Beefed up the front D44

Subject: Beefed up the front D44 Mon 19 Apr 2010, 9:52 pm

Dern and I got together this weekend and did some work on my front axle. I had some RCV axles laying around along with a few other goodies.

I added R-SE inner and outer sleeves, Poly lca skids, RCV axle shafts, Poison Spyder diff covers (front and rear), and Poly tie rods.

Workin'
Beefed up the front D44 005-10

Swiss cheese anyone?
Beefed up the front D44 006-13

Weldin'

It's starting to come together
Beefed up the front D44 017-6

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Mon 19 Apr 2010, 9:56 pm

The finished product
Beefed up the front D44 098

My Jeep is much happier!
Beefed up the front D44 103

Big thanks again to Dern. We did the welding over at his place. I didn't snap a pic but we Tig welded the sleeves at the end of the axle housing too. Everything was pretty easy. It just took more time than we both thought. The installation took a while since I was wrestling the axle alone. It's not the first time I've done it so it wasn't too bad.

If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask.

Tim

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Mon 19 Apr 2010, 10:00 pm

The project ain't over till we see a cigar and some beer cans....If you need help just call...

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Mon 19 Apr 2010, 11:29 pm

That's true Randy! I suppose it'll have the finishing beer cans and cigars this weekend.

I forgot to mention it earlier but I did install c gussets too. It would be kinda pointless to do all that and not do the gussets.

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Tue 20 Apr 2010, 8:51 am

nice job. welds look like great

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Tue 20 Apr 2010, 9:25 am

Looks great.

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Tue 20 Apr 2010, 10:32 am

If you look at the 5th pic you can see the tig weld.

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Tue 20 Apr 2010, 10:34 am

awesome work guys

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Tue 20 Apr 2010, 10:39 am

TeraFlex c-gussets?

Looks really good. How long did it take? Last time I witnessed that kind of axle project it was an all day affair (or at least seemed like it was)

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Tue 20 Apr 2010, 10:57 am

jkx0778 wrote:: TeraFlex c-gussets?

Looks really good. How long did it take? Last time I witnessed that kind of axle project it was an all day affair (or at least seemed like it was)

No, it was an all day affair. We finished around midnight, and I ended up hurting my back on the project.

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Tue 20 Apr 2010, 11:04 am

The c gussets came with my Rock Slide Engineering package. Inner sleeves, outer shell and c gussets.

I tore the axle out on Friday afternoon. That was pretty quick. It took Danny and I pretty much all day Saturday to do the prep/welding. The installation of the assembly back in the Jeep takes a while. I had to take the hub assembly back off 3 times before I figured out that I had the dust shield on incorrectly. Doh! Putting the poly tie rods on took some time b/c I had to align it. Overall, it wasn't too bad. It just takes time like you said.

Thanks for all the compliments guys.

Here's a few more photos.

I'm pretending to be busy.
Beefed up the front D44 Photo

Prior to paint
Beefed up the front D44 Photo3

What do you think of this weld? This should be strong enough, right? Beefed up the front D44 Icon_razz

Subject: Re: Beefed up the front D44 Tue 20 Apr 2010, 11:19 am

Those are some serious welds (except for the shitty obvious one). You might want to keep an eye on the ball joints, unless you were able to keep to stuff cool.