also a picture of the D-Day officers and crew onboard before the invasion.
As my mom likes to say, it was HHH (hot, hazy and humid) and these last few pics were taken with my cell phone.
A little closer look at the Orient Point Lighthouse as we passed by.
Coming into New London we passed the Block Island Express Ferry.
And finally, New London. The big white blob down on the waterfront is another one of the Orient Point ferries getting ready to leave.
Tomorrow I’ll unload the stuff and see about sourcing disc brake parts. Maybe pop the busted diff out and get everything that needs to go to the press ready to drag to work with me on Monday.
Gear oil and bodywork don’t mix, but I need to get this done before the D35 blows up.