Currie High-Pinion Ford 9-inch Rear Axle; with 4.56 gears, an ARB Air Locker, Disc Brakes, and 5-on- 5½" bolt pattern  ($3400, June 2000):

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A fellow Jeeper whom I met in Ohio (but who used to live in California) told me that as soon as I moved out West, I would need to do some upgrades to my Jeep if I wanted to crawl on the rocks.  I said, "Naaawwww, I'll just stick to the easy and moderate trails.  I'm really not interested in the extreme stuff anyway."   (Famous last words, as they say!!)

Although I'm still not interested in the extreme stuff (yet?), I would like to do some "hard" trails (which is what most of the rigs in my NM Club are set up for).   Well, it didn't take me long to realize that my Jeep is WAY too fast for rocks, with its 31" tires and stock 3.07 gears!  My "crawl ratio" was 31.97 prior to my S2K build-up (calculated by multiplying my transmission 1st gear (stock AX-15 is 3.83) times my transfer case low range (stock NP 231 is 2.72) times my differential gear ratio (which was 3.07).  So I decide that I "needed" some 4.56 gears.  Okay, no big deal.  But then I thought that while they are inside of the differential anyway, that would be a good time to install a locker.  Think about it; I'd save quite a bit in labor charges, right?  And since I was lowering my gearing, some larger tires would be real nice for extra ground clearance (my Generals were almost bald anyway, so I really had no choice)  ;o)   And  . . . Hey, if I'm gonna do this, I may as well do it right !!   But as you know, one thing leads to another.  I can't add all of this stress to my wimpy Dana 35C rear axle without turning it into a pretzel.  So I really had no choice but to get a stronger axle!!  I called and told all of this to my friend (who, BTW has since moved back to CA), and is now rolling on the floor laughing his ass off and saying, "I told you so!!"

Okay, Okay Already!!

So I talked to a bunch of people and asked a lot of questions.  I called a few axle builders and got more information and prices.  And I came to the conclusion that the Currie will best meet my needs.  I ordered my new axle on 2 May.  Currie said that I would have it in my hot little hands in about 4 weeks.  Sure enough, it was right on time. I picked it up from Yellow Freight first thing Friday morning (2 Jun) on the way to work! After showing it to all of my buddies, I tried to get some work done. Didn’t happen. I ended up leaving around 11-ish so that I could get an early start on what was to be a very busy, very long, and very frustrating weekend. Upon arriving home, I backed the trailer up to my garage and somehow managed to get the massive axle off of the trailer and into the garage without getting a hernia! Here are a couple of shots of the new axle right out of the crate.

To save some money, I decided to paint the axle myself (instead of having Currie do it). I used Rust-Oleum Hammered Metal Finish (dark gray). While the paint was drying, I decided to start with the installation of the JB Conversions NP231 HD Yoke Kit (a.k.a., slip yoke eliminator (SYE)).

After my ordeal with the t-case yoke kit the day before, I resumed work at 7:45 Saturday morning with my jumbo mug of coffee. My first task of the day was to take all of the t-case parts and hardware, put them in Ziploc bags, squirt in some WD-40, and label everything. I also put away all of my tools and cleaned up my work area. I was now ready for a fresh start, which began with removal of the old Dana 35C rear axle.

Placing my floor jack under the rear pumpkin, I lifted the Jeep high enough to give me plenty of working room, then supported the frame with my jack stands. After removing the tires; using the factory service manual, I disconnected the emergency brake cables from the bottom of the tub, the hydraulic brake line from the frame, and the vent tube from the axle. Then I removed the lower shock bolts, springs, suspension arms, rear sway bar, and the rear track bar. I had the rear axle completely off of the Jeep well before noon.  Things were looking up, now!  :o)

With the paint good and dry on the new axle, the next step was to prep the it for installation. I started by removing the track bar and steel brake lines from the old axle and installing them on the new axle. I had to re-bend the brake lines in order for them to fit, but that wasn’t a problem. Then I installed the new emergency brake cables to the rear disk brakes. BTW, I’ve always wondered how a mechanical e-brake worked on disk brakes. Well, removing the rotors reveals a set of small brake shoes, very similar to those used in drum brakes. Therefore, the rear rotors are actually a combination drum and rotor.  This picture was taken with the rotor removed, of course.  The rear emergency brake shoe is clearly shown.

