In the case of the old air locker units ... the case halves are cinched together by means of the ring gear bolts. So, the first step would be to remove the ring gear ! Once the gear is off ... you separate the halves and end up with this .....








Remove the side spider gear (and thrust washer) and you end up with this....










FYI ... the darker grey ring is the sliding gear that locks everything together (to make it a spool).

 

Flip the carrier over and remove the 6 locking tabs. Then remove the 6 bolts. This will let you remove the air supply side of the case.


This is what you should see.








The black plastic piece is the piston assembly. This is one of the 2 items that move (under air pressure) to engage/disengage the locker. There are dowels located in the case that are used to locate the spider gear shafts. Obviously, they need to come out in order to continue disassembling. Under the 4 tabs of the piston are springs. These springs assist in disengaging the sliding gear after you shut the air supply off. They will also come out during disassembly (as will the piston itself).




Below is a picture of the air supply cap and the U washer I have referred to. The washer is a rubber/poly/plastic concoction that slides back/forth depending on the air pressure. When air is supplied to the unit .. the back side of the U shape fills with air and then presses against the piston. Unfortunately, due to the angle of the picture, you cannot see the tiny air supply hole.









The other side spider gear also rests inside the bore of this cap ... but I have no pictures of that to show you.

 

All the spider gears removed but the piston still intact. To remove the piston, you simply give a slight twist (it locks into the sliding gear).










All the spider guts layed out on the table. The one in the top corner is the gear that engages to the case (to create the spool).











All the parts layed out.














Replace all the parts that need changing (whether worn or preventative maintenance) and then reassemble as you go.





Starting the reassembly at this point .... the springs are in the bare case.











Two side spiders installed. These use short shafts that partially engage into a center block. The block is not installed in this picture. The other 2 spiders use a full length shaft and everything ends up locking into place via dowels.










Use fresh lube and coat all washer surfaces (like the spider washers, thrust washers, etc) and coat the sliding surfaces for the piston & U-washer. It is also a good idea to put a light coat on the spider gear shafts. The rest of the assembly can be installed dry for now and will be lubricated after I fill the housing with oil.











And that's a wrap .... new cap bolts installed. Just need to tap the locking tabs home. Obviously, I need to install the other half, but that will come when I install the ring gear back on.





And there you have it ... a quick recap of how to rebuild an ARB. The new units are very similar inside that you can use this pictoral as a guide, if need be.

 

Wow you do awesome work! You have a shop right? If so, Where is it located?

 

bump...

 

what bump.... tell the slacker to post some new pics of the rig, hot chicks work aswell..

 

i havent seen him post in forever now... hes been on NAXJA though! lol

 

I've been posting on the regular forum here & there with some responses. Not my fault you didn't clean your glasses recently.

 

As a reminder ..... I have been stripping the POR & Speedliner off my underchassis.


The next bunches of pictures reflect earlier work done (as noted by the grey bedliner finish). I am further along and about ready to start painting. No ... it did not take me that long to strip everything --- I took the opportunity to make some changes and I've also been busy with non-personal stuff.



Way back when ... I took the time to tear into my transmission. The AX-15 had about 50K since a friend rebuilt it years ago. I was also given a spare AX-15 for backup duty. My internals were all in tip top shape except for the reverse gear and synchro. While still very usable ... these parts were in slightly better shape on the extra transmission. The rest of my parts/pieces were in better shape overall (compared to the spare). So I just swapped these specifc parts reassembled both trannies.



Cleaned, dried, and reassembled









Case halves bolted together again. Yes .. it's been blasted clean.












Painted up !










Kinda like looking down Mount St. Helens











Bolted back to the engine (only to come down again because I had to scrape all that junk off).

 

If you can remember .... I built the exhaust and said I was having it coated.


Prior to sending it out ... I did a quick test install for fitment purposes. Mainly to verify that the Borla header interferes with the 99+ manifold. And it does. Got out the torch and slowly heated the tube in the offending area. Once it was hot/red enough ... I proceeded to flatten and widen the tubes. So instead of a 1 5/8 round tube ... it's now 1 1/2 by 1 3/4 oval tubing.


