Yesterday, a buddy helped move along the process of installing my new Dynatrac axles. We aligned, measured, triangulated, and re-measured before we torqued down the U-Bolts on the rear axle.
I'm waiting for BSP (British Standard Pipe) to NPT adapters from McMaster-Carr so I can finish plumbing the ARB lines. I think it's best not to succumb to the temptation to just jam 1/8" NPT fittings in; the threads are similar, but apt to get mangled.
The old front axle came off pretty much without a hitch. PB Blaster and a helper bar made short work of the frozen nuts. Careful heat application and my hydraulic duckbill pryer popped out one of the tapered bolts on the steering linkage, with no damage to the rubber u-joint boot or threads.
Mike Romain, you were partly RIGHT! My brakes *don't* work! Yet. The Rubicon Express extended stainless braid brake lines I got were too short by about an inch or so, so it's back to Orme Brothers tomorrow for another custom pair of brake lines swaged up while-U-wait. Also, the ports on the Dana 44 front brakes are larger than the ones on the old D35, so some new bolts needed for that. After installing those, as well as the Master Power Brake kit I ordered, and bleeding the system, we'll see how well your prediction works out. ;-)
Dynatrac sent 1/2 thick steel U-bolt plates, but they goofed: one of the plates takes two different sized U-bolts. One is a larger U-bolt that goes around the casting. All four holes in the plate accomodate that larger U-bolt. So I had to throw the plate on the mill and mill out two holes that would fit the smaller U-bolt.
The tapered bolt that held the steering stabiliser had threads that did not survive well, so I threw *that* on the lathe and drilled it out for a 7/16 shaft, which now holds the stabilizer nicely at one end. Now I have to fab up a bracket that goes on the passenger side u-bolt stems to hold the other end.
Rancho 9012 Shocks plugged in, using RE adapters at the top. The cans sit reeeeeal close to the edges of the Dynatrac U-bolt plates, but minor grindage takes care of it.
Threw on the 37" Super Swampers and MAN does this thing sit high! You can limbo under the undercarriage! Nicely offsetting the increased height is the 80" width, measured from the outside edges of the tires. Doesn't look top heavy, looks stable and awesome.
Adjusted the steering with a slight toe-in, but I'm no Braniac with that, and will have a pro-shop align it properly.
The last thing was mocking up fender extensions. I've got 6" Xenon urethane fender flares that are about 4" too short for legal purposes. I turned up seven 1" diameter, 4" long Delrin rods, and drilled/tapped
1/4-28 holes. These got attached to the body, so I now have these lightweight but rigid standoffs. The Xenon got attached to that, and now I've got a legal width. Of course, I also have a 4" wide space to fill in, and plan on doing that with 1/8" ABS, custom heat-bent and attached to the stand-offs with some of those black treated, washer-integrated Tek screws.I hope this info proves helpful to any future YJ axle/SOA upgrader. Yes, all this wrenching kept me from posting a whole lot yesterday. Isn't that great? ;-)