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Using my floor jack, I wheeled the new axle underneath the rear of the Jeep and lifted it up into position. Then I reinstalled the track bar, suspension arms, springs, and shocks. And connected the emergency brake cable, hydraulic brake line, and the diff vent tube. I only encountered a few problems while installing the new axle, all of which were easily overcome. First, the lower control arms didn’t fit at the axle location. I had to grind about 1/2" off of the rear end of both control arms. I also had to slightly modify the new emergency brake fitting where it attaches to the existing pull cable underneath the tub. 

Finally, the rear sway bar no longer fit at all. So I just didn’t use it! Lastly, I installed my new 33x12.50" BFG MTs and lowered the Jeep back down. With the suspension now under load, I torqued all of the suspension arm bolts to factory specs. I finished this step of the project late afternoon. It wasn’t as much trouble as I had anticipated. That evening, I once again put away all of my tools and cleaned up my work area really good for the next day’s front axle swap.

For more information about Currie's line of heavy duty axles and other related products, visit their web site at www.currieenterprises.com.  For more information about ARB's air locker and other off-road products, visit their web site at www.arbusa.com

                               

 

Upgrades to Stock Dana 30 Front Axle: Warn Front Hub Conversion Kit (5-on- 5½" bolt pattern) and Inner Axle Shafts, 4.56 Gears, and ARB Air Locker ($1200, Summer 2000)

Ease of Installation:	More Trouble Than I Expected
Product Usefulness:	Real Glad I Have It

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Now that I've changed the gears in the rear axle, I have no choice but to change the front ones as well, right?  And while they are inside of the differential anyway, this would be a good time to install . . . oh, no . . . here we go again!  It would have been nice to purchase a new Dana 44 front end with all of the appropriate goodies already installed, like I did with the Currie.  But a member of our Club was doing just that and was selling his upgraded D30 for a third of what the D44 would have cost me.  I just couldn't pass it up.

I got another early start the next morning, Sunday, 4 Jun, 8:00 a.m. for my front axle swap. I thought this one would be the easiest, since I was simple swapping one Dana 30 with another D30. Yea, right! The procedure for replacing the front axle was similar to the rear, plus a few extras such as the brake calipers and steering components. After raising the front end and supporting the frame with jack stands, I removed the tires and disconnected the front sway bar. Then I proceeded to remove the calipers, tie rod ends, steering stabilizer, lower shock bolts, springs, diff vent tube, suspension arms, and track bar. Everything was going smoothly until I got to that $%&#$ Torx bolt holding the track bar to the axle. 

I heated the nut, I pounded on the bolt, I soaked it with penetrating oil, I used my air impact wrench, I cussed and threw things, then I did it all again . . . but nothing worked.

 By the time I got finished with that bolt, the star pattern was now a perfect circle! I couldn’t get the bolt out of the frame, either. It’s pressed into the hole, like a tie rod end, but at such a position that I couldn’t get my gear puller attached. Aaarrrggghhh!!! So I pulled out my oxy-acetylene torch and started cutting stuff!! Half way through cutting the track bar bracket off of the axle, the frame-side bolt just dropped out. :o) Great, but the track bar is still firmly attached to the old axle, and the bushing is all melted anyway.  Oh, well. Time for a new adjustable track bar, I guess.  But at least the front axle was finally off . . . it was early afternoon.

