hybrid front axle Ford8.8/Dana30

[antonisxj]

are you at least bracing the D30 parts those are by far the weakest points. you seem to have kept all of the worst parts of the D30. unitbearing hubs and the weak C's

unfortunately we have many parts of dana30 laying around in the junkyards, but no parts at all of dana44.
you have ford with front dana44, chevrolet with dana44, dodge with dana-something in front. we only have dana30.
and because I didn't find any dana44 around I proceed on building a front F8.8

I have an uncle who lives in Mondreal Canada and he is a car engineer, he was willing to send me a couple of dana44 front axles, but the customs charges a couple of thousand euros and didn't worth it.

about the weak C's, i'm not worrying, because they won't be weak any more.

 

[dangerranger83]

Running 36 inch tires on a D30 is asking for problems and with the way they say that you are wheeling, its going to cause problems.

 

[4.0B2]

yeah.. my opinion is the d30 outers are the weakness... but... try it. let see it in action

 

[antonisxj]

guys,
parts arrival today.
from grand cherokee WJ front dana 30.
knuckles
double piston calipers
big 30mm disk brakes

 

[antonisxj]

and some new parts that came from england the last week.
not so good quality parts but i will use them for now to do the set-up of the axle.

 

[dangerranger83]

Updates?

 

[antonisxj]

Updates?

nothing yet.
...to much work in the officce.
maybe sunday morning i will lock my self in the garage to proceed.
yesterday i ordered from "Rockauto" some parts for the front and rear brakes, new timken hubs (they were in a price i couldnt resist). and i ordered from "just differentials" two Nitro Ring pinion 4.88 .
if i find some time today i will order new pads and brake rotors from England.
I cant wait to bolt everything together...

 

[dangerranger83]

Rockauto is the cheapest place to get brake rotors that I can find.

 

[4.0B2]

i got rotors and pads for $89 cheaper on there than i can get them local

 

[dangerranger83]

Rotors at autozone and everywhere elae is $40 each. On there they are $27.

 

[antonisxj]

very cheap, i agree, but for some reason it has very expensive shipping.
40$ for the rotors and 53$ for shiping. thats why i didn't get them.

 

[antonisxj]

all the good work happens late at night

the first welding from a friend in his shop
more welding and measuring in the next days.

...and we ended up like this...

 

[dangerranger83]

I hope this will be worth it in the end. If I was going this far I would put the bear conversion kit on it so that it get rid of the unibearing and puts hubs on it but they run $1000+ USD.

 

[antonisxj]

you're right about the hubs, but the 1000$ is not good...
for 1000$ i will buy 10 unibearings and change a set of them every year for the next 10 years
anyway... for now the 1000$ will go to "RCV PERFORMANCE"

 

[antonisxj]

hello.
a quick question.
anyone knows from where can i download a service manual for a Ford Explorer?

just need to read the pinion gear depth variance board.
...and see any hints and tips for my axles

thanx.