4x4 North

I figured I'd get on rebuilding the limited slip.

You have to take this big spring thing out to get the side/spider gears out. It doesn't come out unless you have a gear ratio higher than 3.something. So, ring gear has to come off.
Clutches that were in it laid out, and some new stuff: There's shims/thrust washers that it comes with too, in .030, .035, and .040. The ones in it were about .025, but they might just be worn. I'm guessing go with the thickest.

And then I looked at the spider gears: So we're waiting for some new parts.

I bought an A-Premium kit for the side/spiders/clutches/etc for $180 next day on Amazon. It looks okay. If I had realized the gears were NFG I probably would have just bought this kit originally and skipped out on the Ford clutches/plates. Anyway, I put it all back together using the gears from that kit and clutches/plates from Ford (the Ford parts undeniably look better). I could not figure out how to get more clutches in without having access to a surface grinder, which I had and got rid of because I thought it was pretty useless, but there just isn't enough spline on the side gears to put even one more clutch in the stackup without doing some work to thin out the plates or taking down the backside of the gear. Getting the spring back in was a bit interesting, but I managed to squeeze it enough with my Knipex that I could tap it in the rest of the way with a deadblow. I did try to reassemble it with the thickest thrust washer/shim, but I could not get the spider gears in, so I used the second thickest, and there is a little backlash in the gears. It clearly actually works now, so hopefully it works decently enough to be useful offroad.

Clutches from the other side were totally smoked, which I didn't show before: And I've seen it posted before but it's a trick that works so well that it's worth mentioning, use your press to hold the carrier so you can torque the ring gear bolts: Anywho, hopefully I get more done soon.

Another thing I was reading is that guys would buy gear oil without friction modifier, and then add only 1/4 or 1/2 of what you were supposed to. Allegedly that makes them lock up way better, and it would in theory work. I don't know if it actually works better in practice in a low traction scenario, or if it just makes you chirp tires in parking lots.

Yeah that makes sense. My understanding is that friction modifiers make shit more slick under high pressure basically by reducing the difference between sliding and static friction giving you a more smooth transition between sliding and not.

I can see omitting it making the clutches more grabby. IDK if it would wear them out faster. But who cares, clutches are cheap.

Finished up the rust removal and hosed some paint on.

I figured I'd roll the dice on eBay again and got this super crusty NP231 (with the correct 23 spline long input) for not very much money. This way I can do the SYE and have it ready to go. I honestly have very little "me" time at home now, so a lot of this "build" is happening at work.
This was an external damper tcase, I pulled it off before I took a picture. The instructions are to use jack screws to take it off, I just used a big three jaw and ripped the damper apart because it's trash anyway. It is a bit of a weird tcase to me, as the rear bearing retainer is under the output seal. But otherwise it comes apart the same and takes the same SYE as the other ones.
The vent got mangled in shipping, so I tapped it to 1/8" NPT instead.
I bought the cheapest Rough Country (recurring theme) SYE possible. This is the quality you get with that.
I spent a bunch of time polishing that yoke, so hopefully it seals.

New studs from Region Offroad, allegedly made in the USA. Seem nice enough.
Cleaned up and as done as it will be for now.

I was wondering any the rc slip yoke kit. I almost went that route.

Scoobienorth wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2024 5:44 am I was wondering any the rc slip yoke kit. I almost went that route.

It's probably fine. I suspect wherever they're sourcing the main shaft from is the same as everyone else, some big place in Chiiiii-nah. The yoke was the only disappointing part. If a kit came with a Spicer yoke for only a little more money, it would probably be worth it, but the price spread on the kits that were in stock was huge.

Also, the thread for the speedo gear retainer was not the same as what was in the original tailhousing. I tried to reuse the bolt I had and it bound up. The bolt I had appeared to be SAE, and I found a metric bolt that fit. I'm not sure if the wrong bolt was in the original, or if there was a change, or if RC just got it wrong. Something to watch for if you do it.

So it turns out both the inner axle shafts on the D30 I picked up have trashed seal surfaces. There seems to be a speedi-sleeve kit out there, but it's expensive ($100 USD a side, I think?) and I'm not sure if it's in stock anywhere. All of the other D30 shafts I have are for the smaller 260X u-joints, so that's not happening.

I'm debating throwing an inexpensive set of ZJ CVs in it. Or just ordering some upgraded (4340) u-joint shafts, but I don't really want to do that because it seems stupid and costs a bunch.

JB weld and polish?

Considered it too, but I don't think it lasts when there's dirt/gravel in play. It works fine on things that stay reasonably clean, at least for a while. JB just isn't very hard.

I’ll just be doing zj shafts in mine

I liked the ZJ CV shafts in my MJ, so it really is tempting. About $150 shipped for both from Cardone.

SKF sells a speedi-sleeve that might work (P/N 99108), $28 CAD each. I'm guessing it doesn't work, hence Yukon selling one for 5X the price. I'll have to check measurements to see for sure.

Honestly I'm pretty annoyed with this D30 I bought. I've failed to realize that all of this stuff is old junk now. Everything I've taken apart on it so far is mangled. I might just order some knuckles (SKP) and put them on the early CAD housing I have. The only reason I didn't use that one originally is it has 260X shafts and windowed knuckles, meaning weird wheel bearings, brakes, etc, but if I order knuckles and CV shafts then all of that is being replaced.