TJ: Faithy's TJ with Patrol diffs and dual transfers...

[Faithy]

Tie rod..

[Faithy]

Little more work on the TJ this weekend.

Got the skid plate and crossmember off. Took the exhaust off and removed the NP231.

Reassembled the Dana 300 transfer case with new seals, modified front bearing retainer, the billet inspection cover and cable twin stick brackets.

Also pulled the NP231 down to get the ring gear, planetary, front bearing retainer and some other little bits that are needed for the NWF ecobox-i doubler. I'm selling the SYE in the 4-sale section for $100. The gearset was a 3 planet in my '03 NP. I've seen people say they come with the 6 planet gearsets if the transfer's an '01 or newer. Guess not.

Pics:
-reassembled D300;
-planetary gearset;
-ring gear removed from case. Had to cut the case in 1/2 then smack it with a cold chisel and club hammer to seperate. Only took 5 minutes actually. You can see the external splines that keep it from rotating inside the housing; and
-range selector fork showed some wear to the pads. This shows the importance of having the transfer case shifter mechanism adjusted properly. The wear can be attributed to poor adjustment. I replaced the shifter setup with a cable shifter when I first got the TJ because it struggled to select low range.

[Faithy]

Originally Posted by rang0

What tires are you going to be running on this beast?

Picked up the new shoes that will see street duties. They're 265/75/16 (32 x 10.5) Goodyear Duratrac's. The 32's look tiny but they look and feel like they'll be a good dual purpose tyre.

I know I've said this before but the front diff should go under the Jeep this weekend if the weather's ok

[Faithy]

Got the front diff under on the weekend. Got the frame lower control arm mounts welded on. Just drew up what will be the upper control arm frame mount to be plasma cut - I'll have 3 holes to adjust the instant centre and anti-dive.

Decided I'll mount the upper control arm on the driver's side so the diff mount will be cut off and welded to the top of the pumpkin. Reason being that there's not enough space for the front tailshaft and exhaust but there is for an upper control arm and front tailshaft... the exhaust will now need to be routed down the passenger's side. Should have a little space between the exhaust and fuel lines but plan to run a heat shield to counter vapor lock.

Still needs some modification to the front panhard rod to clear the frame at full bump - just gonna put a bend in it. The drag link needs to be shortened 40mm. Gotta make front diff shock mounts and sway bar mounts too..

[Faithy]

I've made the front upper control arm mount out of 5mm mild steel - the pressbrake attachment is great! I still need to weld the mount on but it fits the chassis nicely.


Second pic shows the placement of the arms. I ran the numbers through the 3 link calculator and, with the upper arm bolted through the upper hole, it's got 49.7% anti-dive; Gordon and Goat1 on Pirate4x4 recommend 50% in the front and they're Mechanical Engineers so I'm happy with that. Moving the upper link down just 25mm at the chassis increases the AD to 64%. Also only 4.8 degrees of roll steer and 25" roll centre height to make it stable in the corners too. Pretty happy with the numbers really.


I'll be stripping the rear diff of brackets this weekend. Should get to rebuild and shim the LSD and setup the high pinion centre if I pull my finger out.

[Faithy]

Got a start on the rear diff today. Got the rear discs and handbrake sorted too! Patrols come with rear discs but the handbrake's on the transfer output. I think I sorta stumbled across something cool cos I can't find anything about it elsewhere...

Some Toyota guys use Subaru Leone front calipers for disc conversions in solid axle Hilux's and 40's/55's/60's - with a custom bracket. I had some in the shed from an old project. They're a single 46mm piston sliding hydraulic caliper with a mechanical cam operated cable mechanism too.

I lined up the Leone caliper next to the Patrol rear hub. The caliper bolt spacing and offset are way off, but... the Leone calipers slide pins are the same bolt spacing as the Patrol cradle slide pins. Patrol rear caliper has a 46mm piston too. Perfect!

Pics:
1. Patrol caliper cradle is removed. Two 19mm bolts where the red arrows point to. I did the sweet drawing on my phone so go easy!
2. Shows the caliper held to the cradle. The Leone and Patrol calipers and cradle is effectively the same design. Unbolt the red bolt 12mm on Patrol and 14mm on Leone. The blue arrow shows the other slide pin. Leave it as-is.
3. Twist the caliper on the remaining slide pin to clear the cradle and pull it apart. The grove will stick in the rubber boot but just pry it back. 1 in pic is the caliper, 2 is the cradle and the red arrow is the slide pin.
4. Unbolt the slide pin. 10mm on Patrol and 12mm on Leone.
5. The only mod needed is to the Patrol cradle slide pin bolt holes. The Leone has 10mm x 1.25mm bolts and threaded holes. The Patrol has 8mm bolts. Drill the Patrol cradle slide pin bolt holes to 8.5mm then use an m10 x 1.25mm tap.

Now just bolt the Leone calipers to the Patrol cradle in the reverse of how it came apart. Use the Patrol cradle hardware in the cradle and Patrol pads. Now it can be bolted to the hubs. The brake lines fit straight to the Leone calipers too! Just bleed the brakes.

Funnily enough, the Leone pads fit the Patrol cradle too but the 'pad swept area' is reduced so the Patrol pads will be more effective. And they're cheaper.

[oldon]

Smart work there Faithy. Park brake on 2 wheels seems better than 1 on transfer case to me.