Gear Swap
Decided it was time to do a gear swap on my Jeep. there is only so much you can do with 33″ tires and 3.53 gears. most of the time I have the clutch pushed in because even in low range i was moving to fast for the obstacle in my path. So i headed on over to Randy’s Ring and Pinion and pushed the needed 4.11 gears for my axles. The rear is a ford 9″ from a 1979 Ford Bronco so I went with USA Standard Ring & Pinion gear set ZG F9-411. Since i still recently installed new bearing during the spool install, I still have the appropriate shims needed to set up the gears. The install went without a hitch. Gear pattern looked good and everything went together easily.
The front would prove to be my nemesis. More on exactly why in a bit. I started of with getting a set of 4.11 gears for the front Dana 44 out of a International Scout II. Knowing that the carrier currently I order Dana 44 Ring & Pinion Thick Gear Set from Randy’s Ring and Pinion along with Master overall kit. Since I never had this axle apart since I bought it used, I figured it would be a good idea to totally go through it. This would prove more beneficial than I originally thought. After the parts all arrived i proceeded to tear into this rebuild. Everything came apart easily, too easily as I will soon find out. Upon removing the carrier from the housing the carrier bearing on the drivers side fell off on the ground. I first thought it was just the outer race until i set it on the bench. Then I noticed that the entire bearing was on the ground. Crap! That is not going to be good. upon inspection of the carrier I found that the bearing diameter was over .05″ undersize. Crap!! How can this thing hold together under the load of a 5.0 H.O. and not hear anything at all. Maybe the exhaust is just a little louder than I thought or I am even more deaf than I thought.
I put the word out to my fellow Jeeple and not a single person has an open carrier that they pulled out to install a locker. Really, not one person kept the old carrier to sell at a later date. Since i spent all the wife would let me i had to find a way to get a new one at the lowest price I could find. I tried a few junk yards with nothing to show for it. So after searching for other options i found a new open carrier from Dave’s off-road supply. I know, why not just put in a locker. Well with the lack of funds an Ox locker was out of the question.
So now I wait for the UPS driver to bring my replacement carrier so I can finish the install. Why can’t they deliver on Saturday!!!
