Lost another "dust cap"
You see my front axle has a ARB locker in the differential, 93 explorer dana 35 yukon 4.10 gears with ARB locker.
The ARB locker leaves no room for the pass side inner stub shaft c clip to retain it. So an old desert racer trick to keep positive pressure on the inner stub shaft, is to run a valve spring inside the axle shaft slip yoke on the passenger side. I have been messing around with this setup for many many years. The problem is the slip yoke is held closed with a simple light metal dust cap. First we welded the dust cap in place....kablooey under a hard compression (okay I was catching some air in the BII on a sandy wash) in Moab the dust cap blew out. I finished the moab trip in 3wd, missing the pass axle shaft.
The next go around I not only welded the dust cap on but also welded a large metal washer on top of that....it lasted quite a while like 13 years. I kept blowing out springs though, they would get so smashed up in there that sometimes the axleshaft would come out and a new spring was needed.
Not anymore!
Many people who have also gone down this path have found a better way. Instead of running the spring inside the slip yoke, we use a shaft collar and run the spring outside the slip yoke. Brilliant! So when I saw this I had ordered the parts to make it so. Forward to the first day of 2020 when I was just driving out of here in the show...."whap whap whap" I hear with the hubs locked...I know that sound. The axle shaft is loose....sure enough lets get her up on the lift!!
Something is not right LOL
The spring is trying to leave the facility
Whoopsies dust cap go bye bye
So time for some new parts, Spicer high clearance U joints, the new shaft collar and spring, new spindle bearings and seals, etc......
tooooooo easy with a lift! You know how many times I have had this TTB apart over the years? About 500 times..........so now with a lift I am like loving this.......
the old spring has been sprung its last time
Custom Spicer axle shaft is 2-3" longer then a factory axle shaft for a dana 35, this is how we make up for the additional width (track width) built into my TTB beams
New shaft collar and spring will reside outside the slip yoke now
newness
Time to clean parts and press U joints, I will probably paint the front beams again, keep the surface rust at bay....... long live the TTB!!!
Lets see how long these parts will last. This is the first time I have used this type of spindle/ bearing seal its a spicer kit made for the 93-97 D35 ttb, slightly different then what I am used to