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upgrading DANA 44 ring and pinion gear with a Heep JK rear r&p

nvrstuk

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I should add that if I had a STOCK Bronco, all but one said the D60 would last.
 

DirtDonk

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Someone said a Dana 60 would not last under a stock Bronco? I find that kind of hard to fathom. Since a stock 28 spline Ford 9" holds up spectacularly well under most conditions in Broncos, I wonder what they think might break?

Paul
 

Nothing Special

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Someone said a Dana 60 would not last under a stock Bronco? I find that kind of hard to fathom. Since a stock 28 spline Ford 9" holds up spectacularly well under most conditions in Broncos, I wonder what they think might break?

Paul

I think they were saying that a reverse-cut Dana 60 wouldn't hold up in the rear of a stock Bronco, and that they were thinking that using the gears on the "coast" side would cost more than the gain from going to a Dana 60. So gear breakage would be what I'd guess they were expecting.
 

nvrstuk

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Yes, to what "Nothingspecial" replied. All my references in my posts were to D60 HiPinion frt ends and the one that was rear steer would of course be a HiPinion D60.

I too was surprised that the one guy didn't think the HiPinion D60 wouldn't last in a "stock" Bronco, but hey...5 out of 6 agreeing on one thing was pretty good!!

I did twist 5 28 spline axles off in my "stock" Bronco tho... man, that was decades ago!! ;)
 

sykanr0ng

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A high pinion D60 running on the coast side in the rear of a Bronco would be weaker than the stock Ford 9 inch.

Comparing low pinion to low pinion running on the same side they are about the same strength.
 

nvrstuk

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...my question for all these guys was because I needed the Hi pinion rear. I had the option to buy the kewl rear steer Hi pinion D60 front for the rear or keep my TruHi9 in the rear and upgrade the notorious press on rear axle brg issues the 9" has...I fixed that with the weld on 14 bolt spindles... axles can break into 5 pcs now and I can safely coast or brake to a stop!
 

Hinmaton

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I spoke with Carl last night. Very nice guy by the way.
He confirmed the 20%-30% weakness in running coast vs drive. said he had seen numbers ranging from 18% to 28%.
Which makes the low pinion K4 setup stronger than swapping to a stock high pinion D44. Add in a load bolt and Bob's your uncle.
He made an interesting point about coast vs drive, in that when backing out of a deep hole your stuck in, you're going to be switching from drive to coast or coast to drive. He said the reason load bolts were put on big rigs was due to strain of reversing heavy loads.
So... bigger gears or not, load bolts are a great idea.

Hinmaton
 

DirtDonk

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Thanks for posting up the info. Good stuff and a great way to add even more strength without the downside to a high-pinion in an EB. Like clearance for one.

All this is also related to why the OE's usually don't include a 2wd low range setting in their transfer cases. All the torque of the engine at least doubled by the lower ratios going into just one differential puts more strain on things than they felt reasonable. Especially when powering out on the coast side apparently.
Better to spread that load to two diffs instead.

Paul
 
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bknbronco

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im still working out of town and cant wait to get home and check out all the pieces and get my ARB off to get machined down. The load bolt part seems like alot of work but should take out some of the deflection, taking some of the weakness out of the reverse drive gearset.
 
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bknbronco

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Well shit nvrstuk......your no green horn to the load bolt. Ya tomarrow night im gona drop off my ARB. i printed off that lathe pic from post #141 so my guy can get a instant visual on how to tape it off and chuck it up.

We will talk in the future about your ruff stuff 9". I plan on building a new rear using a ruffstuff housing as well, but i want to get a cage built first.
 
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bknbronco

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so the Nitro gearset is drilled and tapped for both 7/16" and 1/2" bolts. Any opinion on which bolts i should use? Either size requires me to drill out the ARB. But looking at the load bolt installation it seems that using the 1/2" bolts would require more grinding of the bolt head in the end.
 

nvrstuk

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I'm all for bigger the better as smaller stuff has a habit of breaking...

PM me when you're up and ready...I'm no expert but I've messed stuff up enough over the decades that I know what NOT to do!! lol
 
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bknbronco

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got the ARB back. holes are drilled for 1/2" ring gear bolts and the outside surface has been taken down to what Jantz specs out in the load bolt install instructions.

I ground out a area for the copper air line to clearance as well as drilled and tapped for the air line bulkhead fitting. Had to grind 2 areas to assist in future pinion bearing cup removal. I havent had to clearance the housing at all yet for the larger JK ring gear. Looks like there should be plenty of room but i wont know till i get some more work done and get the JK ring gear bolted to the ARB.

i looked at the ruffstuff cover and i think that using 3/8" bolts may force me to have a little work done to clearance the cover around the bolt holes. I would avoid any problems by using a allen head bolt but that seems like a stupid idea considering the 50 lbs of torque not to mention how much of a pain getting a allen head bolt out that has been smashed to bits in the rocks could be. But the machining done by Ruff stuff is already into the weld on certain bolt holes so im not sure how much i can open things up.
 
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bknbronco

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i decided to use a grade 8 flange head bolt similar to the stock bolts. 3/8-16x 1 1/4" long. Ill open the holes up to 7/16" and have a larger spot face machined into the cover.

https://www.grainger.com/product/GR..._on_Your_Search-_-IDPPLARECS&cm_vc=IDPPLARECS

I got the hole drilled for the load bolt and everything ready to weld. Gona hit the local weld shop and see about replacing this foot pedal on the TIG welder with a new setup with a hand dial.
 
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bknbronco

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Those look like they are about halfway between a grade 8 and an F911.
I think that is what I will use.
Thanks.

ya at first glance i liked them but man once them things get mangled in the rocks out comes the welder. I have never had a problem getting a 6 point bolt out. they would be my second choice.
 

sykanr0ng

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The standard clearance hole size for a 3/8 inch bolt is much smaller than 7/16 inch.
Do you expect that much misalignment?
 

sykanr0ng

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3/8 0.3750
close fit: letter drill W 0.3860
free fit: letter drill X 0.3970

7/16 0.4375
 
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