I went into the Dodge garage and ordered my 2003 Rubin rear D44 axle retainers. I will get them Saturday. I will also get my shock mounts welded on Saturday too. Then I can get that thing put back together.

 

I went to the Dodge garage out in Burlington first thing this morning...after sleeping in that is. I picked up my 2003 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon rear D44 axle retainers. These guys are supposedly the magic piece that makes the Crown Vic brakes work with the 87 Cherokee D44 axle. I also got back into Oak Harbor just in time to head out to my buddy Mark's house and have him weld my shock mounts on. I took the axle back over to my shop after that because I didn't want it to sit out in the rain in the back of my truck all night. I couldn't wait to get started so I did get he pinion gear put into the housing. I also ground down the welds a little bit and made it look all pretty....well, it will after I shoot some black paint on it. So, definite forward motion happening with the rear axle this weekend. I'm getting prepared for the the big lift kit, axle and tire install next weekend.

 

cant wait to see it lifted

 

So today I went over to my shop for awhile and worked on the D44. I was lazy and waited until after the race got over. Dale Jr. got another 2nd place finish so I left the house feeling pretty stoked. As soon as I walked into the shop I got busy setting the pinion backlash and then torquing the pinion nut to the specified 200 ft. lbs. After setting the pinion nut torque, the pinion still turned smooth with between 20-25 inch. lbs. of force. So according to my experienced calibrated elbow it was good. Then I installed the shims, carrier and carrier main caps. I torqued the carrier caps down to the specified 60 ft. lbs. I squirted some fresh 90 wt. gear oil on the ring and pinion gear bearings and turned the pinion a few times. It felt smooth and just the right amount of tightness (again, with my experienced calibrated elbow...which has never failed me yet). So, with everything all good inside the diff. housing I put the cover and guard on it. Next I got started on my first Cherokee DIY rear disc brake conversion. I started out by stripping all of the extra Ford crap off of the backing plates that I would not be using...splash guard, parking brake shoes and linkage, anti-lock brake detectors, parking brake mount plate and mounts for all of that stuff. You can see in the picture that there isn't much to those brake backing plates after all of the unused parts are removed. The bolt holes on the axle housing and brake backing plates match perfectly. However......the holes on my new 2003 Jeep Wrangler axle retainers don't. I'm going find the story online where I read to use those because they are a perfect match and bolt right up and tell that guy he's GD liar!!! I believe I will be able to modify them slightly and make them work. It's just that I ordered them specifically because I'd read they were a bolt in match. That's why I'm a bit pissed about that. Oh well. Life goes on and I will find a way to make it work. I always do. More to come on the brake conversion and rear axle build.

 

Hey if any of you young guys out there are more computer smart than me, please let me know what I need to do to make my pictures show up bigger here on the forum.

 

Just so everybody knows what went into getting my axle to where I want it to be. It has 4.56:1 gears, brand new seals and bearings, Aussie Locker, newly relocated lower shock mounts. Mine no longer hang 4-5 inches below the axle tube like all OEM XJ rear axle shock monts do. Mine are located on the axle tube centerline. This axle of course will also have rear disc brakes. I just need to get the rear brake and axle shaft setup ironed out and this axle will be ready to go under my Jeep.

 

I made quite a bit of headway on the rear disc brakes tonight. Though I did encounter a few surprises, they were all easily fixed with a little Dremil, grinder or cutting wheel. I started out by stripping down the second brake backing plate. Then I enarged the center holes with my dye grinder and a sanding roll. That didn't really take very long at all. Once the axle seals could easily pass through the holes in the brake backing plates, Then I began to address the first surprise. The fact that the mounting bolt holes in the 2003 Rubicon axle retainers I bought not matching up. I only had to elongate the top holes a bit to make the bolts go through. I will completely have to re-drill the lower holes. That will happen tomorrow night. During a test fit of the backing plates on the axle housing I realized the second surprise...there is a point on the lower side of the flange that has to be ground flat in order for the backing plate to sit flat against the axle flange. You can see in the before and after pictures that I finished one side. I will do the other side tomorrow night. Once the other flange is ground and the lower bolt holes are drilled in the retainers, I will be ready to press the bearings and spacers onto the axle shafts, install the rotors and calipers and put everything together for a final test fit.

 

Here are a few more pictures.

 

Looking great man keep up the good work!

 

Keep at it Brian, looks like its starting to come together!

 

I promised my wife I would lay laminate flooring while she is gone this weekend. I plan to finish it in a couple hours tonight. I will start work on my red Jeep tonight or first thing in the morning Saturday.

 

Okay guys so here is what happened this weekend. Saturday ended up being all brakes all day. I had a lot more work left to do on them than I had thought. So as the first pictures shows this is what the 2003 Wrangler Rubicon D44 axle retainers, that were supposed to be a "bolt on" perfect fit for this rear disc brake conversion, looked like after I finished modifying them to where they would actually fit and retain my D44 axle shafts with the new brake backing plates. I got out a sanding attachment for my small air gun and cleaned the rotors up pretty good. A little wire brush and shop air had the calipers cleaned up pretty good. The caliper seals were good and the flex hoses were not cracked so I am going with the junkyard rotors and calipers and I just got new pads as the others were wasted. Once I cleaned the rotors up, then I had to widen the center hole so they would fit on the axle shafts. After that the brakes were pretty much all done and so was I.

 

Here are a couple more pictures, closer up, of the finished brakes.

 

And here is what you all have been waiting for. Sunday the lift began. Well, I started the day off by installing the new brake pads in the rear brakes and hitting the D44 with a coat of black **** can to make it pretty. Then Ole red got put up high on the big jack stands and the wheels came off. Next the axles came out. The rear axle was a snap and of course the front was a bit more of a PITA as it always is. I took a pic of the PB Blaster and the Torch as they were my friends all day with nasty, rusty, stubborn bolts. The last picture is a of Ole Red at the end of the day. It's all ready to start installing the good new stuff, now. All OEM suspension, axles, wheels, tires, brakes and drive shafts were removed. The useless NP242 transfer case will be removed also and my NP231 with SYE from my other Jeep will be installed.

 

Here are a couple more pics with everything removed.