Had the header and downpipe coated --- inside & out. Also got a good deal on having the outside of the manifold coated (for heat protection). Mainly because of the super close fit on the #5 runner and the intake -- see above for what I'm talking about.




Header installed after coming back from coating.










Intake manifold bolted in










Ford Injectors (24 lb/hr) and an ugly throttle body










Engine & assessories













Couple of things worth noting.


* Haven't upgraded to the silicon bronze bolts yet. That's soon.
* Used REMFlex gasket. Supposed to be the shiznit. We'll see
* I'll have pics of the alternator and the clearancing I needed for fitting at a later date. Patience
* I did a bunch of clearancing on the 'stat housing for "high flow" purposes. Nothing spectacular ... but rounded edges disrupt less than sharp ones

 

I just realized that I haven't posted a picture of my low clearance trans mount. It sits about 5/8 - 3/4 of an inch lower than the OE mount. Mainly because it tucks under the transmission itself, rather than sitting more directly under the t-case (like the OE mount).



Construction was fairly simple. Mark & drill the bolt pattern. Grab some leftover Brown Dog poly bushings (customer switched to rubber) and cut some scrap DOM that fit said bushings. Butt welded the tube and plate and made sure it fit without interference. Once that was done, I cut out 5 contoured plates. 2 for the top side, 3 for the bottom sides. They basically tie the tubing/plate better than the butt weld alone.


Only one picture at the moment ... will take a better one later.








As I've said in the past ... I wanted a removable center piece for my crossmember. Mainly to facilitate with transmission removal in the event of clutch/pilot/throwout issues. Because of the location of my UCA mount ... it ended up being on the removable portion. The obvious solution was to brace it up.



How, was the question. After some thought ... I decided on a removable sub-frame with a removable "strut" to further stiffen the assembly. The actual sub-frame is an "H" shape that ties the front & rear crossmembers to each other. Tabs were welded to the back of the UCA mount and to H Frame. Another piece of tubing ties the tabs to stop torque induced motion (from the 3 link UCA). A skid plate will also be made that will tie all 3 pieces of the front crossmember to each other and the subframe and the rear crossmember.


Tabs with a spacer made to reflect the 2x2 tubing.









Showing both crossmembers (minus the middle piece) and some of the tabs.











One of the legs of the subframe. Take note of the slight bend in the piece. This is because of the "rise" in the frame rails. The rear crossmember sits roughly 5/8 higher than the front crossmember.











And finally .... a rough shot of the subframe with the torque mount and tabs on the back of the UCA.

 

(1) NP203 + (1) D300 + (1) steel adapter assembly = Hell of a lot of weight.



The low range half of the 203 weighs roughly 60 lbs. The 300 weighs rougly 60 lbs as well. And I think the adapter comes in around 20-25.


Despite the sturdy trans mount I made .... more support is needed to control the leverage/weight and the torque (mainly in Low-Low).


Took the remaining two poly bushings from the Brown Dog swap and made another mount. Tim @ BrownDog was kind enough to make me 2 extra long sleeves (for each mount). This time, I made the DOM fit through the tab itself and then welded the asembly to the H frame I built. And of course ... 2 tabs hang off 203/300 adapter complete the mounts.



Cardstock Template, Unifinished tab, Finished tab








Welded up and bushings installed
















Bolted in place. The middle crossmember piece is reinstalled as well (you can just see the first mount)

 

You have alot of talent... :}

 

woow... someone should come by night and pour a bucket of mud here and there...
Seriously, the two tranny/TC mounts look very stiff, those bushings have little amount of rubber compared to the big rectangular rubber block of the original equipment... i feel lots of vibrations coming up.. and you added another ton of steel...
I don't see why you couldn't put the mount on the removable part of the CM.

 

You try the mud thing and you might find a cannoli up your nose.



What is your logic for moving the mount from the trans to the crossmember? If I want to change it in the future, it would be a lot easier to unbolt the mount and make/install a new one. It's six of one, half dozen of the other.


It's not going to be as stiff as you think. There is a lot less material compared to the OE block (of rubber). With that in mind ... the durometer of the poly material compensates for the lack of overall size/rigidity. Absolute worst case ... I can switch bushings later on.


Double mounts are nothing out of the ordinary when dealing with 2 t-cases.