The "new" front axle already had everything on it that I needed. So I loaded it onto my floor jack, wheeled it underneath the Jeep, and raised it into position. I reinstalled the suspension arms, springs, shocks, tie rod ends, steering stabilizer, calipers, and diff vent tube. Other than the track bar fiasco, I really didn’t have any problems with the front axle swap. So I installed my new 33x12.50" BFG MTs and lowered the Jeep back down. With the suspension now under load, I torqued all of the suspension arm bolts to factory specs.  Before bleeding the brakes, I had to make one modification to the proportioning valve, due to the addition of the new rear disk brakes.  According to Currie, all I had to do was to remove the plug, spring, and flat rubber washer from the front of the proportioning valve (which is located underneath the master cylinder).  Then reinstall the spring and plug, but not the flat rubber washer.  I'm not exactly sure what that's supposed to accomplish, but I did it anyway, per their instructions.  Next, I bled the brakes with the help of my son, Stephen. Although that was my first time bleeding brakes, it was relatively uneventful (except for all the excess brake fluid that squirted and dribbled all over my garage floor). By this time, I had more kitty litter on my garage floor than we had in the cat boxes! :o) I finished up early evening this day, Sunday. Looking back, the front axle swap ended up being more trouble than the rear! After dinner, I once again put away all of my tools and cleaned up my work area really good for the next day.

It was now late Sunday evening and I was supposed to return to work the next day, but my t-case was still in pieces. And my wife needed her van to do stuff in the city. I couldn’t really do any more work on the Jeep, cuz I was waiting for parts, so I had Susan drop me off at work on Monday morning before running her errands. I immediately called Rusty’s Off-Road and ordered one of his adjustable front track bars, which he shipped to me UPS Overnight. 

Side Note:  The ball joint on Rusty's track bar didn't last but 3 months before my steering got so sloppy, I no longer felt safe driving on the highway.  I was warned that the ball joint on this track bar would not stand up to hard wheelin', but unfortunately, not until AFTER I purchased it.  So instead of replacing just the ball joint (which I figured would fail regularly at 3 - 6 month intervals), I bit the bullet and purchased a Currie adjustable track bar with their mega heavy duty "Johnny Joint".  This sucker is massive!  I don't think it will EVER bend or break! 

Okay, back to Monday morning.  I also called John at JB Conversions again to make sure that my t-case bearings were on their way to me. Everything was set to arrive the next morning, Tuesday, 6 Jun. So I spent the rest of the day at work telling everyone about my horrific weekend, showing off (digital) pictures of my torn apart transfer and axle-less Jeep. "Oooooh, Aaaaaah, we don’t think we could take OUR vehicles apart like that", they said. Oh, yea; I also did a little work, too, in between my story telling.

Tuesday morning, I slept in (cuz the UPS guy doesn’t get to my house until about 10:30 anyway; and he was right on time). I decided to install the track bar first since that looked like it would be quicker and easier. Not exactly. The installation instructions said to reuse the old Torx bolt that secured the stock track bar to the axle. That would be the same bolt that I had lubricated, heated, beat, and finally melted to a pulp just the day before. Oops. I managed to find a bolt that would work temporarily, until I got the Jeep mobile enough to make it to the hardware store. "Why not take the wife’s van to the store for a new bolt?", you ask.  I guess I failed to mention that said wife (and kid) had just left for a 3-day trip to visit family in Las Cruces. Now, to finish up with the transfer case:

For more information about Warn's front hub conversion kit and other related products, visit their web site at www.warn.com.  For more information about ARB's air locker and other off-road products, visit their web site at www.arbusa.com

                               

ARB Air Lockers (Not Separately Priced, Summer 2000)

Ease of Installation:	N/A
Product Usefulness:	Real Glad I Have Them

As far as I’m concerned, an ARB in the front axle is the only way to go if your Jeep is a daily driver. For the rear, I realize that a Detroit would have been stronger than an ARB, but I chose the ARB anyway. Sometimes my wife has to drive the Jeep, and I just didn’t want to make it any worse for her then it had to be. As you know, I purchased both axles with the ARBs already installed.  So this write-up is not going to explain how to install an air locker.  Instead, it will discuss the necessary parts and procedures required to connect the electrics and air supply in order to power your air lockers.  Since I used my York on-board air system to perform compressed air duties, I think that page would be more appropriate to explain this portion of this project.  You know what to do next!

                    Copyright 1998 - 2008 Ó by Glenn Bontly